Star Trek Online Open Beta 20100119a.7 Patch Notes, January 20th

Huzzah! The new patch is here for Star Trek Online, and it is decidedly chunky! There’s so much good stuff in here that tomorrow I’ll be dedicating my STO Open Beta liveblog to seeking out the changes ingame. First I need a little nap, as I stayed up for the patch note release!

Headline Updates!

* Level Cap Removed!
* Cardassian and Romulan Sectors are now open for Federation Players.
* All bridge officer candidates offer a free basic customization option when they join your crew.
* You can now use the scan button on the MiniMap HUD to direct you towards the closest anomaly.
* Bridge Officers will now request transfer to your crew at various levels.
* Leonard Nimoy has provided an audio journal overview as you enter each new Sector Block.

Release Notes and Known Issues
General

* Fixed an issue where the price for training wasn’t accurate
* There have been many updates to video performance and default settings. If the game looks different, go into Video options and update them back to what you prefer.
* Updated the price of guild bank tabs.
* When you unslot an ability from your tray it will now move the item that grants it back to your inventory.
* You can now sell items directly from the paper doll.
* Updated tribble descriptions
* Level up congrats won’t happen until Level 3
* Attempt to fix many bugs with powers not slotting in proper power trays. This may require existing players to reslot powers where you want them
* The following social maps are now availabe: Vulcan, Risa, and Andoria
* Added basic respawn protection power
* Improved loading screens
* Removing a weapon power from your power tray, now removes the related weapon item from your ship to your inventory and vice-versa
* Changed door behavior on Defiant-class bridges.
* Lt. Romaine has departed Earth Spacedock and is now back on Memory Alpha in the Romulan Sector
* Updated civilian costumes to be more random
* Added contest winners to ship tier names
* Fixed duplicate instance of transphasic bomb kit in the store list.
* Fixed bug where players could not move items into their bank or guild bank.
* Federation players now have Guild Uniform options.
* Added PvP and Exploration vendors to: Qonos, Ganalda, K7 and Earth Spacedock
* Armor now shows when equipped on Bridge Officers.
* Fixing default bridge screen so it shows a starflield instead of just a black void.
* Increase cost of renaming ships and bridge officers in conjunction with free costume changes.
* Bridge Officers will no longer pet tribbles constently
* Tribbles will no longer grow larger and larger.
* Changed starting level of klingons to 5
* Updated Klingon starting equipment. Ground and Space.
* Added Batleths to Klingon, PvP, and normal stores.
* Added very rare items to loot tables
* Fixed a bug where small ground consumables cost more than large ones. Updated pricing of consumables to be more in line with progressions. Added Consumables to Klingon equpment stores.
* Fixed Exchange searches for Lieutenant rank items.

Missions

* Tutorial has had another polish pass to improve amibient NPC animations and add final costumes for primary contacts
* Bug Fixes for Gateway, PJem
* Lowered requirement on deep space and star cluster to level 3.
* Updated enemy behavior in the Gorn Minefield and Starbase 24 Fleet Actions
* Klingon repeatable mission cooldown timers have been set to 6 minutes (the same time as it takes for the deepspace missions to reset)
* Danteri mission should now go to the appropriate planet surface.
* Repeatable star cluster missions can now only be completed in the specific Star Cluster the mission is for.
* Added a Klingon version of the Laurentian Fleet Action
* Updated mission description of the Crystalline entity fleet action
* Improved traffic control around Starbase 39 in Romulan space
* Beaming down to Memory Alpha should be easier now.
* Fixed several issues in the Friend of My Enemy mission.
* Changed all of the unknown system interacts to give players a chance to be able to join Teammates arlready engaged in a star cluster mission.
* Many systems and planets now have maps that previously did not
* Updated the map name of Pve_Competitive_Borghunt_Lt
* The turn in string for a mission now only appears in the mission objectives list if the mission is awaiting turn-in.
* Added free costume change to rank up mission
* Updated reward tables for Exploration missions
* Ranks missions were given additional instructions, sub-objectives, and waypoints in order to achieve maximum clarity regarding the Ship Requisition part of the mission chain.
* Fixed double spawn issue for C’Zann on Qonos
* Added New Sector Space Enemies
* Updated many landmarks in KFR and ROM
* Adjusted Spawn rates for Laurntian Ice Mining Ground Fleet Action
* Fixed many typos
* Added Security guards to Earth Spacedock and Qo’Nos
* Doomday Machine: -Improved AI to be more predictable. -Increased the firing arc and build up time of the main weapon.
* Unknown Alien Races now populate Star Cluster Exploration “unknown” systems.
* Fixing many Star Cluster planets that had objectives that could not be completed.
* Fixed neutral warp to Kerrat
* Disconnected neutral zone and klingon sector warps to iPvP ground maps (Otha, Qayghun)
* Added messages to inform the player when they are being offered a shared/secondary mission.
* Klingon player PvE repeatable missions now require the player to complete the open mission three times and at the end will grant exploration token rewards. These exploration tokens can be turned in to vendors on Qonos (formerly the PvP vendors which were duplicated on Ganalda) for special gear and weapons.
* Scientists can no longer be interacted with early on Researcher Rescue.
* Hostage ship at the end of Researcher Rescue now easier.
* Many many other mission bugs you filed have been fixed.

