Massive update for Season X Launch: The Iconian War

New Featured Episodes:
  • Episode “Blood of Ancients”:
    • “Blood of Ancients” can be found in the Featured Episode tab of the journal.
    • This episode is available for Captains level 10 and up.
  • Episode “Delta Flight”:
    • Complete the episode “Blood of Ancients” to begin “Delta Flight”.
    • “Delta Flight” can be found in the Featured Episode tab of the journal.
    • This episode if available for captains level 10 and up.
  • For more details, please visit the Prelude to the Iconian War blog at:http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…he-iconian-war
The Herald Sphere:
  • The Herald Sphere is a brand new PvE Space 5-player cross faction queue.
  • Fight the Heralds of the Iconians who have constructed a temple with the ability to move their ships all across the galaxy at will.
  • The Herald Sphere will have Normal, Advanced, and Elite difficulty options.
  • For more details, please visit the Heralds Sphere blog at: http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…-herald-sphere
Brotherhood of the Sword:
  • The Brotherhood of the Sword is a brand new PvE Ground 5-player cross faction queue.
  • All factions join to defend Qo’noS from the invading Heralds of the Iconians.
  • The Brotherhood of the Sword will have Normal, Advanced, and Elite difficulty options.
  • For more details, please visit the Brotherhood of the Sword blog at:http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…d-of-the-sword
Gateway to Gre’thor:
  • Gateway to Gre’thor is a brand new PvE Space 5-player cross faction queue.
  • All factions join together to stop the Heralds of the Iconians from invading the Qo’noS System.
  • Gateway to Gre’thor will have Normal, Advanced, and Elite difficulty options.
  • For more details, please visit the Brotherhood of the Sword blog at:http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…detail/9109433
  • Iconian Resistance Reputation:
  • This new reputation is available in the Reputations panel of the character status window.
  • The Iconian Resistance Reputation System offers high-end rewards for Captains to use against the Heralds of the Iconians.
  • Iconian Marks are required to progress through the Iconian Resistance Reputation.
  • Earn Iconian Marks by completing any of the following PvE queues:
    • The Herald Sphere
    • Brotherhood of the Sword
    • Gateway to Gre’thor
    • Bug Hunt
    • The Battle of Korfez
  • In addition to Iconian Marks, Mk XII set gear requires Iconian Probe Datacores.
    • Earn Iconian Probe Datacores through higher difficulty versions of any queued event which offers Iconian Marks.
  • For more details, please view the Iconian Resistance Reputation blog post here:http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…nce-reputation
Captain Specialization Tree: Pilot
  • The Pilot Specialization has been expanded to include a Tier 3 and Tier 4 to make it a full primary specialization.
  • The Pilot Specialization continues to focus on adding abilities to space combat and maneuvering.
  • The expansion to Tier 3 and Tier 4 will add 7 new abilities as well as upgrades for these abilities for a total of 15 additional abilities to purchase.
  • The cap on Captain Specialization Points has been increased by 15 to accommodate these new additions.
  • Currently purchased abilities in the Pilot Specialization will not be altered or removed.
  • For more details, please visit the Pilot Specialization blog at:http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…detail/9080973
Bridge Officer Specialization: Pilot
  • The new Pilot Bridge Officers are available to go along with the new Pilot Specialization expansion.
  • Pilot Bridge Officer powers focus on space combat and will include 12 new powers.
    • These Bridge Officers will not have any new ground powers.
  • After purchasing 10 abilities in the Pilot Captain Specialization, players will have the ability to create Specialization Qualifications for the Pilot Bridge Officer Specialization by accessing the Officer Training R&D School.
  • White/Common Quality Pilot Specialist Bridge Officers are also available at the standard Officer Requisition stores.
  • For more information, please visit the Bridge Officer Specialization: Pilot blog at:http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…ridge-officers
Sector Space Revamp:
  • Sector Space has been revamped into three Sector maps:
    • Alpha Quadrant
    • Beta Quadrant
    • Delta Quadrant
  • The Alpha and Beta Quadrants are separated by the Traffic Controller contact in the same fashion the previous Sector map transfers functioned.
  • The Delta Quadrant can be accessed in the same way through the Gateway in the Japori Sector.
  • This revamp also includes additions to:
    • A different feel of flight through Sector Space as ships are now more maneuverable in Sector Space.
    • Many art updates and additions throughout the environment.
  • Sector Space specific Duty Officer Missions will still be available.
    • The transwarps to these locations will still bring the player to the correct spots to start these Duty Officer missions.
  • Foundry missions will have minimal impact.
    • If a door in a Foundry mission is connected to an old Sector door, it will be re-directed to the new Sector Space map.
  • For more details, please visit the Sector Space Revamp blog at: http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/sta…r-space-revamp
General:
  • Command Officer, Intelligence Officer, and Pilot Specialization trees have all been updated to be set as Primary or Secondary.
    • This means players can have any two of these active at the same time.
    • When a full Specialization tree is set to Secondary, players have access only to the abilities in Tier 1 and 2 of that tree.
    • Commando Specialization has not changed and is still a secondary specialization only.
  • Klingon captains can now switch ships in the Qo’noS System.
  • The Dynamic Reinforced EV Suit is now levelless.
  • Resolved an issue where on some graphic settings lens flare would not be visible when looking directly at the light source.
  • The “Earn for Next Grade” in the progress tab of the character window now updates information up to level 59.
  • Updated the “What’s New” text to add information on the Iconian War.
  • Added new login screen art, logo, and loading screens.
Systems:
  • All Mark and Elite Mark conversion projects now only take 5 seconds to complete instead of 15 seconds.
