The newest update is out and here’s everything in Update 7.7.1, including Galactic Season 9 and more character customizations! UPDATE! Launch date was August 19, 2025 and the update is now out!
What is in Update 7.7.1?
- Galactic Season 9 “Flashpoint Resurgence”
- Activity Finder Updates
- Easier Role Choice for Queuing
- Not all filters needed
- Cutscenes removed from groupfinder flashpoints (Spacebar!)
- More low level gear rewards
- Special Galactic Seasons Resurgence Queue
- F2P Improvements
- Hide head slot
- Cargo bay
- Artifact auth for low level (purple gear)
- Companion customizations
- Combat Updates
- Feast of Prosperity (October 7 – November 4, 2025)
- Subscriber ‘Event’ (September 9 – December 9, 2025)
- Cartel Market New Items
- Cartel Market Category Sales
- Character Modernization & Customization
- Rattataki Fixes
- New Hair Colors multiple species
- New Togruta Montral Colors
- Dark-side corruption fixes
- No PTS for 7.7.1
Story?
- Not with update 7.7.1 (still catching up from the Voice Actor’s Strike)
- Galactic Threads for Game Update 7.8
- Master’s Enigma to follow in 7.8.1
- Two Date Nights targeted for 7.8.1
- Torian
- Kira
Contents
- Twitch Drops
- Story
- Galactic Season 9
- Groupfinder Updates
- Combat Changes
- Security Key Cartel Coin Changes
- Free-to-Play Updates
- Artifact Authorization Changes
- Subscriber ‘Event’
- Feast of Prosperity
- Cartel Market
- Cartel Market Summer Sale
- Character Select Screen Modernization
- Character Modernization
- Dx12 Progress
- After 7.7.1
Twitch Drops
Once 7.7.1 launches August 19, 2025, to get the TF-6 Striker watch 4 Hours of any SWTOR streamer starting at launch until the end date 28 days later. By the way, I’m live every morning 8 – 10 am Pacific every weekday morning, at twitch.tv/swtorista if you want to come say hi! I’ll be streaming plenty on launch day. If you aren’t familiar with Twitch Drops, here’s the how-to!
Story
If you have been wondering why there hasn’t been new story in Star Wars: The Old Republic for a while, here’s a bunch of information about the now-ended Voice Actor’s Strike, and some behind the scenes look at the unfinished upcoming story, which the developers could not complete or fully plan for until the voice actor’s strike was resolved – it officially ended in mid July 2025 after almost a year, but now the work of contacting, contracting, recording, editing and inserting all the voice acting in all languages is underway.
We did get some news about when the next story is scheduled- sadly it won’t be with update 7.7.1, but will be in later updates. Here’s the timeline the developers shared.
- No story with update 7.8.1 (still catching up from the Voice Actor’s Strike)
- Galactic Threads story for Game Update 7.8
- Master’s Enigma story to follow in 7.8.1
- Two Date Nights targeted for 7.8.1
- Torian
- Kira
7.8 is is scheduled for the “holiday” update, which means it will likely come out some time in mid to late December 2025.
Galactic Season 9
Galactic Season 9 will begin at 7.7.1 launch and run for 26 weeks. Kai Zykken needs your help once more as a new version of Czerka Combat Enhancers needs to be tested. These new enhancers can be used upon entering Flashpoints and can provide two new buffs.
Flashpoint Resurgence
With the theme of Season 9 being Flashpoints, you’ll get experimental stims you can only use in Flashpoints, which give unique powers.
Experimental Repulsor Field – Grants a temporary Ability Bar that will allow you to lift an enemy and throw them into another.
Projectile Probes – Two probes will accompany you through the Flashpoint firing projectiles towards enemies while you are in combat.
Rewards
Galactic Season 9 Rewards teased include… Full Guide
SWTOR Galactic Seasons Guide and Rewards – Season 9, Flashpoint Resurgence!
Some of these are from the track and some are from the vendor costing Galactic Season tokens.
Achievement
The Meta Achievement Reward is the T7-01 Rugged Customization
Groupfinder Updates
The focus of Galactic Season 9 is Flashpoints, and the developers have made some major improvements to the groupfinder, the primary way players find other players to run flashpoints with.
- Easier Role Choice for Queuing
- Not all filters needed
- Cutscenes removed from groupfinder flashpoints (Spacebar!)
- More low level gear rewards
- Special Galactic Seasons Resurgence Queue
Roles
Improvements to the UI and functionality of the Activity Finder Window have been made that focuses on more support for Combat Styles. Via a new Group Role dropdown, players will be able to choose all roles they are eligible for in the Group tab including the roles from both Combat Styles. They will be able to change their Combat Style while in queue and when a queue pops, players will be able to see the role they have been assigned. Players will need to be cognizant of the Loadouts they are using and update as needed.
