The massive multiplayer game Star Trek Online is now a month old, and already the game is set to evolve with more content. Today we have a all the details on upcoming "Common Ground" content update, plus a video showing off some of the cool new additions to the game.
VIDEO: Star Trek Online Content Update
Season 1: Common Ground Fact Sheet
Our latest content update, Season 1: Common Ground, is releasing shortly. Here’s just a bit of the updates we have headed players’ way.
Lifetime Subscriber Perks
We’ve put together a special thank you package for our Lifetime subscribers:
- Classified Access Codes – A free C-store item.
- The Captain’s Table – A special social area exclusive to Lifetime subscribers, available to both Federation and Klingon captains.
- Special In-Game Title – “Career Officers” are those who’ve joined Starfleet or the KDF for the long haul.
PVP Updates
- Wargames – Federation players can now participate in PvP against one another to better prepare for the dangers of the battlefield.
- New PvP Map – Explore “Shanty Town,” a brand new Ground Assault map available for both Klingon and Federation players.
Customization
- Off-Duty Uniforms – Experience Risa in style! Starfleet officers will have the option to change into off-duty outfits to enjoy more casual attire.
- New Stances and Hairstyles – Further customize your Captain by changing his or her hairstyle, or adopting two brand new stances: Stern and Relaxed.
Ships
- A New Klingon Battle Cruiser – The K’Tanco Battle Cruiser has been made available to Klingon Lieutenant Commanders.
- Klingon Ship Customization – Use the ship tailor to customize your Bird of Prey or Raptor.
- Respec Is Here – Unhappy with your Captain’s loadout? Use the respec tool to change things up.
Missions
- New Fleet Actions Everywhere!
- The Big Dig – Available in Romulan space.
- DS9 Under Siege – The True Way has attacked and boarded DS9. Repel the invasion to save the day.
- Klingons Can Play, Too – Klingon Captains may now access the Crystalline Entity, Big Dig and Breaking the Planet Fleet Actions
Skills
- New Skill: Starship Attack Vectors – Improve your ship’s accuracy and critical hit chance.
- New Skill: Combat Maneuvers – Improve your ship’s evasion and turn rate.
- New Skill: Starship Battle Strategy – Improve your ship’s critical hit severity and damage resistance.
In The C-Store
- New Bridge Variants – All new ways to update your Bridges’ look, available for a low price in the C-Store for both Federation and Klingon ships.
- Federation Ship Variants – New takes on your old favorites, available for a low price in the C-Store.
GET YOURS
Can anyone tell me if Star trek Online has any good offline content? I’d like to play it but I don’t want to devote huge amounts of time to it. To coin a phrase, I have a life.
>;>}
I have one too. It’s Star Trek Online fool!
@1 – Star Trek Online is just that Online. There is no offline options.
btw, awesome comming soon video. I can see the future now……..
So far not that charming!
Yeah too bad that single player rpg never happened with the original series cast. I really dislike games that are online only, are mmo’s or whatnot because i still have yet to see one with a story as compelling as a single player game. There are single player games that are equal to films in terms of story content or cutscenes. But all the money seems to be in the business of the online world of warcraft clones and the monthy subscriptions.
I SEE…i rather on ps3 online
Stern AND Relaxed stances? Be still, my beating heart!
(I kid, I kid!)
Well.. the Tellarite looks nothing like a Tellarite :( and what ship has the huge bridge from 2:22 ??
Like most of it except SF starships, they’re too over the top for my taste.
Don’t kid. I joined star trek online in beta. I pre-ordered it and paid for the special edition. I played my first 30 days and then quit. It’ just didn’t have enough to keep me playing. Everythings still so glitchy and bugged. (I know that’ll get better with time.) Anything besides the main story arc missions are boring and repetitive. I swear, if I had to beam down to one more ‘abandoned Dominion base’. Or somebody else’s abandoned base that just happens to look exactly like the dominion ones. Not enough maps. Everything is instances. It’s not like you get to meet fellow warriors on journeys back and forth between towns like other mmo’s. There’s no social gatherings. Nobody hangs out at the club at the starbase to talk about missions. Only time you even see anybody is just running past them to get somewhere else. And Vulcan, ugh! You can beam down, sure, but it’s just a small square with a fountain. No vendors. No npcs to even talk to. It’s pointless. And all these content updates RIGHT after launch. These are all things that shouldve been finished and ready before they released it! I could rant some more, but what I’m getting at is that it was very dissapointing and not worth the time or money.
9th Fleet (a Star Trek gaming clan that has been around for over a decade) is having it’s heyday in STO. We now have 80ish active members which is huge to us, including a video game developer with intimate bonds with Trek gaming. We have all come to the same conclusion:
This game is excellent and will be excellent. However, it was obviously rushed. Cryptic is indeed listening to what people want and rapidly developing that content.
Now that Cryptic no longer has Atari breathing down their necks, they can concentrate on pounding out the rest of the game.
