What to expect in Update 7.4 in SWTOR, Chains in the Dark! – NOW LIVE!

What’s been added to the game in Update 7.4 for Star Wars: The Old Republic? Here’s everything we’ve found that you can go check out!

UPDATED VIDEO now that it’s live!

Watch Video

Update 7.4

What is in Update 7.4?

• New Story Continuation: Chains in the Dark
• New Story Area: Kessan’s Landing on Ord Mantell
  • New World Boss
  • New Reputation Track
  • New Repeatable Quests
  • New Secret Quests
• Lane Vizla & Basilisk Droid Story Continuation
• New Cinematic Lighting Across the Game Cutscenes
• GTN Overhaul
• Gearing Update to item-rating 344
• Events:
  • Swoop Event Dec 12 – 19, 2023
  • Rakghoul Event Dec 26 – Jan 2, 2024
  • Double XP Event Dec 24 – Jan 4, 2024
  • Life Day Dec 12 – Jan 9, 2024
  • PvP Seasons 4 Nov 7 – Jan 29, 2024
  • Galactic Seasons 5 Sep 6 – Feb 24, 2024
• New Color Specularity Tech + Metallic & Pearlescent Dyes
• New Cartel Market items

This summary was created from the recent developer livestream – you can watch the livestream recording on Twitch.

When will Update 7.4 come out?

Game Update 7.4 “Chains in the Dark” launched December 5th!

Guides

• SWTOR PvP Seasons 5 Guide and Rewards
• What to expect in Update 7.4 in SWTOR, Chains in the Dark! – NOW LIVE!
• Lane Vizla + Basilisk Droid Quest Guide
• SWTOR How to Get the Best Gear in the Game (7.4 Hyde & Zeek 340 and Rakata 344)
• SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Daily Area and Ord Mantell Reputation Guide
• SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Hidden Achievements Guide
• SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Grazer Whisperer Secret Hidden Achievement
• Patch Notes Update 7.4 – Chains in the Dark, Cinematic Lighting, Gearing Changes
• New SWTOR Server! Shae Vizla APAC (Asia-Pacific) “Fresh Start” Server! – NOW LIVE!
• SWTOR Gearing Changes and Tips in Update 7.4

Watch Video

How to Start Story (No Spoilers)

How to Start: You can start the “Chains in the Dark” storyline once you have completed all previous stories, including Ruhnuk and Voss Interpreter’s Retreat. Once you have, you will automatically get a quest called “Road to Nowhere” in your quest tracker that you can launch, which will eventually lead you to the new area on Ord Mantell called Kessan’s Landing. This is the main story, but there are some other stories and quests to pick up.

The first is nicknamed the Lane Vizla and Basilisk Droid story continuation – to get it, start the Road to Nowhere quest, and the next time you log off your character and log back in, you’ll automatically be granted a quest called “Eyes on the Prize” that you can start by answering your holocom.

The second is the Ord Mantell dailies. You can pick these up after you’ve completed the main quest, and you can pick them up from the terminal in Kessan’s Landing near where you load in. These are the repeatable quests that are tied to the Kessan’s Landing reputation track and rewards.

Lastly, there is a secret quest nicknamed the Geothermal Shielding quest line. This quest called “Schematic Aspirations” is well hidden, and is picked up in the very south of the Kessan’s Landing city from a large terminal in the Runoff Control building. You do not have to complete or even start the main quest to do the Geothermal quest. It will eventually lead you to super-hidden Lava Problems quest, and you need to complete the Geothermal Shielding quest line before starting Lava Problems.

Story (Spoilers)

Chains in the Dark

So, where did we leave off? Well, in Update 7.2, there was a “Showdown on Ruhnuk”. Heta Kol retreated to Ruhnuk after her battle with Shae Vizla, and since then, she’s been in hiding with the rest of the Hidden Chain out in the galaxy. Shae has been relentless in her pursuit, trying to track down their whereabouts. She’s received support from Jekiah Ordo, the Arbiter of the Mandalorians, and his brother, Rass, who have been looking into leads to find the Hidden Chain as well.

