With a healthy nod to Henry V.(Act III, Scene I), Star Trek Online has announced that yes ‘The Breach’ is returning as a limited time special event.  Back in October (2015) the developers removed ‘The Breach’ from the STF lists with an eye on improving the run for an eventual return.  Originally introduced in November 2013 as part of Season Eight: The Sphere, The Breach was the first of a new generation of multi-stage STF’s, taking place outside and inside a 159km-long Voth City ship.  Taking heavy inspiration both Death Star runs in Star Wars, The Breach was one of those STF’s you’d either love or hate.

I’m firmly in the ‘Love’ group when it came to The Breach.  It’s absolutely gorgeous featuring one of the most stunning interiors you’ll ever experience in Star Trek Online. It was incredibly immersive with stages that could challenge even the most experienced grinder. Check out our memories here: Saying Goodbye to the Breach – One Last Run.

Why it was originally removed is open to speculation.  From new ships being effectively too large to fly through the channels inside, to an elite level version that once boosted by the difficulty changes in Delta Rising became near impossible to complete in a reasonable time frame – most players avoided the mission because the rewards for the time invested were extremely low.

Announced earlier today, the mission is returning as a limited time event with improved rewards on par with other limited time events.

Run the event 14 times (20 hr CD), you can collect:

• 50,000 Dilithium Ore
• 500 Fleet Marks
• 250 Fleet Marks of your choice (yes, Terran is included)
• V.S.S. Tanius Admiralty Card
  

Fun Factoid:  How many blog posts has @LaughingTrendy produced since taking on her responsibilities? Over 2000+ (likely closer to 2030 as of this week). R3SP3CT

Question(s) yet to be answered:

• If we fail to finish the 14 runs, will we lose progress on the event?
  LC: Unlikely. You should be able to keep the event open for it’s return.   But no formal announcement has been made.
• Has the difficulty been adjusted?
• Have the retained the top ‘Trench Run’ as part of the new pathing?

The original announcement:

Greetings Captains!

The STO Team is pleased to reintroduce The Breach queue as part of an exciting new event, “Into the Breach”. This queue has been refurbished and adjusted to address some quality of life issues as well as to create a better experience for an event of this type. The largest changes include a single assault path on the exterior of the ship, better path communication and objective adjustments with an eye towards a faster completion time. The performance based rewards for this event have also been doubled!

From March 3rd at 9:00AM PDT to March 24^th at 10:00AM PDT, Captains between levels 50-60 can queue up for our 5-captain “Into the Breach” event to defeat the Voth City Ship and earn one Voth Operative Transmission every 20 hours. After collecting 14 of them, players can complete a new Event Reputation project to be rewarded with 50,000 Dilithium Ore, 500 Fleet Marks, and 250 Marks of their choice (Fleet, Omega, Romulan, Nukara, Dyson, Undine, Delta, or Iconian, or Terran Marks) and a brand new T6 Admiralty Ship Card: The V.S.S. Tanius.

BONUS! Once the new main reputation project is complete, a brand-new bonus 1- Voth Operative Transmission project will become available to slot. Completing this will earn players 2,000 Dilithium Ore, 50 Fleet Marks and 35 Marks of their choice (Fleet, Omega, Romulan, Nukara, Dyson, Undine, Delta, Iconian, or Terran Marks).

To participate and earn Voth Operative Transmissions, queue up for either the Normal or Advanced version of the event – a successful completion of either will award you with one Voth Operative Transmission in addition to your choice of marks. Completion on Advanced or Elite will also reward Voth Cybernetic Implants.

Gather your friends to journey once more into the breach, and we’ll see you in-game!