I’m a new player who’s got a character to 80 and I’ve caught up with all the story… but what else is there to do? What do I do now? In this guide we’ll be going over the basics about what you can do in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
UPDATE DECEMBER 2023: With Update 7.4, a lot has changed when it comes to gearing! I have not updated the rest of the guide on this page – instead I recommend checking out this new guide that covers the newer ways to get the best gear!
SWTOR How to Get the Best Gear in the Game (7.4 Hyde & Zeek 340 and Rakata 344)
Story at Level 80
If you’ve just gotten into the game, there are four main things you can do after you’ve finished the main story line and have reached level 80: Story, PVE, PvP, and Collecting.
When players ask me what to do at level 80, my first question is to ask is if they’ve finished the story – all of it! If you aren’t sure where you’re at in the story, visit swtorista.com/story to see the solo story path and make sure you’ve caught up with the story.
While the game makes it pretty clear about how to follow the main story path and expansion story paths, since the quests are marked in purple, there’s actually many different additional story side quests that you can go check out, even if you’re level 80, and have technically passed by them in the story.
Exploration Quests, Bonus Series, Heroics
For example, the Oricon quests are really thematic, but the game doesn’t force you to play them as part of the expansion story paths, so you might miss them along the way. There’s also a ton of side quests on each planet, and on top of that, there’s also bonus quests on a lot of the original planets that have huge arcs attached them. Each of the heroics in the game also have at least a little bit of story attached to them too.
So if story is your jam, even if you’re level 80, you can back-track and hunt down those quests you haven’t gotten to play yet. I’ve got some great news – we’ve got a brand new resource this year made by a passionate player who has catalogued and mapped every quest in the game. Your first step, will be to press “M” on your keyboard to open your map, and then check the box that says “Show Exploration Missions”. Your seconds step will be to go to swtorista.com/quests and go planet by planet finding quests you missed. Just keep in mind, bonus series quests and heroics are repeatable.
Republic / Imperial
Don’t forget, these planetary quests and bonus series quests, are completely different Republic & Imperial side – so it’s worth it to run them all at least once to see them on each faction. Some of the expansions, including the Rise of the Hutt Cartel, the Onslaught expansion, and the Legacy of the Sith expansion, also have separate storylines on Republic & Imperial side, and the Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions can feel very different if you make light side vs dark side choices, so they’re also worth a second play through on a second character.
Chapters
If you don’t want to start up a new character, but want to try out some story content you’ve already played, but in a more difficult setting, both the Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne chapters can be played on a harder difficulty and offer a great solo challenge. Or, you can re-play the chapters in their normal mode as many times as you want.
Levelling
If you’re craving more classic story, many players often stop playing their character once they’ve completed the main story path, and start over by creating another level 1 character of a different class.
There are eight distinct classes in the game: there’s four on Republic side and four and on Imperial side, and the initial leveling content in the game is very very unique to each class – so if you’ve played a Jedi Knight and you want to go play Smuggler, that’s going to be a very different story and you definitely want to see all eight of them at some point while playing. You’ll even be rewarded for completing all eight with Legendary status.
Goals
Apart from the act of enjoying the story, there are a lot of goals players have while playing.
Seeing Content
For a lot of new players, just seeing new content is a big goal. For example, you may want to try every Flashpoint, run every Operation, or just get your feet wet in PvP and Galactic Starfighter. You may not even know or care what the rewards are, so simply follow your heart and try out whatever content interests you. There’s no “right” path – just the one that’s the most fun for you!
Social
For other players, the exact content isn’t as important as who you play it with. If you’re looking to meet other players, apart from joining a Guild, you’ll want to run group content like Flashpoints, Operations or PvP!
Conquest
Whether you’re playing alone or with other people, there’s a really cool system called ‘”Conquest” that can help guide your towards different activities in the game. In short, Conquest is a weekly set of objectives you can complete on your character – it’s a big list, and almost any activity will give you points. At level 80, the rewards can be pretty great, whether you’re looking to gear up, or if you just like to collect items like mounts and pets. Many players like to try to complete Conquest on multiple characters to get multiple rewards per week, hopping between different types of content, as some objectives are repeatable, while others are not. You can see this week’s Conquest by opening your Missions and clicking the “Conquest” tab at the top.