Also, playable Pakled characters for the freaking win.
loving the game.. And sure it could be better.. Isn’t that the whole point of this article? That it is getting better? This game can only get better as they add more and more to it. I’m a little biased as i’m one of those ‘buy anything trek’ types – who i suppose they rely on.. One thing i think would be wonderful is a movement system based more like generations stellar cartography. Oh go on… :)
10. Carson — You pretty much nailed it on the head!
STO isn’t horrible, but it’s horribly limited. There is no sense of being in the universe; instead, you are stuck in a few grids of semi-familiar places that bear little resemblance to the “real” Trek locations, at least in terms of drama and fun. The missions are repetitive, and worse, unimaginative. (Beam down, shoot baddies, click on computer, click on scientist, beam up, chase ship, fight baddies, beam down…)
It’s a game that is stuck in the limited and linear world-building schema of 10 or 20-year-old games, NOT the open-world style of good MMORPGs.
And with the unTrekly focus on combat-combat-COMBAT!!!!, this should’ve been “Starship Troopers” instead of Trek.
And the nonsense that is Memory Alpha and crafting. Grrrr…barf!
No exploration. No ability to just head out into space to see what’s there. (At least in Warcraft you can take a break from boring repeated quests by running out into the world and exploring. In STO, you can’t even enter many of the systems unless you’re on a specific quest. WTF?!
I played my 30 days and canceled. I’ll check back in a year or two, see if it becomes more of a Star Trek game. Right now, it’s nothing but potential.
The 24th century aesthetics and sound FX leave me cold. And the thought of having to subscribe to it leaves me absolutely frigid! No thanks.
The beta was fun for a few days, then it turned into grind fest 101.
I’d rather play something where I don’t have to fight every mission.
~ Sigh ~
It could be so much better like others have said.
I was going to go ahead and get this when they had the 90 free days but they pulled that offer. So now I’m sticking to my original plan, wait 6-12 months before playing. More content, less bugs, better experience. I’m sure the 90 free days offer will swing around again. I have most Star Trek PC, Console, and handheld titles to keep me occupied until then.
It’s a fun enough game.
I just hope they keep cranking out the sandbox features.
I would love to get my hands on a Nebula class ship and then completely customize my crew the way I had it back when my friends and I pretended we had our own ships back in Junior high 15 years ago!
Are you guys playing the same STO that I am? Yeah, I’ve played a lot of those same missions that you’ve all talked (and complained) about, but there are plenty of other non-combat missions around that I’ve played as well!
And I don’t see how you’re all saying that the game was “obviously rushed”? They’ve been working on this game for at least two years that I know of!
From the looks of it to me, they have spent a lot of time and effort trying to give us the best game that they can, and they are continuously making improvements to it, as well as adding more content! There are so many great many little trivial nods and salutes to previous Trek’s that I am constantly smiling when I’m playing!
I don’t see how you can complain about that!
I don’t quite understand why but STO does little to shake the ongoing curse of Star Trek license = poor videogame.
I don’t understand why but Star Trek fans complain about everything. Why is this. New Star Trek movie – “oh it’s terrible and violates canon”. Star Trek Online – “it’s terrible and violates canon.” Enterprise – “this show is terrible” Star Trek Voyager – “it’s no DS9 and just repeats old stories”. Star Trek Conventions – “they are so overpriced”. The list can go on and on. I recommend avoiding those who just continue to complain about everything. At least there is Star Trek stuff to consume.
@ 10 & 13
I agree with you both.
As a Trek fan i really hope it gets better, but it is limited and not very exciting, but I’ll check STO again in 6 months time.
god I wish my pc could play this:(
@19:
So everyone has to like everything labeled ‘Star Trek’? You cannot have an opinion of your own, the possibility to dislike something? I liked Voyager, I thought ST09 was nice enough, but I don’t like STO. Does that make me a complainer of everything?
In response to the video; I thought it was more Babylon 5 with those ships than Star Trek. I still don’t get a Trek feeling. I wish the others all the fun they can get out of it, but Atari won’t get any money from me.
All I’m saying is that there is not a single Star Trek product that comes out that you won’t find people posting how awful it is. It seems as though there is a segment of Star Trek fans that would prefer that there be NOTHING at all as opposed to SOMETHING. Can you imagine how grateful the Stargate fans would be for a game like this or a movie like ST09.
#24 Different strokes for different folks.
I really hope they put out a console version. I really can’t afford a new computer right now.
@24:
j.d, I’m not certain if the people complaining are always the same. It’s possible that a fan likes Enterprise but dislikes ST09. That said, I do agree that there are a few out there who bash everything what isn’t TOS. But my point here is that the people posting negatively about STO are possibly just not happy with STO. They could be very happy with all what is Trek, except for STO. Like me for instance ;)
I don’t want STO, but rather something like a miniseries or webisodes. Some more books maybe. Something, not nothing :P
I’ve been playing it and so far I alike the game. Yes, it has repeatable missions in it which and and should be expanded on, but I look forward to their first update next week as well as what they have to offer in the future. Besides, it is a fun game for my friends and I to get online and play casually.
