There have been a few threads asking about this, and a lot of speculation about what happened to it.
Long story short: It didn't happen.
Short story longer: It's something Cryptic wanted to do, but the token was meant to be used specifically on the chosen T5. The tech wasn't in place to make it work for VIL though, so they changed their minds (
NOTE: All pre-release information is always subject to change). Instead, just a T5 ship was offered. Unfortunately, the change didn't get made to the blog before it went out, and so incorrect information was unfortunately disseminated. It was all simply a case of miscommunication, nothing nefarious or shady. The changes to the rewards, though, are presented as they are intended to be.
So, there is no T5-U token. Information regarding a T5-U token wasn't supposed to be released. The Level 61 reward was changed to its current form. That being said, all other threads regarding this issue will be merged here, and this thread is being closed as an official dev answer has been provided.
Source: Ten Forward Weekly 6/7/2018, relevant information begins at 48:50
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It popped when I leveled up to 61. The progress bar says "Vice Admiral Starship Requisition Token."
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l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
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It's just like when you leveled up other characters.
"It appears we have lost our sex appeal, captain."- Tuvok
Yes they do. I have the option of gaining an additional ship, after I purchased the Varanus with my main a while back. So now, I can choose the space peanut Orion FDC, or the Karfi carrier.
For those that are curious, the ships you can pick from the zen store list, are either retrofit, or cost 2k zen normally. No, you don't get to bag yourself a free Scimitar, or Bortasqu', Mogh, or Haakona. No Odyssey, or Kumari, Dyson Science Destroyer either, for example.
And if you dismiss the ship, you don't get to reclaim it again in the future. A lot of the ships though have decent consoles, like the Projected Singularity console from the D'Derpidex.
This ship redemption via token/shipyard system is different from the C-Store system, please note.
On the FED side i can see only 2 ships and they are garbage. I was hoping to get the Free T5U upgrade token.
I won't complain, it's free.. but they're not giving you anything you really desire. You pretty much pick a ship, get the admiralty card and then dismiss it. You're never going to use it for anything, it's a throw away ship.
I tried three times to ask @ambassadorkael#6946 on the stream last night.
The original article definitely had it that we were getting an Upgraded T5U at Lvl 61 and that article has since been retconned. So does anyone know why they changed it?
They explained it in the stream. From what I remember, the original plan was when a character hits level 61, they would get a T5 ship and an upgrade token for that ship (and that ship only). However it turned out to be something of a technical challenge to limit the upgrade token to that one ship only, so they scrapped the idea.
Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.
-Captain James T. Kirk
Seems more like not wanting people rolling toons for free upgrade tokens instead of buying them more than a technical issue. They could have implemented a system for those specific ships like the T5 lockbox ships that just have a free upgrade, not tokens.
I'm not seeing the big issue here. Is it really significant which ship gets upgraded? As long as they make the token character/account bound, like the vet reward, and non-tradable what is Cryptic losing? One of the points of VIL for me is the level cap increase and getting players an edge up past the last free T5 ships earned prior to VIL to prepare for level 65 mobs. Or am I missing something?
Ah, I missed that part in the stream. Thanks. It's a shame they haven't made a proper announcement about it on the forums.