What to expect in Update 7.2 in SWTOR, Showdown on Ruhnuk!

News Date: December 7, 2022 Patch: 7.2

What’s coming up in update 7.2 in Star Wars: The Old Republic? The developers reveled what is coming up with the next big update.

UPDATE! 7.2 is coming out on December 13! Servers will be down for maintenance 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM CT (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM UTC) (5:00 AM – 9:00 AM Pacific)

New teaser trailer:

WARNING! There are spoilers ahead about the story! Skip the section about Ruhnuk, Story, and Daily Area to avoid story spoilers.

Update 7.2

  • Update 7.2 launching December 13, 2022
  • New planet, Ruhnuk
  • New story, “Showdown on Ruhnuk”
  • New daily area on Ruhnuk
    • New story, characters, and missions
    • New Reputation track and rewards
    • Mando Relic Missions aka Treasure Hunts
    • New datacron puzzle
    • New achievements
    • New Worldboss, Kithrawl
  • PvP Revamp
    • Ranked PvP is being removed all together
    • New PvP Seasons and rewards being added for everyone
    • New PvP Arena Map on Onderon
    • Choice when queuing: 4v4 deathmatch Arenas, 8vs8 objective Warzones, or both
    • No more free-to-play PvP caps, unlimited matches
    • Changes to medals
    • Ranked Tokens being removed, spend them before 7.2
  • Gearing changes, updated floor and ceiling
  • Class balancing
  • UI/UX Updates
    • New Minimap & Map view, transparent overlay
    • New colorblind mode
    • New tooltips for abilities, docked to mouse
    • Utility bar changes and customization
    • Deconstruct window now includes a Delete window
  • New Cartel Market items
    • Master Orr’s Lightsaber
    • Pyke Syndicate Armor
    • Ceremonial Beskar Blade
    • Ri’Han’s Vibro Axe
  • Life day, new rewards and visuals
  • Double XP starting December 20th
  • Servers Transfers 50% from December 7, 2022 – January 9, 2023
  • Collections unlock sale is coming
  • (PTS is now down.)

All of this information came from the developer livestream on November 9, 2022!

New Free Stuff

The code LoTSGallore on https://www.swtor.com/redeem-code will get you a free Gallo Stronghold Decoration, must be redeemed before November 16th, 2022.

Ruhnuk

Ruhnuk is the new planet being introduced in update 7.2.

  • A dry, arid, plateau based planet full of river valleys that cut through it. It is a dry desert plan, but it does rain, not often, but when it does, it pours. You’ll find a lot of water and river valley canyons and lush foliage growing in the area
  • The first inhabitants mined there due to its resources, mining facilities
  • A unique nebula surrounding the planet keeps it very hidden, the giant nebula encases and hides the planet which has caused a ship to have crashed into the atmosphere, and we are here to explore it
  • The artists took a lot of references from places like the Grand Canyon, mining facilities out of Arizona for copper, and Colorado plateaus

Story

The new 7.2 story update is called “Showdown on Ruhnuk” and involves Heta Kol and her faction of Mandalorians. The story picks up where the teaser of 7.1.1 left off, and ties in many of the events on Darvannis and on the Spirit of Vengeance.

  • Heta Kol found Ruhnukand took it over, because her faction could use the abandoned mining operation on Ruhnuk to use to build their base, and the nebula obscures the planet and makes it hard to find or to land on
  • Shae Vizla has found the planet, and is asking for your help in taking down Heta Kol…
  • There will be a New Short Stories about Shae Vizla hunting Heta Kol, covering the time between Spirit of Vengeance and Ruhnuk

Notable returning characters that we’ll see in 7.2 include:

  • Heta Kol
  • Shae Vizla
  • Mandalorian clans
  • Bask Sun
  • Sa’har Kateen
  • Ri’kan Kateen (Sahar’s brother)
  • Jekiah and Rass Ordo
  • Akaavi Sparr
  • Torian Cadera

Here’s a teaser scene of the beginning of “Showdown on Ruhnuk”.

Daily Area

Ruhnuk will be bringing a new daily area, story, new characters, reputation track, and secrets to find to the game.

Story

There will be a three-mission story arc where players will assist Mandalore’s forces and track down one of Heta Ko’s ruthless followers, who is conducting secret experiments that even Heta Kol doesn’t know about. The story will follows two big personalities – two titans – in the form of Shae Vizla and Heta Kol, so this story is focusing more on the goals and the desires of those who are in their command.

All characters will be fully voiced!

