path-to-f2p
Latest
Former subscribers get an early engagement to Star Trek Online's free-to-play model
In the universe of Star Trek Online, it's the 24th century and humans no longer make use of money. Here in the 21st century, however, you've still got a bit more time until you can play Star Trek Online without the use of said money. Or do you? Starting tomorrow, January 5th, the doors will open for players to start enjoying the game for free before the full free-to-play launch on January 17th. So what do you need to do to get this early access? Well, if you're asking now, you're a bit too late; the privilege is being extended to lapsed former subscribers, who can come back and play the game for free as Silver members. That means certain features will be restricted, but if you had played in the past and haven't had a chance to catch up with the newer features of the game, tomorrow will be your chance to log in and start trekking across the universe for free.
Display changes for graphics and levels in Star Trek Online
As the free-to-play conversion for Star Trek Online continues to approach, the game's development team continues to make more last-minute polishes. As outlined in the most recent entry in the Path to F2P blog series, one improvement directly pertains to the game's graphics, putting in DirectX 11 support for players whose cards can support the display mode. While it won't offer a performance increase for every player, there are players who have reported big jumps in FPS with DirectX 11 on while testing on the Tribble server. The other major improvement deployed to the test server is a change to the game's rank display. Previously, the game displayed levels by rank and grade -- a player would move from Commander 10 (level 29) to Captain 1 (level 30), which was evocative of the setting but a bit hard to process at a glance. So the display has been trimmed up and improved, with player level displaying as a rank followed by the level (the previous example would now display as Commander 29, then Captain 30). No actual levels have been lost -- it's just a change to ensure that new players have an easier time understanding the level differences.
Ground skill revamp previewed for Star Trek Online
As part of the latest major patch, Star Trek Online is giving its skill system a massive overhaul, designed to make the skill functions more transparent and encourage a bit more variety in skill setups. The space skill revisions have already been previewed, but the ground skills have only just seen the light of day in the latest entry of the Path to F2P blog series. In some ways, the revisions are much smaller than those made to space combat; in other ways, the changes are bigger. Ground skills now have two skill tracks -- one set of skills that's shared among all characters and one that's unique for each career. The shared line of skills provides straight buffs to general abilities, such as damage and shield values, while the unique line of five skills buffs career-specific abilities such as pets for Engineers, healing for Science, and buffs for Tactical. Players should peruse the full list of updates to get a sense of what ground skills will look like after the change -- they're simpler, but there's still a great deal of room for differentiation.
Star Trek Online offering perks to subscribers before the business shift
Season 5 is now live for Star Trek Online, but the actual conversion to free-to-play is still a little further ahead. That means there's a grace period during which players can be given a few extra little perks for sticking with the game. Said perks have been outlined in the most recent Path to F2P blog entry. Until January 2nd, the classic Constitution-class ship and the Klingon Qorgh Refit are free to players who log in and claim them from the C-Store. Subscription deals are also being offered through December 19th for players who subscribe for longer than one month. Picking up a three-month subscription will come out to around $36, and a six-month subscription will run about $66, both cheaper than the regular pricing. You can also pick up a lifetime subscription as well, if you're willing to drop $200 up front. While some players will doubtlessly be taking advantage of the shift to stop subscribing and keep playing, there's certainly no shortage of deals being offered to keep subscriptions after the switch.
A new invasion is hitting Star Trek Online's test server
There has never been a shortage of stories about the Borg assimilating a culture, but it's rare for the race to actively invade a planet. But that's exactly what's happening on Star Trek Online's test serve: Defera undergoing a large-scale invasion by the Collective. Players in both the Federation and the KDF are tasked with fighting back against the Borg in a variety of different settings across the planet to help test out this new large-scale event. Running for two hours once started, the event is currently being activated frequently enough so that players can consistently test all of the new elements introduced. If simply taking part in the push to prevent the Borg from getting a foothold isn't enough, the event also offers players new items as mission rewards, drops, and craftables. It should be an interesting event for players to explore in full on the test server, and it serves as another example of the game taking the war against the Borg up another notch.
