Star Trek Online will finally offer a complete leveling experience for the Klingon Defense Force faction, so expect Credits to fly off the shelves as swarms of casuals roll new Klingons.

Perfect World Entertainment has confirmed in a developer blog post that the upcoming Legacy of Romulus expansion will release full leveling content for the Klingon faction covering levels 1 to 50. Since the expansion is planning to launch a third playable faction, the Romulans, developers thought it only appropriate to fully flesh out the Klingon progression which has been around for much longer.

Klingons will be able to start the game at level 1 and will have enough playable episodes, missions and events to reach level 50. This is opposed to the previous set-up where players had to start at a higher level.

The Klingon story has also been buffed with more original content, with some episodes even occurring in completely new locations such as the prison planet Rura Penthe.

With developers fleshing out the Klingon progression, players who had previously held out in creating a Klingon character will likely give the race a go now. Casuals tired of the leveling grind will want to stock up on Star Trek Online Credits to finance their leveling gear, companion equipment, and upgrades.

While critics of Credits still write it off as an inflated currency, it does not change the fact that there are still a lot of nifty things that players can purchase with Credits at the vendors and at the Exchange.

Freshly rolled Klingons climbing their way up the level ladder will need to stock up on commodities, food, personal equipment, kits, weapons and starship components. A few of the more expensive Credits purchases will be for special bridge officers. No doubt the new content will also give rise to rare Klingon-spcecific items that will cost hundreds of millions of Credits.

Fleets also continue to function based on Credits contributions, and Klingon fleets will be no different. Crafting enthusiasts will also be spending Credits for raw materials to be used for craft leveling.

This is not to say that Credits will be the end-all and be-all for Klingon starters. A fat stack of Credits will ease the grind and make the ride to the top a breeze, but players will still need to grind Dilithium and consider paying up for some cash shop specials that cannot be bought with Credits. Two that come immediately to mind are the newest Klingon ships coming out with the Legacy of Romulus expansion, the B'Rotlh Bird-of-Prey (Tier 1) and the Qaw'Dun Bird-of-Prey (Tier 2), which should make even the staunchest Federation loyalists swoon with envy.

Executive producer Dan Stahl reveals the upcoming content updates zooming into the sci-fi MMO, and when players can expect these to launch.

New content and release schedule
In a brand-new edition of Ask Cryptic, the Q&A blog post where Stahl fields queries from the Star Trek Online fan base, he said that 2013 will be an action-packed time for the game. At least two major updates -- Season 8 and 9 - will be coming out this year.

The Season 8 update is scheduled for the first half of the year, Stahl said, and will focus on new missions (possibly with better rewards) and a new adventure zone with a fresh storyline. He also teases that there will be "another big feature" coming out with Season 8 but did not provide specific clues.

Meanwhile, the Season 9 update will come out in the second half of the year. "In between all of that will be additional updates, new ships, a few new features and perhaps a mid-year event before next year's Winter Event," said Stahl.

For episode fans, the newest one will be coming out in a couple of weeks in time for the 3rd year anniversary of the Star Trek Online. Additional episodes will be included in Season 8 and beyond.

Social zones update
Encouraged by the success of the New Romulus and Tholian Adventure Zones, Stahl said that the team is looking at social zones next for a similar update. "One of the zones being thrown about for a possible Springtime or Summer event is to have it take place on Risa or somewhere similar where all factions could enjoy some fun in the sun."

Level cap increase
Star Trek Online is also looking at a raised level cap that should allow captains to obtain the Full Admiral Rank. Of course, what would a level cap increase be without better equipment to go along with it?

"As part of that change, we will be introducing a new tier of gear, along with new very rare and ultra-rare items that are loot only," said Stahl.

Over the next two years, max-level players will also gain access to new reputations to earn special items and abilities. Some reputations being considered include PvP, FED/KDF Warfront, Tholian Task Force, Foundry Play and Crafting.

Jem'Hadar ships
Star Trek Online pilots can look forward to owning sleek new Jem'Hadar ships, including the Heavy Escort version scheduled to debut with the Dominion Lock Box release.

More STFs and massive-scale scenarios
The higher level cap will also bring in the need for new STF missions, and Stahl said these will be composed of "a good mix of 5/10/20 man missions." Also in the cards are massive-scale competitive PvP and/or PvE scenarios which will bring together the Star Trek Online community. "Both of these concepts are on the table for later in 2013, but will not be picked up until after Season 8 release."