Star Wars: The Old Republic Sets Groundwork for 10th Anniversary

Originally published on GameOnAus.com in May 2021

To say I’m a bit of a Star Wars fan is like saying Anakin Skywalker got a bit burnt on Mustafar. For pretty much as long as I’ve been alive I’ve read, watched and played everything Star Wars I could get my hands on. Some of my earliest content creation was Star Wars: The Old Republic and I still have an active Star Wars video game YouTube series.

And so I find myself, after nine and a half years, still playing Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) and still enjoying it. 2020 saw the end of the Tenebrae/Vitiate/Valkorion story and the return of fan favourite character Darth Malgus first introduced in the Ilum missions, which itself was the first new story content released after the original class stories.

In the lead up to Star Wars Day 2021 (May the 4^th for you heathens) update 6.3 The Dark Descent was released, containing flashpoint Secrets Of The Enclave and new rewards system Galactic Seasons.

Secrets Of The Enclave was very exciting for me. Fans of Knights Of The Old Republic would instantly recognise the setting of this flashpoint: this is the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine that was destroyed in that game. Malgus is searching for something the Jedi hid there to help break his chains and both the Republic and Sith Empire will do anything they can to stop him. It’s a well put together flashpoint with plenty of nostalgic moments and enough new elements to keep players busy, and the story sets up future conflict against Malgus. It’s got me very excited for the future of SWTOR.

But the thing that has me returning to SWTOR night after night is the new Galactic Seasons rewards system. Starting with the Stranger From Kubindi, the first Galactic Seasons gives the player a new companion Altuur zok Adon to aid them, with more rewards unlocked by doing daily and weekly missions. It’s coming up to the end of the first week of the Stranger From Kubindi and I’ve logged on every night to get that sweet, sweet Galactic Seasons Points.

There are two Reward Tracks, one for Free To Play and Preferred players and another for Subscribers. Completing daily and weekly challenges earns players Galactic Seasons points with Subscribers able to earn slightly more points (and have more rewards on their track) than Free To Play or Preferred players.

Word at the moment is that each Galactic Season will run for five months or around 20 weeks. With the rate you can earn Galactic Seasons Points you can complete the 100 levels as a Subscriber in around 10 weeks, while Free To Play and Preferred players will take about 17 weeks.

To celebrate Star Wars Day, all players are eligible to pick up the M4-Y10 astromech droid mini-pet, inspired by The Bad Batch, the new Star Wars animated show also premiering on the 4^th May. To redeem yours all you need to do is log into SWTOR from 10:00pm AEST on the 4^th May through to 10:00pm AEST on the 11^th May. A collection unlock sale will also be running during that period.

SWTOR is also running a double experience event from 10:00pm AEST on the 4^th May through to 10:00pm AEST on the 18^th May so if you’ve got any characters you’ve been meaning to level up, now is your chance!

I’m excited to see what the future holds for SWTOR. Story has always been its strong point with amazing writers and with its 10^th anniversary towards the end of the year I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.