Highlights of the latest ask Cryptic. It looks to me that there are going to be a lot of changes to the game centered on ground combat. They have also stated that the KDF side will get some new things (see question 11) but this is not going to be the "season for Klingons" 
. One thing that I do look forward to is in questions 7 and 12.
1) Q: DecadeComplete What weekend is Tribble Test Weekend for Season 4? What future plans do you have for fleets and fleet leaders?
A: We will be announcing a TRIBBLE TEST WEEKEND sometime towards the end of June; so stay tuned!. Over the course of Season 4, we will be introducing new Fleet Features, such as the Fleet Action Private Queue, and start talking about the possibilities of Fleet Progression and Starbases.
2) Q: Rexy The Akira class ship was designed as part of Star Fleets response to the Borg threat, and is a newer ship design then the Defiant, Galaxy, Nebula, and Excelsior classes, which are T5 ships. So, when are we getting a t5 Akira?
A: We are scheduled to release an enhanced version of the Akira to be released sometime during Season 4, but we are still on the fence about whether or not we will release a Vice Admiral variant of the ship.
3) Q: Kirkfat What can Foundry authors look forward to in the immediate and long-term future?
A: In the immediate future, Foundry authors can look forward to some much needed bug fixing and the eventual hook ups of new maps (such as Starfleet Academy) to the library. Long term, we plan to synch up with all the amazing Foundry work being done by the Neverwinter team and bring those new features over to STO to improve the toolset features. One thing I continue to stress is adding the ability for more "acting" and "blocking" features so that players can create their own dramatic scenes
4) Q: Zoberraz From the looks of things, Gozer's going back to fiddling around with Special Taskforces. Does this mean that there will be less emphasis on Remastered Episodes? I remember you saying that you wanted to enhance a new player's early experience (the Azura and P'jem missions now definitely do that), but with solely these the experience is going to be a little inconsistent.
A: We will continue to work on Remastered Episodes as our schedule allows, but for now, the STFs are in far worse shape and in need of love. It is a constant give and take with our current resources to get everything to where it needs to be. A little bit at a time.
5) Q: PhyrexianHero When can we have greater customization over the dimensions (rows and columns) of our power tray?
A: We are working on updating the power tray this month as we prepare for the ground combat update in Season 4. We want to allow more gameplay options and we will include investigating more customization options as well.
6) Q: HeathenStorm How will the upcoming Duty Officer system be integrated with the C-Store? Is there any truth in the rumour that there will be a random chance to obtain better quality (rare and unique) Duty Officers directly from the store?
A: While the details of the Duty Officer System are still being ironed out, we do anticipate three primary means of obtaining these crew - by running specific assignements designed to obtain them, by purchasing new random lots of recruits from the c-store, or by trading with other players. We don't have final details to share just yet as we are still implementing the feature design.
7) Q: Armsman If you get the autoscale tech working properly, could the autoscale tech be used for Fleet Actions; and if so, could we get rid of the Current Level Banding on Fleet Actions and have it so Lts., Lt. Cmdrs., Cmdr., Capt. and Adm. ranked characters could all participate and enter the same instance on a Fleet Action?
A: Absolutely. This is a major feature of Season 4. We are making joining Fleet Actions a much more obvious and clear process by showing you available queues and what level range they are in (much like PVP queues). In addition, we are for the first time, allowing private Fleet Action queues where you can either set a private or public instance and invite players of all ranges who are then releveled appropriately using the Squad Level tech. QA is in the process of testing this now, and we hope to have this on Tribble this month for you to try out.
8) Q: SlothfulDragoon Will ground and space skill points be split for season 4? I know there had been some talk of this a while back, and I was wondering what came of it. When will the level cap be increased again?
A: We are not splitting up the skillpoints at the launch of Season 4, but I could see this coming during Season 4 or 5. We do not anticipate raising the level cap until we have the resources to make enough content to make it viable and fun. I don't want to repeat the way we level up the last time. It should be awesome and cool when we do it.
9) Q: Yreodred When will we get more options at the ship tailor?
A: We will be adding more ship variants at each tier over the next several months and then this fall we plan to add more "part and texture" packs so that there are more customization options for ships. This is also something we plan to add as part of mission rewards in the future as well.
10) Q: trekker1988 will we be seeing any more remastered episodes (besides the Pjem and Doomsday) before the Launch of Season 4 on Holodeck?
A: Not before the launch of Season 4, but after the launch of Season 4 you are going to see some remade Klingon missions as part of the new Qo'noS First City as well as some work Gozer is doing to remaster the existing STFs. By September, we hope to have most of these redone and made fun with much better rewards and much better Borg.
11) Q: Peregrine_Falcon Will the KDF get "anything" (paraphrasing) in 2011.
A: The KDF are getting a remade starting Hub, a new KDF only Daily Ground and Space Fleet Action, Remade Gorn, exclusive KDF level 51 gear set (space and ground), their own form of assignments, their own unique duty officers, several new ships, and a releveled mission experience. Anything else is possible, but those are the tasks at the top of my priority list for KDF right now. The KDF slowly improves, but not as fast as the feds. The future could change this.
