{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"503 - Season Teasers, Lootboxes, and Legends","description":" This week on Episode 503 of Priority One: We Trek Out some of the big announcements from First Contact Day, with teasers for new seasons of Discovery, Picard and Lower Decks, while Prodigy asks, \u201cPlease state the nature of the coffee emergency,\u201d Oberth April Fools perhaps in Star Trek Online, a new study into the nature of lootboxes, and a quick look at Star Trek: Legends! This week\u2019s Community Questions are: CQ: With all the new Star Trek updates, what was the biggest surprise for you? Was there anything you were hoping they were going to announce? CQ: Would a T6 Oberth be the greatest starship in the game, or the GREATEST starship in the game? What would be a fitting trait for such a fine ship? Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT Star Trek: Discovery Reveals First Look at Season Four! By Rosko McQueen \u201cWe\u2019re all living in uncertainty\u201d. They are the first words from Discovery\u2019s Captain Michael Burnham in the teaser trailer for season four.  And as is often the case with the series, it looks at the world now and works to provide a reflection back to us through a sci-fi mirror.   The first noticeable difference is the uniforms have a new splash of colour. The grey Starfleet uniforms of the 32nd century have been upgraded.  We now have tops of command red, science blue and engineering gold along with medical white, offset with a black vertical stripe. So now there is no mistaking which department is which.   Image: StarTrek.com In the trailer we hear about, potentially, this season\u2019s universe-threatening problem: a gravitational anomaly five light-years across. Where is it? We don\u2019t know.  Where could it turn up? Not a clue. Who can save us all? We\u2019ll find out later this year, as season four is set to premiere in 2021.    Star Trek: Picard Returns for Season 2 in 2022 By Elio Lleo While Discovery focuses on the large-scale event to tie the story together, season two of Star Trek: Picard, coming in 2022, is all the more personal.   The camera moves slowly towards Ch\u00e2teau Picard, and we then transition inside the home of the retired Admiral, weaving our way through his study.  On a table in the centre of the room is a Bajoran tablet, cracked and broken, possibly from the lost city of B\u2019Hala.  A painting of the Enterprise-D overhangs the mantle where a bronze sculpture of a farmer and horse-drawn plough rests in the centre.   Picard\u2019s chair sits behind a desk, draped in a Mintakan tapestry. On the desk we see a model of the USS Stargazer, a teacup and saucer\u2013decaf perhaps?\u2013and a small Kurlan naiskos perched on the edge of the table.   We pass over a combadge, a Dixon Hill novel and a copy of Paradise Lost. When Picard\u2019s voiceover talks of \u201cwhat we wish we had done in a crisis,\u201d the shot sits squarely on the hull of the Stargazer.  We then cut to a gaming table upon which sits a deck of cards and a solitary queen of hearts.  The card dissolves before our eyes until all that is left is one corner, and the letter that tells us so much\u2013Q. Q-ed Up For The Big Reveal Patrick Stewart spoke with Wil Wheaton about the second season of Picard, teasing the different \u201ctimes\u201d that we will see that have never been seen onscreen before. John de Lancie then beams in from his boat, expressing his delight at the opportunity to return to the role and his amazing ability to age himself up for the part.   Sir Patrick also hints at the critical moment Q returns and teases the trauma surrounding it. While De Lancie remarks on the apparent ease he can slip back into character, describing Q as annoying and self-involved. Lower Decks Season 2 Teaser By Rosko McQueen Paramount+ also announced season two of Star Trek: Lower Decks will premiere later this year, and like any episode of Lower Decks, there's a lot of detail in a short amount of time. Image: StarTrek.com We see the Cerritos, with Mariner, Tendi and Rutherford hanging out. We cut to a Miranda class starship, the USS Macduff, activating evasive maneuvers.  Then out of nowhere, a mugato! Mariner shows off her sweet anbo-jyutsu moves, red suit and all.  Commander Ransom seems to have god-like powers, then\u2013cut to a Pakled phaser party. A group of Cardassians get their butts kicked by Mariner wearing 80\u2019s workout gear\u2013THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!! All hell breaks loose when snakes grow arms and attack Tendi, then we relax with the Lower Deckers in the comfort of the brig. But where is Boimler, you ask? He\u2019s staring into the void and screaming for all to hear. Captain Riker throws out some more jazz references, but sadly Boimler didn\u2019t get the joke as the Titan moves into some sort of wormhole or spatial distortion while under fire from multiple craft.     