In ZAM's recent Q&A with Star Trek Online Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich, we asked about many of the player concerns circulating the community just prior to the MMO's release.

Last week, Cryptic Studios finally released the widely-anticipated Star Trek Online. It was well-received by the majority of its followers, earning praise from Star Trek fans as well as veteran MMO players. However, just prior to STO's official release last Tuesday, a handful of community-driven issues were consistently popping up in Cryptic's forums and in-game, during its beta-testing phase. We rounded up about a dozen of the most commonly-raised gameplay issues we've noticed throughout the past few weeks, hoping to get some answers from the developers.

Fortunately, ZAM was able to take our questions straight to the top; Star Trek Online executive producer Craig Zinkievich responds in this exclusive Q&A, which we submitted a few days before the MMO's official release. Zinkievich talks about STO's future content and gives us a rough idea of how often Cryptic will deploy new "Episodes" and other endgame material (including confirmation that an encounter with Borg Queen is in-the-works).

He also responds to some of the community's most commonly-asked questions regarding Klingon PvE gameplay, explaining why Cryptic originally designed the Klingon aspect of STO the way it did. Zinkievich also talks about the balancing STO's combat and solo play, as well as fixing the commonly-addressed "corkscrew" ship-maneuvering issue. Finally, Zinkievich explains why fans shouldn't be too quick to lose faith in the "exploration and diplomacy" aspects of Star Trek Online.

[Note: the following Q&A took place a few days before the official launch, after the open beta-testing phase concluded.]

ZAM: With regard to future content patches and new Episodes, how much does the development team already have "in the bag," so to speak?

Zinkievich: We already have a lot of things that we've been working on for post-launch. We just included a page on our website that talks about things to come very shortly. [Check out the Upcoming Content section of the site.] Also, keep in mind that our team is the same size now that it was a month ago. They're all working on new stuff, in addition to bug fixes and the like, so there will be even more available soon.

ZAM: On more than a few occasions, Cryptic has told the community that, if enough players request specific features or gameplay elements, they will be added to the game. Will Cryptic remain dedicated to that ideology, evolving STO in the direction that most fans want to see realized?

Zinkievich: Yes! We are already working on more exploration and more PvE content for Klingons. We definitely want to be able to take player feedback and incorporate that into the game. In a perfect world, we'd add everything everyone wants into the game immediately. Since that can't happen, we take a hard look at what our community wants, then determine if it's possible and would fit into the game. If it is, we add it to the list of things we want to make happen.

ZAM: In retrospect, why didn't Cryptic anticipate some of the major issues raised by the community, like the Klingon issue or the criticism that STO is "just a combat game"? Was it a deadline-related issue, or some unforeseen disparity between the community and the developers?

Zinkievich: A few things are going on, here. First and foremost, we made a commitment to our fans to ship the date in February, and we did it. We did anticipate that people would be looking for more out of the Klingon faction, and we're adding that now. We originally did design the Klingons to be much more PvP-oriented than the Federation, because we wanted players to have a vastly different experience than what they'd get in Federation play. But obviously folks are more interested in a broader experience on the Klingon side. So we're getting on that. We're also adding more exploration missions into the game as we speak.

ZAM: Regarding Klingon gameplay; what's the contingency plan if the single-server model doesn't provide enough opportunities for rank progression, especially later down the road? Some players are still worried there won't be enough PvE content to satisfy the Klingon faction; does it just depend on post-launch feedback?

Zinkievich: There is already PvE content in-the-works for Klingons. When we say dependent on post-launch feedback we really mean in terms of what kind of PvE content they would like and if it becomes the same scale as Federation. But right now we already have more PvE content coming for Klingons and with the mixture of PvP for Klingons there will be plenty of opportunities to advance.

ZAM: From a technical standpoint, how viable is Cryptic's ability to produce non-Federation episodic, PvE content? For example, how feasible is it that players might eventually receive more factions or races with their own specific play-styles, abilities and PvE progression?

Zinkievich: It's definitely feasible. Ultimately, it's just the application of what the system designers dream up. We've got a lot of smart people on the team and can make a lot of amazing things happen in a very short time. Ultimately, it just comes back to what the players want and whether or not it's something that will truly add to the game.

ZAM: How would you describe STO's ideal "endgame" model in action? Will the final stages of higher-ranking Episodes serve as an "interim" until the next content patch is released, and so on?

Zinkievich: This is a place where we want to provide players with choice. More Episodes, Raid Episodes, and unique exploration content. Really giving the endgame players the ability to choose what they want to do to unlock and obtain access to the high-end ships, fill out their crew and skills.

We'll always be adding more things to do to the game. We don't plan on stopping any time soon. As time moves on, we'll be looking at increasing the rank cap, adding more ships and so on, as well. The idea is to keep players of all levels engaged.

ZAM: Can you describe some of the ways in which players will spend their time at max-rank, or give us any specific examples of the types of gameplay you're shooting for? Will this include elements like epic boss battles, sector-wide encounters and massive fleet show-downs, for example?

Zinkievich: We're in the process of unveiling numerous Raid Episodes, which offer new story arcs for advanced players to play through. The ones we have planned in the near term lead up to an encounter with the Borg Queen. So in the near term, it's very much about completing and continuing the Star Trek Online story and challenging players…and getting some pretty cool loot.

Of course, there always are PvP and exploration missions to enjoy. We're continually developing those angles of gameplay for people, too.