The Chains in the Dark storyline is about to kick off with our help to Rass Ordo as we investigate a lead that may reveal where Heta Kol has gone with the Hidden Chain. However, things take an unexpected turn when Jekiah informs us that the Hidden Chain is simultaneously targeting various locations across the galaxy. One of these locations under attack is the Republic world of Ord Mantell. It’s not ideal for Mandalorians to engage in a turf war on a Republic world, so Jekiah asks the player to intervene on their behalf and head to Ord Mantell to stop the assaults. Our mission now leads us to Ord Mantell, where we’ll engage with various characters interested in supporting our faction. These individuals will provide us with crucial information regarding the Hidden Chain’s goals, which will ultimately lead us to a new unexplored area called Kessan’s Landing.

Kessan’s Landing Story

Kessan’s Landing on Ord Mantell is entirely new to the game, a previously unexplored location. It’s situated on a Republic world, which means it falls under the oversight of the Republic military, providing support through military outposts and infrastructure. However, as the war with the Mantellian separatist movement waned, Kessan’s Landing was gradually abandoned. Over the years, the Republic allowed it to deteriorate, leaving the local population feeling abandoned and overlooked, without the Republic prioritizing their needs.

Despite the lack of Republic support, the community in Kessan’s Landing remains strong. They’ve learned to rely on each other due to the Republic’s absence. This close-knit community also fosters distrust of strangers and outsiders, making it a hotbed for new separatist activity. The residents question why they should continue dealing with the Republic when it seems the Republic doesn’t care about them.

To understand what the Hidden Chain is up to and stop them, we will need assistance from the locals. Navigating this distrust will be challenging but necessary to achieve our goals. For Empire characters, Ord Mantell isn’t a typical location of interest, given its Republic governance, but there’s more leeway in this area due to the reduced Republic presence. The residents of Kessan’s Landing have the mindset of, “Why should we help the Republic?” Consequently, they may not interfere with Sith or Empire-affiliated individuals on the planet. This presents opportunities to influence the people of Kessan’s Landing to align with your faction.

Characters

While you’re tracking down the Hidden Chain, you’re going to get some help from some new faces and a couple of familiar ones.

Rass Ordo

We’re going to be helping Rass Ordo as he’s been investigating leads that could possibly figure out what the Hidden Chain is doing while they’re in hiding. We’re going to actually be helping him at the beginning, track down one of these leads that could lead to some clues. Our best Mandalorian boi.

Arn Peralun

Republic players have been joined by Arn Peralun, who has recently been promoted to Jedi Knight, has been asked by the Republic to help the player investigate on Kessan’s landing.

Darth Krovos

Imperial side, you’re actually going to be joined by Darth Krovos since the Empire is still at war with the Republic. She’s a very strategic person and she’s always looking for different ways to get the upper hand on the Republic. One of those ways could be stoking dissent and trying to sway people to turn against their faction.

Ord Mantellians

Smugglers and Troopers may recognize Captain Blyes from their early days on Ord Mantell. After the original Separatist conflict, he was promoted to negotiate between the Republic and the Mantellian forces, and he’s been doing that ever since. So he’s a little stressed out, especially with the Republic not giving as much support to Kessin’s land. [I think this is the questgiver kneeling down right away when you exit the Trooper starting story!]

Another slightly familiar face from launch is Gizmel Gam, a local bureaucrat on Ord Mantell that’s kind of taken up residence in Kessin’s Landing. He always claims that he’s got his constituents best interests at heart, but his actions don’t always support those claims. You know he’s trustworthy because he keeps saying it. [This is the guy from the Heroic quest on Ord Mantell on the Savrip Island, where you need to go find his shipment, and you can turn it in to a droid for light side points.]

Petra Nihrum

We have a new face on Kessan’s Landing. This is Petra Nihrum. She’s a Cathar resident of Kessan’s Landing who  gets caught up in the hidden chain assault while looking for her missing sister, Mina. Like everyone in Kessin’s Landing, she’s a bit suspiciousbf strangers. If you align with her motivations, you might be able to get her help and her understanding of Kessan’s Landing – and she might be to help you along your journey.

Lane Vizla & Basilisk Droid

Lane Vizla is the cousin of Shae Vizla, who holds the title of Mandalore the Avenger. Lane shares many personality traits with Shay, particularly their stubbornness. However, Lane is less of a bounty hunter and more of a tinkerer who prefers machines over dealing with people. She is eager to prove herself and take on challenges.

