Frontier Developments just released a teaser trailer for the third season of its MMORPG Elite Dangerous titled "Beyond --- Chapter One." The trailer reveals that the free update is landing on PC, PS4, and XB1 on February 27. However, the release date was not the only story the trailer told.
If you've been keeping up, Season 2 "Horizons" added the ability to explore surface worlds. With this came the discovery of many abandoned and not-so-abandoned Thargoid structures. Some of the complexes had drones that were either repairing or dismantling the building, but no actual Thargoids roaming around.
With the fall release of version 2.4 (codenamed "The Return"), we learned that the Thargoids were preparing to make a return to the galaxy, and indeed they did. Many encounters have been recorded and posted to YouTube, but still, the Thargoids remain enigmatic. They seem to be in search of something and are not aggressive toward players unless fired upon or approached too closely.
If you watch the trailer carefully, however, this all could be changing in Season 3. In one quick cut at the very beginning we can see a news article posted to Galnet News (the in-game news source) titled, "Escalating Thargoid Threat." This could be a hint at future Thargoid aggressions.
The article is mostly blurred out, but you can get the gist from what is there.
Authorities in a number of systems have reported high concentrations ... systems are currently producing fewer resources and the ...
The following list contains the latest data on Thargoid activity.
LTT 700: Massive Thargoid presence
Ethli: Marginal Thargoid presence
Wakawal: No Thargoid presence
Other related headlines seen in the trailer include "New Thargoid Ship Sighted" and "Thargoid Assault Continues." I tried to find all these articles on Galnet (both in game and online), but came up with nothing, so they may be yet to come even though the date in the video is current (February 20, 3304).
In any event, it is fair to say that we will see an increased presence of the Thargoid in Beyond --- Chapter One, and we can probably expect encounters to turn ugly now that Season 2 has us lulled into a false sense of security.
Stay safe Commanders.