  • Reordered all Upgrade Slot reputation projects so they will display in this order:
    • Claim Tier Rewards
    • Mark and Elite Mark Conversion Projects
    • Sponsorship Projects
    • Miscellaneous Projects
  • Added a project to exchange 100 Reputation Marks for 1 Elite Mark.
    • This project has a 5 second duration and a 20 hour cooldown.
    • This project does not exist in Reputations that do not have an Elite Mark.
  • Added higher-denomination Mark-to-Dilithium conversion projects to all reputations.
    • The existing project, 50 Marks = 500 Dilithium, remains available and unaltered.
    • Two new projects are now available:
      • 250 Marks for 2500 Dilithium
      • 500 Marks for 5000 Dilithium
      • Each of these higher-input projects will only appear in the player’s list if the player has at least enough Marks to complete them.
  • Updated the description on Concussive Tachyon Emission from the T5 Delta Reputation to indicate that it is a Ground Active Trait.
  • Resolved an issue where the Armor Penetration ground trait from the Delta Alliance Reputation was giving players 50% Armor Penetration instead of the 5% advertised.
    • Also, the Armor Penetration value has been increased to 10%.
  • Each of the following projects for Fleet Starbases now provide 5 Buff Provisions at Tier 0, instead of zero, and an increasing number for each Tier after that instead of 5 at all tiers:
    • Support Local Systems
    • Reinforce Local Systems
    • Ongoing Research Projects
  • Resolved an issue where the Commander Bridge Officer ability on the Dyson Destroyer would not update when changed.
  • Sensor Analysis and Gather Intelligence no longer lock players in combat while active.
  • Resolved an issue that was causing “Expose Weakness” to sometimes apply the Expose effect to the owner of this ability, instead of the target.
  • Resolved an issue with Temporal Backstep that was causing portions of this console’s effects to not properly apply to Romulan Timeships.
  • Resolved an issue with the Red Matter Capacitor that was preventing this device from repairing Weapons Offline status when activated.
  • Resolved an issue that was causing drops of Secondary Deflectors to go directly into players’ inventories without needing to interact with them.
  • Resolved an issue that was preventing Predictive Algorithms from properly clearing debuffs.
  • Removed extra copy of Stun Grenade I from the Bridge Officer Trainer Store.
  • The [Run] Mod is now for crafting only.
  • Renamed the Crystalline Entity’s death explosion to be more thematically appropriate
    • Crystalline Core Shatter instead of Warp Core Breach.
Ships:
  • Updated the lighting on ships to better show off more details.
    • This applies to most player and NPC ships.
  • The Mirror T’Varo properly unlocks the Mirror material.
  • Resolved an issue where some Dual Cannons and Dual Heavy Cannons were not equippable on Warbirds, Multi-mission Science Vessels, and other appropriate ship types.
Foundry:
  • Added Earth Spacedock as a UGC Map.
  • Added a new indoor template map: Diplomacy Room.
  • Added numerous Earth Spacedock Map Support Objects including:
    • Turbolift
    • Club 47 Doors
    • Ops Holographic Consoles
    • Ship Markers
  • Added Ground Scale Ship models for use in the ESD Docking Bay and other maps.
  • Added a number of Space Stations.
  • Updated the UGC Version of the Bajor Planet to use the proper material.
  • Galaxy Ground Scale ship has been updated to match the new Galaxy Class visuals.
  • Foundry functions will temporarily not be available when Season 10: The Iconian War goes to Holodeck on 4/21/15.
Content:
  • Iconian Marks have been added as a reward option for the queues “Bug Hunt” and “The Battle of Korfez”.
  • Iconian Marks have been added as a reward option for two open missions in the Kobali Adventure Zone:
    • “At the Gates” which is a requirement of “Breaking the Wall”.
    • “The Last Stand” which is a requirement of “With Our Last Breath”.
  • Updated “Inspired” accolade so that it can be completed.
  • Resolved an issue which was preventing players from obtaining the +damage vs. Bluegills power when reaching the third tier accolade for Bluegill kills.
    • Players who already have the third rank kill accolades on Vaadwaur and Bluegills will get the +damage perk power now.
  • Resolved an issue which was causing the walls to disappear while leaving the jail and walking into the coliseum in the episode “Coliseum”.
Character:
  • Resolved clipping issues when wearing the Romulan Republic Female Uppers.
  • The chest on the Female Delta Alliance Armor has been adjusted for better animation.
  • The Male Romulan Lower Pants have been changed to have 2 color options instead of 3 as was intended.
  • New “Slim” versions of the Romulan Shoulder Pads are now available.
  • Resolved an issue causing cropped Winter Jackets on Female Klingons to look incorrect for the chest.
  • The Wells Badges no longer float above the Wells Uniform.
  • Resolved an issue which was causing the toes of the Female Honor Guard Boots to point inward while running.
  • Resolved a clipping issue on the sides and back for the Female Upper Mirror Universe uniform.
  • Overlay costumes for new players appearing in the “Fed Academy graduation cutscene” should now properly override skirts with pants on female Federation characters.
UI:
  • Added a Bloom Intensity slider button to the Advanced options in the Options menu.
  • Resolved an issue where the powertray overlay would not properly update when moved in shooter mode.
  • The order that Reputations are listed in the Reputation Tab now matches the order in which Marks are listed in the Inventory: Assets Tab, with Events sitting at the very bottom.
Known Issues:
  • Foundry functions will temporarily not be available when Season 10: The Iconian War goes to Holodeck on 4/21/15.
  • The Radiant Antiproton Pulsewave Assault Weapon is missing audio effects.
  • Occasionally, when accepting a new Episode, the sub tasks under the episode name will not initially appear in the mission tracker.
    • In order to make these appear, the player can open the journal and either clear or make the episode the primary mission or transfer maps.
  • The crafting nodes in the Delta Quadrant are in incorrect locations.
  • Leaving the Jenolan Dyson Sphere for the Beta Quadrant temporarily puts the player on the old Tau Dewa sector block map.
  • KDF players do not appear in the scoreboard at the end of a PVP match.

