SWTOR 7.0 Expansion Combat Styles Explained!

News Date: July 3, 2021 Patch: 7.0

A Sniper rifle on a Trooper? An Assault cannon on a Smuggler?!?! Introducing Combat Styles! Players can now separate their Class Story from gameplay style for an even greater customization experience. This frees up Advanced Class options as characters can choose any Advanced Class within the Tech or Force playstyle! Play as a Trooper wielding a Sniper Rifle, or a Sith Inquisitor with a lightsaber in each hand, or even secretly use Dark Side powers while posing as a member of the Jedi Order. Loadouts will increase your ability to customize, allowing you to swap between playstyles and gear with a click.

Hello all! I know combat styles is really confusing mainly because of the way they focused on weapons in the description in the livestream. I hope this video explains it a lot better, all the info is directly from watching, re-watching and analyzing what was said in the livestream and the swtor.com post, without any wishful thinking involved LOL. Lots of sources included from the stream. I also made my own charts to better show the new options. Sorry there is no written version (I free-talked this one), but there is the automatic transcript – click the symbol of three little dots … to open it, under the video, it’s pretty decent. I have also included my transcript from the video below. We will be getting more info on MONDAY with the public test server.

hello everyone with the awesome
announcement that we will be getting
update 7.0 a new expansion called Legacy of the Sith
in the holidays of 2021.
I wanted to explain to you all in depth
about how the new
combat style system works because it
seems to be something that is stumping a
lot of players
and it’s just absolutely insane new
system that’s being added to the game
and i’m
so excited to start exploring this so
here is my very thorough breakdown
based on what the developers of the game
said in the live stream
now let’s get into combat styles an
announcement that completely blindsided
the entire star wars the old republic
community and we’re just
completely abuzz about and asking a
million questions about
players thought it was pretty safe to
assume we’d probably get an expansion
with the game’s 10th anniversary
what exactly we get in the expansion
would probably get some new planets some
new story new operation new flashpoint
it’s pretty standard we didn’t think the
entire way that we’d be able to choose
advanced classes would change however
so here’s what the developers had to say
about it introducing combat styles
players can now separate their class
story from gameplay style for an even
greater customization experience
this frees up advanced class options as
characters can choose any advanced class
within the tech or force play style
play as a trooper wielding a sniper
rifle or sit
inquisitor with a lightsaber in each
hand or even secretly
use dark side powers while posing as a
member of the Jedi order
loadouts will increase your ability to
customize allowing you to swap between
play styles and gear with a click
they used very similar phrasing when
they are doing the developer live stream
announcement and this made players go
crazy
players have a huge imagination when it
comes to their
characters and how they think they might
be able to play the game and how they
role play and imagine the game in their
head
and although this is an extremely cool
announcement i’m so excited to show you
how it works
don’t get too ahead of yourself make
sure you understand how it works before
you get too excited because there’s some
really cool stuff you can do
but it may not mean exactly what you
think and i really appreciate if you
help
share and correct players to help temper
their expectations
i know it’s just such a wonderful thing
to imagine about the game
but not everything being said about it
or guessed about it is true
we’ll also be getting a public test
server coming up very soon probably very
shortly after i release this video
and we’ll be able to actually test this
out in action
so first off how does star wars the old
republic work right
now first you pick your class there is
eight classes
to pick from my favorite is the trooper
the class that you choose determines
which
storyline you play so if i choose the
trooper i’ll be able to play the trooper
storyline
as part of the republic military if i
wanted to play the Sith inquisitor
storyline
i had to play the Sith inquisitor once
you choose the trooper
you then must choose between two
advanced class
in the past you got to wait till like
level 10 or so to choose
these days you choose write a character
creation making it very clear
which of the classes you’re going to
play and then which advanced class
you’re going to play
the trooper can choose between the
vanguard which is what i usually play
with my tank
or you can choose the commando which is
the one with a really big assault gun
combat styles is going to open up those
options
substantially with combat styles
this changes drastically this is a major
change to the game and how you get to
choose your class in advanced class
so before when you chose the trooper you