Characters

Lane Vizla is the main point of contact for the player during the story arc. She is a distant cousin of Shae Vizla, and they share many traits. Stubborn, adamant about proving herself, she want to avid accusations of nepotism and favoritism. She’s a tinkerer and is interested in Mandalorian technology, especially Basilisk war droids, and she’s very blunt. She’s not afraid to tell anyone what’s on her mind.

Her rival is Kur Ha’rangir, who is the main antagonist of the story arc. He comes from Clan Ha’rangir, a very old and rich group of Mandalorians. Clan Ha’rangir is a new clan introduced as some of Heta Kol’s followers, and Clan Ha’rangir is a very old name, a very wealthy and arrogant clan, and Kur is the epitomy of that clan. He also has an interest in Mandalorian technology, all he cares about is having the biggest and the best, the trongest toys.

Reputation

A new Reputation Track named Mandalorian Trat’ade is also being introduced, to keep Heta kol from building her base of operation on Ruhnuk.

Rewards

Two new Legacy titles:

  • Be’mand’alor Tomand, which means “Ally of Mandalore”
  • Par’jila Gehat’ik, which means “Triumphant Styory”

Reputation vendor character titles:

  • Champion of the Avenger
  • Celebrated and Remembered (a nod to Mandalorian ceremonies)

Amongst the Reputation Track Rewards, players can obtain new plants and vehicles decos, minipets, armor, and the new Wetlands Mudhorn Mount. Most are from the reputation vendor, though some are planetary drops.

Datacron

There will be a new “datacron puzzle” on Ruhnuk!

Achievements

In addition to daily, heroic and weekly missions, there will also be a new slate of planetary achievements that will encourage you to explore.

Mando Relic Missions

Allows you to unlock gameplay buffs, similar to on the new Manaan daily area. After you finish the main story arc, you will be offered Mandalorian Relic Missions, that are essentially a treasure hunt. Some of Heta Kol’s followers have stolen Mandalorian relics and brought them to Ruhnuk, and once you’ve completed the story, you’ll be charged with hunting down Heta Kol’s followers, defeating them, and capturing the relics. Once you do, you’ll unlock a buff for Ruhnuk that can help you while completing dailies.

World Boss

A new world boss is being introduced, named Kithrawl, The Flame in Darkness. A lizard creature covered in magma and char. An ill fated mini operation dug a little too deep, and found something they really didn’t like.

PvP Revamp

Hinted at earlier in the year, 7.2 brings the big PvP revamp.

Goals

The developers shared that the main goals of these changes are to:

  • increase the participation and quality of PvP matches
  • support rewarding incentives
  • encourage positive behavior.

Ranked PvP Removed

Ranked PvP is being entirely removed. There will no longer be ranked seasons, ranked rewards, or ranked play.

It’s recommend that players with Ranked PvP Tokens should spend them before 7.2, as they will not be converted, they will be removed entirely.

There will be no distinction between Unranked and Ranked modes.

There does not seem to be any type of alternative for competitive / ranked play being introduced.

Choose 4v4 or 8v8

All PvP is now two queues, either 4v4 or 8v8.

You can choose to queue for 4 vs 4 deathmatch arenas, for 8 vs 8 objective warzones, or for both. So if you hate Huttball, you could queue for just Arenas, but you couldn’t queue for all match types except Huttball.

You can queue alone, or with your personal group, for either type of match.

PvP Seasons

A new type of rewards track is being added called PvP Seasons, which will be similar to Galactic Seasons, and will be available for all players. It is unrelated to the previous Ranked PvP Seasons.

Season 1 will start with update 7.2.

By completing PvP matches and missions, players will receive PvP points and see progression earned on a new PvP Reward Track. The new PvP Currency on the track  will be replacing Ranked Tokens (Ranked tokens are being removed) and you can spend it on a new vendor that has an additional set of rewards that will be updated every season.

The goal is to run multiple seasons per year, with an aim to run about three seasons per year at identical lengths.

SWTOR PvP Seasons Guide and Rewards

PvP Rewards

The new PvP Reward Track has a variety of rewards including PvP Token, new Titles, Stronghold decos, and four armor sets.

This is an example of the rewards, though they are still in progress (TBD).

Here is a sneak peek of the armor sets that can be found on the PvP Seasons Vendor and the PvP Reward Track.

Free-to-play PvP

Free-to-play, preferred and subscribers all can participate in PvP Seasons and earn all of the rewards.

Non-subscribers will no longer have any restrictions on the number of matches they can play – before, free-to-play players were limited to 10 matches per week unless they were queuing with a subscribed friend. You can play as many PvP matches as you want.

However, Subscribers will earn points in PvP Seasons at a quicker rate.

Medals Adjustment

Medals are being given a revamp, as they haven’t been adjusted in a long time. You will need to participate in matches to win medals, you won’t be able to get them as easily as before, but they will reflect the PvP points that you get for PvP Seasons.

