Star Trek Online

While last December's red gift boxes proved controversial in the Star Trek Online community, Cryptic has stated that they were incredibly profitable and that it will continue to produce similar "treasure chest" items that require real-world money to acquire. True to its word, the studio will release a new batch of Cardassian Lock Boxes this Thursday as standard, free drops -- but opening them is going to cost you.

The lock boxes contain one random reward inside that ranges from insanely rare (in this case, a Cardassian Galor-class starship) to trivially common (such as consumables) and everything in-between. While the boxes will be attained and traded like any other in-game loot, they can only be opened with a special Master Key purchased in the C-Store. Master Keys will go on sale for 100 CP apiece or 10 for 900 CP.

Other potential prizes in the Cardassian Lock Boxes include Tribbles, Hortas, shuttles, Deep Space Nine costumes, and duty officer packs.

Massively Speaking Episode 185 marks the debut of the Justin and Bree show as the microphone is passed on to a new generation. Many Bothans died to bring you this broadcast, so show some respect, you scruffy-looking nerfherder! Today we talk about RIFT's new trial, MMO anniversaries, and why Star Wars: The Old Republic may not be dying fast enough for everyone's taste.

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

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Another year has passed for Star Trek Online, and it can be described as tumultuous at best.

It was a year that contained very little story-based content provided by the developer, Cryptic Studios, as it was put through the proverbial ringer -- first by being sold off, and second by being purchased in the midst of what many believed was the game's most critical year.

With the focus that many players (including me) had on the lack of new missions in 2011, it was easy to gloss over what material did get released despite the challenges the strangle-held teams at Cryptic were facing.

The game has gone free-to-play, there are visibly more players than have ever been seen before, the development team seems to be settling in to a new owner's house, and the second anniversary is upon us, so it's time to take a good look back to see what was released over the course of the last year.

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"Forge alliances... or all will be lost."

If those words don't give you chills of anticipation, then perhaps you need to take a gander at the video for the brand-new featured episodes coming soon to Star Trek Online. Titled "The 2800," the video begins by showing an invasion fleet popping out of a wormhole as the Federation and Klingons scramble to respond.

During this story, the Jem Hadar will be staging a massive attack upon Deep Space Nine, and it's up to players to warp in and save the game.

The 2800 will debut in the game on Saturday, February 11th, following this weekend's second anniversary celebration. You can watch the full video after the jump!

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Beginning Thursday, February 2nd, STO will see the return of the infamous Q and his mischievous ways. Players are invited to sign in every day between February 2nd and 6th to participate in a challenge handed down by Q. After doing the entity's bidding, players will be rewarded with a different daily prize, although what those four prizes are has not been revealed.

However, the news that really has the playerbase buzzing is the announcement that the new and very highly anticipated Federation and Klingon flagships will also be up for grabs -- for free.

I will be outlining D'Angelo's follow up posts that give us more details into both ships. Also, in light of the announcements, I took the opportunity to catch up with Adam Ihle, whose winning starship design became the inspiration for the final look of the Odyssey class; we'll hear his reaction to the ship's debut in the game.

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The last time on the Perfect Ten, disaster struck the good ship Poseidon and the surviving readers were running out of air as they tried to escape the flipped-over vessel. Also, we were counting down the top 20 MMO themes, but that's of small consolation to the soon-to-be bereaved friends and families, don't you think?

Because we play these games extensively, it's not uncommon for MMO music -- and themes -- to become vilified by the sheer number of times we've heard them. That's a little unfair to a three-minute piece of soundtrack that slaves every day to feed his wife and kids, doing the best he can in a trying situation. So perhaps we can put aside melodic oversaturation to look at these tracks anew, shall we?

With half of them out of the way, it's time to look into the elite of the elite: the 10 best MMO themes of all time. According to me. A guy you don't know. You've got goosebumps, don't you?

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If you're looking for more details on Star Trek Online's new Odyssey-class starship, the game's official website has them.

Acquiring one is as easy as leveling a Federation character to five, since Cryptic is handing out the new hulls for free in celebration of STO's second anniversary. You'll need a Vice Admiral rank to pilot the ship, and if you're a bit behind, you'll receive an inventory item that can be redeemed later.

Cryptic says the Odyssey class is "the pinnacle of Federation starship design" and the largest vessel ever built. The ship can operate for lengthy periods without resupply, and it also features universal ensign and lieutenant commander bridge officer stations that can be operated by any bridge officer class.

It's been in the making for months now, but the wait is almost over. On February 2nd, Star Trek Online will release the latest in the line of Enterprises, the Odyssey-class (Enterprise-F) starship. Players are invited to do more than gawk at its power and majesty, as Cryptic is inviting all players level 5 or higher to take one for a test drive... and then take one home on the house.

