To celebrate the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Legacy of the Sith, Bioware showed off a sneak preview of the newest expansion, revealing plenty of new features, locations, and characters fans can expect from the update.
Kicking things off, Bioware unveiled a rather familiar setting that Knights of the Old Republic players will love: Manaan. Home to the fish species known as the Selkath, this Ocean planet plays a pivotal role in the galaxy, as both The Republic and Empire vie for control of its healing liquid, Kotle.
Over the years, Manaan has remained a neutral party in the war between the Sith and Jedi, as they fear each side will try to steal this magical resource for themselves. In Legacy of the Sith, that is no longer the case, as The Empire has invaded with the hopes of being the sole cultivators of Kotle in the galaxy.
The battle for Manaan will serve as the main story for this expansion, though players will also return in January for dailies as well. Anyone who has been a fan of Star Wars for long enough knows how much potential this storyline has, as it provides plenty of opportunity for dramatic Light and Dark side interactions with the neutral Selkath natives.
Those who are playing on the Empire side of things will obviously meet considerably more resistance in the expansion, as they’re the ones who have initiated the assault. This will make things interesting combat-wise, as Selkath can pop up from just about anywhere since the entire locale is surrounded by water.
This storyline won’t be the only important update that comes alongside Legacy of the Sith, as a brand new Flashpoint and Operation will transport the Republic and Empire to two brand new locations.
For Flashpoint, players can experience the remote planet of Elom for the first time in Star Wars history. Located in a largely unexplored system of Sith territory, this snowy, chilly, and remote planet is home to some terrifying secrets. In this event, each side is hunting the dreaded Darth Null: a Sith Lord that has had all records of himself wiped from existence.
According to the Sith, Darth Null will be able to wreak havoc on the galaxy if he’s able to unlock the secrets that are hidden amidst the planet’s ancient ruins. As such, both sides want to try and stop him – while the Dark Side also hopes to steal these secrets for themselves.
Anyone that played the Onslaught expansion will be happy to know that this story continues the narrative that was set up back in 2019, as the ever imposing Darth Malgus once again plays a pivotal role in the story.
In a somewhat similar situation, Legacy of the Sith’s newest Operation also pits both sides against former Empire loyalists, as Sith and Republic alike fear what horrors the cult of the Unmasked are working on deep within the R-4 asteroid installment. This group is obsessed with combining the Dark Side of the force with technology, hoping to grow their powers in such an extreme way that even the Empire fears what might happen.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Creative Director Charles Boyd describes this Operation as “space horror,” stating that the team wanted players to hate how creepy, mysterious, and dark the environments are out of sheer fear.
Horror isn’t something that has really been explored too often in Star Wars, but the visuals that have been shown off so far look as terrifying as promised. Just look at how dark and claustrophobic the hallway image looks below.
Alongside all of these story elements, Boyd also stated that there will be plenty of quality-of-life touch-ups implemented alongside the Legacy of the Sith update, including some changes to combat.
We are updating several of our ui pieces in 7.0 and the years to follow. Some is for modernization and to update to 4k, while others are to account for combat styles.
We’re changing things over to something called combat styles. You’ll be able to pick from 8 styles that were previously called advanced classes. If you’re a fan of Captain Rex from The Clone, you can now fight as a gunslinger for example. If you want to be a Mandalorian bounty hunter, now you can.
On top of all that, we are going to have the option for subscribers to have a second combat style available to them. You can switch your players combat style outside of a fight in PvE. Hopefully, this gives players more of a chance to build the characters they imagined. Almost all RNG has been removed as well.
The introduction of combat styles is obviously a huge deal, as this allows for far more variation and customization when creating a character. The secondary style of subscribers is also great, as players will be able to switch out after battles to keep things fresh.
More than anything, though, the fact that almost all RNG has been removed is always going to be great. While I certainly enjoyed grinding and getting something good from an Operation or Flashpoint throughout my time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, having the ability to build my character in a more streamlined process will do wonders for experiencing the story while also getting to avoid playing the same events over and over again.
Bioware ended the event by revealing that SWTOR: Legacy of the Sith is set to launch on Dec. 14, 2021, for PC. For more information on the update, be sure to check out the rest of Twinfinite, as we’ve got plenty of other news stories from the event and today’s live stream.
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