What to Expect in the 5.9.2 Player vs Player Update!

We’ve finally received the roadmap for what what’s coming up in early July and continuing through September 2019 in Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well as some updates about what might be coming in the later half of the year leading up to the next expansion.

This update, which presumably will be update 5.9.2, will be 100% focused around player vs player content of all types. We’ve recently seen story content in the form of new Flashpoints including the finale to the traitor arc on Nathema, and new PvE content via new operation bosses and group modes for the three newest flashpoints, and now it’s time for PvPers to finally get some love.

Here’s some of the  PvP updates that will be coming up in the summer, likely in 5.9.2

Update 5.9.2

  • Right now a majority of the warzones are locked so that each team is made up of players form the same faction. To make warzone matches happen faster, the developers will be converting more, if not all, of the older warzones and arenas to allow cross-faction grouping. This involves the technical details of allowing cross-faction queuing, some re-writing of the story behind each warzone, and of course some new voice acting.
  • As for new content, there will be a new Arena set in Shae Vizla’s Mandolorian Compound, a beast fighting pit with a Mandalorian theme and primal atmosphere.
  • There will also be a new Huttball Warzone set in the dangerous and dizzying heights of an industrial planet. We don’t know where it will be yet, but there’s a chance it might be on Corellia, Iokath or Vandin the gas giant.
  • One of the most exciting things that will be added over the summer is an extremely interesting new type of player housing on the pirate haven Rishi. In addition to a beach-front view, this stronghold will also have some interesting new mechanics, and will be tailored toward Player-driven dueling, 4v4 player battles, or even 8v8 battles. The developers know there’s a passionate audience of PvP players who run their own dueling tournaments within their Strongholds, so they wanted to support that scene by making some under-the-hood improvements and by tailoring the stronghold to better suit player-run events. As with all Strongholds, you’ll be able to decorate it anyway you like, but they’re also enhancing Stronghold decorations to support PvP gameplay. This means you’ll be able to use decorations to hide behind, lay out obstacles, and basically create a huge variety of custom PvP layouts to use in battles amongst guests to your stronghold. This is a huge piece of news for the game, and there is a good chance this new stronghold will spawn all kinds of new player-run pvp events!
  • For players who play ranked pvp, the end of Season 9 is scheduled for July, with the announcement about rewards coming in late June.
  • While not mentioned in the roadmap, there is a chance some very cool PvP events may show up during the summer that were mentioned in a recent developer interview. Some of the ideas the developers expressed included temporarily modify existing warzones in interesting ways, like having rakghouls show up during warzones!
  • The developers are also going to be focusing on improving warzones in general, including taking an in-depth look at the unranked PvP matchmaking system to see what kinds of improvements they can make. They’ll also be focusing attention on exploiters, cheaters, and adjusting how Ranked Warzones complete. Their overall goal is to have Warzones and Arenas be fair, competitive, and fun. In the past, the developers have often delayed action against win traders and exploiters until near the end of the season, so if your frustrated about players not playing fair, give them some time to wipe the boards.

Update 5.9.1

With update 5.9.1, there will also be a few fun things coming up even sooner than the big pvp update, including the return of the nightlife gambling event which will rune MAY 22nd – JUNE 30th, and a new subscriber reward for players subcribed on May 31st, a solo-inspired speeder that will be delivered to all your characters by  ingame mail by June 9th. This speeder is inspired by the black market, and is considered an industrial mining vehicle, the perfect vehicle for criminals (and heroes) on the run.

Beyond September

As for what comes after the big summer PvP update, we do know that the developers are working on the next expansion, which will focus on the war between the Republic and the Empire. Before that though, a new storyline will be introduced in the fall that will kick off a new set of challenges and adventures that will continue into the new year – all leading to an explosive conflict with new characters to meet and planets to explore in the new year.

From the roadmap, my guess is that the 6.0 Republic vs Empire expansion is slated to be released in the first half of 2019, and will be preceeded by a prelude story in the fall, much like the Shadow of Revan expansion which had some introductory quests available before the full expansion was released. The developers have mentioned in the past that they have heard feedback indicating that players have missed having a more “traditional” expansion, so it makes sense that they might turn to the most recent traditional expansion for inspiration.

Before then though, we’ll see the return of some very cool companions, possibly including darkside Jaesa, a fallen Jedi who was once a companion to the Sith Warrior. A lot of work has also been done on Kira and Scourge and we may see them return later in the year. On top of all that, on the near horizon is some big updates for guilds, including their management tools and related competitive features like conquest, which theyll continue to refine and improve for Guilds of all sizes.

And that’s everything we know that’s coming up in Star Wars: The Old Republic, from the roadmap released by the lead director of the game and from interviews with the developers!

I hope you heard something you’re excited about, whether it’s the big pvp updates or some of the story things coming down the road!

Links

🔗 SWTOR Roadmap for 2018
http://www.swtor.com/community/devtracker.php

🔗 Vulkk’s Interview with the Developers on April 6, 2018

Summary of Vulkk’s Interview with Eric Musco and Charles Boyd (and video link) from swtor

🔗 SWTOR Nightlife Event Guide