SWTOR Classic and Expert Modes being introduced with 8.0! (Veteran and Master Ventures)

If you ever wanted to play Star Wars: The Old Republic in a more difficult mode, you’ll be able to starting in 8.0! Classic and Expert mode are being added to the Ventures system with unique rewards attached to running a dedicated character through all types of content on both Veteran Mode and Master Mode, including the class stories, planetary arcs, heroics, and more! 8.0 is planned for release at the end of 2026.

Classic and Expert

To play SWTOR Classic and SWTOR Expert Modes, players will create a brand new character, and then choose if they want to lock that character into a Classic Venture or Master Venture, which will be a long-term adventure on a higher difficulty. Creating a normal non-venture character will be similar to how SWTOR is now, and by default, that character will be in Story Mode difficulty for the class quests and all open world content. On a normal non-venture character, you can actually change Story, Veteran or Master Mode difficulty at almost any time –  you just won’t get any Venture rewards for doing so. Difficulty Modes Info

If you create a SWTOR Classic character, you will be locked in to the Veteran Mode Difficulty while you are working on the venture, and if you choose to create a SWTOR Expert character, you will be locked in to the Master Mode difficulty while you work on the Expert venture. These higher difficulty modes increase the damage you take from enemies, and reduce the healing you receive, making the whole game more difficult! Players choose to play on these more difficult modes will find that gearing up while levelling, using medpacs, learning your defensive abilities, carefully pulling mobs and resting between enemies will actually become important, compared to the more relaxed current version of the game.

Playing a venture character will also add some fun new surprise features as you play – the example given was that you might receive a consumable item that once picked up from an enemy, gives you a very limited amount of time to kill a bunch of enemies around you – and if you complete the timed challenge, you’ll get a special powerful buff.

Ventures

There is a venture for each class, and for each difficulty – so there are 8 Classic Ventures and 8 Master Ventures for a total of 16 ventures to complete and 16 rewards to earn, plus overarching meta rewards for completing everything.

Classic Venture

Creating a SWTOR Classic Venture character sends you on a journey to complete a variety of objectives meant to evoke the classic game experience, all while playing on the Veteran Mode difficulty.

These are some of the potential objectives:

• Play the original Era (your three Class Story Chapters plus the Ilum arc)
• Complete the planetary arcs
• Earn and level up three crew skills
• Defeat the original story Flashpoints
• Earn your companions and level their influence
• Do some on rails space missions
• And more…

The idea is to create an experience where you would do everything you would have when the game launched for the first time 15 years ago.

Expert Venture

Creating a SWTOR Expert Venture character is for players looking for the greatest test of their skill into endgame, all while playing on the Master Mode difficulty.

These are some of the potential objectives:

• Explore the galaxy
• Defeat rare and named enemies
• Complete Heroics and Dailies
• Make it into recent Eras and / or areas at level 80+
• And more…

Unlike the Classic Venture, the Expert Venture is for players looking to test themselves across the galaxy, especially as you go further in to the game.

If you would like to work on the Expert Ventures on their Master Mode difficulty but aren’t quite there yet when it comes to skill level, there will be ways to earn special gear in the Classic Venture / Veteran Mode that can help you in the harder Master Mode. The goal is for the ventures to be something that everyone can eventually gain access to and complete over time.

The developers have confirmed that you will not be able to use a Boosted character for ventures, it will need to be a new level 1 character that has chosen a Venture path before being created.

More Info

While the exact information we have is very limited, the new difficulty toggle and Classic and Expert ventures seem like a very exciting addition to the game.

The developers have said that another developer livestream will happen in the future specifically focused on these two new Ventures, as well as some Let’s Plays by the developers showing off the new features. Ventures and difficulty modes are not yet available on the PTS Public Test Server.

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