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Posts tagged Star Trek Online
Star Trek Online: Tribble Spotlight Shines on Starships
Oct 14th
In the latest entry into the Star Trek Online blog series, "The Road to F2P", starships are detailed. The blog post starts with the announcement that the Tribble test server is "experimenting with some line-up changes to the starships for both the Federation and Klingon Defense Force."
Not only are existing starships being overhauled, but the team has revealed that new ships will be launched on Tribble over the next several weeks. The article also features a handy dandy chart laying out available ships for each character level.
Read the full starship report on the Star Trek Online site.
Star Trek Online: Introducing Dilithium as Currency
Oct 7th
The latest "Path to Free to Play" blog post on the Star Trek Online site deals with a new feature introduced on the Tribble PTS: Dilithium.
Dilithium is now a new form of currency for players to collect. Dilithium can be earned through "ranking up" in level. Each level gained yields a cache of refined dilithium. In addition, there are several ways that players can earn dilithium ore which can be refined at a later point.
The blog post also goes into some detail about the sorts of things that dilithium can be spent on.
Read the entire blog post on the Star Trek Online site.
Thanks to Piasek for the tip!
Star Trek Online: The Path to Free to Play Blog Updated
Oct 4th
The Star Trek Online blog has been updated with three new entries into the "Path to Free to Play" series.
- STO's Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo talks about upcoming changes to the Mission Journal
- Senior Systems Designer Geoff “Heretic” Tuffli talks about a new feature coming with the F2P version, "The Duty Officer"
- Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo writes about the new rewards system being put into place on the Tribble test server
There's a lot of reading about changes coming to Star Trek Online so head to any (or all!) of the links above for more!
Star Trek Online: A Noob?s First Impressions
Oct 2nd
Managing Editor Bill Murphy is finally going where lots of men (and women!) have gone before. He's taking the plunge into Star Trek Online to see for himself what the game is all about. As Bill says, "you either love it for what it is, or hate it for what it isn’t." Find out where Bill landed in his latest article for MMORPG.com. Let us know which side of the spectrum you land on in the comments.
I’ve never really put much time into Cryptic’s Star Trek Online. I dabbled here or there, but when the game launched it was Jon Wood who fell in love with the title, and I was busy writing other stuff on the site. Now, with the recent changes to ground combat, and the future move to F2P I decided that it might finally be a good time to take a look and see what all the fuss is about.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Star Trek Online: A Noob’s First Impressions.
Star Trek Online: New Path to F2P Dev Blog Debuts
Sep 29th
The Star Trek Online team has a new developer blog on the official site designed to give players an inside look at the transition from a subscription-based game to a free to play title.
The first installment of the blog deals with the new test server, Red Shirt, and the change in status of the old test server, Tribble. Tribble will now be a place for subscribers to check out "all the exciting changes coming in our free-to-play re-launch of the game."
According to the blog post, Tribble is slated to reopen today.
Read the full blog post on the Star Trek Online site.
Star Trek Online: Dan Stahl Quits Cryptic
Sep 21st
Star Trek Online executive producer Dan Stahl will be leaving Cryptic Studios next week according to a report at Gamasutra. Stahl's final day is September 30th, at which point he will leave to "pursue new challenges".
Cryptic CTO Stephen D’Angelo will be taking on the producer duties on Stahl's departure.
Read the full report at Gamasutra.
Star Trek Online: F2P Interview with Dan Stahl
Sep 11th
The announcement that Cryptic's Star Trek Online would be going free to play, while not unexpected, came as a surprise timing-wise when it was announced a week or so ago. MMORPG.com Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller caught up with STO's Executive Producer Dan Stahl to talk about the future of Star Trek Online as a F2P title. Keep reading and then be sure to leave us your comments.
Will this model give more optins to Klingon players?
What this model does is help move the Klingon players closer to being on par with the Federation. It means more ships, more costumes, more content that they can play. By increasing their starting level, it also means improving their leveling progression and ensuring there is a good PVE experience for Klingon players who do not want to PVP.
Read more of Garrett Fuller's Star Trek Online: F2P Interview with Dan Stahl.
Star Trek Online: F2P Info Center Debuts
Sep 6th
Thanks to a tip from MMORPG.com user JMcGrath, we now know that Cryptic Studios has posted a new Star Trek Online F2P Information Center.
The information center has the official press release, a matrix outlining the differences between Silver (free) and Gold ($14.99/month) memberships, and a handy dandy FAQ.
One of the more important pieces of information is what will happen to current subscribers and those who already have a Lifetime Subscription:
Q: I'm currently a regular or Lifetime subscriber to Star Trek Online. Where do I fit in?
Regular subscribers become Gold Members automatically. Subscribers are charged a regular fee based on one of the several subscription options they have chosen. Lifetime subscribers, also Gold Members, are those players who have opted to pay a single one-time fee for Gold Membership.
If you stop subscribing, you become a Silver Player. If you have characters that use Gold features, you will be unable to play them as a Silver Player until they are converted.
Lifetime subscribers also become Gold Members automatically and will not be charged a continuing subscription fee. Basically, nothing changes for Lifetime subscribers: They continue to have complete access to the same content, items and episodes the way they always have.
Find out all More >
Star Trek Online: Story of the Week: Star Trek Online Runs Free
Sep 3rd
Though it wasn't entirely unexpected, Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment announced this week that they have plans to make Star Trek Online free-to-play by the end of 2011. In a week filled with PAX coverage, this story garnered a lot of attention if only because many have been hoping for this development for some time now.
As we reported earlier in the week, the inevitable (we think) is finally happening: Cryptic’s Star Trek Online is going free to play. The story also touched a bit on the Torchlight MMO and Neverwinter, two hotly anticipated titles in their own right, but nothing made jaws drop quite as much as the STO going Freemiumn by the end of 2011. While we’ve all been kind of expecting this since Champions Online went free this year, the fact that it was backhandedly announced during an investors’ meeting sort of caught us all of guard and made everyone here at MMORPG.com go “Bwuah?!”
Read the rest of our Story of the Week: Star Trek Online Runs Free.
Star Trek Online: Computer Ed Interviews Dan Stahl
Sep 2nd
In a new interview conducted late yesterday afternoon, "ComputerEd" had the opportunity to talk with Star Trek Online Executive Producer Dan Stahl. The interview commences with a discussion about Wednesday's bombshell that STO would be going F2P by the end of 2011.
"Free to play is liberating in many ways. It liberates development. It liberates our ability to say, 'You know what? You don't have to buy our game to try it. You don't have to make that $15 a month investment just to see if it's a game you'd like.'" Stahl says in the interview.
It's a great peek into the F2P decision for STO in what we believe is the first "official" interview on the subject. Head over to ComputerEd to hear the rest.