Onderon Palatial Ruins PvP Map

There will be a new PvP 4v4 Map called the “Onderon Palatial Ruins”.

There is potentially some type of secret area here?  “I encourage ya’ll to explore in that map. You might find a place that takes you to another little place.” – Community Manager

Gearing

The Systems Designe, spoke about the gearing changes coming to Game Update 7.2.

The new highest item-rating for most tracks is 336, including solo and Hyde & Zeek, and the new floor is 324 for most tracks.

The forums will bring a more detailed look at the upcoming changes including…

  • New Legendary Implants
  • Currency Conversions
  • Making it easier to identify upgradeable gear

No changes to R-4 Gearing but they are gathering feedback on the forums. Legacy of the Sith Story missions will now drop 322 gear.

I tried to make a chart with the new floors/ceilings but I do not know if it is correct.

Class Balance Changes

A post about class balancing will be coming on the SWTOR.com forums later.

UI/UX Updates

There was also a large assortment of quality of life updates.

Minimap and Transparent Popout Map View

  • The minimap is now more customizable
  • There is a new popout map view that is transparent and floats on the left of your screen
  • You can still use the old map if you want
  • Fog of War will no longer obscure places you haven’t been yet
  • You can customize which icons show up on your map one-by-one

Video of the new map.

Colorblind Mode

Three new colorblind modes will be added which change all colors on the screen except for loading screens. This will includes a dropdown in the Graphics settings/preferences for Tritanopia, Protanopia, and Deuteranopia.

Tooltips

You now have the option in the Interface Editor to have tooltips show up where your mouse is when you hover over an ability.

Old, tooltips are showing up above the minimap on the far right:

New option, tooltip is where your mouse is:

Utility Bar

The new utility bar on the bottom right can be fully customized with what options you want on it – for example, you could put the clock, groupfinder icon, signal, warzone, etc.

Deconstruct/Delete

You can now easily delete items. This is especially useful if you are grabbing copies of items from collections to make outfits and need to get rid of them. It will do the appropriate action for that item – if it can be deconstructed, it will deconstruct, if not it will delete.

Cartel Market

A bunch of new items will be coming with 7.2.

Master Orr’s Lightsaber

High fidelity blade and hilt effects, with a nice texture set and a special sound effect when you ignite it.

The Art Monetization Director actually built a physical version of this lightsaber in his garage!

Pyke Syndicate Armor

Pyke Syndicate’s Armor Set, inspired by the Book of Boba Fett. Has an animated helmet.

Ceremonial Beskad Blade

Featured in a cinematic in 7.2, they figured if players saw it they might want to have it.

Ri’Kan’s Vibro Axe

Collapsible blade section, and some lightning and particle effects tied to the color crystal color. This is also a game-first for weapons where they mimicked the vibroblade effect from The Mandalorian, the shimmery-vibroblade effect you may see in some of the fight scenes. This wil be the first weapon in the game with that effect.

Life Day

It’s recommend that players visit the Fleet during this year’s life day as it will be very pretty / festive, and it will run for about 5 weeks.

The Life Day Event is back with a new gala hat and new snowglobes themed around R-4 Anomaly, Manaan, Ruhnuk, and Elom.

The gem on the hat shimmers.

Double XP

Double XP event coming on December 20, 2022!

Collections Sale

Collections unlock sale is coming!

Server Transfer Sale

Servers Transfers 50% from December 7, 2022 – January 9, 2023!

After 7.2

What will be coming up after 7.2? While we don’t have many hints yet, we do know that there will eventually be…

Galactic Season 4 in 2023 and PvP Seasons (aiming for 3 a year).

In addition, we know a new stronghold is coming somewhere down the line.

We are tentatively looking to add a new SH with GS4 next year. Take that statement with dump trucks of salt as we are still early in reward planning for GS4 and a lot can change between now and then. There has also been some chatter about a new non-GS Stronghold but nothing concrete on the schedule right now. I know you will be very curious regarding possible locations but since this all early days and tentative I am not gonna speak to that now.

Thanks all.

-eric (Forums, August 30, 2022)

We got a tease of where the story might go in the future as well.

And after that, more of everything. You can always expect more Flashpoints, more story, like Malgus says, ‘this is only the beginning.’ I talked a little bit about when 7.0 launched how much we had planned out the storyline and everything happening with Malgus, and how is plans are unfolding, and how the Mandalorian civil war storyline ties into that, we’ve got some stuff that I can not wait to see go live, and to see ya’lls faces and your reactions and your comments as it comes down the road.” – Charles Boyd (Former Creative Director, Developer 7.1 Livestream)