The Star Trek Online Victory is Life Expansion is Out

Star Trek: Online, a free to play MMORPG, has just released its fourth major expansion called “Victory is life” If you are a fan you will instantly realize that this Star Trek Online Victory is Life refers to the show Deep Space 9 and the so-called Dominion Wars that almost destroyed the entire Alpha quadrant. We are taking this opportunity to look back at an MMO which is now eight years old and is only going stronger with each passing day, and perhaps answer the question what makes it so popular and beloved with the fan base after all these years.

Return of the old crew

Before we move any further, let us talk about perhaps the greatest thrill for all the Star Trek fans, which is the return of nearly entire Deep Space 9 acting crew. Although Avery Brooks has quit “commercial acting” is not a part of the original crew (he is doing theater as well as teaching these days, with an occasional visit to a Comic-Con), almost everyone else you can think of from the original Deep Space 9 acting crew has returned to voice their characters. René Auberjonois is returning as Odo, whom we have last seen going to take his place in the Great Link, only to return when the HurQ threat to the Alpha quadrant becomes severe enough. Armin Shimerman is returning as Quark to allow us to relive some of those legendary arguments he and Odo had. Nana Visitor, returning as Kira Nerys, which in the meantime became Kai on Bajor; J.G. Hertzler, returning as our beloved, one-eyed Klingon General Martok. Andrew Robinson Village voice ElimGarak, our beloved, cynical Cardassian spy and will be completed by Alexander Siddig who will return to assume his role as Dr. Julian Bashir. There are also Aron Eisenberg, returning as Nog, Jeffrey Combs, returning as Weyoun and Brunt (one of our most favorite, versatile Star Trek actors of all times), Chase Masterson, returning as the gorgeousLeeta, Max Grodénchik, returning as Rom, Bumper Robinson, returning as Dukan’Rex (the Jem’Hadar baby that was found by Odo) and finally Salome Jens, returning as Female Changeling.

Deep Space 9 revisited

It is amazing what the developers have done with Deep Space 9 station, which was completely rebuilt to reflect the way it looked on the show. All of the old places and spots are there, from random stores on the Promenade to Quark’s bar. The developers took reference to the original show and examined all the movie shots as well as all the available ground floor plans of the set. Although the map for Deep Space 9 existed already, it became apparent that is required a little bit of updating, since it started looking its age. With over 2600 screenshot taken from the series to developers have painstakingly reconstructed the looks of the station in such a manner that it will be very familiar to everyone who has ever watched the show. The amount of details is amazing, but a lot of it had to be improvised and created from basically nothing. For example, the Promenade in the series goes full-circle around the station, but in the show, only 140° of the potential 360° was actually converted into a stage. That meant that the developers have had a lot of opportunities to create new rooms and facilities they had virtually no references to.

Victory is Life

Star Trek: Online finally includes the Gamma quadrant, which will be the main battleground for the latest expansion. It will be accessible through the wormhole in the Bajoran system. Naturally, we need to have the faction which is at home in Gamma quadrant, and that is the Dominion which will be added in Victory is Life. The Jem’Hadar characters will start off as level 60 and progress to the new level cap, which is now 65. There is a number of specific Jem’Hadar ships that can be obtained from the C shop (STO online shop) or you can buy the new packages such as the Gamma Vanguard Starter Pack for $19,99 as well as the Gamma Vanguard Pack for $124,99. Whereas the starter pack includes a Jem’Hadar dreadnought cruiser, playable Jem’Hadar Vanguard species and some of their tactical uniforms, the luxury pack consists from six Jem’Hadar ships, for Cardassian ships as well as playable Cardassian and Jem’Hadar officers.

The Starships of Star Trek Online

The advancement the Star Trek Online has made in previous years is simply astonishing. STO has, admittedly, had a rough time out of the starting gate when it was launched. Expectations were high, but the number of players has quickly plummeted. However, instead to quickly fade into oblivion and gets shut down after a couple of years, Star Trek online has continued to build a very solid, faithful fan base and managed to pull off a feat that only a few animals ever did. They started growing, albeit slowly and managed to have a sustainable existence and even gain new players as time passed on.

Looking back to what the game has achieved in the meantime is simply fascinating (no pun intended). Where it has started off with a small number and amount of ships, Star Trek online has dozens and dozens of starships available to be unlocked or directly bought from the online shop. You will find anything you want there, from the Federation ships known from the series and movies but also games, books, and general Star Trek canon. Without exaggerating much, we believe there are at least 200 playable ships from different eras for Federation, Klingons, Cardassians, and Jem’Hadar. Currently, this game has around five different currencies, and where most of them are available within the game itself, there is also a currency which can be only obtained through real-life money.

Where no one has gone before

The future looks bright indeed for Star Trek Online. With the introduction of “Victory is Life,” which is one of the most quoted slogans of Jem’Hadar soldiers, the game has found a new influx of players, as well as return of many of the old ones who are curious as to what changes have been introduced to the game and how does it feel to play it now, in 2018. It is fascinating to see how dedicated and loyal the Star Trek Online fans are, and it is also not hard to see how attractive the online shop offers are, even if they are only of cosmetic nature. The sales of so-called “skins” and ships are helping the game to stay strong and finance itself whereas the fans actually enjoy everything that both the free game as well as the online shop has to offer. It seems that Star Trek Online has struck the perfect equilibrium for a free-to-play game and can look forward to a prosperous future.