In Lane Vizla’s storyline on Ruhnuk, she mentions the rarity of Basilisk droids, highlighting the lack of knowledge surrounding them. To restore the Basilisk droid found in Clan Ha’rangir’s clutches on Ruhnuk, she requires not only information to repair it but also to understand what makes this unique Basilisk droid special. Unfortunately, there’s no manual or readily available information, as Basilisk droids are so rare that information about them is virtually non-existent at this point. Lane faces an almost insurmountable challenge to restore it for us.

However, she comes across a potential solution by learning of someone known as The Curator, considered the foremost authority in droid maintenance and droid history. Our task is to secure his assistance in figuring out how to fix this Basilisk droid.

The Curator maintains anonymity and is recognized as one of the top experts in droids in the galaxy. It becomes our mission to locate him and persuade him to assist in the effort to repair the Basilisk droids. Part of what the Curator asks for is to find an HK-24 droid, which, much like Basilisk droids, is incredibly rare. These droids were designed by Czerka Corporation centuries ago, prior to the Mandalorian Neo-Crusader invasion, but nobody wanted them, and production ceased. As a result, very few HK-24 droids were made, and those that existed were involved in a dark corporate scheme and eventually outlawed by the Republic.

Because they were built to fight Mandalorians, that means they were specifically programmed to destroy Basilisk droids, and know a lot about Basilisk Droids, but they’ll also know a lot about how to destroy them. So if we want to have it help us restore a Basilisk droid, we’re probably going to have to make a few modifications to get its help. As this kind of droid is so rare, it’s probably very attractive to a droid expert / curator. That’s going to be like the crown jewel of his collection.

New Daily Area – Kessan’s Landing

After the Chains in the Dark storyline, there’s still a lot to do on Kessan’s Landing – it’s a full daily area. There will be a lot of repeatable missions to deal with the Hidden Chain, and the fall out of the Hidden Chain and the Separatists.

SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Daily Area and Ord Mantell Reputation Guide

There’s going to be a new reputation track, new mounts, new armors, and new achievements.

There’s also a secret set of missions that will get you a special piece of tech that takes you all over the galaxy. You’ll probably want this tech if you’re going to be spending a lot of time on Kessan’s Landing. [I imagine this is similar to the additional quests on Ruhnuk!]

New Secret Quests

SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Geothermal Shielding Guide

SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Hidden Achievements Guide

New Datacron

SWTOR Kessan’s Landing Ord Mantell Secret Datacron & Lava Problems Quest Guide

New World Boss

FR3-D0M will be the new New World Boss added to Kessan’s Landing. FR3-D0M is a Separatist Battle Droid, reprogrammed to spread Seperatist views, propaganda, and eliminate anyone who tries to resist that propaganda. Encounter designer, Daniel Cefaratti, said definitely watch your feet for any plasma that the droid might be putting around the space, and watch where you place your allies.

In addition to the mount that’s going to be on the reputation track, there is also a rare chance the world boss might drop a version of the mount that is the same coloring as the world boss.

Cinematic Lighting Across the Game

Since 7.2 Showdown on Runic, we have been testing and implementing a new character lighting system within cinematics that updates the way lights act in our cutscenes. It uses more environmental lighting instead of spotlights we’ve used in the past, and creates a lot more self-shadowing, more detailed self-shadowing on the characters, and increases our level of control on the artistic side for creating lights within the cinematics.

We’ve been testing this in Updates 7.2 and 7.3, but in 7.4, we are turning this on across the entire game. That means all cinematic content across the entire game from the class stories to the world arcs to all the recent updates will have this lighting update implemented. You can see how there’s a lot less ‘hot light’ on the character – it’s a lot more balanced. There’s a lot more shading that comes in with the outfits and the skin, and grounds them to the environment. Our graphics team knocked it out of the park to create this.

It’s really, really nice to see lot of this older content in a new new light everyone looks so beautiful too it’s like you can really see how before everybody was washed out by that blue light in the scene and everyone just has like skin tones that are not blue. Humans have human skin tones, and the detail on on all the armors come come through really well. And this is just the beginning of the Cinematic Lighting updates – we’re gonna keep improving on it, keep building on it, and keep making the game pretty.