Filter Eligibility
In the current game, you need to have every Flashpoint selected to get credit for the daily and weekly rewards, to show you played a truly random flashpoint rather than one of your choice. Unchecking even one flashpoint will make you ineligible.
In 7.1.1, players can earn the Daily Reward Bonus and Weekly Mission credits even if they do not select every piece of content in the filter. In the Activity Finder UI, players will see two numbers next to each other to explain this information as the following (total available pieces of content // minimum number selected to receive rewards).
In the screenshots they show 13/11 Operations selected, as you only need to select 11 but the player selected 13. In the second screenshot, it shows the player has only chosen 24 out of a needed 25 flashpoints, so they are not eligible for the reward. These numbers may change.
Resurgence Queue
In addition to the above updates, a new Galactic Season Flashpoint Resurgence queue will be added to the window. Every week that Galactic Season 9 is active, this special queue will have 1 or 2 Veteran Flashpoints that match the weekly objectives. Players can also join normal queues if they want.
No Cutscenes
Players that enter most Veteran or Master Mode Flashpoint via Activity Finder will no longer need to spacebar through cinematic scenes. The cinematics will be replaced with a brief fade to black. In instances where players would typically make a Light or Dark side choice, a default choice will be made for players and Light/Dark points will not be granted. Should players want to experience the cinematics in a Veteran or Master Mode Flashpoint, they can manually walk into the phase.
This is a great change as it removes a friction point between players who want to run the flashpoint quickly, and players who are unaware that the group finder is usually used to run quickly.
If you want to run Hammer Station (or another Flashpoint that does not have a solo mode), you still need to do it on Veteran or Masrter. You can walk in but if you want to see the cutscenes, it is the same as before – you need to do it in veteran or higher since it doesn’t have story mode. You can always put together a group in General chat or in your guild chat.
Low-level Gear
Low level players usually got 1 piece of gear per boss. Now they will get 2-3 per boss.
Combat Changes
7.7.1 will focus on Merc/Commando, Operative/Scoundrel, Sorcerer/Sage, a post will be coming later with the exact details. There will also be a handful of other balance updates in 7.7.1. list
Security Key Cartel Coin Changes
Players who have a Security Key tied to their account will only receive their Cartel Coin grants if they were active in the last 29 days – you will need to log in to the actual game to be eligible for the rewards.
(If you have earned past Cartel Coins from your security key, they are not being removed.)
Free-to-Play Updates
I was excited to see more improvements to the free-to-play options!
In 7.7.1, F2P/Preferred players will be able to:
- Gain access to companion customizations
- Gain access to use Legacy Titles
- Earn Rest XP
- Gain the first Cargo Bay for free
- Use the Hide Head slot
- Withdraw more credits from Escrow when using Cartel Coins
- All account types will have access to all quickbars
Artifact Authorization Changes
Beginning in Game Update 7.7.1, any piece of gear under level 80 will not require Artifact Authorization.
Level 80 purple or gold gear that will require Artifact Authorization are:
- All 7.0 purple gear
- Legendary Implants
- Hyde and Zeek’s purple enhancements
- Grade 10/11 Reusable Medpacs, Stims, and Adrenals
This means free-to-play and preferred players can now easily wear and purple gear they get as they level!
Subscriber ‘Event’
From September 9 to December 9, 2025, active Subscribers will notice a new type of Log In Reward in the form of a currency. Subscribers who log in at least four times a week will receive this currency and will be able to redeem it at a special vendor that carries gameplay focused rewards. These rewards can range from purchasing endgame game or leveling gear, special XP and crafting boost, etc… There will also be a unique companion customization reward on the vendor inspired by the Disney+ series Andor™ that can be used on companion droids 2V-R8 and C2-N2. On the developer livestream they hinted this customization would be similar to K2-S0.
They also explained this currency and vendor will only exist during the event – so you might as well spend them, not hoard them for later. The items you buy will not disappear form your inventory after the event though.
Feast of Prosperity
SWTOR’s annual fall event returns October 7 – November 4, 2025! There’s a bunch of new rewards!
- Banquet Hanging Light
- Grand Feast Mantel
- Regal Wall Shelf
- Banquet Sculpture
- Drinking Banquet Guest (Standing)
- Banquet Guest (Sitting)
- Regal Banquet Side Table
- Bothan Banquet Guest (Sitting)
- Banquet Guest (Standing)
- Grand Feast Carpet (Red)
- Grand Feast Carpet (Green)
- Feast Attendee Robe
- Feast Attendee Robe (with Scarf)
- Feast Attendee Headwrap
Cartel Market
A new hairstyle customization, head accessory, and outfit inspired by the Disney+ series Andor™, and an Imperial Scout Mount will be coming to the Cartel Market in 7.7.1.
