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Star Trek Online lifetime subscription goes on sale
Starship captains in the future may not have a need for money, but you do if you want to buy into a lifetime subscription for Star Trek Online. Fortunately, Cryptic has made that option easier for interested parties, lowering the price from $299 to $199 through July 10th. A lifetime subscription to Star Trek Online includes all gold membership options, a monthly ZEN stipend, all veteran rewards past and future, and priority login.
Star Trek Online Season 9.5 revamps crafting big-time
Star Trek Online Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo has just one word for you concerning July's Season 9.5: crafting. OK, he's got more words than that, but you probably can guess where he's going with it. D'Angelo posted a short dev diary today stating that the team will be focusing on a crafting overhaul for the next big update: "In this release, the STO dev team has completely reworked every element of crafting in the game... Our goal is to have a crafting system that our players enjoy and are excited to use." D'Angelo said that players will have new ways to earn crafting mats, multiple schools of crafting, and a fresh UI to explore. Duty officers will also be utilized in the revised crafting system.
Star Trek Online opens up Hearts and Minds for one day only
It's Friday the 13th today, the most ominous of all day-and-date combinations. (Tuesday the 21st doesn't have a horror film series named after it.) Star Trek Online is celebrating as a result by giving players access to a special mini-episode, Hearts and Minds, an irregularly visited mission that is available to players only until 9 a.m. EDT on June 14th. Players who choose to take part in the mission are sent to investigate a Vulcan doctor and see just what happens when some unconventional research goes a bit too far. The mission is short and is meant to be creepy rather than gruesome, a quick vignette for any captains above level 10. You can also get a special reward for taking part, although you might feel a bit... unsettled afterward.
Star Trek Online shows off this year's summer festival
Star Trek Online's summer Lohlunat Festival is approaching and we're treated to some new screenshots and details on what to expect this year. Last year's inaugural event in the Risa System showed off new assignments, missions, NPCs, and accolades for all players to enjoy. These new screenshots, included in the gallery below, show off a few of the more light-hearted aspects of the event, including swimsuit outfits, floaters, sandcastles, powerboards, monkey pets, the Risan Luxury Cruiser, and more. The Lohlunat Festival will run from June 5th through July 17th this year. [Source: Perfect World press release]
One Shots: Weather forecast
We've got a lot of great player-submitted screenshots revolving around weather and the environment in-game, starting off with this fantastic picture by Star Trek Online player Chris. "Here is Captain Hannah Welch and the senior staff of the USS Aurora on the surface of an alien world at dusk," Chris writes. "This is one of my favorite screenshots -- it captures what Star Trek has meant to me since I was a kid. A tight group of friends in a universe filled with wonders we've yet to see. One of my favorite quotes from the series (from the pen of Maurice Hurley) comes from Q at the end of the episode that introduces the Borg; 'It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's NOT for the timid.'" If you're adventurous and without timidity, continue reading to see what our community conjured up for this week's weather forecast One Shots!
Captain's Log: A look at Star Trek Online's Season 9 to date
It's strange to be stepping on to an unfamiliar bridge, isn't it? To be in charge when previously you were just an observer, especially when the crew hasn't necessarily changed at all. But you didn't come here to read my metatextual woolgathering; you came here because you want to read about Season 9 of Star Trek Online. Yes, it's been out for about a month now, but that's enough time to get a fairly good sense of it, isn't it? Season 9 is an odd beast, in some ways; elements of it suffered for its long development, but it moves the game as a whole forward and introduces some interesting shifts all around. Its biggest weakness is in how much of it is based not around content so much as improvements of existing content and systems. But let's not focus on that; let's start at the huge upheaval that came with the featured episode and the overhauls it brought.
Star Trek Online celebrates New Romulus Weekend
Star Trek Online is pulling out all the stops for the first anniversary of its Legacy of Romulus expansion with a special weekend event. New Romulus Weekend will be handing out quadruple Romulan Mark rewards for New Romulus missions from May 22nd through the 27th. Cryptic is also putting both Legacy of Romulus editions on sale during this time, offering the starter pack for 2,000 ZEN and the legacy pack for 12,500 ZEN. Even after the weekend event is over, Romulan Mark rewards will remain doubled from here on out as a tribute to the expansion and the players' involvement in it.