Watch the Clip about Cinematic Lighting

Watch Video

GTN Overhaul

Hello, everyone. This is Joe Stramaglia from the Systems Design team back again to talk about the Credit Economy Initiative and our upcoming changes to the Galactic Trade Network.

Credit Economy Initiative

First, a quick recap of what we’ve done so far:

• We’ve made some system level adjustments to credit inflows and sinks. We’ll have more of these over time.
• We’ve added some costs to some forms of travel that would have otherwise required credit costs.
• In 7.3.1 we adjusted the cost of quick travel to account for your level to be balanced appropriately to lower level characters.
• We’ve reduced the durability loss on armor on character death but balanced it with a slight increase of the chance of durability loss through normal combat.
• We’ve adjusted repair costs relative to item level.
• We’ve added trade and mail taxes depending on the value exchange of the items or credits.
• And in 7.3.1 we made these completely driven by the Galactic Trade Network median sales and added new exemptions to these taxes on many lower value items.
• In 7.3.1 for the Galactic Trade Network we increased the buyout price limit ahead of the revamp and now provide a suggested sale price depending on the median sales when listing an item.

It’s with great pleasure to report that our credit economy has been healing with these changes and we plan to continue that work. [The current inflation efforts, while not always popular with players, have been enormously successful over the last year or so – prices of many expensive items on my server have dropped down to 1/3rd of last’s year’s prices. See the how to make credits guide for more info! – Swtorista]

New GTN Changes in 7.4! Live on PTS

GTN Preview

With that, I’m excited to talk about what’s coming in 7.4. The first phase of the Galactic Trade Network overhaul is going live in 7.4. Please note that some of the things I’m going to show here are work in progress and may be adjusted prior to full release. We’ve completely rebuilt the system, making it more accessible while trying to keep it familiar. Now, when you open the Galactic Trade Network, you will see there are some new elements and some elements that have changed.

Let’s take it for a spin.

Purchasing & Listings

Say I want to purchase a new piece of equipment. I can search for that item by name, just like our current implementation, or I can set a category and subcategory to find it. We’ve also added an advanced search section with some of our existing but less used options.

Now, our search is done and we have our results. Something you may notice is that each item is listed a single time with the quantity showing the number available on the market and the unit price showing the lowest available price.

Clicking on the credit symbol will take you to the landing page for the specific item. This shows details about that item as well as the option to purchase one for the lowest available price.

Once we press the purchase button, the game will check to see if the purchase was successful.

Claim

Once you’ve completed a purchase, you no longer need to go to your mail to collect the item. We can collect it right here and now on the claim page.

Items will remain available to claim here and will expire the same way that mail currently does. However, it’s worth noting that there is a restriction on how many items will be available in the claim page. So, if you want to make more purchases, you need to claim your items first. [In the preview, you can see you can buy more slots likely with cartel coins.]

Buying Item Stacks

But I’m sure you’re thinking, what about items with stacks? Well, if we go back to our search and find an item that is stackable, let’s say a medpac.

You’ll find that if you open the item details window, we’ll have a little bit more information here. You’ll see the lowest listed available stacks, and you’ll be able to input a quantity that you would like up to a full stack of the item per purchase. When you do this, you pay the amount required to pay for each item in the stack at the unit price that is available. I’ll enter the amount that I want, make the purchase, and be able to receive the item right here in the claim page.

Selling Item Stacks

Now, let’s say I’m looking to sell an item. I can go to the Sell tab, much like our current system, and there’s a slot where you can drag and drop an item.

Now, instead of setting the price to sell a stack, you set the unit price for the item, and the game does all the math for you.

This will show you exactly how much you will receive for each unit sold, how much the buyer will pay for each unit sold, and the fees to be paid to both list the item as well as purchase the item.

At the bottom, we show you the total profit that you will gain from this transaction.

GTN Duration

One thing to note about this is that we’ve increased the amount of time of duration that sales can be. [The longest shown is 7 days.]

GTN Fees

We’ve also made some adjustments for the way fees are handled. The fee for the sale will be on the buyer. The fees will be progressive based on the price per unit, and the listing fee now takes into account the price and will be assessed as a fee instead of a deposit.

There’s some guardrails on this to keep the fees from getting too out of hand, and we’ll share details of those at a later time on a forum post for those of you who want to see how all the numbers work out.