PVP

* KvK Ghostship should now drop rewards correctly
* KvK Hostile Takeover map now grants rewards properly.
* PvP Solar Wind should now grant rewards correctly.
* PvP map names standardized in queues.
* Queues no longer overlap levels, so players won’t have to face ships of incorrect tier.
* Fixed incorrect win condition on pvp areacontrol maps.
* Updated PVP queues to prevent players joining PvP at improper levels.
* Fixed display conditions for PvP scenarios so that players can access instructions mid-match.
* Distentigrated players will no longer remain invisible.
* Players who leave a PVP map prematurely have a wait time to rejoin a queue
* Corrected exploit that allowed Pvp Space Disruptor weapons to be tradable.
* Fix several queue UI/scoreboard issues.
* Updated PvP Arena queue settings
* Fixed the KvK Assimilation (Ground iPvP) map so that it now has enemies and that all the mission contacts are Klingon Houses

Environments

* Fixed some occlusions on the U.S.S. Warwick
* Fixed a few spots where you could jump into space
* Updated sky backgrounds on new planets in Federation Sectors
* There is now a minimap for Qo’nos
* Added 2 NPCs talking about sulu being admiral quinn’s office
* Added mailboxes were added in starbases where you can send receive items via mail
* removed a few patrols on earth spacedock that pathed in front of the admiral’s office – causing traffic jams