Season two of Lower Decks will premiere on Thursday, August 12, 2021. Star Trek: Prodigy: More Info! By Cat Hough And finally, we received a brief synopsis about the other animated series coming out, Star Trek: Prodigy. Co-creator Dan Hageman confirmed the series is set in the Delta Quadrant in the year 2383. It features a group of young aliens who find a lost Starfleet vessel that happens to be equipped with an EJH\u2013Emergency Janeway Hologram. This training hologram was designed to assist a crew that may have strayed too far off course and is probably programmed to locate coffee in any nearby nebulae.  Image: TrekMovie.com The animation for the Janeway hologram was also revealed during First Contact Day, with Kate Mulgrew noting that the Hageman brothers insisted on \u201c...making the character so beautiful.\u201d CQ: With all the new Star Trek updates, what was the biggest surprise for you? Was there anything you were hoping they were going to announce? STAR TREK GAMING NEWS April Fools...But Maybe Not? By Cat Hough It was a quiet Friday morning at Ambassador Kael\u2019s house. Coffee had been achieved. The toast was buttered. Star Trek Online\u2019s dutiful Community Manager opened up his Twitter feed and spit coffee all over his keyboard. At least, if his post from April 2nd is any indication that\u2019s what happened. \u201cMorning folks! Did anything interesting happen while I was WHAT THE F\u2026\u201d https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmbassadorKael\/status\/1378010255716622336?s=20 What was all the fuss? Well, it was an 11:59pm April Fool\u2019s Day post to the official STO Twitter account. If it\u2019s not just an April Fool\u2019s prank, then it might spell doom for Kael\u2019s jokingly vocal anti-T6 Oberth crusade. The post in question sported two images of what can only be a 2411 treatment of the Oberth-class. The images were captioned \u201cKael\u2019s asleep! Post it post it POST IT!\u201c https:\/\/twitter.com\/trekonlinegame\/status\/1377878220712914945?s=20 Yes, it was still April Fools. But, consider\u2026 someone clearly spent the time to model this 2411 Oberth to what looks like at least late-stage Work-In-Progress. It\u2019s worth remembering that on a recent live stream of his work, Thomas Marrone pointed out that they sometimes have the ship art done well before the systems designers have the ship built. So, perhaps that\u2019s the case here. But in any case, it\u2019s hope for those Oberth fans among you, Captains. CQ: Would a T6 Oberth be the greatest starship in the game or the GREATEST starship in the game? What would be a fitting trait for such a fine ship? Delta Recruitment Returns! By Cat Hough Announced earlier today, and starting April 15th on PC and May 13th on Xbox and PS4, you can create a new Delta Recruit character. However, this Delta Recruit event has been slightly modified. You\u2019ll still earn extra rewards, and gain special account unlocks, but the devs have removed some out-of-date missions and added new goals with new rewards.  For example, reputation mark reward boxes have been updated so that you can claim all of the reputation mark options, not just the ones that were around during the first launch of Delta Recruitment. And, there\u2019s now a reward for reaching level 60, which gives you even more marks, Reputation dilithium, as well as salvage. Plus, there\u2019s new rewards for completing your faction\u2019s Admiralty campaign, which features a very special Admiralty card: the U.S.S. Voyager! Existing Delta Recruits will be able to complete these new goals as well, and if you\u2019ve already finished them, you can claim the rewards immediately. Remember, to become a Delta Recruit and gain access to the rewards, you need to make a new 2409 Starfleet character, a Klingon Defense Force character, or a Romulan Republic character during the event, then you have to complete the tutorial and receive the special Delta Recruit tesseract transceiver device. Once you receive the device, your character is a Delta Recruit and you can complete the goals any time and claim the rewards, even after the event ends. Image: Cryptic Studios. Gambling and the Future of Loot Boxes Written by Elio Lleo Lock Boxes. A recurring topic of conversation on this show since their introduction into Star Trek Online those many moons\u2013in 2012. Nowadays, they\u2019re so ingrained into gaming ecosystems\u2013not just STO\u2013that most people have accepted their permanence. But does that mean we shouldn\u2019t continue to look at the relationship between STO\u2019s Lock Boxes\u2013and every other video game\u2019s respective lootbox\u2013and gambling?  