Sold Listings

Once your listing is sold to a buyer, you’ll find the results of the sale available the claim page.

This is also where listings that expire will be located and you can see the status of your sales at any time on this page. You can even claim the credits for partially sold stacks and we’ll still send you notification mails for things that sell or expire.

This new version of the Galactic Trade Network is built to be easily expanded on and has a lot of smart features to make using the network a breeze – this is only the beginning. We want your feedback and to take into account many of the great suggestions and ideas from the community. We will continue to iterate, build, and grow the Galactic Trade Network to make it the best in class experience that it can be.

Gearing

Hey community. I’m back here to go over the itemization changes coming to SWTOR in Patch 7.4.

SWTOR Gearing Changes and Tips in Update 7.4

SWTOR How to Get the Best Gear in the Game (7.4 Hyde & Zeek 340 and Rakata 344)

Item Ceiling Increase 340/344

First up, we have our next item ceiling rates. As we’ve previously mentioned, this is something we do periodically to introduce new power to the game over the expansion cycle.

Here are the new maximum item ratings for gear, coming with 7.4:

• Noble Decurion, and Supreme Decurion, Tionese, and Columi will all be increasing to 340 (up from 336).
• Rakata gear will be increasing to 344 (up from 336), and Thyrsian gear will be increasing to 336 (up from 332).
• Players who have acquired the Virulent Armor from the R4 Anomaly Operation will be able to exchange their armor for Rakata Armor at the R4 Veteran Exchange vendor in the Supply section of the fleet using R4 Veteran gear tokens, OP1 Catalysts, and credits.
• To match the Power Ceiling increase, Legendary Implants will be rising in power. Legendary Implants will be upgradable all the way to 340 and will come with a new tier of achievement.

PvP & PvP Season 4 – November 7

As a reminder for folks about how PvP seasons works, we’re in between PvP Season 3 and Season 4 right now. PvP season 4 is gonna start on November 7. It’ll start in a few weeks, and you can even go look the PvP Season 4 rewards in collections right now, because Season 4’s rewards went in Update 7.3.1. The same thing is going to happen right now where PvP Season 5’s rewards are going to go in in game in Update 7.4, even though we don’t have it included in this presentation.

The PvP seasons are agnostic to the game updates themselves, because they’re on a fixed schedule. They run for X amount of weeks and they’re off for Y amount of weeks and that’s on a fixed schedule yearly. We may not always talk about them explicitly inside of one of these game update presentations, but just know, one, you can always just look in collections and you’ll see that they’re there. So don’t be surprised when 7.4 goes out and you’re like, ‘ah, I have spied that the season five PvP rewards are there.” It’s not that they’re there by accident. It’s because that PVP season will likely start before 7.4.1 comes out, and so that’s when that will slide in. We’ll be posting more about them in the coming weeks.

If there would be any changes to PVP season, such as class balance changes or any of that kind of stuff, that would just be normal inside of patch notes inside of the game updates. So just look for that kind of stuff there.

SWTOR PvP Seasons 4 Guide and Rewards

Life Day

Hug Wookiees, throw snowballs at each other, and earn snow-covered parcels to get rewards.

Life Day Event Guide (SWTOR)

For this event, we’re going to be throwing in a Life Day officer armor – it’s really clean and sharp, and it’s beautiful. You’re all going to look super classy when you get this, and you’re going to your holiday ball. [No date given, previous Life Days would place it around December 12, 2023.]

Double XP

The Double XP event will be running from December 24, 2023 – January 4, 2024.

Double XP Event Guide

How to Level Up Fast in SWTOR

Metallic & Pearlescent Dyes + New Color Specularity Tech

So let’s talk about the word specularity. Specularity is effectively how reflective something is. The way that we would define it in the game, and the way that we actually are applying it in the game, realistically, is how metallic or how matte something might look.

We’ve developed new tech for assigning colors inside of our game. The way that you’re going to see this applied to start is in dye packs, called metallic and pearlescent dye packs in 7.4.

This is really just a starting point for us because yes, I’m saying dye packs, but we could use this tech for other stuff. We could have a gold-plated pistol. We could have a gold-plated refresher decoration in your house. We’ve absolutely made these jokes already internally about things that we could do. I’m not saying we have those plans because we don’t necessarily, but these are the kinds of ways that we could apply this to stuff in the future. This tech can be applied to armor sets, weapons, and mounts in the future.