4 thoughts on “Massive update for Season X Launch: The Iconian War

  1. .
    New season, new missions, updates,
    however a harrowing lack of balance changes:
    – What about weapon type balance?
    – What about faction balance?
    – What about class balance?
    – What about ship balance?
    – What about difficulty to loot ratio balance?
    The Federation needs to send a Deferi envoy to Los Gatos.

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    1. I think they’ve given up on the short-term issues of balance in game. While I don’t agree that everything should be equal, loot drops/rewards certainly do need some love.

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  2. Well!

    The Pilot ship are actually much better ingame than the leaks hinted at – those screen captures didn’t do them justice. I still have some of my pet peeves about the Fed one – the bussard collector cutout in particular – but overall it feels very Starfleet.

    Also, I’d mention that amongst the three characters (Delta Fed Eng, Fed Sci, Rom Sci) that my Delta Recruit struggled on the ground against the Heralds, but her Andromeda-class aqccounted for itself very well. Delta Flight was a bit awkward in a cruiser. My Fed Sci did decently in her Luna-class particle gen build, but on the ground her whole TR-116B equipped team suffered the most.

    The character that did best on the ground was mky Romulan Sci – between her plasma split beam pistol, her Omega Force 3pc equipped away team and Plasmonic Cascade, she absolutely wrecked everything the Heralds had to send her on the ground (plasmonic cascade, that kit module I was disappointed in before, is actually amazingly powerful against most of the Herald grunts – really cleans out the house).

    However, in space, despite her Faeht’s ability to do some uncloaking takedowns, the Faeht blew up several times; turns out that if the target is a battleship and refuses to go down in the first opening salvo that it’s going to be quite effective in taking down my little Romulan glass cannon. As in, the Faeht got locked down, and locked down HARD. It may be worth returning her to the Fleet Daeinos. ^_^;

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    1. Oh, and there’s totally a Romulan version of the Piloting ship. Another artful take on a bird in flight. However, it’s one of those instances where the Romulan faction may not have come ahead in ship looks; it looks okay, but it doesn’t look great (in my eyes, anyways).

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