Skills, Powers, and Combat

* Improved ground combat balance. Easier at earlier levels, and more balanced at higher levels.
* Letheans – When purchasing the Telekinetic trait, Letheans received an old passive version of the trait that is no longer in use. Fixed so that they now receive the activated knockback ground ability. This will effect old and new characters.
* Saurian – Fixed a bug that prevented most Saurian characters from purchasing skills. This will apply to new and existing characters.
* Increased player ground and ship HP and Shields accross the board. This change mostly takes affect past Lt Commander.
* Cannons are now on a 1 second shared cooldown. They can be chain fired in their recharge timers, but they cannot be simultaneously fired. Previously, some cannons could unreliably fire at the same time and others couldn’t. The behavior should be consistent now.
* Increased crew size for the Tier 1 Bird of Prey to 30 so it works with “Boarding Party”.
* Fixed spawn rank on engineering fabrication objects.
* Strengthened fabricated phaser turrets, but reduced their spawn limit to 1.
* Powers that spawn critters to properly use the caster’s level.
* Restored Evasive Maneuvers to a toggle power to allow for power level adjustment during its use.
* Fixed Tractor Beam so it works better when used against certain ships.
* Adjusted Ramming Speed damage and maximum speed in combination with Full Impulse and other speed enhancement powers.
* Ground Armor Shield Regen mod is now periodic instead of continuous, gives roughly the same benefit over time
* Buffs now display how long they last, and how many times they have been stacked.
* Changed the Crystalline entity’s beam to do Anti-proton damage instead of phaser damage
* Improved Tractor Beam Repulsors repel and damage values.
* Corrected stacking errors in attack pattern powers.
* Enabled stare down on all space enemies. They will no longer instantly aggro at 10k.
* Added info text to skills indicating the requirements for unlocking ability training.
* Reworked Force Field Dome engineering kit power to grant a damage resistance to allies and repel enemies from entering dome.
* Fixed Tetryon Bolt Pistol primary attack short description
* Fixed Tetryon Beam Pistol and Dual Bolt Pistol primary attacks short description
* Reduced the number of torpedo salvos low end cruisers, escorts and battleships fire – both in how many torpedoes they fire, and how often they fire them. A similar change was made to many critter ships to reduce how often they fire off other weapon enhancing abilities (like Overload or fire at will).
* Reduced the number of heal and shield repair abilities low end cruisers, escorts and battleships – both in frequency and in magnitude.
* Fixed item info window to correctly display passive power descriptions.
* Reworked the team powers (Engineering Team, Science Team, Tactical Team) to be consistent with each other and effective. Renamed Medical Team to Science Team. Renamed Security Team to Tactical Team.
* Dual heavy cannons’ basic attack was doing less damage than the baseline. It has been brought back online with the other energy weapons’ basic attack dps.
* Reduced duration and recharge of Photonic Officer. Added duration to Tactical Initiative, which now reduces recharge on tactical bridge officer powers only.
* If you put your ship in reverse for more than 10 seconds, you will start so slowly drain power from all systems.
* Improved the damage improvement per level of activated traits.
* Generic Pacify – Added 10% Expose chance. Added hold resistance on expiration (was missing from this power).
* Gorn Bite – Increased recharge time from 45 seconds to 150 seconds. Doubled the physical damage component. Quintupled the toxic DoT damage. Increased DoT duration.
* Vulcan Mind Meld – Added 10% Expose chance. Increased recharge timer from 120 seconds to 150 seconds. Previously, this was a maintained power that had an extend duration on Hold and Confuse attribmods. Removed the extended component and stacked the entirety of the duration on the first pulse. This makes it show the full effect of the power in the tooltip. Increased the overall duration of the Confuse, and the Hold is for the activation time of the power.
* Vulcan Nerve Pinch – Added 10% Expose chance. Increased recharge timer from 120 to 180.
* Lethean Rapture – Added Exploit ability. Added 20% shield penetration. Increased recharge from 60 to 150 seconds. Increased the damage by 300%. Increased hold to 2 seconds.
* Orion Seduce – Added 10% Expose chance. Increased duration by 33% and increased recharge timer from 60 to 120.
* Fixed Aceton Field. It now properly applies a DoT and visual fx.
* Added stealth debuff to Sensor Scan ability and updated target options to include friend or foe.
* Telepathic and Acute Senses have the same stat bonus, +20% StealthSight
* Combo powers have now have short descriptions in power details lists
* Phaser Cannon Mk II: Text said firing arc was 180′, actual arc is 45′
* Ground Combat Holds – Increased player innate resistance to holds, which effectively reduces the durations of holds against players. Once holds expire, they apply additional hold resistance buffs. When players have this buff stacked on them, the resistance will become complete immunity. This does not affect NPCs.
* Space Combat Space Mines should now detonate more reliably, especially when used against large targets.
* Heavy Torpedoes – If a hostile target gets too close to the heavy torpedo while it is pursuing its target, the torpedo will explode and damage the opportune target.
* Fixed Nadeon Inversion power to work with new energy drain mechanic
* Removed bridge officer powers from Photonic Fleet. Increased recharge time.
* Fixed Tachyon Beam so its shield drain no longer tapers off over distance. The effectiveness is constant over range now.
* Ground Shields – Improved the scale of ground shield regeneration. Now, when your shields pop, they should reliably heal your shields to full regardless of your level and the level of the shield. The time to full heal should be consistent across all levels. Ground Shield Regen Enhancement – Items with this power now heal 2% of your shields every 2 seconds.

FX and Animation

* Added FX to Jam Sensors, and Scramble Sensors.
* Updated Tribble FX
* Updated explosions for several enemy ships
* Added FX to Generic species trait Telekenisis.
* Civlian no longer fast walk on Memory Alpha
* Fixed Phaser lighting issue. Light was appearing at the target and not at the source.
* Added FX to Extend Shields. The beam will now last for the duration of the power.
* Added fx to Nanite Health Monitor.
* Male characters should now use run and gun animations appropriately.
* Added FX to Science Boff Viral Matirix
* Added FX to Emergency Power to Auxiliary, Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity Field, Aceton Field, Hazard Emitters, Tachyon Beam, Tractor beam Repulsors.
* Added bloodwine cup FX for emote.
* Added New FX for Deep space encounter markers.
* Klingons should no longer use starfeet tricorders.

