STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ News

Life Day Date: December 13th - January 10th, 2023 (BEGINS AND ENDS AT 12:00PM GMT)
Requirement: Level 10+

It is that time of the year again - denizens across the galaxy get ready to celebrate Life Day! Special Missions like “A Special Snowflake”, “Parcel Droid”, and “Could Use a Good Hug” are available during this limited time. Throwing snowballs and participating in these Missions will earn players Snow-Covered Parcels, redeemable for unique rewards. Get out there, throw some snowballs, hug some Wookiees, and most importantly, have fun! For this year's edition, we're introducing new rewards such as a new Gala Hat, the Family of the First Seed Weapons, and new decorations.

FEATURED REWARDS:

• NEW - Life Day Gala Hat
  
• NEW - Family of the First Seed Weapons
  
• NEW - Life Day Colored String Lights
  
• NEW - Life Day Colored Wreath
  
• NEW - Life Day String Lights (decoration)
  
• Sleigh I and J0-1Y Mounts
  
• Wampa Rug, Snow Blower, and Freezer Unit Stronghold Decorations
  
• Red, Blue, Pink, Green-Gold and more Holo-Trees
  
• Several Character titles
  
• … and more!
  

The All Worlds Ultimate Swoop Rally Date: December 27th - January 3rd, 2023 (BEGINS AND ENDS AT 12:00PM GMT)
Requirement: Level 20+

In the growing shadow of war, swoop fans across the galaxy descend on Dantooine, Tatooine, and even Onderon for the sport’s biggest spectacle—The All Worlds Ultimate Swoop Rally! They’re packing the stands, eager to take their minds off their troubles and cheer their favorite swoop gangs. The bikers are here to take on dangerous challenge courses, show off their piloting skills, and flaunt their souped-up swoop bikes. The thunder of the engines, the deafening applause from the fans, the wind battering their helmets… there’s no bigger rush for these thrill seekers.

Despite their reputation as wild rebels whose makeshift courses disregard local districting restrictions, swoop gangs aren’t a serious threat to anyone--something all true swoop fans know! They just love adrenaline-pounding speed, sweet jumps, and big explosions, and the All Worlds Ultimate Swoop Rally combines all three in one crowd-pleasing package. The biggest gangs on the circuit — Horizon’s Razor, the Pit Screamers, and the Blatant Beks — are ready to show their fans a great time.

FEATURED REWARDS:

• Swoop Rally Mounts (regular and gold versions)
  
• Swoop Gang Outfits
  
• Promotion Droid Mini-pets
  
• Various Stronghold Decorations
  
• …and more!
  

Eleven Year Anniversary Date: December 13th, 2022 - January 3rd, 2023 (BEGINS AND ENDS AT 12:00PM GMT)
Requirement: Levels 10+

A special “Anniversary Personnel” vendor can be found on the fleet with new Class Ship Stronghold Decorations. All previous anniversary rewards will also be available during this limited time as well. We've also brought back the annual stronghold sale! Both Coruscant and Kaas City Strongholds have received their annual discount, and can be purchased for only eleven credits each until the launch of our next game update!

FEATURED REWARDS:

• Faction-based fireworks
  
• Commemorative Statues of HK-51, Valkorian, and Malgus
  
• Senya Holo-statue
  
• Fireworks Celebratory Backpack
  
• Several Stronghold Decoration posters
  
• Class Ship Stronghold Decorations
  
• … and more!
  

Rakghoul Resurgence on Corellia Date: January 10th - January 17th, 2023 (BEGINS AND ENDS AT 12:00PM GMT)
Requirement: Level 25+

The Hyland Organization for Rakghoul Neutralization (T.H.O.R.N.) has issued an official level-2 emergency alert concerning an outbreak of the Rakghoul plague on Corellia. Quarantines have been put in place to restrict traffic of the plague off-world, but exceptions will be made for individuals with priority clearance.