Star Trek Online kicks off featured episode reruns
Star Trek Online is going to be in reruns on May 16th, and unlike television shows, this is a good thing. The featured episode reruns allow players to pick up special items that aren't obtainable in the game through any other means, including Breen and Reman bridge officers for Federation and Klingon captains and Lobi crystals for everyone. The event runs from May 16th until May 27th, with each featured episode series (Spectres, Cloaked Intentions, The 2800, and Cold Call) providing a special reward for characters that complete them. Players can also earn 15 Lobi crystals for completing at least one episode per day, making for a total of 180 available for free during the event. So if you haven't gotten the special rewards on a character, you want some crystals, or you just feel like going through some classic Star Trek Online missions, you'll want to jump in on the reruns.
Perfect Ten: Great MMO time travel adventures
Writers and geeks alike can't seem to get enough of time travel, although the ratio of horribly crafted time travel tales to fun and smart ones is pretty lopsided. I've come to realize that MMOs are positively littered with ways that players are invited to jump around the internal timeline of the game, and I wanted to share a few of them in this week's countdown. When you think about it, the proliferation of time travel quests makes a lot of sense from a developer viewpoint. There is a ton of lore that goes into each one of these virtual worlds, but for the most part the players are affixed to a very specific (and unmoving) point in time. Hopping about in time is a great way to experience other eras and actually see history instead of just reading it in a quest box. Plus, if done right, these quests can be quite memorable.
Star Trek Online selling ships at a discount
It's a boring weekend, a sedate weekend, a weekend in which you're just not sure what you want to do. You could go cruising around in Star Trek Online, but you don't want to do it your busted old ship that looks as close to an El Camino as a futuristic warship capable of moving faster than the speed of light is capable of looking. No, you want a new ride. Fortunately for you, getting a new ride is fairly easy this weekend, as the game is having a sale on all ships until 1 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 12th. A 20% discount has been applied across the board to everything other than the new Patrol Escort Refit, giving plenty of incentive to pick up some new refits and new ships if you've got money to burn.
Star Trek Online refitting two patrol escorts
Two big refits are in store for Star Trek Online's patrol escorts, so if you are partial to the Tempest or Maelstrom class vessels, pay rapt attention to the following announcement. The Tempest class refit will be improved to include a fifth tactical console slot, better bridge officer seating, and increased aft firepower. It'll also come standard with a Nadion Saturation Bomb console that "lays down a string of explosive fire" to the enemy ship and beyond, leaving a damaging radiation field afterward. The ship will require Vice Admiral rank and 2,500 ZEN to purchase. The Maelstrom class refit isn't as grand due to its size, but it will be beefed up, add a third engineering console slot, and include a fused aft Tempest tail gun. This ship also requires Vice Admiral rank to purchase along with five fleet modules.
Star Trek Online is giving players two free ship slots
Boldly going where no one has gone before in Star Trek Online will be easier than ever come Thursday. Cryptic announced today that it will be gifting all existing players with two additional ship slots on Thursday, May 8th. Players begin with two ship slots and obtain more by leveling, buying them in the store, or from other in-game achievements. A ship slot allows for the storage and use of a starship, giving players the option to switch between ships as needed. Two ship slots from the store costs 500 ZEN.
Star Trek Online launches Season 9: A New Accord
It's been a long while since Star Trek Online captains had to fear the Undine. This mysterious race has moved off of the radar as the Federation and KDF have explored the Solanae Dyson Sphere, fought back against the Borg and the Tholians, and sought allies upon New Romulus. But the latest patch for the game sees the Undine stepping up their campaign of aggression from fluidic space, sending players through a new series of featured episodes, introducing a new reputation, and offering several new endgame activities. Season 9 also brings with it a number of other changes, including a revamp to how both kits and reputations work. Both systems are now more flexible, with the former allowing captains more control over which abilities show up on the ground and the latter providing more player choice over the long term. Take a look at the full list of additions and get ready to set a course for new dangers in this update.
Take a look at Star Trek Online's Earth Spacedock revamp
Star Trek Online's main hub is about to get a massive facelift, and Cryptic wants to give you a preview of the new design of Earth Spacedock as well as a tour through it. In a dev blog posted yesterday, the studio went through the process of coming up with the ideas for a much improved Spacedock, including how it would be structured and what players would see: "A few solid points were decided. 1. It was all going to be on one floor. 2. We had to have a view both of Earth AND of the Shipyard. Point two meant that there was only one place for it. It had to be within the outer wall of the docking bay." The blog also contains a link to an animated graphic showing a time-lapsed construction of one of the new areas. The Earth Spacedock revamp will come with Season 9's release on April 22nd.
