Master’s Engima story revealed, coming in Update 7.8.1

The narrative director and lead writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic have finally teased what’s coming up in Update 7.8.1 for the new story! This update is being called the penultimate story update for Legacy of the Sith, with the finale for this expansion coming in Update 7.9. The next update, 7.8.1, will be called Master’s Engima, and while we do not have a set date, the likely release date will be March 10, 2026.

What to Expect in 7.8.1

Want to learn about everything coming in 7.8.1? Check out the guide!

What to expect in Update 7.8.1 in SWTOR!

Caught Up

If you are trying to find out if you are caught up, these are all the areas and quests you would need to complete to start the new story:

• Ossus
• Dantooine
• EXPANSION: Onslaught (Onderon & Mek-Sha)
• FLASHPOINT: Objective Meridian
• Echoes of Oblivion
• Spirit of Vengeance
• FLASHPOINT: Secrets of the Enclave (Dantooine Flashpoint)
• EXPANSION: Legacy of the Sith (Manaan)
• FLASHPOINT: Ruins of Nul
• Digging Deeper
• Manaan
• Ruhnuk
• Interpreter’s Retreat on Voss
• FLASHPOINT: Shrine of Silence (Optional)
• Kessan’s Landing on Ord Mantell
• Minboosa District on Hutta
• Galactic Threads
• …then the new story.

To play the new story, you must be caught up with the existing story.

Master’s Enigma

SPOILER WARNING: Don’t read any farther if you want to avoid spoilers!

Watch Video

We’re here to talk to you about story stuff, and so, today we’re talking about Master’s Enigma, which is the next chapter in Legacy of the Sith. A little bit of spoilers, if you haven’t played through Galactic Threads, which came out in 7.8. We’re just going to give a light overview of what you can expect in 7.8.1 without too many spoilers, but just to get you excited for it.

In 7.8.1, in Master’s Enigma, Jadus has returned, as we saw at the end of Galactic Threads, and he’s offering some kind of potential alliance with the player. He’s got information, right? The message that he left behind for the player at the end of Galactic Threads was in true to form for Jadus – very cryptic. We don’t know what it is, but obviously, it’s something that’s going to be… maybe working with him, from what you could gather from the message? It also depends on how you feel about doing that. And there’s lots of lots of different things to factor into that decision.

In addition, the Empire or the Republic is going to the leadership is going to come to Odessan to talk about everything that’s been happening between the Mandalorian civil war. The player has Darth Nul’s holocron now and Malgus is still on the loose after being broken out from the Fleets by by Shae Vizla. One or two fires still kind of going on around the galaxy that they’d probably be thankful if the player did something about, you know, taking care of them. There’s some choices we’ve had along the way to kind of shape that relationship so we’ll see how that goes. Lastly, we get to explore Darth Nul’s old research vessel, the Enigma.

Theron and Lana

So, let’s talk about who we’re going to see on this journey. Mostly some familiar faces, starting out, of course, we’re going to have our usual “ride or die”s there since almost day one. For most people, Theron Shan, if you still have him in your alliance, will be there, as well as Lana Beniko. They kind of get help the player get prepared for this sort of meetup that’s going to happen on Odessan when they get word that the the Empire or Republic leadership come to Odessan to chat about stuff. It’s obviously going to be a tense conversation, so they’re going to be there to offer whatever support they can.

Tau and Arn

On the Republic side, we’ve got Arn Peralun, who we just saw in Galactic Threads. And we also have, who I think it’s been a little while since we’ve seen Tau Idair. And what it’s really been a while since we’ve seen is the two of them actually working together. I think the first time we kind of saw that was their relationship when they were more of a mentor mentee sort of relationship. Arn has obviously gone through a lot since then, and grown a lot, so it’s going to be cool to see them working on almost more equal footing, with him having more of a voice for him to support. And Tau, actually, is the one who contacts the player first about this conversation that Republic leadership wants to have, the answers that they want to know, but Tau has a really bad feeling about everything that’s happening, and the way the Republic leadership is acting, and she is actually the one who informs the player about this. With everything changing in the galaxy, Tau can see the writing on the wall, there’s something bigger about to happen, galaxy, and Tau wants the player to be prepared for that. They are now working together as equal footing Jedi, being representatives for the Jedi in the Republic.

Rivix and Anri

On the empire side, kind of playing those same roles, we’re going to have, Major Anri, who we also just saw, in Galactic Threads, and also Darth Rivix, who is very high up in the Empire’s echelon as the liaison between the hand of the empire and the player and their Alliance, whatever role they play within the Empire. Rivix kind of has that same bad feeling with as much as he’s working with the Dark Council and the Emperor or Empress, whoever you have. He’s getting that same sort of vibe about, “hey, something’s off here. Let me go ahead and give the player a heads up, just so they’re not blindsided about everything.” Those two are obviously going to be there too to back you up with, during the conversation with Imperial leadership. It’s interesting, you know, good to have Rivix in your corner to give you that heads up.

