As Delta Rising gets ever closer, more information comes pouring out about our latest expansion. KerryMalone has more...
[PRBreak][/PRBreak]
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 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; 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.

Do you think you have what it takes to advance in the specialization tree? Read on!

CAPTAIN SPECIALIZATIONS
ARC News - Captain Specializations

As promised with Delta Rising, Captain’s who advance post level 50, will not be advancing skills via the old skill method, but rather via a whole new and imaginative “specialization” tree. On launch of X2, there will be three major specializations available to Captain’s, via the “Intelligence” “Piloting” and “Commando” specialization trees. Gaining levels in each of these will unlock special bonuses and abilities previously unavailable to players - with such merriment as the much discussed “Barrel Roll” ability for Starships, and the ability to beam a warhead directly onto an enemy’s bridge!

BUG HUNT!
ARC News - Bug Hunt!

As anticipated, there will be new queued events available in Delta Rising. One of these was the Borg Disconnected event, reported previously. Another event’s details have been made available, known as the “Bug Hunt”. This event becomes available once a Captain completes the “Dragon’s Deceit” episode, and gives players another ground based STF event - where Captain’s go into a nest of bug-like aliens, and begin fumigation, in the only way we know how - pewpew!

QUEUE REVAMP
ARC News - Queue Revamp

One of the long promised and most eagerly anticipated revamps of the existing STO system has been the re-examination of the ‘Queued’ event difficulty levels. For many months now, both players and Cryptic have been aware of the growing ease of what was dubbed the “Elite STF’s” within the game. With Delta Rising, there will be three tiers of difficulty on both queued and mission content; “Normal” “Advanced” and “Elite”. Normal will remain as it always was, a casual gaming level of difficulty. Advanced will incorporate all that we know about current Elite difficulty, but with some minor tweaks to make the game more interesting. Elite will be limited to level 60 Captain’s, with some of the hardest difficulty as yet seen in Star Trek Online. The first major revisits will happen on the much loved “Borg STF’s”, and it is yet to be seen how these new revisions will change game-play for players.

GEAR UPGRADE EVENT!
ARC News - Gear Upgrade Event

Excitement abound as Cryptic gives us early access to the equipment upgrading system! Captain’s will be able to upgrade all their existing gear from Mk XII to Mk XIII, and even have a chance to upgrade gear to Ultra-Rare! (Mk XIV & Gold rarity won’t be available until X2). During the run-up to X2’s launch, each Thursday, there will be a free give-away of upgrade components for each of the different skill trees, to allow captains to upgrade their favourite gear for free!

SEVEN OF NINE'S RETURN
ARC News - Seven of Nine's Return

Joining the cast of well known figures from the Voyager universe, Seven of Nine returns to add her voice and talents to our journey through the Delta Quadrant. An absolute fan-favourite, Seven of Nine is a very welcome addition to the line-up of old faces we see from the Voyager saga. Joining Neelix, Harry Kim, Tuvok, The Doctor and others in a bid to help players through the new story-line that has been opened up via the Dyson Sphere.

WHAT OF DELTA RISING'S MANY FEATURES ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST?
LET US KNOW BELOW!

WRITTEN BY KERRYMALONE
EDITED BY CEHUS - CHRIS.HUDSON@UFPLANETS.COM