New Hair: Brushback
New Glasses: Nightfall Operative (the frames are dyeable!)
New Mount: PAV-11 Imperial Scout Mount – based off the Imperial Manaan taxi
New Outfit: They also have a test pilot outfit in the works inspired by Andor Season 2 that isn’t ready to show yet, but may be inspired by this outfit from the show.
Cartel Market Summer Sale
Beginning July 30, 2025, there will be a variety of category sales on the Cartel Market ranging between 30-90% off. Below is the current category sales schedule:
- July 30 – Mounts
- August 11 – Tunings, Toys, and Crystals
- August 23 – Weapons
- September 4 – Armor
- September 16 – Decorations
Character Select Screen Modernization
The character select screen will get improved lighting and a new Depth of Field update that keeps the focus on the player character in 7.7.1.
Here’s some more small examples – this will be for all classes / ships.
Character Modernization
Rattataki
The developers have been working on updating the different character types and species bit by bit and will be updating Rattataki for Update 7.7.1. The face definition and texture smoothing that was implemented in Game Update 7.7 has been added to Rattataki, and they are updating the neck seam as well.
If you want to see previous passes, here’s the info from 7.7!
SWTOR Developer Character Modernization Updates going into 7.7
Dark-Side Corruption Skin Tones
During the livestream, they talked about some of the “finicky” dark side corruption issues in the game. If you had a dark skinned human, since the launch of the game, if you got dark side corruption, you would expect the skin hue would start to get desaturated (losing color) every time your dark side level goes up. But what happened was in dark side 3, you are suddenly super pale. You go from a dark skinned human to a pale white human. It affected it in an unexpected drastic way. Players often reported it as a bug or said they didn’t use darkside corruption due to this. It was unintended and part of a long-running bug. Because they are working on modernization for characters, they are fixing the bug now with darkside corruption – bottom row is more what it will look like in Update 7.7.1, middle row is what it looks like now.
More Hair Colors
The previous modernization update brought a ton of new skin colors – in Update 7.7.1 there will be a ton of new hair colors!
Hundreds of hair and montral color options to character customization for Cathar, Chiss, Cyborg, Human, Miraluka, Mirialan, Togruta (montrals), and both Imperial and Republic Zabraks. Purebloods did not get new hair colors.
By the way, here’s the chart for skin colors from last update in 7.7. Awesome!
They mentioned something about some hair colors will be cartel market colors for example hot pink. the more extreme ones. I’m unsure if this is referring to the old cartel market packs with hot pink hair, or new potential packs.
More Togruta Colors
Togruta got tons of face colors in the previous modernization updates, now they have montral colors to match for 7.7.1!
More Mirialan Colors?
While they did not mention it specifically, one of the other screenshots in the livestream show a purple/blue Mirialan – something that was requested by players but that we don’t currently have!
Dx12 Progress
We now has a functioning version of the game on DX12! Our next steps are to upgrade UI technology and implement baseline shader. We intend on working toward releasing a Technical Alpha on the Public Test Server in the not too distant future. We will communicate further details on the timeline of this test when the team makes further progress. We are very excited for this upgrade to come to SWTOR!
This is not coming with Update 7.7.1 but we did get this new information during the livestream.
After 7.7.1
What will be coming up after 7.7.? While we don’t have many hints yet, we do know that there will eventually be…
The Galactic Threads + Master’s Enigma Story
The Galactic Thread storyline is under production and very well underway, and the voice actor’s strike is now resolved.
We did get some news about when the next story is scheduled- sadly it won’t be with update 7.7.1, but will be in later updates. Here’s the timeline the developers shared.
- No story with update 7.8.1 (still catching up from the Voice Actor’s Strike)
- Galactic Threads story for Game Update 7.8
- Master’s Enigma story to follow in 7.8.1
7.8 is is scheduled for the “holiday” update, which means it will likely come out some time in mid to late December 2025, we do not have a date for 7.8.1.
Date Nights
There are about 28 romanceable companions and the developers were hoping to release more date nights in the cadence of 1-2 Companion Date nights per Galactic Seasons.
Two Date Nights targeted for 7.8.1:
- Torian
- Kira
7.8 is is scheduled for the “holiday” update, which means it will likely come out some time in mid to late December 2025, we do not have a date for 7.8.1.
Romanceable Companions
- Akaavi Spar
- Andronikos Revel
- Arcann (Update 7.4.1)
- Aric Jorgan (Update 7.5.1)
- Ashara Zavros
- Corso Riggs
- Doc
- Elara Dorne
- Felix Iresso
- Jaesa Willsaam
- Kaliyo
- Khem Val
- Kira Carsen (Upcoming Update 7.8.1)
- Koth Vortena (Update 7.4.1)
- Lana Beniko (Update 7.4.1)
- Lieutenant Pierce
- Lord Scourge
- Mako
- Malavai Quinn
- Nadia Grell
- Raina Temple
- Risha
- Tharan Cedrax
- Theron Shan (Update 7.4.1)
- Torian (Upcoming Update 7.8.1)
- Vector
- Vette (Update 7.5.1)
- Zenith
Dye Changes
In the 7.6 Developer stream, the developers mentioned some changes to dyes might be coming. We have not heard more since.
