14 DAY TRIAL // Star Trek Online's :Season 8.5 is coming out on January 30, also starting the game's anniversary event.
In the new patch, players will have the opportunity to earn new hybrid spacecraft that use Dyson technology, as well as to explore a new featured episode and 12 revamped Federation episodes.
Among the many other changes incoming are the ability to swap starships and builds on the fly, more slots for ships, the elimination of the hourly event calendar and a feature that allows players to outfit ships easier, as detailed in the official announcement.
“Rather than turn one or two more episodes into feature episodes, though, we've chosen to go through and make noticeable improvements on all of them. The stories remain the same and much of the gameplay is still there, but we've tweaked the missions to be faster, more dynamic, and more visually interesting,” Cryptic designer Jesse Heinig wrote in a dev blog, detailing how this will impact the Federation's Klingon War story arc.
The revamped episodes will have better pacing, less unneeded encounters, improved environments and art, better dialogue and career-specific options and rewards.