Dates outlined for Star Trek Online's free-to-play conversion
The cat is officially out of the bag: Star Trek Online is switching over its new free-to-play model on January 17th, 2012. And if you're looking forward to the shift in payment models, you might think that's the only date you need to be concerned with at the moment. But there are a few more milestones for players to look for, starting with December 1st. That's the day when players will start receiving their point stipends for subscription, with a stipend of 400 points on the billing date for the account. Another major date listed in the latest Path to F2P blog is December 8th -- that's the latest date that the team is planning to push the current test build on to the live servers. Sometime between the 1st and the 8th, the build will go live, with several enhancements and upgrades for existing subscribers even without the inclusion of free players. So mark your calendar because these are some rather important dates to keep watch on as the next month of testing and refinement rounds out.
Newest test server pass for Star Trek Online aimed at cleaning up [Updated with F2P date!]
Bugs and design issues are present even in the universe of Star Trek Online, ranging from irritating interface bugs on ship consoles to the apparently frequent bug that causes the holodeck to nearly kill everyone on the ship every few weeks. They also crop up in the game itself, of course, but as outlined in the latest Path to F2P blog, the development team is focusing in closely on trying to eliminate several bugs and design issues currently in the game. Patrol missions, for instance, are being changed from a flat sequence of isolated system missions into a more freeform system that scales with level. Crafting changes are also being put in place, giving players "material blocks" to work with that are purchase via dilithium, thereby allowing fleets and groups of players to shunt crafting resources toward a single player. The entry also hints at an entirely new form of content coming to the test server over the next month, although players will have to wait to find out what that means. [Edit: More details on the F2P switch have also surfaced, thanks to our friends at IGN.]
Star Trek Online outlines the next several veteran rewards for players
There's still no definite date on the conversion to free-to-play for Star Trek Online, but the game is quickly approaching its 700th day of operation -- which is important. The game's veteran awards are provided for players in 100-day increments, meaning that the point is fast approaching when the players will be owed a new reward. So it makes sense that the latest Path to F2P blog discusses the next four veteran rewards and explains another upgrade to the reward for 600 days. The 600-day reward will change to a free token at level 51 (Vice Admiral) allowing players to pick a free ship, something that is currently the case but is being changed with the upcoming patch. This veteran reward means long-time players will still be eligible for a free ship, a benefit that should help assuage at least some of the issues seen with the payment model shift. The subsequent rewards range from new Android bridge officers to free respec tokens, all of which should make long-time players rather pleased.
Overhaul to skills coming to Star Trek Online
The core of progression in Star Trek Online has always been the game's sprawling skill system, but it's also proved to be something of a weakness. Not only were several of the skills difficult to understand at a glance (Astrometrics offers benefits not instantly apparent, for instance), but the higher-tier skills were often prohibitively expensive in terms of skill points. That's why in addition to all of the other changes going live with the game's free-to-play conversion, the development team is working on a major skill overhaul so that players can know what each skill does and so that everything feels worthwhile. A list of the new skills and their effects are included with the newest installment of the Path to F2P blog, with the changes allowing players to more easily switch between ship types and weapon types without feeling unduly penalized. In addition, skills are now clearly separated into buffs to click abilities or passive benefits, rather than having them tied together in several cases. It's a wide-sweeping set of revisions but hopefully one that will help make the system more transparent for all players.
Captain's Log: Every day I'm tribbleing
Captain's Log, Stardate 65322.9... Hello, computer (and players)! For the past several weeks, Star Trek Online players have been checking out the latest F2P beta builds on the Tribble test server. While there have been a few patches on other days, more for stability fixes and minor tweaking, Thursdays seem to be the designated day for us to receive the largest pushes of new content. The latest round of updates has brought further economy changes, new events and ships, and even more heated debates. Since we seem to be a ways out from the seeing the updates ported to the Holodeck live server, there is still plenty of time to check it all out and provide your feedback to the devs. I would like to dedicate this entry to those who are helping test the changes. This week's Captain's Log serves as a checklist of sorts on what new content you can test and where you can provide feedback about it. As you read through, I suggest that you read a particular section, jump into game to check out the particular change, formulate an opinion, and head to the linked forum where you can leave your feedback. No matter what you think, it's important to let the devs know -- they will make changes based upon a collective opinion. Ensign, warp 10! It's time to create our own party rock anthem...
