Here at the Federation News Service, we realize that you, the player, are a busy person. You may have kids, a job, a cat (or seven) or a busy school schedule. Every so often, there is a piece of STO news or a forum post that you may not catch that we feel is important. We at the FNS would like to help you with that. Here are some pieces of news from the last few weeks we have found particularly interesting. These articles and posts could contain anything; new gameplay mechanics, cosmetics changes, and everything in between.
Every few weeks we try to select a few items that we feel every player should know. There may be more or less depending on the information available. These items could come from the Star Trek Online official forums, a developer interview from another news outlet, or a player. In addition to a link to the source, we will provide our opinions on the topic as to why we think it matters to you.
Are you gearing up for Season 9.5? This news roundup is here to give a quick reminder of some of its biggest changes. Get your Tricorders calibrated, buy up your Unreplicatable Materials, and wipe those exploration clusters off of your map, because things are about to change.
ARC News: Dev Blog #29
Why it matters: One of STO’s commonly overlooked features; Exploration Clusters are being removed when Season 9.5 is released. The official dev blog reasons that the Clusters were not at all similar to what was originally envisioned for them, because each mission was too similar to one another. They will be replaced with Duty Officer assignment hubs in key locations near the original location of the cluster (ex. The Delta Volanis cluster’s hub will be somewhere in the Vulcan sector of the Sirius sector block). The Tuffli Freighter and Suliban Cell Ships’ unique exploration cluster transwarps will instead bring the user to within sensor range of said hubs, and accolades tracking missions completed in the clusters will instead track Doff assignments in them.
ARC News: Dev Blog #27 and Dev Blog #28
Why it matters: Research and Development is Season 9.5’s revival of the crafting system. Involving Doffs in the process as well as streamlining the general workings of the system, R&D breathes some fresh air into crafting. R&D is separated into seven separate “schools,” each school is focused into Engineering, Science, Shields, or any type of weapon. Each school’s maximum level is 15, which eliminates the chance of crafting Common items. Upon hitting Level 15 in a school, it unlocks that school’s special item, as well as a special trait. The items are always Very Rare, and can be made Ultra Rare with a critical success. The list of traits and items can be found in the second source.
ARC News: Lifetime Subscription Sale
Why it matters: You’ve got five more days to buy yourself a Lifetime Subscription to STO for 33% off! A Lifetime Subscription to STO means instant access to all Veteran rewards, a 500 ZEN per month stipend, and other goodies. This deal extends from now until July 10th at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time. If you were ever seriously considering becoming an STO Lifer, now would be the time to spring for it.
Wixi