T.H.O.R.N. is recruiting qualified volunteer emergency responders to travel to affected areas to combat the spread of the Rakghoul plague. More information about the outbreak can be found by checking the News Terminals on the Republic or Imperial Fleet!

T.H.O.R.N. wishes to remind you that plague symptoms can be treated if they are identified in the early stages of infection. Whether or not you have travel plans, please consult your nearest trusted medical supply droid and get vaccinated!

FEATURED REWARDS:

• Reputation with THORN
  
• Merciless Seeker’s Armor Set
  
• THORN Epicenter and Dark Vector Armor Sets
  
• Outbreak Response Weapons
  
• Alliance Contact - Doctor Lokin
  
• Infected Varactyl and Infected Dewback Mounts
  
• Ferocious Rakghoul Mini-pets
  
• …and more!
  

Relics of the Gree Date: January 24th - January 31st, 2023 (BEGINS AND ENDS AT 12:00PM GMT)
Requirement: Level 50+

Explore Ilum's contested area in the Western Ice Shelf to uncover the mysterious purpose of the Gray Secant, an enormous ancient Gree starship. Get ready to face a powerful opponent that awaits you at the center of this ancient vessel. Visit the in-game News Terminal located on Carrick Station in the Republic fleet or Vaiken Spacedock in the Imperial fleet to get started on your adventure!

FEATURED REWARDS:

• Reputation with the Gree Enclave
  
• Gree Digitization Cube
  
• White, Red, and Blue Scalene Armor
  
• Gray Helix Weapons
  
• L1-L Defender, L1-L Scout, and Miniature Gray Secant Mini-pets
  
• Cyan Sphere, Blue Sphere and Red Sphere Vehicles
  
• …and more!
  
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You read that correctly, the Public Test Server is now open for players to experience Star Wars: The Old Republic in 64-bit! This is yet another of our modernization initiatives that we are bringing to the game.

Why make the move to 64-bit?
Star Wars: The Old Republic was initially released in 32-bit on the game client in order to run on the widest variety of PCs available at the time. A decade later, 32-bit PCs are much less common. The last 32-bit PC processor was released in 2010.

The first advantage of moving to 64-bit code is memory. With 64-bits players can use more memory and aren't limited to 4 GB per process. This limit applies to the game client itself, and restricts things like how much content we can be placed in each area.

That ties into the limits that our tools have because they’re based on the same code. SWTOR has ten years of content in it: planets, characters, conversations, missions, systems, NPCs, etc... The migration over to 64-bit removes that limit and will help us streamline the process of building compelling content for years to come.

Additionally, we are future-proofing. With each new generation of Windows PCs, 32-bit support is slowly disappearing. Moving to 64-bit will help keep the game running smoothly by making sure it is running in the preferred mode for the hardware.

What should players expect to see differently on PTS?
We’re releasing the content that was included in Game Update 7.2 for testing. Ideally, there should be no difference in the player experience in terms of playability. We want to verify that the game still works the same as it did previously.

What feedback are we looking for?
Please be on the lookout for crashes or anything that seems different. There are thousands of permutations of processor, memory, graphics card, etc. We're especially on the hunt for issues that show up with specific configurations.

We are aware of a known issue currently with trees and foliage as they will look broken or be completely invisible. Upgrades are being made with the modeling software that builds these environment assets which is why they will not appear as functional during this phase of testing.

We encourage all feedback and reports to be submitted in our PTS sub-forums.

For details on how to access PTS, read here.

This is a huge stride forward in our modernization efforts, and we cannot wait to begin this new journey with all of our players.

Please note that PTS is provided in English only.

Steam PTS
When PTS is available, there will be a new prompt on our storefront page. Clicking the link there will start the process to getting the PTS installed!

Every year that passes, I am amazed by the work that has gone into Star Wars: The Old Republic. Today, we have hit our 11 year anniversary, and I have been reflecting on everything that transpired throughout the year. The updates, team changes, meetings, challenges, forums, live streams, and more come to mind.

