First a look at more recent Lock Boxes.
--
Lock Boxes released after introduction of Specializations --
[Delta Expedition Lock Box]
* Benthan Assault Cruiser: Already has Intel seating.
[Vaadwaur Lock Box]
* Manasa Assault Escort (T6) : Already has Intel seating.
[Xindi-Terrestrial Lock Box]
* Insectoid Olaen Heavy Escort Carrier: Has
both Command and Pilot seating.
[Year of Hell Lock Box]
* Krenim Imperium Warship (T6): Has
both Intel and Pilot seating.
[Herald Lock Box]
* Vonph Dreadnoaught Carrier: Has
both Command and Intel seating.
* Quas Flight Deck Cruiser: Has
both Command and Intel seating.
[Mirror Incursion Lock Box]
*Tarantula Dreadnought Cruiser: Has
both Command and Intel seating.
The pattern is clear: these ships should showcase the flexibility offered by the Specialization system and have a slightly wider than average range of build options. The older “grand prize” ships should be reviewed to bring them more in line with current standards and maintain the appeal of their related lock boxes as a target for master keys. Suggestions follow:
--
Pre-specialization Lock Boxes --
[Cardassian Lock Box]
* Galor Class Cruiser: Lieutenant Engineering seat becomes Engineering/Intel.
[Ferengi Lock Box]
* D’Kora Marauder: Lieutenant Engineering seat becomes Engineering/Command.
[Tholian Lock Box]
* Orb Weaver: Lieutenant Commander Universal seat becomes Universal/Intel.
[Temporal Lock Box]
* Wells Temporal Science Vessel: Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Pilot.
* Korath Temporal Science Vessel: Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Pilot.
* R’Mor Temporal Science Vessel: Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Pilot.
[Dominion Lock Box]
* Jem’Hadar Heavy Escort Carrier: Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Command.
Update!! Re-released as a full T6 with a Lieutenant Engineering/Intel bridge officer seat and a Lieutenant Commander Universal/Pilot seat.[Tal Shiar Lock Box]
* Tal Shiar Adapted Destroyer: One Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Pilot.
[Elachi Lock Box]
* S’golth Escort: One Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Pilot.
[Voth Lock Box]
* Bastion Flight Deck Cruiser: Lieutenant Commander Science seat becomes Science/Command.
[Hirogen Lock Box]
* Hunter Heavy Escort: Lieutenant Universal seat becomes Universal/Pilot.
[Undine Lockbox]
* Nicor Bio-Warship: Lieutenant Commander Universal seat becomes Universal/Intel.
[Xindi-Amphibious Lock Box]
* Narcine Dreadnought Carrier: Lieutenant Science seat becomes Science/Pilot.
Thank you for your consideration

.
Comments
That being said, it would make sense to add specialisations to these expensive ships. Might make the older ones a bit more attractive and boost sales.
I built that list directly from the wiki entries for the lock boxes without opening the Lobi Store page. Which Lobi store ship(s) snuck in?
That's the real pay off for the Cryptic side - more appealing ships (hopefully without making them more powerful ships...) drives EC prices up and makes pulling the arm on the lock box slot-machine more attractive.
Derp. I may have been mistaken. They seem to be lock box ships indeed.
I'm not going to double check all the ships, but that's the difference I see. You want to add value, T6 is better, just as easy as just a specialization. Why open a old lockbox for a T5 ship with specialization, and feel like your gimped by a T6 with specialization?
Good idea, but specializations are T6 and that is the real value. Up the old ships to T6. The bad business man in me says, all lock boxes opened from set date give you a T6 varient, all older lockbox ships (already opened) can take a second upgrade token to go from T5-U to T6.
With their built in T-5U upgrades the "grand prizes" already have the distinctive 11 consoles of T6 ships. "The call" to make them "True T6" beyond the Specialist seating and possibly a small bump in Hull HP would be that they would each require a Starship-Trait... which is a hell of a lot more work than I'm asking for
Honestly I'd buy/use a fleet module or upgrade token to get just the improved seating on the two "grand prize" ships I have. Its not a spectacularly good value, but it would still let me do some builds I can only daydream about now.
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Wouldn't it have been better to start a new thread?
For more profit, make the Lobi ships upgrade too - crank the price up to 900 Lobi, and tell players that they can upgrade their existing T5U Lobi ships to T6 if they pay the extra Lobi.