@18
2 years is not a long time for the development of a good game, its actually a short time. For the amount of content I would feel that there was only 6 months or less of actual work done on missions, the amount of dialog wouldn’t even fill 4 chapters of the current paper backs.
I guess if you don’t really play current and last gen games that often the game play contained in this could be appealing. But having played to admiral so far, im not finding too many reasons to stay.
But if you’re having fun, then that’s all that really matters though
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You COULD say that there are non combat missions types, and you would be right. But one should also note that the non combat missions could barely be called gameplay.
There are 4 types roughly : 1) Fly one orbit or down a straight path to collect 5 data samples by hitting “F”. 2) Give 10 provision items that you have to buy to a random planet. 3)Beam down to a planet and collect (Meteor, Artifact, or Plant) Samples by pressing “F” (sometimes this involves fighting). 4) Beam to a generic base and access a series of computer console located in every other room (this also can contain fighting). It should also be noted that all of these are repeated unlimited in exploration missions. there are not “Episodes” that don’t consist of Space battle, land battle, space battle.
Its nice that they are making more content but what this article doesn’t say is that alot of this is supposed to be taking place over the next 6-12 months (as stated in his “State of the Game” address on the site).
I really want to love this game, I mean Ive been following it in every single article for the last 3 years since it was first showed by perpetual. But having played since the beta, i’m really starting to loose my nerve. There’s 1-2 missions per level when you first start out which is good. Then when you rise in rank its 1 mission per level, and then once your captain its 1 mission per every 2-3 levels, which leaves you stuck PvP’ing, or repeating exploration missions for hours or days (depending on you amount of time) to get one story mission, which inevitably cant live up to your built up anticipation.
Even the New Borg Raid missions consist of space battle, ground battle, ground battle, Space , Ground, Space. If you have any doubts about the content of the game, just check out the Wiki which has synopsis of all the missions and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Lastly they claim they’re all about listening to the players but they dont even have a means for you to communicate with them outside of them trolling the forums on occasion. I would have though they would have an Email or something, not that companys always have that, but they do claim to want to hear about you.
The forums are a bad place to be on, imo, because of the flaming and the venom that goes on there. If you like the game they tear you apart, if you dont like it they tear you apart too.
none of that is to say that I don’t like the game, I think it has a lot of potential. If they just toned up the star trek and toned down the button mashing. I wrote a thead called “Small changes for a big effect” that really got down to what I think are some really small issues that could be fixed almost immediately. But like I said earlier, it just got buried under the flame wars and the nonsensical complaints.
@newtype311
Excellent comment! I agree completely…
One complaint i have not heard enough of, is the graphics suck and are outdated.
Star Trek Online was glichy the first month possibly but its getting alot better bugs are being worked out and having seamless play now, I am up to the Rank of Commander Level 2 almost to 3. I have limited time to play but still play and get a rank up every other day. I also have a fleet Prometheus Fleet. you can find me on Star Trek online as O’Rilley@prometheusfleetco Maybe your want to join our fleet its up to 22 members. Love the idea that us Lifetime members are getting some more perks. :)
Chris
Comment to number 28- Five Years of Development as went into the game Cryptic only had it for two years, but the game has been in developement since 2005 when it was announced then started work on it in 2006
I’m still waiting for a Mac version. I refuse to put Windows on my beloved MacBook.
I guess if I get really impatient, I could install it here at work on my pc.
Those bridges are so huge that you’d have to shout at your crew to give orders.
“Warp Factor 2 Helmsman”
“Worf’s an actor too sir?”
“I SAID WARP FACTOR 2!”
Have been playing the game now for about a week and love it. a bit glitchy and repetitive at times, but so far so good. as a newbie to the game i’m a bit confused about upgrades to self and ships and how it works, but I guess in time I’ll understand.
STO HANDLE: TSelis@Khev
@ 24 j.d.:
Trek fans and complaining – well, I don’t think the situation is that bad. Two things: 1. On an online board like this, usually there is a higher chance to speak out if you have some to complain about. Someone who is just fine with the way things are wouldn’t talk so very much about it. So it’s quite normal I guess. And hey, do you want to read thousands of comments like “This is so cool!”, “Great!”, “I am a fan”, etc.? ;)
2. It’s a site for people who are so commited to a singular franchise that they regularly visit a singular website on their beloved show (congrats to trekmovie for having become that site). So, what did you expect? People who don’t care? ;)
I know, it’s irritating to see so much complaining on this site, but it has more to do with how things are communicated than with the fans themselves.
On topic: Haven’t played STO yet, since don’t like online gaming and it doesn’t look Trek enough to me to spend the money and give it a try. Would have bought the Perpetual version though, although their concept sounded so amazing that I didn’t really expect it to ever be released.
Dont buy this crappy game. Belive me. I buy the game play it afther 30 days i quit. Boring missions repeat repeat and repeat over and over again. No team need. Its a f*cking SOLO game. So borring