Cryptic Studios is readying it's next big content update for Star Trek Online which is set to release this month. Called "Season Two: Ancient Enemies", the new content promises a higher level cap, mini games including Dabo, new ships, missions, ship interiors, and tons more. Not only has Cryptic released full details, but they've also released a brand new trailer for "Season Two" featuring some pretty amazing Klingon action and space battles in Fluidic Space.

We were really tempted to simply leave the headline "Star Trek Online May Become Free To Play", but that's not quite the entire story.  In recent forum posts, after a bit of backlash from players over the most recent "Ask Cryptic" episode, Star Trek Online's executive producer Dan Stahl answers one particularly interesting post.

In another episode of "Ask Cryptic", Star Trek Online players got the chance to ask specific questions about the upcoming Season 2 release, scheduled for this month.  Something that caught or eye during this session, apparently new ships are in the works with special features like cloaking for the Defiant class ships and saucer separation for Galaxy class ships.  Both will be available to Vice Admiral Ranked Players.  Check out a few of the more interesting question and answers below.

"Two and a half years on Star Trek Online, seven years at Cryptic Studios … and it’s time for me to move on." says Star Trek Online Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich.  In an announcement posted this morning Craig explains what a joy it's been working on STO for the past two years and what the future holds for the MMO.

Cryptic Studios continues to add new "merch" to their C-store for players of Star Trek Online to enjoy. If you don't play STO and are unfamiliar with the C-store, this is the place where STO players have the ability to buy in game addons for their characters.  From ships to new bridges and pets to uniforms, the C-store offers a wide variety of STO addons.  Including various uniforms and special emotes, many of the new releases were once only available to players who purchased special preorders of the game.  Check out the small sampling below of newly added C-store wares.  

Costume Pack: Deep Space 9

(280 Cryptic Points)

Gameforge, the largest independent global provider of online games, has just signed a worldwide licensing deal with CBS Studios to publish free-to-play casual browser games based on the Star Trek franchise. Based in Karlsruhe, Germany, Gameforge offers 20 games in more than 50 languages and more than 100 million registered users.

“We are proud that the quality of our games and publishing services enabled us to acquire this license,” said Christoph Jennen, CFO of Gameforge. “Our upcoming Star Trek browser games will further expand our consumer base and market share on an international scale.”

Although Gameforge hasn't released which series the games will be based on, they do claim that the new relationship will bring the storied franchise to the fastest growing sector of the games market, and to players across the globe.

Cryptic studios recently released a video detailing the new difficulty slider & character injury features in Star Trek Online. If you haven't played the game in a while or are unfamiliar with the new features, Cryptic has added three levels of difficulty to combat within the game. The different settings also will scale the quality & frequency of combat rewards.

A new interesting feature to the difficulty system is the possibility of sustaining an injury that will in turn reduce your characters performance. Injuries can only occur on the highest level of difficulty in combat and require a visit to a medical facility for repair.

Star Trek Online is slowly approaching the release of another big update called Season 2.  With this in mind, Cryptic Studios just held another round of "Ask Cryptic".  If you're not familiar with this, Cryptic invites players to ask anything and everything about STO & the STO universe.  We've picked out a few of the questions that we thought most interesting.  To read the rest, check out the link at the bottom of the article.

Q: Direphoenix: Are we going to see any adventures taking us beyond the Galactic Barrier or bringing some action from beyond it?

Cryptic Studios is preparing the next update to the current Star Trek Online: Season 1.  Set for release tomorrow and Called Update 2 (catchy right?), the release will feature brand new additions to STO's gameplay as well as updates to game balancing, the fleet system and C-store.  Check out the upcoming updates below.

Accolades

Looking for more ways to challenge yourself in Star Trek Online? Do we have a system for you! The Accolades System is a brand new way to track your stats, show off your tactical skills and advance in Star Trek Online.