No, because as the mechanic continues to become part of the mainstream, it\u2019s important to understand the impact it can have. Even if we have been told it\u2019s not gambling because you get a \u201creward in every box.\u201d Image: Cryptic Studios. In an April 2nd article on Ars Technica, writer Sam Machkovech spotlights new research from four British Universities, commissioned by the gambling-protection advocacy group BeGambleAware. What does the research suggest? \u201c[T]he authors determine that loot box purchasing has a statistically significant tie to problem gambling behaviors.\u201d So\u2026 how can we mitigate the problem? The suggestion is to go cold turkey. \u201cThe report leans toward starting with outright bans of paid loot boxes in software\u2014as in, the easily defined practice of \u2018any game-related purchase with a chance-based outcome\u2019\u2014or at least requiring more fully transparent \u2018odds\u2019 statements about the likelihood of specific in-game items in those loot boxes.\u201d Image: BeGambleAware, University of Plymouth, and University of Wolverhampton, via Ars Technica. The report itself says particular circles of gamers are more susceptible to the lure of loot boxes, stating there are groups which are particularly at risk. \u201dThose particularly affected include males and younger gamers, with our survey screen of over 14k gamers also suggesting that those with lower educational attainment and lower levels of employment may be disproportionately affected. These factors, however, are unlikely to be limited to loot boxes.\u201d Fleet Command Charts Its Next Course By Thomas Reynolds It\u2019s bedtime for those old scientists in Fleet Command, but Scopely\u2019s already sharing where the rest of 2021 will go. Players have a number of developments to look forward to, including an entirely new Officer Away Teams system. Send your unused characters out on errands\u2013sorry, special assignments, and receive goods should they succeed in their tasks. And if they can\u2019t handle even that, well, you can always send them to Starbase 80. https:\/\/startrekfleetcommand.scopely.com\/2021\/03\/30\/roadmap-update-march-2021\/ Cetacean Citation in Timelines By Thomas Reynolds George and Gracie are now crew members in Timelines. If this sounds like an April Fool\u2019s prank, I assure you, it isn\u2019t. George and Gracie are now crew members. Complete the three temporary achievement tiers before April 15th, and you can finally staff your ship\u2019s Cetacean Ops facility. Assuming you have the transparent aluminum on hand, of course. Image: Disruptor Beam. It\u2019s Time to Re-enter the Nexus with Star Trek: Legends By Rosko McQueen Load up your favourite Personal Access Display Device and get set to enter the Nexus. Star Trek: Legends has launched on Apple Arcade this week and we\u2019ve had a brief look at the turn-based game. You are the captain of the U.S.S. Artemis, a ship designed to enter the Nexus and draw on the unique properties of the ethereal energy ribbon. Over the course of the game you build a crew of Trek favourites from across timelines and universes to take on missions, collect resources, and power up your characters.   The developers explain in a blog post on StarTrek.com their decision to base the premise of the game around the Nexus, as opposed to other ways of putting characters in a blender like the holodeck, or using Q or the Talosians. Instead they take the largely unexplored idea of the Nexus and expand upon it, incorporating the idea that it was made by design. In a familiar Ready Player One-type premise, each character has their own utopian reality sphere, which is also infinite. So, there\u2019s lots of room to grow.   But How Does It Play? Image: StarTrek.com The gameplay is straightforward, tap the bad guy to target them. You can use Worf\u2019s battle cry to lower morale (it\u2019s super effective!), and there are your typical character class types; engineering, medical, security, etc.  I\u2019ve only played a few early missions as it guides you through how to assemble your team, battle the bad guys and power up your crew using latinum, protomatter and bio-mimetic gels as some of the in-game currency.  But it\u2019s also a brand new game on the platform, and it shows. I had to force quit a couple of times after the game froze at the same point.  The artwork and the attention to detail is excellent. The Cardassians look menacing and there are a few costume callbacks to Voyager and Deep Space Nine standalone episodes. So far so good, and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how the game grows over time.   ","author_name":"Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/priorityonepodcast.com","html":"