At the beginning of 2022, we launched our 8th expansion. We took the time needed to overcome unforeseen obstacles, polish and test the content to ensure it will be enjoyable for players. There was a lot of effort, love, and care that went into “Legacy of the Sith” and just as much going into the most recent and future updates.

A lot of changes happened this year, and many times the unknown can be intimidating and scary, but the SWTOR team was able to adapt and truly strive forward with meaning and purpose. We took the time to focus on what was good and what was working for us while also acknowledging what could be improved upon and how we could move forward and upward.

Now we are on the heels of the launch of 7.2. I am thrilled to see all of you enjoying the new planet, the new Mandalorian storyline and Daily Area, and I am right there with you in celebrating the amazing UI updates and quality of life changes that were included in this update. I even see quite a few of you making your way through the PvP Reward Track. “Showdown on Ruhnuk” is a fun update, and it brings me great joy to see our players experiencing all of the content in it.

On top of creating content, we made huge strides from a technical standpoint. We’ve been talking about modernization efforts for some time, and now players are able to see some of this on the front end. We’ve updated our forums and game launcher with new tech, are in the midst of bringing the game to 64-bit, and have been successful in testing content on servers hosted in the cloud. This was an initiative that we’ve been working towards for the better part of the year, and we are now in a position to talk about it. The last few rounds of testing on the Public Test Server have been done on AWS! Current testing is proving to be successful, and we look forward to next steps. Moving servers entirely to the cloud in the near future will enable us to improve the game experience for our players and create opportunities to increase the player base over time. All of these initiatives are to lay the groundwork for even more to come.

A bit of a sneak peek into the future. Eric and the design leads have been working together to build upon and in some areas rebuild internal processes and plans that impact the cadence of content. Take it from me that game development is more than putting pieces of code together and then pushing it live. Building, testing, and polishing take time, and the plans this team is putting together are coming to fruition, beginning with 7.2. We will have more to share and what all of this looks like early next year.

In closing, here are some anniversary specials you can enjoy:

Double XP Event begins today and will run until December 27, 2022

• 50% off Pets and Companions from now until December 27th, 2022
  
• 50% off Toys and Flair in the Cartel Market from December 28th until January, 4 2023
  
• 50% off all Collections from now until January 1, 2023
  

And a reminder for the following:

• Character Transfer Sale is currently active and will run through January 9, 2023
  
• Life Day is running until January 10, 2023
  
• The Coruscant and Kaas City Strongholds are discounted to 11 credits (down from 5000) until the next game update.
  

Thank you all for coming along this journey with us, and thank you for playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Stay safe and stay healthy. May the Force be with you.

-Keith Kanneg and the SWTOR Team

• Increased the weekly cap of the following currencies to 2500 (up from 1500):
  
  • Conquest Commendations
    
  • Daily Resource Matrix
    
• Players no longer receive the error message telling them their Mission log is too full when attempting to complete the Ruins of Nul Flashpoint - Solo-Story Mode.
  
• The Thyrsian Mender’s weapons can now be purchased from the PvP upgrade vendors, as expected.
  
• The Thyrsian Targeter’s weapons are now only unlocking the corresponding upgrades in the PvP upgrade vendor’s inventory.
  
• There is now a visual effect on the following weapons:
  
  • Family of the First Seed Lightsaber
    
  • Family of the First Seed Dualsaber
    
• The following crates no longer reward Implants:
  
  • Elite Decurion Upgrade Cache
    
  • Supreme Decurion Upgrade Cache
    
  • Rakata Upgrade Cache
    
  • Tionese Upgrade Cache
    
  • Columni Upgrade Cache
    
  • Thyrsian Upgrade Cache
    

Fixed with a previous maintenance:

• PvP Season progression is no longer resetting after being logged out for at least 1 hour.
  

We will be taking the servers offline on December 20, 2022 to deploy Game Update 7.2a.

Details:
DATE: December 20, 2022
TIME: 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM CT (1:00 PM - 4:00 PM UTC)
VERSION: 7.2a

Patch notes will be available on Monday.

Thank you for your patience as we maintain Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!