The big day. Stephen Ricossa and Samuel Wall joined me in the Leonard Nimoy theater (the big stage) at 6:15. Our panel was hosted by Holly Amos of CBS. The panel was a story retrospective of the last 5 years of STO. We talked about how we make the story, how we integrate celebrities into STO, and what has happed in the game so far. We announced the next Featured Episode that comes out this week, Butterfly, which will feature Aron Eisenberg, and we talked about the upcoming finale of the Iconian War.

We then talked about Season 11 – Star Trek Online: New Dawn, and showed the first peak of our latest trailer. You can now watch the New Dawn trailer here. New Dawn will start a brand new story arc, one that will take the player through 2016 and beyond. This is a great time to join Star Trek Online and experience the story from the ground floor. We will make first contact with a new species, witness the origin of a new enemy (one seen in Star Trek, but never before seen in STO), and learn how to deal with complexities of temporal technologies.

New Dawn will also feature a secondary story that involved the Mirror Universe. The Mirror Universe had an Iconian War but, as always, things happened differently there. Now the Terran Forces, led by (Mirror) Fleet Admiral Leeta, played by Chase Masterson, are invading our space. They have come though the Badlands and have set up a beachhead there. The Badlands will be the staging ground of our newest space battlezone. There will also be two queues - one around and one in Deep Space Nine, as well as a new Reputation for that content. New Dawn will also bring a re-master of the Cardassian Arc, which will tell a little backstory for the Mirror Universe and will feature Fleet Admiral Leeta.

Finally, New Dawn will bring the new Admiralty System. The Admiralty system is similar to the Duty Officer System, but the mechanics are all brand new. Admiralty will allow you to send the ships you own on Campaigns and Tours of Duty. Rewards are specific for each campaign, and Tours of Duty will grant huge repeatable rewards. Admiralty will add a lot of additional value to the ships you own, even the smaller ones you may no longer use. In fact, smaller ships have great value in the system. We will be talking in more detail about Admiralty in the weeks to come. Admiralty will unlock once you are an Admiral around level 50.

Aron Eisenberg and Chase Masterson were scheduled to appear on stage. At the last minute, while backstage, Creation told us Aron’s photo shoot was running long and he might not make it. Denise Crosby was just coming off stage, and she offered to fill in. But Aron was able to make it after all and he came onstage in full makeup! So we had all 3 on stage with us. I can’t begin to tell you how surreal this was. You can’t help but feel small and humble around such amazing people. These are people you idolized as a Star Trek Fan. Thank you Chase, Aron and Denise!

But news and celebrities wasn’t the highlight of the show. What took us by surprise was a special gift from two players of STO: Robert Salvari and Clinton Ouderkirk (A third member, Michelle Marquez, whom we met later) They were representatives of fleets: SOCOM and House of Calafia. What they did was incredible and unexpected. They brought us a gift. It was a large shadowbox containing customized badges, pins and and pictures of their fleet. They also brought a large picture book with images of their fleets adventures. It is probably over 70 pages and it is gorgeous. I cant begin to tell you how taken a-back we were with this gesture. There are simply no words. To know that your work is so loved an appreciated by so many is touching and humbling. So we brought them up on stage with us. It honestly was the highlight of our trip to STLV, and believe me when I say that is a tall order. If you were not there, you can watch the moment at the link below. Their fleet recorded the moment. I promise you we will find a special place for this in our office. From all of us at Star Trek Online, Thank you Robrty Salvari, Brian Clinton, Michelle Marquez, and all of SOCOM and House of Calafia.

The fun and surprises were not over, though! Next was the Meet the Devs celebration at the iBar. We now could spend some time getting to know all our wonderful players and fans - some old friends and new. Then we discovered that Grant Imahara was there. He watched the panel and we got to talk with him for a while. Let me repeat that - Grant Imahara came to our panel! How amazing is that! What a cool guy and what a treat. The surprises just kept coming.

The team then split up. Some of the team attended the STOReddit party. I was not there because I had previous obligation, but I hear the party was epic complete with Federation Root Beer cupcakes. Samuel Wall, Maria Rosseau, and a few others were in attendance. Thank you STOReddit for the invitation. What an amazing conclusion to a whirlwind day.