With all the teasers and tasters that we've had over the last few weeks, as to the content that is to be included in this half-season, it’s difficult not to get excited about the changes. A complete revamp of the crafting system is but one of the things to look forward to this summer - until the release of Expansion 2 later this year.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
So what is new in Season 9.5?
This radical new overhaul sees the R&D system become far more personalized, and tailored to each player. It will utilize the Duty Officer system to allow players to craft items with a random chance of a “critical success” allowing the player to achieve an extremely rare item. A whole new range of Duty Officers are being made available to players, which have specializations in R&D based options, such as the Aegis system.
With this update, we say farewell to those annoying particle traces that have been taking space up in bank tabs across the game - that have almost zero use. New items are being used in the form of common, uncommon, rare and very rare materials for crafting - that will be stored in a special R&D tab on your inventory - thereby keeping them out of your main inventory. These items can be purchased from the C-Store in bundles, achieved by completing either normal or elite STF’s, or via harvest nodes in main storyline missions. The exploration sectors have been removed, instead creating unique systems.
There is an added twist to this as well, in that specific queues will grant specific very rare items needed for crafting. For example, if you need Trellium-K for your projects, you will have to run Khitomer Vortex to complete it. This will be true of every instance queue available, meaning that players will need to play these queues in order to get the items they need for crafting.
As well as these changes, R&D will work in a whole new way. Players will need to level themselves up in seven different schools; shields, beams, science, projectiles, ground weapons, engineering & cannons. Each of these schools holds different items that can be crafted, but its not as easy as previously, selecting a Beam Array Mk V… oh no… you have to craft the items that enable you to build the Beam Array in the first place. This will mean that construction components will become the focus of the crafting enterprise - rather than the end result.
Another tweak that we’ll be seeing - not straight away - but eventually, is the ability to completely customize the items you are crafting. You will be able to pick the modifiers that are applied to the devices (within limits), thereby allowing players to create gear that is tailored to their personal needs and requirements. These will also include such benefits as [ARC], giving beams a 360 degree firing arc, or cannons a 90 degree firing arc. These special benefits obviously take up the space of a traditional modifier such as [Acc] or [CritD], but give the player the option of how they want to build their equipment.
As players level up, it becomes easier to create very rare (purple) gear, with the chance for a critical success giving players ultra rare (ultra violet/fleet) or even unique (Gold) gear. Even traditional sets such as the MACO ground set can be modified via the R&D system to enhance their abilities and/or quality.
As outlined, the R&D system has received a considerable boost to its performance and abilities. However, this is not without its downsides.
The biggest downside of the lot is the sheer amount of Dilithium that you will need to use as part of the R&D process. These projects will cost Dilithium to run, and there is no guarantee at the end of it what you’ll be getting for your expense.
Also, with this overhaul, the price of items will be changing. Fleet gear will become far more expensive, and the values of various normal items will be changing as well in an attempt to hijack the Energy Credit economy. Ground weapons will be brought more into line with their space equivalents - which sounds great, but the value of space gear such as shields, engines, deflectors and the like will be reduced.
As part of Star Trek Online’s ongoing development, they have decided that time time has come for STO to tick over to 2410. As such, all NPC’s were given the distinctive Odyssey uniform to wear. This has slowly been phased in during Season 9’s development. Now the time has come for player captains, their officers and crew.
As of Season 9.5, the Odyssey uniform will be made free for all players, and will be the default uniform across the board. Depending on the rank of the character, there are four main variants, which can be changed by simply changing the colour scheme. There is an enlisted, officer, captain and flag variant, available in the three main divisional colours.
To replace the Odyssey uniforms as the fleet unlock uniforms, Starfleet have provided the Odyssey Tactical variant and the Odyssey Dress variant as unlocks. For those players who have already paid to unlock the Odyssey uniforms from the fleet - these uniforms will be free to purchase.
On the KDF side, the Bortasqu’ uniforms are also becoming free with the update. Unlike the Federation faction, this will not become the standard uniform of the Klingon Defence Forces, but merely add another level of variation. At the fleet level, like their Federation counterparts, they get three new variants - Ceremonial, Guardian & Operative.
As an added bonus, there will be a 200 day veteran uniform variant for both the Odyssey and Bortasqu’, with the Federation variant resembling the uniform worn by Admiral Quinn with the coloured cuffs. The Klingon variant can be seen on various NPC’s on the homeworld.
As a dramatic change to the way things have been done in the past, Cryptic are rebalancing the economy in an attempt to make things fairer to all users.
The Energy Credit (EC) resale value of Space & Ground weapons has been increased from vendors, whilst items such as deflectors, engines, shields, kit-frames & ground armour now have a lower intrinsic value. This change does not however reflect the exchange.
Also changed will be the Dilithium requirements of Reputation and Fleet equipment. The cost of Reputation store items has been modified with this release; with Space Mk XII equipment now costing 22,500 Dilithium per item, and Ground Mk XII equipment costing 7,500 Dilithium per item.
Reputation project items, such as set items, have also been modified. The cost of a Space Set item is 32,500 Dilithium per project, and Ground items are on 9,000.
Fleet equipment sees a dramatic change to its Dilithium cost as well, to bring into line these items with their equivalents from R&D. These changes are:
- Fleet Advanced Space Gear is 10,000 Dilithium.
- Fleet Advanced Ground Gear is 3,750 Dilithium.
- Fleet Elite Space Gear is 15,000 Dilithium.
- Fleet Elite Ground Gear is 5,000 Dilithium.
(Fleet Credits are still required, and prices have not changed.)
- Fleet Advanced Ground Gear is 3,750 Dilithium.
- Fleet Elite Space Gear is 15,000 Dilithium.
- Fleet Elite Ground Gear is 5,000 Dilithium.
(Fleet Credits are still required, and prices have not changed.)
Changes to Consoles available from both the Reputation and Fleet stores are being modified as well. These will be Mk X: 6,100 - Mk XI: 6,800 - Mk XII: 7,300. Again, those requiring Fleet Credits will retain them.
Lastly, Dilithium item vendors have been deactivated, and regular use items such as weapons, space gear and ground gear have been removed from the Dilithium market. Special purchase items remain unaffected by this change.
As is traditional with a new series, there will be a new lockbox to replace the Undine lockbox that has been in service since season 9 went live. This box will provide a host of new equipment, duty officers and starships.
For more details, stay tuned to the Federation News Service for an upcoming feature!
To see a complete list of reivisons, check out the patch notes here.
WRITTEN BY KERRYMALONE
EDITED BY TORINTH - STEPHEN.HALL@UFPLANETS.COM
IMAGES COURTESY OF PERFECTWORLD ENTERTAINMENT
