Hi folks!
Happy 13 years with Star Wars: The Old Republic! Much has been accomplished this year and we are happy to see players enjoying Game Update 7.6 “Galactic Threads”. Let’s take a look at what’s happened in 2024 so far!
Game Updates
We started off the year with Galactic Seasons 6 “Building a Foundation” and debuted Date Night Companion missions featuring Arcann, Koth Vortena, Theron Shan, and Lana Beniko. We will continue to deliver these throughout the year and keep you all posted on the next companions.
Game Update 7.5 “Desperate Defiance” released in late May and came with a variety of new content including the continuation of the main storyline, the debut of the Basilisk Prototype Venture, a new spring seasonal event, and a modernization update for the planet Hutta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NLU_pgU1xk&t
Galactic Seasons 7 “The Greatest Bounty”, which released with Game Update 7.5.1 was extended to January 7, so be sure get all your bounties in to reap all the rewards!
And now Game Update 7.6 launched on December 10 and with it came Dynamic Encounters, the Propagator Core XR-53 Operation Boss, PvP Season 7, Life Day, and more modernization updates to planets Tython, Hoth, Korriban, and Ilum and also character models.
Modernization
The team has done an incredible job with the modernization updates over the last couple years, and one question I have seen pop up every now and then is “why modernize the game?”. The short answer is that SWTOR launched in 2011, and we have to replace, extend, and refine our technology which enables us to continue delivering regular updates to the game. Both hardware and software have substantially improved over the years and many of our changes enable us to leverage the new tech.
There have been huge improvements made in 7.6 to the environments of Tython, Korriban, Hoth, and Ilum, and I am pleased to see our modernization efforts continue with character models.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7JD4pTpks
Mac Launcher
In case you missed it, we now have an open beta test for the new Mac launcher! Back in October, we opened a closed technical test and we received nearly a thousand players responding to it! We rolled out the technical test to several groups of players to validate how the launcher and ultimately the game would perform on select M-Series Mac machines. We’ve now moved to open beta, and anyone who would like to check it out can download the launcher from the main page on swtor.com.
Skeleton Crew inspired items
Our collaboration with Lucasfilm Games continues on with new Cartel Market offerings inspired by the Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew™. The Mysterious Rogue outfit and Fearless Buccaneer weapons are fun additions to any player’s wardrobe who may want to indulge in the pirate life.
Fun fact, a new mount inspired by the speeder bike as seen in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is now in-game and you’ll notice that it has a rather unique feature about it.
That’s right, companion and mini pet functionality has now come to SWTOR! The Meirm Cicada mount is our newest reward for any player who is a Subscriber through January 4, 2025.
What else is happening?
Another Twitch Drop campaign is now active and the reward is a highly requested Amethyst Vulptilla Mount. Watch four hours of live SWTOR content on Twitch to unlock this reward. If you haven’t connected your SWTOR and Twitch account, you can do so on the account page on SWTOR.com.
Events and sales
- Our Anniversary Event is now live and will be active until January 3, 2025.
- The Coruscant and Kaas City Strongholds are discounted to 13 credits (down from 5000) until the next game update.
- Life Day is now live and will be active until January 7, 2025.
- The Double XP event runs from December 22, 2024 to January 2, 2025.
- The 50% off Collection Unlocks sale is now active and will run until January 7, 2025.
- If you missed the announcement during our dev stream, all dyes in the Cartel Market are 50% off!
Last month, we released the limited time offer Master the Fight: Starbolt Edition bundle. This bundle includes:
- 180 Days Subscription Time + 600 Cartel Coins per month
- 5500 Cartel Coins
- Vectron 240R Starbolt Mount
- Rideable at level 1
- Base speed as fast as Speeder Rank 5 (130%)
- Gives players a speed boost while mounted
- Primary Metallic Yellow Dye (x5 per character)
- Secondary Metallic Yellow Dye (x5 per character)
- Bundle is priced at $99.99 USD
Be sure to pick it up before January 14, 2025!
What’s coming up?
We are really excited as we look towards 2025! Let's talk about the beginning of the year. First up will be Game Update 7.6.1 in the first quarter of the year which will kick off our next Galactic Season. This one will be a fun one as we throw you into some content you may not have played in a bit... be sure to come back early in the year for our livestream to hear about that season and everything else planned for the update.
And then of course, right on the horizon of 7.6.1 is 7.7! Really looking forward to talking about our plans here as we have a new coming with some new , the continuation of our story, along with a host of other things to tell you about! Last but not least, we can't forget that 2025 is the next Star Wars Celebration 2025 is just around the corner and so I'm just excited as a Star Wars fan to see what next year holds for all of us.
Enjoy Game Update 7.6, have a happy holiday, and we will see you in the new year!
-Keith