Star Trek Online - Now Free-to-Play

DangChris xD wrote:Well I know which Defiant I would pick I had to fight fighting the Enterprise D put it that way.

Winckle wrote:

DangChris xD wrote:Well I know which Defiant I would pick I had to fight fighting the Enterprise D put it that way.

Winckle wrote:I know what you meant, but that's my favourite defiant, jeez.

With the February 2 launch of Star Trek Online coming up, publisher Atari has detailed the pre-order incentives of various retailers, including, yes, an in-game Tribble pet.

In addition to the retailer-specific items below, all Star Trek Online pre-orders come with guaranteed access to the open beta, which runs January 12 through January 26.

Furthermore, those that pre-order from unspecified "participating retailers" will net "Early Start" privileges, allowing them to access PC MMO's live servers beginning January 29 and get an entire weekend's worth of progress in before everyone else.

GameStop
GameStop customers receive the ability to command the exclusive and always classic USS Enterprise from Star Trek The Original Series.

Best Buy
Best Buy is offering their customers a fun in-game pet. As a Federation Captain, players own a famed Tribble of Star Trek lore that will accompany them on their travels into the final frontier. As a Klingon commander, players control the boar-like Targ, a beast found on the Klingon home world of Qo'noS.

Amazon
Amazon is offering an exclusive "Liberated Borg" Bridge Officer. This bridge officer, who comes with unique nanotechnology augmentations, assists in missions and gains experience as the player does.

Wal-Mart
With the Wal-Mart Bonus Skill Points package, receive addition skill points that enable players to improve their characters quickly.

Target
Target customers who pre-order Star Trek Online receive a unique ground weapon – a TR-116. This rare projectile weapon is used in dampening fields and other challenging environments; it is also modified with a micro-transporter which beams the fired projectiles to targets at close range so that a user can fire without a direct line of site.

Direct2Drive
Direct2Drive customers receive an exclusive Multi-Spatial Personal Shield. This advanced personal shield system is based on Borg technology, which constantly regenerates itself and the health of its wearer.

STEAM
STEAM is offering customers Chromodynamic Armor. This armor is based on technology brought back from the Delta Quadrant by U.S.S. Voyager improves the damage and critical hits of energy weapons.

Twinkle Winckle Christmas Star wrote:Yes. The original series episode with it is probably one of my top 3.

Star Trek Online's Klingon faction content will be almost exclusively PvP-based when the PC MMORPG launches on February 2, Cryptic has revealed--unlike their Federation foes.

Klingons "must advance through PvP, as they will not have access to robust player-vs.-environment content at launch," a press release states while reassuring that "PvP... is something we designed from the ground up to be a viable advancement path."

"We are trying to get some PvE in (there's already a tad bit). And, if the players demand it, we'll add more content (like episodes)," said chief creative officer Jack Emmert in a forum post. "I want us to be agile as a company and respond to what the customers want."

Players are unable to create Klingon characters off the bat, instead they must first "unlock the first sector block of Federation content, about five hours into the game" to receive a Klingon of rank roughly equivalent to the Federation character who unlocked the option.

Star Trek Online boasts a variety of PvP modes, with duel 'Challenges,' team vs. team 'Arenas,' objective-based 'Scenarios' and open PvP 'War Zones.' New and more advanced ships will become available to Klingons as they rank up.

In unrelated recent news, Cryptic Studios also announced that Zachary Quinto--Spock in the latest Star Trek movie--will voice an Emergency Medical Hologram serving as the MMO's tutorial. Have a gander at the EMH and Quinto in action in this new trailer.

Hound wrote:Are there any details for UK pre-order bonuses?

Everyone who pre-orders the game will be entitled to take part in the Open Beta test from January 12th to January 26th as well as the 'Early Start' programme, which runs from January 29th through to release on February 2nd.
But those buying from specific retailers get even more...

Pre-order the title from GAME and you'll receive a unique in-game ground weapon - the TR-116 rifle. The rare projectile weapon is used in dampening fields and other challenging environments and it is modified with a micro-transporter which beams the fired projectiles to targets at close range so that a user can fire without a direct line of site.

Those that go to Amazon get an exclusive 'Liberated Borg' Bridge Officer, who comes with unique nanotechnology augmentations, assists in missions and gains experience as the player does.

Gamestation customers receive a short-range auxiliary Starfleet Shuttle, used for personnel transport and small cargos and has limited warp capacity.

Play.com will reward customers with additional skill points for faster in-game progression.

HMV offers a unique in-game pet. As a Federation Captain, players will own a Tribble to keep them company on their travels while Klingon commanders will receive a boar-like Targ, a violent and destructive beast native to the Klingon home world of Qo'noS.

Elsewhere, Gamestop offers the original USS Enterprise as the rewards for pre-ordering, while independent retailers around the country are offering micro-transaction points to be spent in game.