Trample the Weak

With Game Update 1.3 looming on the horizon, players of Star Wars: The Old Republic can once again expect to see numerous changes and additions made to various game systems. Though it is not likely to be a content-heavy patch, there are many significant upgrades coming to Crew Skills, Augmentation functionality and much more. While the Group Finder tool is potentially the most anticipated feature of this patch, there are sure to be a lot of other changes to enjoy, including many quality-of-life improvements. For our complete coverage of what to expect from Update 1.3, read on past the jump.

Note: Updates to this article will come as BioWare announces changes and additions to Update 1.3. This article only serves as a small glimpse of content coming in the patch.

Group Finder

• The new Group Finder system will allow players to find and join a party for a Flashpoint, Story Mode Operation, or mission content on a particular planet.

• Players will have the ability to choose between finding a group for random (“Operation”) or specific (“Denova”) content.

• There will be an incentive for completing a daily random Flashpoint, details of which are currently unknown.

• Players will be able to select in advance which combat role (DPS, Healer, Tank) they are willing to fulfill.

Damion SchubertIt is fairly simple and basically what we want to do is to give you a really simple front end that you can use as well as those give you the ability to fine tune your choices a little more so the really simple approach is you open a group finder you choose what role – tank, heal or DPS – that you are willing to fulfill and you can choose multiple if your class can fill multiple and then you choose what kind of content that you want to do and that content is going to be flashpoints, heroic flashpoints, operations although story mode operations only for now and then world content, the planetary content where you basically say I want a quest on Belsavis.

Then if you hit select from there, then it will try to find people who want to do that stuff. Now if there is a particular dungeon or particular planet that you want to do by default what it does it gets you to the level of appropriate flashpoints for you. If you really want to the quest in the Mandalorian Raiders flashpoint for example you can go and unselect everything else and just say, “Hey, I just want to sign up for that.” And the group finder will try to find other people who are looking for that content as well so that is a great way for you to target certain quests that you want to accomplish. We felt that was important in our game because of where the game is right now where people are trying to clear out their quest logs and accomplish certain goals in certain places.

However, if you play the random game, especially for flashpoints and heroic flashpoints, and you just set yourself purely random then like yeah we are going to throw a cookie at you. We are going to give you, I forgot what the itemization guys ended up offering, but you are going to want to try to do a random dungeon day I believe.

Legacy

• The Legacy system will see another major expansion in Patch 1.3. Some of the most exciting additions focus on providing alternate ways to level, with players being given the opportunity to to unlock bonus experiences gains in Flashpoints, PvP Warzones or Space Combat.

Daniel EricksonYou are also getting the next part of Legacy, which we had a little in-game advert going for that beforehand, which are your character perks, which is that is all about the uniqueness of your character how you want to play each individual character. Hey, you know what I want to actually get my speeder early. I want to get more XP from PvP. I want to really sort of shape how I am going to play this guy. I have already played another character maybe I want to see different content but I want to be able to just mostly do that content and still get my character up at the same rate which brings a lot of exciting stuff and although Legacy will keep going after that and we will continue to expand it, those are really the two biggest thematic concepts that will be there for the players.

• The additions will also add numerous new convenience options. Increasing the run speed granted by sprint, allowing a respec of player skill trees in the field and enhancing the affection gained by player companions are just a handful of the possibilities that may be made available to make player life easier.

• Players will also be given the opportunity to purchase upgrades that will increase their companions’ chance to critically succeed on missions or while crafting items.

• All of these unlocks are currently preview-able in-game by opening your Legacy panel (by default, the “Y” key) and selecting “Coming Soon” on the left-hand side. Please note that as with any “Coming Soon” announcement, this list is subject to change and is by no means all-inclusive or final.

• Also worth noting is that these additions to the Legacy system will differ from previous Legacy unlocks, in that they will only be unlocked on a per-character basis.

Augmentation

• Players will finally be able to add Augment slots to crafted items in 1.3. Adding an Augment slot will require both credits and an Augment kit, which will be crafted by players. The required materials to construct Augment kits will be harvested from reverse-engineering crafted gear. It appears adding Augment slots will require utilizing one of the previously defunct General Enhancement Stations (currently being referred to variously by the developers as “augment tables” or “item modification tables”) found throughout the game world.