Star Trek Online strengthening the fight against the Borg
Since launch, Star Trek Online has always used the Borg as a major threat. This is evidenced by the Borg's position in several of the game's Strategic Task Forces, top-end challenges for the best of the best in the Federation and the KDF. The conversion to free-to-play will include improvements and updates for these STFs, starting with a change explained in the latest installment of the Path to F2P blog series. The first change is the shift to two separate difficulty modes, Normal and Elite. STFs are also being added to the PvE queue feature so that players can more easily assemble a group. Last but not least, the missions will feature special rewards that can be traded for a variety of anti-Borg equipment, allowing successful players the chance to better tune their ships for future runs. These updates won't reduce the threat level of the Borg, but they should help more players face off against one of the game's marquee opponents.
Star Trek Online's Path to F2P highlights crafting changes
The Path to F2P continues for Star Trek Online, and this episode focuses on the recent update to crafting, which is now available on the Tribble server. Crafting basics remain unchanged: Players scour the galaxy for anomalies in order to gather samples, and then return to Memory Alpha or Qo'noS to craft those samples into useable items. Crafting is separated into tiers, with each tier composed of two (or in the case of tier five, three) levels of quality. For instance, tier one consists of Mark I and Mark II gear, while tier two consists of Mark III and Mark IV. As it stands, Marks I, III, V, and VII are crafted using samples only, while Marks II, IV, VI, VIII, IX, X, and XI require Refined Dilithium on top of the samples. As such, the Marks that require Dilithium will be of considerably higher quality than those that do not. For the full details on the new crafting system, head on over to the full post at STO's official site.
Newest Star Trek Online blog details upcoming event system
One of the major elements of the shows that Star Trek Online follows is one that assures there's always something happening. No ships are just idly floating about waiting for another urgent mission. That's where the new events system detailed in the latest Path to F2P blog comes in. It's a dynamic set of events and missions for players to take part in for a limited time, ranging from pure combat encounters to more social challenges among cadets and civilians. As the blog outlines, players will be given access to a calendar showing the in-game events planned for the next 48 hours, with other special events popping up and leaving on a less regular schedule. Players can queue up to take part in these events as they become available, giving an alternate path to the extant missions and episodes. It's a fairly involved system overall, and it's the sort of thing that could help convey a sense of a dynamic universe.
Star Trek's Online path to F2P delves into Lore Missions
Star Trek Online's path to F2P continues today with a sneak-peek at the game's upcoming Lore Missions. It's no secret that Star Trek has quite the hardcore following of lore junkies whose very lifeblood is fueled by the franchise's canon. In light of this, Cryptic is introducing Lore Missions, which are "non-combat daily missions available to all Federation and Klingon Defense Force characters." Completing a Lore Mission will grant players a history datachip, and each datachip contains a record of a piece of the timeline that spans between Star Trek: Nemesis and the current year 2409. The missions will also test players on their lore knowledge, and correct answers will grant a reward which includes the much sought-after Dilithium Ore. There's much more in store for Lore Missions in the future, as well. Future installments will include "stories from the Federation's past, tales of the great heroes of the Empire, briefings on the many antagonists in Star Trek Online and more." So get out there and start researching, people!