12) Q: Linkdown Will we get any PVP love.
A: Yes. We plan some PVP love during Season 4, and more specifically Open PVP areas if we can get the tech and rewards ironed out.
13) Q: Tucana How goes the progress with the Tholians?
A: These baddies are still on deck to become a major player in a future Feature Episode Series. We are looking to get in environmental suits as part of the gameplay with the Tholians.
14) Q: Elysia_1 The foundry is Well on its way as a great game and mission creator with a good handful of features... I love it, but I'll put it simply... When are we going to see more features added to it? It's sssoo limited in the current form it's in. I really can't create the mission "I" want 100% without having to compramize.
A: The Foundry development team is currently full steam ahead working on Neverwinter but we plan to port over their new feature code any time we technically can do so. You will see minor features and bug fixes periodically in our patch notes. It will be on ongoing update process instead of a major "feature release".
15) Q: LordOfPit Are we ever going to get different types of Beam Turrets for ground combat, other than just the Phaser turret?
A: Ground turrets are being revamped as part of Ground Combat and there will be phaser and disruptor variants as well as three different firing modes depending on the level of the power.
16) Q: Yoosty What will happen to the ground Weapons( i.e. Unc, Rare and Very Rare) we have already have bound on our Captain and BOF's and also in our Bank/Inventory when Season 4 goes Live.
A: The plan is that all of your weapons will be replaced with the new ground combat versions on the back end so that you shouldn't notice any change to what you own. When you log in, you'll be able to immediately start using your existing weapons in the new shooter mode.
17) Q: STOHardCore Can we get more info on the new Tutorials?
A: We have opted to postpone the new tutorials in lieu of other changes to the beginning of the game which will accomplish similar goals. Having a better help system, more info on how things work in game, clearing mission directions, a better auto-pilot, and clearer mission progression path will do far more good for new players over the course of the game than a single remade episode at the beginning of the game. Helping new players understand and learn the complexities of STO is a big focus for the team during Season 4.
18) Q: fuzedatom Might we be seeing multi-phasic shielding sometime soon or the ability to craft it?
A: The systems team is working on new loot for season 4 and I keep hearing the term multi-phasic shielding so there is a good chance that you'll see something related soon.
19) Q: Zeta_Otaku With the new voice chat system coming into play, will that information be handled by a separate server system or the same cluster as the Holodeck server?
A: Vivox runs on its own servers and have little to no impact on Holodeck performance. In addition, we are making several major technology updates at the launch of Season 4 to improve both the amount of data needed to patch the game as well as allow the server to run more users and greater performance levels.
. One thing that I do look forward to is in questions 7 and 12. 1) Q: DecadeComplete What weekend is Tribble Test Weekend for Season 4? What future plans do you have for fleets and fleet leaders?
A: We will be announcing a TRIBBLE TEST WEEKEND sometime towards the end of June; so stay tuned!. Over the course of Season 4, we will be introducing new Fleet Features, such as the Fleet Action Private Queue, and start talking about the possibilities of Fleet Progression and Starbases.
2) Q: Rexy The Akira class ship was designed as part of Star Fleets response to the Borg threat, and is a newer ship design then the Defiant, Galaxy, Nebula, and Excelsior classes, which are T5 ships. So, when are we getting a t5 Akira?
A: We are scheduled to release an enhanced version of the Akira to be released sometime during Season 4, but we are still on the fence about whether or not we will release a Vice Admiral variant of the ship.
3) Q: Kirkfat What can Foundry authors look forward to in the immediate and long-term future?
A: In the immediate future, Foundry authors can look forward to some much needed bug fixing and the eventual hook ups of new maps (such as Starfleet Academy) to the library. Long term, we plan to synch up with all the amazing Foundry work being done by the Neverwinter team and bring those new features over to STO to improve the toolset features. One thing I continue to stress is adding the ability for more "acting" and "blocking" features so that players can create their own dramatic scenes
4) Q: Zoberraz From the looks of things, Gozer's going back to fiddling around with Special Taskforces. Does this mean that there will be less emphasis on Remastered Episodes? I remember you saying that you wanted to enhance a new player's early experience (the Azura and P'jem missions now definitely do that), but with solely these the experience is going to be a little inconsistent.
A: We will continue to work on Remastered Episodes as our schedule allows, but for now, the STFs are in far worse shape and in need of love. It is a constant give and take with our current resources to get everything to where it needs to be. A little bit at a time.
5) Q: PhyrexianHero When can we have greater customization over the dimensions (rows and columns) of our power tray?
A: We are working on updating the power tray this month as we prepare for the ground combat update in Season 4. We want to allow more gameplay options and we will include investigating more customization options as well.
6) Q: HeathenStorm How will the upcoming Duty Officer system be integrated with the C-Store? Is there any truth in the rumour that there will be a random chance to obtain better quality (rare and unique) Duty Officers directly from the store?
