As for the other things, STO Mastery contains the following:

• Ship guide
• Professions guide
• Missions / Leveling guide
• Skills & abilities guide
• Bridge Officers guide
• Equipment guide

… and more. The content mentioned is just the most interesting part, but there is plenty of more info about kits, combat strategies, accolades and many other subjects. In short, as far as all-in-one strategy guides go Star Trek Online Mastery is the best guide out there, and considering the competition it’s the most detailed Star Trek guide and a bargain.

I highly recommend you to get STO Mastery today as it will definitely help you understand much of the game.

In a recent news item posted on the official site which for the most part talks about Klingon gameplay, there’s a list of different available PvP scenarios players can engage in:

• Challenges allow two teams to square off in a private instance created for them on-the-fly.
• Arena maps are team-vs.-team matchups in instances, played either by teams that challenge one another, or by randomly-assigned teams created via a global queue system.
• Scenarios feature objective-oriented gameplay like Assault and Area Control. The Assault scenario is straightforward: Move forces from your area to the opponents’, inflicting more casualties than you suffer. The Area Control scenario is more subtle: Capture key objectives and hold them longer than your opponents to win the day.
• War Zone maps are static maps that are always open for players to join. Both factions may enter this may enter this map, which has Open Mission-style PvE objectives to achieve, with the twist that members of opposing factions can hinder each other’s progress via PvP.

Despite my initial thoughts that Klingons will be played the same as Federation, it appears Cryptic has other things in mind. You can read the full article here, but if you’re too lazy here’s a short summary:

• You won’t be able to create a Klingon character right away: you can unlock them after you’re finished with the first sector of Federation content, which takes about five hours of gameplay. The Klingon character will however start at the same rank as the Fed character with which you unlocked
• Klingons won’t have they access to as much PvE content as Federation and will have to advance through PvP
• You can have the same skills and professions as with federation characters
• Klingons have different ships, and gain them in a slightly different way. Their ships are typically more maneuverable than Federation ships and have more forward-facing weapons. And of course, most of Klingon ships look way better
• The last fact for today, Klingon bridge officers are not restricted by class which means you can put a Science officer at a Tactical station without any drawbacks

The release date is drawing closer and closer (Feb 2) and there was a lot of various news regarding Star Trek Online in the last few days. There’s bound to be a lot more in the days ahead so don’t forget to subscribe via email or RSS to receive new updates!

Ranks will be gained by completing missions and and finishing episodes which in turn provide you with skill points. Here’s a list of ranks:

• Ensign (this is the rank you play in the Tutorial – you are rapidly promoted within the first couple hours of gameplay)
• Lieutenant
• Lieutenant Commander
• Commander
• Captain
• Admiral

The skills available early in the game provide blanket bonuses to items and abilities you use, while more refined skills will provide more specific bonuses to items and abilities. If you want to advance a rank, you will have to spend a certain number of skills for the promotion. There’s also several other ways to further customize your character such as Kits, Bridge officers, space skills etc. You can find out a bit more about player progression here.

Overall, in Star Trek Online there’s plenty of ways to advance your character and it’s crucial to plan your progression as soon as you start the game. That’s why guides are an important and often much-needed asset to every player and I recommend buying one. You will learn about the game more than you think and it will help you progress through the ranks a lot faster.