Galactic Seasons
In addition to Conquest, there’s also another similar system called “Galactic Seasons”. Galactic Seasons are a 5-month long limited-time event with a similar set of rotating weekly objectives – but the rewards offered during Galactic Seasons are unique and can’t be earned any other way. While Galactic Seasons are running, players like to look at the more limited list of objectives and choose activities from there, so they can work on earning the limited-time rewards.
Gear
While gear at level 80 isn’t very important unless you’re checking out higher-end content, many players are motivated to get the best gear that they can obtain in the game. For example, as a solo player, you can get some amazing gear if you are willing to run group Flashpoints solo, and players who like group content can get their hands on some great gear by running PvP. These are both things a casual player may not check out in normal circumstances, but the allure to gear up is strong and some activities are more efficient and effective than others when it comes to gearing up. Level 80 Gearing Guide
Cosmetics
Lastly, there’s a ton of different cosmetics in the game, and you can earn cosmetic items like armors, mounts, decorations and pets from almost every aspect of the game, but certain items only come from specific types of content or specific planets. If you see an item you really like that can only be earned, you might want to find out the best ways to go about earning it. You can even often invite friends on your crusade, as many cosmetics can be worked on in a group.
Now that we’ve covered all your options when it comes to what motivates you, let’s talk about the different types of content you can play at level 80 – and the different paths you can take. The great news is you don’t have to commit to any of these paths – many players play a mix of all the content available in the game.
PvE at Level 80
PVE is anything you do against the computer – not against another player. The two main group PvE things you can do once you hit level 80 are Flashpoints and Operations.
Flashpoints at Level 80
Flashpoints are something that you can do with a group of four people and they can be very easy, or they can be very, very difficult.
Uprisings are very similar to flashpoints, except that they’re more fast-paced and have less story attached to them – there’s no cutscenes, and the time between bosses is very short.
If you want to start getting into flashpoints, you want to make sure you have at least a piece of gear in every slot, and you can jump into Flashpoints by clicking the icon of “three little people” near your minimap. On that panel you can sign up for Veteran Flashpoints or Story Uprisings if you’re new to group content – Master Mode Flashpoints and and Veteran Uprisings are more challenging than the easier versions and require more gear and experience.
Once you’ve chosen which type of flashpoint you want to do, you can queue up and you’ll get paired up with three other people and the main thing you need to do is just follow everybody else and watch chat and make sure to pew pew things. If you want more info about jumping into casual group content, we’ve got a whole guide just about Groupfinder Flashpoints.
Operations at Level 80
Operations are a lot harder, and they’re also more difficult to get into. They’re eight man groups where you work together with seven other people and you each have a very set role to do – you do damage, or you’re a tank, or you’re healer.
You can queue up for these the same way as flashpoints with the group finder – but the more common way to get into them is to watch chat, usually on the fleet, and look for groups that are looking for more people to join in. For story mode operations, you do not need a lot of gear – just make sure to have a piece of level 80 gear in every slot of your equipment.
In operations you really, really need to pay attention and make sure it’s known that your new, because people will often explain what’s going on in the fights. There’s all kinds of mechanics like getting out of the way of incoming bombs, not attacking the boss at certain times to avoid damage from a reflective shield, or interrupting the boss at certain times.
Don’t be too intimidated to join these – there will be some people who are really rude and not willing to help, but at the same time there’s going to be people who are really willing to help. One of the best ways you can get into operations if they sound cool to you, the big eight-man content in the game, is to look for a good guild on your server that’s taking in newbies.
Ready to jump into operations? We’ve also got a guide about How to Join Your First Operation!
Solo Content at Level 80
If you enjoy PvE content but like to play more solo, there’s lots of quests you can complete. We talked a lot about the story quests, bonus series, and other exploration quests earlier, but there is even more stuff you can check out.
If you’re looking to explore more of the open world, you can try doing all the Heroics in the game Republic & Imperial side, which can be a great way to earn end-game currency for upgrading your gear. Many planets also offer daily areas you can complete, which will earn you interesting cosmetic item over time. Some of my favorites include Ossus, Ziost, and Manaan.
Many of the Flashpoints have a repeatable solo version you can walk into too.
Heroics, Daily planets and Flashpoints are all really easy to get to – press the icon of “three little people” near your minimap, and go to the Solo tab, which will let you shuttle directly to a bunch of different types of solo content. Some types of content won’t unlock until you’ve made your way through the entire story.