A: While the details of the Duty Officer System are still being ironed out, we do anticipate three primary means of obtaining these crew - by running specific assignements designed to obtain them, by purchasing new random lots of recruits from the c-store, or by trading with other players. We don't have final details to share just yet as we are still implementing the feature design.
7) Q: Armsman If you get the autoscale tech working properly, could the autoscale tech be used for Fleet Actions; and if so, could we get rid of the Current Level Banding on Fleet Actions and have it so Lts., Lt. Cmdrs., Cmdr., Capt. and Adm. ranked characters could all participate and enter the same instance on a Fleet Action?
A: Absolutely. This is a major feature of Season 4. We are making joining Fleet Actions a much more obvious and clear process by showing you available queues and what level range they are in (much like PVP queues). In addition, we are for the first time, allowing private Fleet Action queues where you can either set a private or public instance and invite players of all ranges who are then releveled appropriately using the Squad Level tech. QA is in the process of testing this now, and we hope to have this on Tribble this month for you to try out.
8) Q: SlothfulDragoon Will ground and space skill points be split for season 4? I know there had been some talk of this a while back, and I was wondering what came of it. When will the level cap be increased again?
A: We are not splitting up the skillpoints at the launch of Season 4, but I could see this coming during Season 4 or 5. We do not anticipate raising the level cap until we have the resources to make enough content to make it viable and fun. I don't want to repeat the way we level up the last time. It should be awesome and cool when we do it.
9) Q: Yreodred When will we get more options at the ship tailor?
A: We will be adding more ship variants at each tier over the next several months and then this fall we plan to add more "part and texture" packs so that there are more customization options for ships. This is also something we plan to add as part of mission rewards in the future as well.
10) Q: trekker1988 will we be seeing any more remastered episodes (besides the Pjem and Doomsday) before the Launch of Season 4 on Holodeck?
A: Not before the launch of Season 4, but after the launch of Season 4 you are going to see some remade Klingon missions as part of the new Qo'noS First City as well as some work Gozer is doing to remaster the existing STFs. By September, we hope to have most of these redone and made fun with much better rewards and much better Borg.
11) Q: Peregrine_Falcon Will the KDF get "anything" (paraphrasing) in 2011.
A: The KDF are getting a remade starting Hub, a new KDF only Daily Ground and Space Fleet Action, Remade Gorn, exclusive KDF level 51 gear set (space and ground), their own form of assignments, their own unique duty officers, several new ships, and a releveled mission experience. Anything else is possible, but those are the tasks at the top of my priority list for KDF right now. The KDF slowly improves, but not as fast as the feds. The future could change this.
12) Q: Linkdown Will we get any PVP love.
A: Yes. We plan some PVP love during Season 4, and more specifically Open PVP areas if we can get the tech and rewards ironed out.
13) Q: Tucana How goes the progress with the Tholians?
A: These baddies are still on deck to become a major player in a future Feature Episode Series. We are looking to get in environmental suits as part of the gameplay with the Tholians.
14) Q: Elysia_1 The foundry is Well on its way as a great game and mission creator with a good handful of features... I love it, but I'll put it simply... When are we going to see more features added to it? It's sssoo limited in the current form it's in. I really can't create the mission "I" want 100% without having to compramize.
A: The Foundry development team is currently full steam ahead working on Neverwinter but we plan to port over their new feature code any time we technically can do so. You will see minor features and bug fixes periodically in our patch notes. It will be on ongoing update process instead of a major "feature release".
15) Q: LordOfPit Are we ever going to get different types of Beam Turrets for ground combat, other than just the Phaser turret?
A: Ground turrets are being revamped as part of Ground Combat and there will be phaser and disruptor variants as well as three different firing modes depending on the level of the power.
16) Q: Yoosty What will happen to the ground Weapons( i.e. Unc, Rare and Very Rare) we have already have bound on our Captain and BOF's and also in our Bank/Inventory when Season 4 goes Live.
A: The plan is that all of your weapons will be replaced with the new ground combat versions on the back end so that you shouldn't notice any change to what you own. When you log in, you'll be able to immediately start using your existing weapons in the new shooter mode.
17) Q: STOHardCore Can we get more info on the new Tutorials?
A: We have opted to postpone the new tutorials in lieu of other changes to the beginning of the game which will accomplish similar goals. Having a better help system, more info on how things work in game, clearing mission directions, a better auto-pilot, and clearer mission progression path will do far more good for new players over the course of the game than a single remade episode at the beginning of the game. Helping new players understand and learn the complexities of STO is a big focus for the team during Season 4.
18) Q: fuzedatom Might we be seeing multi-phasic shielding sometime soon or the ability to craft it?
A: The systems team is working on new loot for season 4 and I keep hearing the term multi-phasic shielding so there is a good chance that you'll see something related soon.
19) Q: Zeta_Otaku With the new voice chat system coming into play, will that information be handled by a separate server system or the same cluster as the Holodeck server?
A: Vivox runs on its own servers and have little to no impact on Holodeck performance. In addition, we are making several major technology updates at the launch of Season 4 to improve both the amount of data needed to patch the game as well as allow the server to run more users and greater performance levels.