Star Trek Online Season 9 is coming on April 22nd
Even though April 22nd has yet to happen, we have the time travel technology to see it because that tech is a dime a dozen in Star Trek. And on April 22nd, we can tell you with assurance that Season 9 will release in Star Trek Online to the wild split-finger salute of digital Trekkies everywhere. Season 9 will contain a new feature episode, a space battlezone, overhauls to the Undine content, improvements to kits, and more heads. More heads make for a better galaxy, we always say! To celebrate the imminent content update, STO is doling out bonus XP from April 14th through April 21st. Cryptic put together a trailer to help get everyone up to speed on the events leading to Season 9, which you may watch after the jump.
Star Trek Online reveals Undine Infiltration mission
Star Trek Online's latest dev blog details a new level 50 mission called Undine Infiltration. Players can complete the event in 15 to 20 minutes as well as opt into a normal or elite version of it. This isn't your typical MMO mission, though, as STO captains will investigate suspected Undine infiltrators "by asking a series of questions and based on the answers, deciding whether or not the suspect is an Undine and needs to be quarantined." After a player deals with the Undine presence in a series of Bajor caves, he'll be scored based on how many infiltrators he correctly quarantined as well as how many Bajorans he cleared of suspicion.
Star Trek Online shows off new head options for Season 9
The character creator in Star Trek Online is pretty robust, but it has its limitations. There are only so many complexion options and only so many head shapes, and trying to create certain looks took an extraordinary amount of effort. So it's good news for all captains that Season 9 will bring with it a far more robust character creation setup with three new head shapes and three new complexions for everyone. It all started with bringing Tuvok into the game; creating a model that matched Tim Russ' actual face required the creation of a framework that segued naturally into more robust player options. It also gave the team an excuse to redo facial textures that had always been seen as problematic, replacing them with slightly higher-resolution versions that have better mapping. Take a look at the full development blog for more details on the process as well as a closer look at what can be done with the new options.
Star Trek Online shows off a revamp to player kits
Kits are your main method for grabbing ground combat abilities in Star Trek Online. You equip a kit and you're good to go. Despite that, they're also rather limited, as there are a limited number of different kit types and each kit of a given type contains a very set number of abilities. Season 9 is thus deploying an extensive overhaul of the kit system, allowing players to build the sorts of kits that they want to use in a more flexible framework. The core of the system is simple. Abilities are split into two categories for each profession: Assault and Strategic for Tactical, Medical and Research for Science, and Fabrication and Mechanic for Engineering. Kits will become frameworks that contain skill bonuses as well as slots to equip abilities, with each slot allowing any skill within a given category. For more details on how the new kits can be acquired and how the flexibility will benefit players, take a look at the full development blog.
Star Trek Online previews the new Undine battlezone in Season 9
Star Trek Online captains have been diligently fighting against the Voth in the Dyson Sphere for some time now, but when Season 9 comes out, the Undine will arrive. That means players will have to face off against new challenges, starting with the Undine battlezone. While this region of the sphere was previously under Voth control, the Undine have taken this area for their own, forcing Starfleet, the KDF, and the Romulans to work together in order to drive them out. The Undine Battlezone will be accessible directly from the Ground Combat Zone and the Contested Zone. Players will be tasked with taking control of nine points within the map, followed by assaulting the Undine's planet-killer ships. Success earns Dilithium and Undine Marks, while failure... well, you can imagine what that involves. For more details on access and the point control, check out the full development blog.
Star Trek Online overhauls reputation bonus abilities
Reputation in Star Trek Online doesn't just give material rewards; higher reputation is directly tied to new abilities and enhancements for both ships and captains. Season 9 is already improving and renovating the system for advancing in reputation, and that means the developers are taking a closer look at the existing system as explained in the latest development blog. That examination showed off some real issues with the extra powers for veterans compared to new characters at the level cap. It came down to the simple fact that the setup was not viable forever, and as more reputations came in, the gap in power would start becoming sizable. So what does it mean? A new setup for the various reputation powers. Starting with Season 9, powers will be renamed to Reputation Traits, with all captains receiving four slots for Ground Traits, four slots for Space Traits, and four slots for active abilities. These slots can be reallocated at any time, as well, letting you choose from a wider pool of tricks as your reputations advance. Take a look at the latest development blog for details on how the existing abilities will be changing to be more powerful with the new system.