I know I'd probably be up for that.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
While one can argue that, due to funky equivalencies, the T5U11 level has the same statistics as a Fleet T6, and that a subset of Fleet T6s - specifically all Fleet T6s that have a C-store and Fleet Yard variant - do not have a baked in mastery trait (said mastery trait is supposed to come from the purchase and use of the C-store variant), the only thing lacking from the T5U11 lockbox and lobi ships that's part and parcel of the T6 system is the specialist seat(s).
So, I agree with the OP. Going ahead to retrofit a specialist seat into all the lockbox & lobi ships would be a worthwhile endeavor. However, I'll go a touch farther and recommend that a "given ship family" should also be given a mastery trait that's currently available only to the Federation - for example, I think All Hands on Deck hasn't been released to the KDF and Rommies yet - so attaching AHOD to all the, say, Tal'Shiar Adapted Destroyer (lockbox) and T'S. Adapt. Battlecruiser (lobi) birds would be a method to get that trait to the remaining playerbase. D'Kora could pick up the Nandi's trait, etc.
Yeah, this "skews" the options for future lockbox trait swaps, but then again, how easy is it to do lockbox trait swaps when all the KDF and RR ships are being handed the trait from it's "Matching Fed Contemporary"?
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
T5U lockbox and lobi ships are actually 3 steps behind T6 lockbox and lobi ships:
1- Starship trait
2- Specialisation seats
3 - T6 has one more bridge officer skill (13 over 12 for all ships except raiders - 12 over 11-)
Cryptic only made the number of consoles (11) on par.
For the old lockbox ship it would be more valuable upgrading either a ensign seat co lt, or a lt seat to lt. cmdr. rather than adding specialisation.
Or though the infinity box!
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10199593-infinity-lock-box
So, now we know - the old grand prize and lobi ships are getting a new lease on life as T6's with full console upgrade, starship trait and specialist seating.
As an added bonus they're being even more generous that my initial request with multiple specialist seats and some ships getting mixed specialist types (Jem'hadar Hv. Escort Carrier with Intel AND Pilot seats! Hotness!!).
I cannot wait to see the upgraded Undine and Tal Shiar T6s. Well played Cryptic, you WILL be getting gobs of cash from me to upgrade my TSA-Destroyer on my main.
Another segment of the FTC thread bites the dust. Hallelujah.
Only one piece of data in this thread is out-of-date and I marked it with an update edit in the first post.
People sit here wringing their hands and wail "woe is we, they never listen to players!" This is an MMO. The minimum turn around time on anything is 4-8 months so thanks to this "ooo, bad necromancer' obsession no one can actually SEE THAT REQUESTS DO GET ACTED ON.
And if you're so goddam thrilled about rules then stop posting "I want everyone to see what a great little mini-Mod I imagine myself to be" and just click the flag button. Like the mods have SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU TO DO. Because more than once the Mods have understood the intent and value of my bringing up old posts and how they reveal the SUCCESSES of the game that took longer than 2 months to come to fruition...
On "the other note"
It's not exactly an uncommon attitutude of people that they stop thinking about why a rule exist and just blindly follow them.
It really is. Having the Infinity boxes not only weld together the reward pools of all the old boxes but ALSO be a source of completely new ship (in terms of mechanics even if the skins are re-used) is kind of amazing.
While it does mean they've dropped the idea that acquiring lock box ships means you've invested in a permanent endgame ship, and I will say that having the option to use zeni-store upgrade modules to PAY to update a grand prize ship you already have would be a nice alterative to have in addition to the ships being part of the new redemption box, I can set both those quibbles aside in exchange for their being any movement on this issue at all. Its the least cheap option for me as a player with several T5 lock box ships I enjoy flying enough to replace. But at least the option to upgrade will exist.
If you have enough ship traits, then you don't really another one anyway. I rarely use specialisation seatings, I've found the standard sci, tac and engineering abilities to be too useful to replace them with what I in most cases consider fun but ultimately not that much more useful specialisation stuff.
I do believe that these ships deserve one more Boff power though, as that does still make a huge difference even with all the cooldown reduction stuff we have nowadays.
That being said, a full T6 upgrade token would be nice to have for those interested in it. And if there are ships that are deserving of such a thing, it's the ones that are less likely to get T6 versions anytime soon and that were quite expensive to get at T5 already. I certainly think that older lobi and lock box ships deserve at least some attention.
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