If you want to dig deeper into some of the expansion content, there’s Star Fortresses which are kind of like Flashpoints, there’s the Eternal Championship which is like a solo dueling ring, and there’s tons of Alliance Alerts to check out, many of which will reward you with new companions. These are all unlocked after completing Chapter 9 of Knights of the Fallen Empire, and more alerts unlock as you complete more of the story.
If you’re looking for a really different style of gameplay, you can also try the on-rails space missions – you pick them up on your ship, and you get to fly your ship and save space stations that are under attack by the enemy and fly through asteroid fields.
PvP at Level 80
Apart from content that is player versus the environment there’s also PvP which is player versus player.
Warzones
PvP is a game of war where you’re actually fighting other people in the game. And to hop into that is pretty easy – just click the icon of a Republic or Imperial symbol near your minimap and choose “Join Queue” under “Unranked Warzones” at the top. This will try and match you up with other players for a warzone.
The only thing you really need to know is that other than killing other people, there are mechanics that you pay attention to in the matches. Some of them are: you guard the door, some of them you have to capture the node, and some of them are pure deathmatches. PvP is incredibly chaotic especially as a new player, so you’ll want to be ready to jump right in and roll with the punches.
Galactic Starfighter
There’s also a different type of Player vs Player content called Galactic Star Fighter. You jump into your a space ship and fight battles against others in space with your team. We’ve got whole series about Galactic Starfighter for beginners.
Collecting
The last one is the one that many players don’t know about. Once you’ve hit 80, I definitely recommend go and check out the story, the PvE, and PvP, but if you’re not really into those things and are more shy or quiet, rather do things on your own by yourself, or like to fill up bars and like to collect things, like to see what secrets are in the game – collecting is what you’re going to check out.
Reputation
As a solo player, one great way of progressing is the game is by working on the Reputation system. You can see your reputation by pressing “Y” on your keyboard to open the Legacy Menu, and the click “Reputation” on the left. You can raise your Reputation by completing specific quests for different groups, which you can travel to quickly in the Solo panel, that icon of “three little people” near your minimap we talked about earlier. Some Reputation groups are available all year long, like Voss or Onderon, while others are only available during limited-time events, like the different Swoop groups, T.H.O.R.N. and the Gree. Working your way up the Reputation ladder will unlock unique cosmetics rewards related to the group you’re supporting, including titles, armors, decorations and more.
Strongholds
While many players like the high-intensity fights in Flashpoints or PvP, you might prefer to chill out and decorate your player housing, called Strongholds. While some strongholds are incredibly expensive, you can unlock inexpensive strongholds in the Strongholds & Crew Skills section of the fleet, and buy, craft and earn decorations for your stronghold from all across the galaxy. Stronghold decorating is a big hobby for long-time players, and you can even invite your friends to see your stronghold once you’re done.
Item Collecting
Of course there’s all other types of things you can collect: there’s armors, weapons, pets, mounts, emotes, colors crystals, toys, companions and more. Just pick what you’re interested in and start collecting. If you need credits, as always I’ve got a guide for you about How to Make Credits.
Crafting
If you’re more interested in collecting useful things rather than cosmetic ones, crafting might be right up your alley. You can start crafting in the strongholds and crew skills section of the fleet and you can pick one crafting skill, and two gathering skills. You can gain materials through gathering with gathering missions or picking up materials around the galaxy, and you can get new schematics from your crafting trainer. There’s also a ton of cosmetic schematics you can collect over time.
Roleplaying
If you really want to get into it, there’s also roleplaying as well – you just need to find the right people to do it with. Roleplaying is a way of creating a story with others outside of the stories already in the game, and you aren’t constrained by things like level or class! Roleplaying Guide
Want to learn more about SWTOR?
If you’re interested in learning more or trying out any of the things I’ve mentioned in in this video, I’ve created videos that are part of a video collection – The Academy, a series focus on the basics of Star Wars the Old Republic. I’ve made videos on roleplaying, getting cool armor, reputation, operations and flashpoints, crafting, pvp, levelling and more.
If you’re looking for a more in-depth list of what you can do in Star Wars: The Old Republic, we’ve also created an amazing resource called “The List of Everything” which breaks down all the fun and interesting things you should try out at least once in the game – it’s a really long list that’s bene updated for 7.1! You can find the link to the “List of Everything” in the description of this video.