Characters and Costumes

* Players can now Save/Load costumes.
* Clicking random when creating a character of a specific species is now more defined.
* Added more color options for uniforms.
* Updated character creation presets.
* Fix a visual problem with Klingon Assault weapons
* PVP Vendors are now wearing cooler gear.
* Random: reducing chance of AlienGen getting hair or eyebrows.
* Humanoids always get eybrows.
* Bajorans now always recieve earring.
* Andorians always get antenna When making new costume
* Characters always start with a badge and ensign pips
* Adding Ferengi and Starfleet Klingons to Bridge Officer Requisitions
* Reducing frequency of “old age” faces
* Updating uniform colors to have all colors, in all zones
* Pointing the short-curly-hairstyles to use the fuzzy material shader
* Removing dreads hair from most “human” species (these are a klingon specific part)
* Fixing Uniform category selections
* Klingon security officers now use more appropriate Klingon faction costumes.
* Added name generation data for Gorn, Lethean
* Added Bar Patron costumes.
* Added Asian faces to character creator

Audio

* Removed placeholder sound for Bridge Officer VO placement.
* Updated ambient audio on some Cardassian sector planets
* The interaction sound for setting the away team rally point should now correctly play when left clicking and right clicking the button.
* Lots of audio updates for bridge officer and kit powers
* Many adjustment to sfx volumes

UI

* There are now context sensitive cursors for when you can perform actions as you mouse over objects
* MiniMap update. New buttons. Help is integrated into the menu as well as status, inventory, menu, and captains log. There is a dropdown arrow button that will allow for more buttons. Large Warp/Beam and Hail buttons are now added to side for ease of click and a consant Scan button added to the frame.
* Added info button to HUD target status window
* Updated Mission Windows. Opacity never drops below 45%.
* Updated the mission objective tracker
* Added tooltip to Throttle UI
* Added distance numbers to ground team status HUD
* Access Library Computer option on minimap menu should now function again
* Reorganized the “Skill-Based Stats” section of the status window
* The Target of Target indicator will now display the correct life for the life bar.
* Social search menus all properly reference Level now.
* Item counts show again on various item UIs.
* The trade UI no longer cuts off item names and generally looks better
* Dragging and dropping items has improved
* Many updates to the Klingon HUD
* interact buttons no longer have bright white selected states on by default
* Klingon character select screen is no longer off-center
* Chat popup button uses a new and hopefully a more understandable icon.
* All Food icons have been updated
* Contact window header now matches the chat window border style.
* Updated the backdrop for the contact window so it’s 150% sexier than the plain blue gradient.
* Fatigue, Recovery, and Held bars are now movable via HUG rearrange mode.
* Added new Galaxy Map arrows to denote map connections
* Change disable camera shaking to enable camera shaking in the options menu
* Target reticles now show up on entities even if they are dead.
* The size of buff icons has been increased.
* Item info window will now appear when right clicking items in stores.
* Crew bar tooltip to show crew levels and hull regeneration rate.
* Updated icons for end game pvp, exploration and raid rewards items
* The Skill selection winodow now shows the cost of the next level rather than the current level – which is important for Bridge Officers.
* Fixed a bug that was causing incorrect information to show up on certain item tooltips.
* Updated the Power Store UI
* Map names now truncate if they are too long to properly display and instead display the full map name in the tooltip.
* Now when the character status window is opened in space (U), your ship is selected. When it’s opened on ground, your captain is selected.
* Added UI for displaying mission rewards which have been given directly to the player (not dropped).
* Completed submissions are no longer displayed on the mission helper.
* Updated icons for all the “Unique” items in the game.
* Random buttons now work much more reliably in the character creator.
* Weapon icons now correspond to their different type of attack.
* Added “Value:” label to item tooltips to clarify the meaning of the item’s value in the lower right corner of the tooltip.
* Double clicking on a mission in the mission tracker now opens that mission in the mission journal
* Clicking on the minimap’s title now gives the option to change instances (it no longer shows in the minimap dropdown) – Fleet option now only shows if you are in a fleet (same as the chat popup menu)
* The team right click menu now appears correctly if they are in different systems.
* Player titles now show over the player’s name on ground maps
* System map now shows labels all the time.
* Names are now truncated on scoreboards if they are too long
* Fixed checkbox flickering in chat UI
* Made a bunch of visual improvements to the character creator
* Added badge display in captain’s “Progress” tab.
* Added title selection dropdown to Character Status UI
* Ship weapons will only show the slots for the areas they can be slotted in.
* Fixed a bug where the ship item comparison tooltips would appear when looking at players rather than the ship on the status screen.
* Starfleet/Klingon hail no longer flashes when disabled
* Double-clicking a character model at the character selection screen now enters game.
* Added icons for engineering/science/tactical in “Choose your Career” UI
* Fixed “friends” command to actually open friends list
* Updated the Team Window. Controls and feel.
* Journal – Made “Episodes” display Rank/Grade instead of level as well as several other cosmetic changes
* Added info to blank officer slots to make it clearer what they are.
* You can now use the Control key to drag stacks of items rather than the Shift key so that there is no conflict with the run key
* Fixed flickering and list row height problems in guild UI
* Remove auto-attack from ground inventory/control scheme.
* “remove” now shows correctly on trade UI to remove a given item + cosmetic tweaks
* Update message for when the shard is full.
* The galaxy map now shows which sector you are currently in as well as your approximate location.
* Updated Team window buttons, added missing button states like ‘has target’ and ‘stay’. Also fixed a broken alpha channel on the rally button.
* Updated passive admiral team powers (space and ground) to use proper icons and team affect area.
* Added faction icons to the target status HUD window
* Added new Faction Icons and Klingon Pips
* Item slots will now turn red when attempting to move a Boff into them
* Fixed bug where all inventory slots would be highlighted red when dragging certain items.
* Updated the CONNING pips to reflect up to 8 levels now.
* Removed the greeting dialog so that players are immediately presented with the replicator store.
* Switch Active Weapon will queue up the swap if the primary weapon is in use