Seasons
We will see the continuation of PvP Seasons and Galactic Seasons – Galactic Seasons Season 9 will be starting in Update 7.7.1, and PvP Seasons Season 9 will start with 7.8, and Galactic Seasons Season with Update 7.8.1.
Graphic Updates
The developer have been working on graphical updates on multiple planets. So far we have seen graphical updates on…
- Character Modernization (lighting, textures, colors – ongoing)
- Preview Window
- New Alien Skin Colors
- Metallic Dyes and Textures
- Tython (waterfalls and trees)
- Korriban (lighting and textures)
- Hutta (lighting, ambient fog and trees)
- Ord Mantell (newer area)
- Ilum (ice and textures)
- Hoth (ice and textures)
- Banks / Cargo Holds
- Character Select Screen
We will likely see more in future updates over time!
Dynamic Encounters
Dynamic Encounters are now available on many planets, with more likely coming in the future.
- Tatooine
- Alderaan
- Ilum
- The two Capital planets:
- Coruscant
- Dromund Kaas
- The four smaller starter planets:
- Tython
- Korriban
- Ord Mantell
- Hutta
DirectX 12
In a previous developer post, the devs said…
Also on the tech side, we are working on further updates such as improved integrations with Steam and updating to DirectX 12. We’ll start talking about all of this and more in the coming weeks. Source
With 64-bit now in the game, and DirectX 12 is the next item on the list the developers are working on in the background. They posted some updated information on the progress in late 2024.
You’re right, It has been a while since we initially mentioned DirectX12 (DX12)! Development has taken place for the better part of the year and it is still ongoing. We’ve also added several graphics-focused features and made other adjustments in the last year. The metallic, chrome, and pearlescent dyes, new cinematic lightning and shadows are examples of what’s included in this initiative, along with some changes in 7.6 we’re excited to share with you soon.
With that work completed, the team is back to getting the engine to handle DX12 architecture changes to support object and texture types and a new shader management system. Although we do not have a large announcement to make about DX12 right now, we have been discussing putting an alpha implementation into players’ hands sometime before mid next year. We will share more details closer to when we’re ready to begin that testing.
As a reminder, DX12 sets a new technology baseline enabling us to make visual improvements over time. Similar to when we rolled out the 64-bit upgrade, changes will not be super dramatic right out the door, rather, this tech provides a solid foundation for us to build on, and we’re all pretty excited to see what’s possible once it’s here. -Keith
We got a little more info in July 2025.
We now has a functioning version of the game on DX12! Our next steps are to upgrade UI technology and implement baseline shader. We intend on working toward releasing a Technical Alpha on the Public Test Server in the not too distant future. We will communicate further details on the timeline of this test when the team makes further progress. We are very excited for this upgrade to come to SWTOR!
GTN Changes?
In addition to the recent changes to the GTN, the developers spoke in the past about potentially adding a buy-order system – you can put in a request to buy an item at a certain price, and other players can fulfill the order. Whether this will be added or not still is unclear, now that the new GTN is up and functional. This has not been brought back up in a while and may have been shelved in favor of other projects.
- 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 (source developer livestream 7.3)
- We will also be building a commodity order system that lets you place orders for specific items and get them at a competitive price (source developer livestream 7.3)
Additional Servers?
All SWTOR servers are now on the cloud, and the Shae Vizla server has been running for a while as the APAC server, with transfers opened with 7.4.1. A new Fresh Start server may come in the future, players have been asking for one in North America. Read More
Crafting Update
New level 80 high-end Augments were added to Crafting in Update 7.6 and 7.7, but will there be a significant re-haul of the crafting system in the future?
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?
Master Mode R4 is currently the only outstanding item on the list from the tenth anniversary, originally shared on a livestream July 1, 2021. Since then, another single-boss Operation called the XR-53 Propagator has come out including its Veteran and Master modes, so it seems unlikely that a Master Mode version of the R4 operation will be worked on / released. The developers said in May 2023,
MM R4 is not on our roadmap. The priorities for our encounters team right now is focused on making more impactful, engaging bosses in story content, delivering Flashpoints in all modes with modern boss mechanics, and making additional challenging 8-player encounters. Now, all of that said. I want to express that we very much understand how critical aspirational endgame group content is. Whether that is delivered through MM Flashpoints, World and Lair bosses, or even Ops. It is still something we will prioritize as a part of our roadmap going forward.
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