Cryptic notes that the new Odyssey will be available for only a limited time at the start of the month, after which it will disappear from the game for an indeterminate amount of time. Players who cannot fly the top-tier starship can nevertheless earn it for use at a later date.

The Odyssey (and its corresponding Klingon Vengeance-class starship) giveaway is just the first part of STO's second anniversary events. From February 2nd through the 5th, the mischievous Q will challenge players to complete tasks in exchange for mystery prizes.

Alienware has partnered with Cryptic Studios to create an interesting promotion designed to draw you back to Star Trek Online. The newly free-to-play sci-fi title is the focus of an item giveaway that features 10 days of subscription time, a 22nd century Enterprise-era uniform, an NX class starship, and an 8-hour XP boost.

What's the catch? Well, the deal is restricted to new accounts only and it also requires you to sign up on the Alienware Arena website. Once you've met those requirements, it's as easy as clicking on the big blue "get key" button and copy/pasting the digits to your Cryptic or Perfect World account.

As of press time, over 2,200 keys were still available.

The weekend before Star Trek Online launched its free-to-play format, Cryptic Studios' Lead Designer, Al Rivera, responded to a lengthy list of player concerns, rants and questions via the STO community podcast PodcastUGC.

PodcastUGC usually focuses its broadcasts on issues revolving around the game's user generated content tool, The Foundry, but as of late the co-hosts of the show (including me!) have been desperate for specific Foundry issues to discuss due to the lack of changes since last year.

In the previous week's episode, I let my opinions fly along with my frustrations about what I felt was a severe lack of story-based content. I asked aloud, "What the hell have they been doing the past year?"

To our surprise, we were contacted by Al Rivera, who set aside his day off to talk with us about just that.

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We are Perfect World. We will add your sci-fi MMO to our free-to-play collection. Resistance is futile.

In case you missed it, Cryptic's Star Trek Online has gone F2P, and a new launch trailer does a good job of summing up the title for the uninitiated. The clip is two minutes' worth of highlights that include ground and space combat gameplay as well as plenty of beautiful vistas, starched Starfleet uniforms, and of course, the menacing Borg.

Head past the break for the new trailer, and don't forget to check out Massively's archived livestream feed from yesterday's free-to-play launch day festivities.

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As you probably know by now, Star Trek Online is converting to the free-to-play format this coming Tuesday, January 17th. If you've held off subscribing to STO for the past two years, you might be wondering what you can expect should you decide to give STO a try.

If you've never played an MMORPG and are thinking that this might be a perfect time to try one, I think you might be right. STO is not like most other MMOs. That can be a good thing but also a detriment.

This column is here to help you, Trekkie or not, gamer or not. And I'm going to try to help you decide whether STO is the F2P game for you.

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On Tuesday, January 17th, Star Trek Online will be officially free-to-play!

In celebration of the launch, Massively will be joining Cryptic Studios in welcoming all new and veteran captains. The team is hosting several fun events ranging from costume and trivia events to livestreamed character creation tutorials and dance parties!

Please join me, Massively's humble STO columnist, as I pair up with STO's Community Manager Brandon Felczer to stream our way through all the fun. You could win up to 5000 STO Promotional Points! All livestreamed events can be viewed during and after the event on Massively's Twitch channel, and all other communications can be monitored on the "F2PLaunchParty" chat channel in-game. The fun begins at 1:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, so check out the official schedule of events after the break.

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If mankind's exploration into outer space has taught us anything at this point, it's that sooner or later we're going to need to strap big guns on our bubbles of life support and blast each other out of the cosmos. It's already a prevailing theme among MMOs, with titles like EVE Online, Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Black Prophecy, and Battlestar Galactica Online allowing us to jump forward a few hundred years of technological growth so we can have some space shootin' fun.

As of late there seems to be two camps developing regarding MMO space shooters. With the advent of SWTOR, some are warming up to the cinematic on-the-rails style of its space combat game. Tunnel shooters allow for a more scripted -- and potentially more exciting -- experience, and this type of combat has a long history in single-player games dating back to Starfox and before.

Of course, the other camp just loathes rail shooters, much preferring the ability to fly anywhere one wants and engage in combat on one's own terms. The freedom of this style of space combat appeals to the inner individualist who doesn't want to conform to what everyone else is doing.

In which camp have you struck your tent? Are you for free-form space combat or on-the-rails shooters? Let your vote be heard after the jump!

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After the most tumultuous year in Star Trek Online's history, we stand on the cusp of the game's second anniversary and full-blown evolution to free-to-play. Early F2P entrance for former subscribers was opened last Thursday. And now, unfortunately, loyal subscribers have been informed that the anticipated flood of new story-based content might more accurately be described as a trickle.

In his most recent Dev Diary #11, STO's acting Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo outlined his future hopes for the game in 2012. As players are wont to do, we read between the lines and noticed not what was contained in the blog but rather what was blatantly missing: a detailed outline of future playable content.

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