Darth Jadus

Going back to maybe a not so familiar face, even for players who probably recognize this character even before Galactic Threads, this is Darth Jadus. [Woooooooo! yell of excitement from off camera. Laughter.] I think that’s the reaction that a lot of people maybe had at the end of the Galactic threads, when the player, showed his message, to them… for anyone who hasn’t played the Imperial Agent storyline, and doesn’t know a lot of his backstory, Darth Jadus was actually the head, once upon a time of Imperial Intelligence, when it was called that, and therefore was the direct line, direct leader for, players who played Agents. He had a lot of, influence on what the player was doing in the beginning of act and through Act one. But, spoiler alert, just in case, he ended up trying to overthrow the Dark council, as so many Sith do.

Is that really a spoiler? It’s been almost 15 years! It’s a great story. When Jadis was at the end of that storyline, Jadus kind of disappeared. It’s been, I think, a decade. Nobody knows for sure what happened to him, mostly because it also depends on what players decide to do with him. But regardless, he has been missing. No one knows where he’s been, no one knows what he’s been doing, which is even more scary until he just pops up with Galactic Threads. With that same kind of, perspective, I would say that Tau and Rivix have that all these things are happening, all these things are changing, the galaxy is going to change fundamentally, and you, the player, cannot stop it. The only thing that you can do is manage what comes comes next. Jadus obviously tells the player that he knows how to do that – he’s the only one who has the ability and the knowledge to do that. So he offers a chit chat and then a conversation. Just come, come talk to him when you’re ready, and he’ll give you all the info you need to know. So we’re gonna get to do that, but obviously it’s going to be up to you how much of that you take away and how much you believe him and how much you want to use or not or vice versa. He probably does have some reliable information. How much he’s going to give to you depends on that conversation.

Darth Nul’s Ship

I’d say a character in their own right, in this update is, Darth Nul’s ship. It’s been derelict for hundreds of centuries. This is where Darth Nul executed a lot of her, research experiments, and for Darth Nul – this is where she conducted research and, different experiments where I think her true goal and intentions were to study really big questions like studying the nature of the force and how it exists and permeates through living beings. Studying the nature of of the galaxy and everyone’s connection within it, and even so far as saying like, Studying the contradictions within herself.

We’re gonna see a lot of how she went about doing those things and, kind of exploring those different questions. Someone who started as a Jedi and then became a Sith and is still just trying to figure out all these pieces to her life. And this is not normally what you’d see on a ship. You don’t normally see lots of foliage. I feel like we should say also that’s probably not the way it looks during Dark Nul’s time as well, because it’s been derelict for so long. Some things have happened.

Yeah, a few things have escaped, you know, things have gone and gotten out of control. so yeah, it’s probably not what you would expect, you know, like Ashley said in a normal ship. Yeah, it’s, it’s a gorgeous space. I can’t wait for y’all to get to explore it.

Story Teaser Trailer

On the tail end of that, we’ve got a little bit of a story teaser that happens on the Enigma. Check it out.

Watch Video

Tau: All right, looks like this might get us somewhere.

[Player holds up a glowing blue holocron to a computer device. The computer device activates and a hologram speaks.]

Hologram: A thousand pardons, but I cannot return until balance is restored.

Player: Balance? What do you mean?

Hologram: Perhaps a different type of containment program would work. If I simply ensure that the next design is more stringent –  Blasted. They still do not concede.

Tau: Was she talking about us?

Player: I think she was talking about them.

[Creatures attack!]

And that’s a cool little, little scene we get there. Might have recognized the voice of the protocol there that the player and were talking to. Yeah, it’s, just one of the ways that like we mentioned earlier, you get to see how exactly, Darth Nul was conducting these experiments, and even like leaving her research notes for people to find. And obviously because she was examining all these different things relating to like the dark side of the force and the light side of the force, she was looking for different perspectives, and she kind of tapped into her own perspective from her time as a Jedi as well, and made it a physical thing that she could, she could speak to. So that’s really cool. And I’m looking forward to players getting to talk to both sides and for all different facets of Nll and see how that goes. Yeah, there’s a lot to explore with her character.

We joked about like, what if you could just take out a part of your brain and kind of just examine and be like, what is this and who are you? Well, Nul can apparently because that’s what she’s done.

This segment about the new story was presented by Ashley Rule, the narrative director, and Caitlyn Sullivan Kelly, the lead writer in Star Wars Old Republic. I’ve done my best to transcribe it but it may not be perfect.  You can watch the live official recording here!

Watch Video