Buying the Retail box of sTO does what?

ompgaming1

Since STO is free-to-play, what do I get if I buy the retail version of the game from a store? I mean does the internal code get transferred into Zen or something?

Just curious because sometimes I see it kind of cheap.

tostrekkie7

The retail box versions of the game came with different exclusive bonus items depending on where you bought them from. Gamestop versions gave the Enterprise - TOS Constitution Class, as a playable ship. Target versions gave a TR-116A Sniper Rifle. The Red Matter Capacitor (a favorite among STO players) came from Collector's Edition of STO.

In order to get these items in-game, you have to enter the product registration code from the retail boxes into your a/c on the STO website. You can enter multiple codes from the different retail versions to obtain each exclusive item. Some of the items are available free now (by purchasing a Lifetime subscription I think) so check STO before you decide to purchase a retail STO game just to get the exclusive bonus item.

Here's a link to STO Wiki listing all the special retail items available:

http://www.stowiki.org/Category:Special_retail_items

ompgaming1

So its not turned into some version of Zen, then? I would only be buying the box for those special items?

dareau

Keep in mind that the code also gives the user 30 days of "gold" membership, including (but not limited to) increased EC cap, more bank/inventory slots, account bank, free respec token every rank-up, "third" character slot (only for the duration of a subscription, but any character that occupies the slot will remain until deleted...) and monthly zen stipend.

ompgaming1

dareau wrote: »

Keep in mind that the code also gives the user 30 days of "gold" membership, including (but not limited to) increased EC cap, more bank/inventory slots, account bank, free respec token every rank-up, "third" character slot (only for the duration of a subscription, but any character that occupies the slot will remain until deleted...) and monthly zen stipend.

Ok, so based on that if I buy the retail version and use it to get one month of premium play I get:

an extra character slot so long as I don't delete him/her.
500 zen (once) for the monthly stipend (unless I continue the subscription)

and

any special feature that came with a box based on where it was purchased.

gavinruneblade

The collector's edition also comes with three guest passes for 10 days. Do they do anything if I give them to a friend who is on a free account?

dareau

ompgaming1 wrote: »

Ok, so based on that if I buy the retail version and use it to get one month of premium play I get:

an extra character slot so long as I don't delete him/her.
500 zen (once) for the monthly stipend (unless I continue the subscription)

and

any special feature that came with a box based on where it was purchased.

Pretty much. Technically/actually, you get all the "gold" benefits from the matrix for the month, I listed off the majority of them before. The bonus character slot only exists for as long as you are subscribed, but any character made in the slot will remain active even after the slot "disappears" when the subscription ends. However, if the slot is gone and you delete a character, you are back under the limits of 1 Fed 1 KDF + purchased toons, and if you purchase slots while having an "extra" character, said extra character occupies one of the purchased slots...

gavinruneblade wrote: »

The collector's edition also comes with three guest passes for 10 days. Do they do anything if I give them to a friend who is on a free account?

Haven't tested it yet (one friend hasn't gotten all his toon(s) up to 50 where I'd recommend using it for the bonus inventories etc., same with my son), but if the codes are still "active" then they should get 10 days worth of "gold membership", including the extra slot for that week and a half and all the permanent boosts (inventory/bank slots, account bank, extra toon, etc.) that will carry even after the sub ends...

gavinruneblade

dareau wrote: »

Haven't tested it yet (one friend hasn't gotten all his toon(s) up to 50 where I'd recommend using it for the bonus inventories etc., same with my son), but if the codes are still "active" then they should get 10 days worth of "gold membership", including the extra slot for that week and a half and all the permanent boosts (inventory/bank slots, account bank, extra toon, etc.) that will carry even after the sub ends...

My friend who I gave one to as a test is 30 and he said he did't see any change, but I'm not sure if he needs to log out and back in to know for sure.

The account manager did recognize the code and say it was successfully applied.

kobayashikumiho

I was looking at getting the Collector's Edition box because I have never had a gold subscription before. I read/heard somewhere though that you can no longer get 30 days sub off the retail keys because they are selling for less than $15 USD. Is this true?

Also I have read that unless you start your chars at lvl 1 or 20 and work them up to 50 you don't get the bonus bank and inv slots retroactively. I have 4 characters at 50 and want them all to get the bonus room.

Can anyone confirm whether or not these things are true?

reginamala78

kobayashikumiho wrote: »

I was looking at getting the Collector's Edition box because I have never had a gold subscription before. I read/heard somewhere though that you can no longer get 30 days sub off the retail keys because they are selling for less than $15 USD. Is this true?

Also I have read that unless you start your chars at lvl 1 or 20 and work them up to 50 you don't get the bonus bank and inv slots retroactively. I have 4 characters at 50 and want them all to get the bonus room.

Can anyone confirm whether or not these things are true?

I bought a CE box in July and got the following:

My lvl 50 toons got their bank space increased to 108 slots, and personal inventory space increased to 72 slots, effective immediately.
My lvl 50 toons got 2 extra boff slots on their rosters (10 total)
An extra character slot
Newly leveled toons get a respec token at rank up. Got to keep the tokens even after my gold time ended.
Got a 20-slot account bank
Red Matter Capacitor
Liberated Borg Engineer BOFF, 1 per toon (except the toon that already had one)
Gold for a month, so 500 zen

Even after my Gold month expired, I got to keep all the extras except for the EC-limit-increase, but I bought that in the C-Store seperately. One toon I didn't get to 50 before my gold time ran out however, so she doesn't have the maxed out bank and personal space (I was doing other stuff on other toons), so any new toons you want to max in time.

Lotta stuff for $10, assuming it hasn't changed since then (don't see why it would).

gavinruneblade

reginamala78 wrote: »

I bought a CE box in July and got the following:

My lvl 50 toons got their bank space increased to 108 slots, and personal inventory space increased to 72 slots, effective immediately.
My lvl 50 toons got 2 extra boff slots on their rosters (10 total)
An extra character slot
Newly leveled toons get a respec token at rank up. Got to keep the tokens even after my gold time ended.
Got a 20-slot account bank
Red Matter Capacitor
Liberated Borg Engineer BOFF, 1 per toon (except the toon that already had one)
Gold for a month, so 500 zen

Even after my Gold month expired, I got to keep all the extras except for the EC-limit-increase, but I bought that in the C-Store seperately. One toon I didn't get to 50 before my gold time ran out however, so she doesn't have the maxed out bank and personal space (I was doing other stuff on other toons), so any new toons you want to max in time.

Lotta stuff for $10, assuming it hasn't changed since then (don't see why it would).

Same experience here and I bought mine in October. But I went lifetime right before it would have expired so I don't know what stays and what doesn't. Also, I got mine for $7 on Amazon. But the 30-days of gold time still worked.