Known Issues

* Recipes are showing in the Exchange, but there are currently no recipes in game
* PVP Queue issues are still be worked on.
* Presets don’t work for tailoring your bridge officers
* Status FX are sometimes displaying as bright squares.
* Cargo ships and space traders do not bring up a store interface, even though they have interact options.
* The number of items in a stack in the Exchange is black and hard to read
* PVP and Exploration vendors do not explain how to get the badges and currency needed to claim rewards
* Some civilians are illegally using Starfleet uniforms.
* Brige Officers cannot be traded at this time
* Some rifles can cause arm animations to look odd
* Left clicking targets will often select someone behind you instead of what you were clicking on
* Some test VO for bridge officers is playing unexpectedly.
* Many headshots will camera pan unexpectedly
* Shield indicators can sometimes go away on the HUD and never come back
* There is non-existant ‘dueling’ zone on Andoria. This is not intended to be a PVP area and is being removed.
* Power Trays can sometimes be blank and not display your tray. To fix this, change the row number back and forth to display the tray again
* Free Fleet Escort ship is missing from the store. If you reach Rear Admiral Rank, you will not be able to get a free Fleet Escort (you can purchase it). All other ships are available as a free reward choice at that Rank (There is a free Advanced Escort available).
* If you have multiple cannons (Player and Critters), sometimes hitting fire all will allow all your cannons to fire one pulse – adding bonus damage. Only one cannon should be able to be fired at one time. This bug applies to critters with multiple cannons as well.
* Rapid fire is disabling as soon as you fire one cannon. It is supposed to last 15 seconds and allow you to fire all cannons in Rapid Fire mode for that time. A fix is on the way very soon.
* Mid-range level ground critters (low teens) are hitting too hard. We will be reducing their damage slightly.
* Chroniton Torpedo Tuning. They are doing too much damage and not enough debuff. This is getting tuned. They will do slightly less damage then they are doing now, but will have a significant slow and turn radius debuff. This affects players and enemies.
* You can fire too many Tri-cobalt devices in a row. They will be put on a global cooldown. This affects players and enemies
* Metreon Gas Clouds are doing too much damage
* There is no current way to now display armor equipped on your Bridge Officers

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