could then choose the advanced class of
either the
vanguard or the commando you had to pick
one
you could not then change between them
now with the new combat styles that are
being introduced in update
7.0 the next expansion legacy of the
Sith
in holidays 2021 the trooper will be
able to choose from the vanguard
the commando but also on the imperial
side
the power tech and the mercenary as well
as
all the other tech users advanced
classes the scoundrel
the gunslinger the operative and the
sniper
any advance class that’s on the tech
side currently will be a combat style
available to you
as a trooper
what that means now your your trooper
could be a sniper
your trooper could be a gunslinger so
the idea is that you are still a trooper
you are still a trooper in the storyline
you will always be a trooper
but you are no longer locked into just
the trooper’s advanced classes
you can instead choose from any of the
tech
advanced classes at its heart what is
this doing it’s separating your class
story choice
from your game so you can become a
trooper sniper
a trooper scoundrel or if you really
love your original advanced class you
can just
stick with a trooper vanguard or
commando i’m not judging you
if they stick with the phrasing that
they use in the developer live stream
you
should also be able to switch
between these eight choices right here
so
maybe if i’m a trooper right now i could
switch between a commando and a vanguard
or i could switch between a scoundrel
and a sniper
and a commando loadouts now the name
pretty much tells you what it is but
uh something we’ve been wanting to do
for a very long time because you know
changing all your gear around when
you’re going between different
disciplines or
this is absolutely insane it’s just so
incredibly different and such a
really big question of how difficult is
it to switch
and how much cost or is there a time
limit between switches
this we do not have any information
about and have a feeling that won’t be
fully finalized until the actual
expansion comes out as they’ll be
testing and getting feedback on that
so as i’m sure you’re starting to think
it’s not just the trooper that’s going
to have this
option so the all the tech classes the
agent
the trooper the smuggler and the bounty
hunter can
all go into specializing into
any of these eight different advanced
classes which are now technically called
combat styles so you can become a
smuggler power tech
you can become an imperial agent
vanguard you can become a bounty hunter
gunslinger
all the tech classes can play all the
different tech
advanced classes now so this is where
players imagination starts to go
crazy and i wanted to clarify exactly
how it works
based on the wording that developers use
in
the developer live stream so first off i
play a vanguard
i use a blaster rifle that’s pretty much
the only weapon that i can wield
i play a commando let’s say i’m a
commando healer i use a big old assault
cannon and i use my green beam of love
to heal people
now in this new system i can become
a trooper gunslinger now imagine i’m
playing on my character that was a
commando a pure commando
with its green beam of love and its
assault cannon players ask
okay if i choose the gunslinger with the
new
combat styles system does that mean
i can still be my commando healer but i
get to use
two weapons two blaster pistols like the
gunslinger and i can still shoot my
green beam of love with a whole like
maybe
a whole double beans of a green beam of
love wouldn’t that be
so cool yes that would be so cool but
that would require
hundreds and possibly up to thousands of
animations added to the game because
you’d need to add like a sniper rifle
green beam of love
double blasters green beam of love
single blaster green beam of love
blaster rifle green beam of love
and we already have the commando assault
weapon green beam of love so this is
not how it works players then ask okay
if i’m gonna become
i was playing my commando before can i
become a trooper
gunslinger keep my giant assault weapon
but use the abilities that the
gunslinger has like lots of all kinds of
pew-pew stuff that the gunslinger can
use the answer is no
you must wield the weapon of the
advanced class that you’re choosing
so no you cannot be a trooper a sniper
and have giant green beam of love coming
out of your sniper rifle either
you can either be a trooper commando and
use your assault cannon
that is tied to the commando and the
commandos abilities or
if you wanted to wield a sniper rifle
you could become a sniper
wield a sniper rifle and use the
sniper’s abilities there is no
cross hatching there’s no special trees
where you can put two points in commando
two points is a sniper
you can’t crossbreed the weapons or
anything like that
you simply choose a new advanced class
but keep your main class which is
mainly tied to your story i know you’re
going
crazy and just thinking of all the
things you can do with your Jedi on the
Sith but before we go
so the tech classes are the imperial
agent
the trooper the bounty hunter and the
smuggler
and all of those four tech classes
without restrictions
can become either a vanguard commando
powertech mercenary scoundrel