David HuntAdding an augment to an item through the augment table will require an augment kit and credits. The kits can be traded and are created by crafters. RE’ing crafted items gives you the materials required to create augment kits.

• The schematics for Augment kits will be obtained from the appropriate Crew Skills trainer. The kits themselves will be limited in usage to a specific tier of gear: for example, a particular kit may only be usable on gear within a given level range.

David HuntFrom a Crew Skill trainer.

David HuntAugment kits are tiered.

• Making one Augment kit will require you to Reverse Engineer approximately 10 pieces of crafted gear in order to acquire the necessary components. This is subject to change.

David HuntIt’s currently set to 10, so that’s what you can expect to see when it first hits Public Test. As with anything that’s not live, this is subject to change.

I expect that many people will not use those 10 crafts on the item they want. Instead, they’ll make one copy of the item, then if it does not crit they’ll make 10 cheap items that fall into the same range and provide the necessary component.

• The materials necessary to craft Augment kits will not replace, but be in addition to, any other materials recovered from the Reverse Engineering process.

David HuntNot quite. Augment material drops from reverse engineering are not random. They are, however, in addition to the standard return you see now.

Crew Skills

• Schematics for crafting Custom (Orange) waist and wrist slot items will now be acquirable via Underworld Trading.

David Hunt There’s a major update to Underworld Trading schematics in 1.3 – it’s possible that the upcoming crew skill change was actually referring to that, the gradual introduction of more orange armor sets or other steps being taken to opening up more armor to be viable in 1.2 and 1.3. We’ve added a whole bunch of orange waist and wrist schematics to Underworld Trading in 1.3 We’ve wanted to open this up to players for awhile, especially because some outfits really need the belt in order to look right.

Itemization

• The “adaptive gearing” mechanic will finally make its way into the game. This will allow all Social Gear to scale automatically to a character’s armor class, allowing for a new range of options for custom appearances.

• Alongside the ability to add Augment slots, adaptive gearing will enable the viability of nearly any vanity armor set at end-game.

Daniel EricksonYes, adaptable social gear that automatically changes to your character’s gear type is coming in Game Update 1.3.

Space Combat

• Though BioWare has previously hinted that it has big plans for Space Combat, it appears that Space Combat will remain unchanged in Patch 1.3. However, the coming expansions to the Legacy rewards system should provide an unlockable experience boost for completing space missions.

Warzones

• The exact launch date for ranked Warzones remains uncertain, but they are slated to be implemented soon. It is still possible that they will be rolled-out prior to Update 1.3.

Daniel EricksonRanked Warzones are coming back and they are coming back soon and they are coming back in a design that has been vetted and tested and that we feel really good about it.

• It appears that no additional Warzone content is planned for Patch 1.3.

Operations and Flashpoints:

• Although no new Operation or Flashpoint content is currently slated to be released with this patch, the addition of the Group Finder should make it easier to find groups for existing instances.

UI

• No substantial UI changes to report.

Guilds

• No substantial Guild mechanics changes to report.

Overall Patch Impact

As described by BioWare, this patch will be “content-light” but “features-heavy.” It will have substantial quality-of-life improvements that will make it easier for you to play the way you want and to look the way you want while doing it. You will likely see the time needed to find a group for a Flashpoint or story-mode Operation decrease. In addition, if the incentive for completing a random Flashpoint is attractive enough, you can expect to see a wider pool of players available, further decreasing overall wait time.

Augments, as well as aesthetically-attractive Custom gear, will likely increase in demand and consequently in cost in the weeks before 1.3. Expect to see rising prices for all Custom gear, Augments, and Augment components. Since the materials to make the Augment kits come from Reverse Engineering crafted gear, there may be a serious lack of non-augmented crafted gear on the GTN immediately following the patch as crafters opt to RE it rather than sell it. Additionally, expect to see prices on augmented (crit-crafted) Custom items drop substantially as players dig old gear out of their banks and apply Augment slots to them.

Since the credit costs of the new Legacy unlocks are currently unknown, it is difficult to say how expensive it will be to choose an alternate leveling path. To make sure you can unlock the options you most want, it would be wise to head into the patch with some spare credits on hand.