Newest F2P blog for Star Trek Online talks about dilithium
Star Trek Online has always had a variety of currencies for players, each allowing access to different stocks of items. But another form of money is coming into the game, and much like gold-pressed latinum, it's something that has a long history in lore. The rare and valuable dilithium is being introduced as a new form of reward, and the latest entry in the Path to F2P series discusses just how the new form of money will work. The most important role that the ore will play will be in replacing the existing free ship tokens that had previously come when players achieved a new rank. Earning a new ship will now be a more difficult and involved task, with a discount coupon and a free offering of refined dilithium to make it easier to earn a ship on a rank increase, but it won't be automatic. The entry goes on to state that the current implementation on the test server is not quite right, and it includes more discussion about how much effort is meant to be involved in getting a brand-new ship.
Captain's Log: Testing out the future
Captain's Log, Stardate 65264.3... Hello, computer (and players)! As you have must have seen by now, open beta testing of Star Trek Online's new F2P model is well underway; the developers have been posting dev diaries about the impending changes for the last couple of days. Because testers on the Tribble test server were required to start new characters, and because character transfers will not be an option for at least a few weeks, many players have begun a mad dash to level up their test characters in order to test out some of the retooled endgame content. Since testing, especially in this manner, can be confusing, I have decided to dedicate this week's Captain's Log to those who are willing to take on the challenge. Past the jump, you will find a checklist of sorts that you can use while testing (or, ultimately, playing) the new content and updates. I suggest reading each section and then checking it out in-game. While some recommendations may seem less interesting than others, I suggest you give each a fair shot so you can provide feedback on what can make the game better. Ensign, warp 10! Let's give our dedicated Tribbleites some structure to their testing time...
Star Trek Online bringing the Klingons into the free-to-play test realm
The KDF faction has always struggled in Star Trek Online, from its early perception among players as the game's red-headed stepchild of a PvP faction to the present day. But there are still dedicated Klingon players, and there's no shortage of love for the faction in the lore. So there will no doubt be many players happy that starting on October 6th, the Klingon's new and improved play experience will be up for players to enjoy on the test server. In a significant departure from the past, Klingon players will now start well into the Lieutenant Commander rank, giving players a sizable jump in levels. The story arcs for the faction are now threaded together to alleviate the sometimes confusing structure of the story missions, giving a uniquely Klingon experience from start to finish. And as with all of the testing going on prior to the game's free-to-play conversion, players who clock in enough time to reach level 31 on a Klingon character will earn some bonus rewards -- enough to stir a true warrior's blood for the honor of victory.
Testing players to receive rewards in Star Trek Online
One of the little carrots that Star Trek Online has always given its players is a reward for playing on the test server. Specifically, by playing on the Tribble server, players receive a unique "bonus" tribble for their captain on the live server. The fourth entry in the Path to F2P blog series promises that players who take part on the test server will once again receive a special ball of fluff to call their own... but there's more on the way. The special reward tribble will be given to anyone who either reaches level 6 on a character created for the test server or transfers a higher-level character over once the transfers become available. Current subscribers who clock in time on the server will also be eligible for several other small rewards -- nothing spectacular individually, but enough so that players who log in regular testing will feel a bit of an extra bonus. The test server will get the KDF faction opened this week, so Star Trek Online players will have plenty to test in the name of easily replicating cooing dustbunnies. The fifth Path to F2P blog post has also gone live this evening with more details on how to rack up these test points and a deeper explanation for why you'd want to do so.
Newest Star Trek Online blog entry outlines the Duty Officer system
One of the issues that Star Trek Online has always faced when emulating its source material is the simple issue of size. Players take the role of a captain overseeing an entire ship, crewed with numerous people, a ship that in the television series would be filled with actors and recurring faces. But in gameplay, that sense has always been a bit more difficult to convey... and it's an element being addressed with the new Duty Officer system. In the latest entry in the Path to F2P blog, Geoff Tuffli outlines the goals and overall thrust of the Duty Officer system. Players will receive Duty Officers as rewards in a variety of ways, including spending time in the academy for each respective faction. The officers can be placed in departments, sent on assignments, or otherwise managed by players in order to receive the greatest amount of benefit from the support staff. It's a feature that's long been promised by the development team, and as the game moves toward a hybrid business model, it looks to finally be moving to release.