gunslinger operative or sniper when they
choose one of those eight advanced
classes
they get the weapons as well as the
ability set
of that advanced classes now called
combat styles
now let’s talk about force users they
are slightly different but work in a
very
similar way so the force users in the
game as i’m sure you’re kind of familiar
with them right now they’re some of the
favorites in the game
there’s the Sith inquisitor the Sith
warrior
the Jedi Consular and the Jedi knight
these four classes which will have their
story tied to them so you can only do
the Sith inquisitor story as a Sith
inquisitor
these four classes can become one of the
eight different advanced classes that
are normally tied to specific
force users so for example a Jedi
Consular can become a Jedi Consular
guardian
sentinel sage shadow
juggernaut marauder sorcerer or
assassin and get the weapons and skill
set
associated with that advanced class now
here’s where it gets a bit trickier and
this is fairly
strongly focused in the lore of star
wars the old republic
players very strongly feel that light
side and dark side choices
should matter and your character’s
alignment of light and dark should have
a strong
impact on the way you play as
particularly as a as a force user
at the moment in the game when you make
a dark side
or light side choice in the game this
will have a huge impact on your story
depending on what the actual choice you
made
is it will sometimes even have
consequences
way down the road some choices are minor
do you send someone to jail or do you
let them go
other choices can be huge like choosing
to even kill
or save your companion however when it
comes to your character’s overall
alignment
you get dark and light side points like
candy they can rack up really fast due
to a new system called dark versus light
not super important but your actual
alignment in-game
apart from the choices you make within
the story has very little consequence
this is going to drastically change with
this new update as well
which advanced classes you can use as a
force user will now be heavily
tied to your alignment so let’s say you
are playing a
light side character it doesn’t matter
if it’s a Jedi knight
or if you’re playing a light side Sith
inquisitor
you will be tied to choosing advanced
classes
that are able to use light side powers
for so for example if you’re playing a
Jedi Consular and you make a brand new
Jedi Consular they’re they’re neutral
you haven’t even gained any dark side or
light side points at this point
they’ll be have to use the ones that are
the default so the light side ones
if you are a light side Jedi Consular
no problem you can choose the guardian
sentinel stage or shadow
but you will be locked out of the dark
side
advanced classes like i said this does
not matter
which faction you’re on so if you are a
Sith inquisitor kind of
de-corrupting the empire from the inside
you will
also be stuck to using these light
side powers so the guardian the sentinel
the sage
and the shadow if you are playing a very
traditional Sith
sorcerer lightning type character
but you’re actually playing them on the
light side of the force
it sounds like you may have to use these
sages abilities
which are like telekinetic bursts
instead of lightning
force classes will have a dark light
requirement so
you can’t make a level one Jedi knight
and immediately be shooting force
lightning that wouldn’t really make
sense um
but you can be a Jedi knight that shoots
force lightning eventually
eventually dark side choices through the
story hopefully they’re going to clarify
some of this stuff
as we go but they did talk a bit about
this it doesn’t sound like you’ll be
able to be playing a
uh like a a light side Jedi knight and
be using force
choke and like slashing people with your
red lightsaber and your
marauder moves it doesn’t sound like
it’s gonna work like that i’m wondering
if they might allow you to still use
your original classes moves even if you
don’t fit the alignment that they were
originally aimed for
i feel like players might revolt if they
can no longer be Sith sorcerer lightning
if they were for years and years
even though they were on the light side
of things so
same thing if you’re on the dark side of
the force regardless of your class
you will be able to play the juggernaut
marauder
sorcerer or assassin as your choices for
your advanced class which are now going
to be known as combat styles
if you haven’t figured it out yet the
force users and the tech users are going
to be completely separated
when it comes to which advanced classes
or combat styles that they can choose
from
so you cannot become a trooper sage or a
trooper guardian or anything crazy like
that
no your trooper can’t use the force at
least not when it comes to advanced
classes
and no your Jedi Consular cannot
suddenly become
a sniper another thing they touched on
is what happens when you make a brand
new level one you are a neutral
character and i assume that this will
also apply to what if my character’s a
neutral character which ones can i
choose
it sounds like you will get the default
choice
for your your class that your class