New Dyes for 7.4:

• Metallic Black and Pearlescent Red
• Pearlescent Red and Metallic Black
• Chrome White and Metallic Gold
• Metallic Gold and Chrome White
• Metallic Black and Matte Black
• Matte Black and Metallic Black

Watch Video

Cartel Market

New Cartel Market items on the PTS! New Ancient Star Map Toy, Sabine Wren Armor, Death Trooper Rifle, Darth Nul’s Dualsaber, Westar Weapons

Sabine Wren Armor – Defiant Maverick Armor Set

Suppression Trooper Armor Set

Suppression Trooper Rifle

Westar-19 Weapons

The graphics shown are Blaster Pistol, then Blaster Rifle, then Sniper Rifle – they’re split down the middle, the drawn on the left and stowed on the right. There are three different colors/versions, Westar-19 (gray/black), Westar-19B (blue) and Westar-19 (yellow).

Darth Nul’s Dualsaber

PTS

PTS ideally will be up within the next week, with a goal of this week, after internal testing is done, it’s soon / close, and we are actively pushing to get it there. Narrative/story will not be on the PTS, nor will the Life Day event, but the rest will be testable.

After 7.4

What will be coming up after 7.4? While we don’t have many hints yet, we do know that there will eventually be…

Broadsword

Many players have been asking about the new studio. Recently, Keith gave a short statement. 7.4 will be the first “bigger” update under Broadsword, though 7.3.1 was released under Broadsword already.

Seasons

We will see the continuation of PvP Seasons and Galactic Seasons – PvP Seasons Season 3 just ended, Season 4 is starting November 7, and Galactic Seasons 5 is currently underway!

DirectX 12 & Improved Steam Integrations

In a previous developer post, the devs said…

Long before that, this was said…

With 64-bit now in the game, and DirectX 12 on the way, it’s possible we may see graphics updates in the future.

These two tech improvements were not mentioned in the developer stream, though the new Cinematic Lighting and Specularity tech was.

GTN Changes?

• This will be an overhaul of how the GTN Works to increase usability make finding what you want easier and buy or sell items at a fair price all while providing you with more Market information than ever before to help players make informed decisions
• We will also be building a commodity order system that lets you place orders for specific items and get them at a competitive price

Additional Servers?

All SWTOR servers are now on the cloud! The developers have already tested out a temporary APAC server, and either an APAC or Fresh Start server may comin in the future. Read More

SWTOR opens test server hosted on the cloud! ‘Shae Vizla’ APAC Server, April 3 – April 18, 2023! Now open.

Stronghold

We already got the first stronghold mentioned in this post, the Mek-Sha stronghold, but perhaps there’s another one down the line.

Warzone Medals

With the other Warzones getting knocked out in 7.3, the only warzones that haven’t been rehauled yet will be Odessan and Ancient Hypergates.

Future Story

We got a tease of where the story might go in the future as well, though this may be alluding to what is coming in 7.4 and forward!

Crafting Update / Augments?

From an interview by Vulkk.com with the developers:

The official answer stated that while the developers “cannot provide a definitive timeline right now, a change to the Crafting system will not be implemented in the immediate future. At this time, players can continue spending credits on augments.” When the time comes that a crafting revamp will happen, BioWare said that they will give everyone plenty of time to adjust to the changes accordingly.

Based on BioWare’s answer, it seems that they are planning a more significant rework to the crafting system in line with other modernizations we’ve gotten with 7.0. Furthermore, it should theoretically be pretty trivial to just add another crafting tier if that’s all they wanted to do. – August 2022

Master Mode R-4?

It is unclear if Master Mode R-4 is still coming out, due to the large delay in launch of both 7.0 and the R-4 Anomaly operation in both story and veteran mode, but it is currently the only outstanding item on the list from the tenth anniversary, originally shared on a livestream July 1, 2021.

We have kind of a roadmap for #SWTOR even beyond the tenth anniversary! wow! All the way into 2022! More details coming closer to the launch of Legacy of the Sith expansion.

Not a new engine lol. But yes modernization and graphic fidelity. Maybe something to be excited about pic.twitter.com/A5vuG5GWpL

— Swtorista (@swtorista) July 1, 2021