would normally have so a Sith inquisitor
could normally choose
things on the dark side but over time
as you change your alignment maybe you
start going towards the light side of
the force
either as a brand new Jedi Consular or
as a
brand new Sith inquisitor you start
moving towards the light side of the
force you can start using those
light side options now here’s where
players i’ve seen
so many questions and imaginations about
this okay okay
i’m a marauder i normally do wield two
lightsabers one in each hand i love the
marauder i love murdering things
i love smashing the ground i love all
the animations but i also
love darth maul can i become
a Sith marauder not change any of my
abilities or play style
but start wielding a double-bladed
lightsaber and still smashing everything
with it
no that’s not how it works if you will
have to choose which is more important
to you weapons or play style this is
kind of a
choice we’ve been making this whole time
you know if you want to play the
marauder play style
you must choose the marauder advance
class if you want a double bladed
lightsaber
you must choose the assassin or i guess
technically you could choose the
Jedi shadow you must choose an advanced
class that wields a double-bladed
lightsaber so in this case you’d
probably choose the assassin
but then you’d be an assassin you
wouldn’t be a marauder you’d still be a
Sith warrior you’d be a sit warrior
assassin which is pretty freaking cool
but you’d be an assassin and you’d have
the assassin abilities like hitting
things from behind and being stealthy
instead of smashing things wantonly with
your lightsaber like a Sith marauder
i’ve also seen another misconception
that it sounds like you can mix and
match all your abilities all these crazy
play styles all together
can i be a Sith assassin and also
pick some abilities from my marauder
tree and also can i also throw some
some Sith lightning in there too no you
have to pick
one one advanced class and the skill
sets that come with it
really that’s the probably the simplest
way to understand it is expanding which
advanced classes are now
comment styles are available to which
storylines
the only thing that is changing is that
for example the Sith inquisitor
is no longer tied to only the Sith
sorcerer
or the Sith assassin
and you should be able to choose between
these uh
whereas you couldn’t before once you
picked one you’re tied to it from level
on for the rest of the game
the way you play a two pistol trooper
you know depending on if you pick
gunslinger or
uh or merc right um it’ll still play the
way those advanced classes roughly do
today
like i said i’m incredibly excited about
these changes
it may not be exactly what all players
were looking for i know a bunch of you
are excited for them to go create
hundreds or thousands of new animations
for every different weapon and every
different
class ability in the game but that would
be a little ridiculous
this however gives us a whole new style
play that we didn’t have before
for example right now the Sith warrior
has literally no way to heal
at all if you play a Sith warrior you
cannot be a healer
this changes completely you can now
become a bunch of different
styles of healer all three depending on
your alignment
same with the smuggler the smuggler has
no way to tank right now but now they
can choose between
being a vanguard tank while still being
a smuggler
in addition to these huge changes we’ll
also be getting something that benefits
even players who have no
interest in changing their advanced
class and it especially benefits players
who do plan on switching around
loadouts now the name pretty much tells
you what it is but
uh something we’ve been wanting to do
for a very long time because you know
changing all your gear around when
you’re going between different
disciplines or
you know maybe let’s say you were going
between different combat styles even
uh you’ve got gear you’ve got abilities
you’ve got a lot of things in your ui
that you’ll want to move around quickly
loadouts will let you do that you can
you know stamp a variety of things
to one preset click your gear your
abilities utilities even your outfitter
profiles
so you can switch much more easily than
you could
today very very excited about that as
well
and this is called loadouts loadouts
will be able to quickly save
and change and switch between your
saved presets for your gear your
abilities
your utilities and your they called it
something weird outfitter
settings so i’m assuming that means like
your your
outfit and maybe your maybe we’ll get
lucky and get weapons in the outfit
designer i don’t know we don’t have a
lot of details about this
but it should allow you to quickly
change without having to go
put all your abilities back in the right
spot have to re-choose all your
utilities and stuff like that and
re-re-choose your gear so even veteran
players should be looking forward to
this loadout
change especially i hope you enjoyed
this really thorough breakdown of
everything i know
about the combat styles as i said we’re
going to get it on the public test
server coming up soon
and we’ll be able to find out a little
more and actually see what it looks like