{"id":46358,"date":"2026-04-01T15:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T22:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/?p=46358"},"modified":"2026-04-01T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:30:00","slug":"april-fools-in-star-wars-the-old-republic-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/april-fools-in-star-wars-the-old-republic-history\/","title":{"rendered":"April Fools in Star Wars: The Old Republic History"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate April Fools this year, I’ve put together a list of different Star Wars: The Old Republic April Fools jokes by both the developers and by players of the game. In more recent years, it has gone out of fashion for developers to run April Fools jokes, as players tend to be frustrated about seeing fun short pranks compared to real news about the game, but it is still really fun to look back and see what has gone on over the years.<\/p>\n

By the way, if you’re looking for real news about 2026, take a look at the 2026 roadmap<\/a>, the DirectX 12 Progress Update<\/a> \u2013 Frostbite Engine Integration!, and the Executive Producer Letter \u2013 Q1 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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New Pranks<\/h2>\n

This year, the developers skipped the pranks, but the players didn’t!<\/p>\n

2026 – Star Trek The Old Frontier<\/h2>\n

Player Night has made a fun April Fools, where the \u2018developers\u2019 announce that Star Wars: The Old Republic is combining with Star Trek! They made it in the form of a producer letter, which was great as a real producer letter had just come out the previous day. To make it, she went to the existing real producers letter, editted it, and took a screenshot so it looked more realistic! Read the letter: April Fools: Star Trek The Old Frontier<\/a><\/p>\n

“We regret to inform you that, after extensive internal discussions, we have decided to take Star Wars: The Old Republic in a bold new direction….”<\/em><\/p>\n

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2026 – Makeb Stronghold<\/h2>\n

The fansite vulkk.com put together an article about the ‘newest’ stronghold – Makeb! They used a lot of really high quality screenshots of interior rooms in the planet of Makeb, putting them together in an article to make them look like a real stronghold. It actually looks really nice! They even made a video with Vulkk himself doing an official voiceover showing off the new stronghold. This elaborate prank is worth a look-through if you love daydreaming about new\u00a0 strongholds. See the Makeb Stronghold and New Decos Announced for Update 7.9 article<\/a><\/p>\n

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“I\u2019ve included a new Carbonite Bounty (Large) so you can see how the floating hook works. Not every deco is a good fit, and that\u2019s why you have the large hook beneath it, but a bunch look pretty cool…”<\/em><\/p>\n

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2026 – 8.0 Leaked The Rise of Jadus<\/h2>\n

Of course, Today in TOR, infamous for a previous expansion ‘leak’ for April Fools, has done it again. This time though, the prank is a little more subtle – many of the details in the article are actually correct! An 8.0 update is planned for late 2026, though we don’t know the name or the exact story details yet.<\/p>\n

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“A recent post on the SWTOR website was quickly taken down after it leaked upcoming information related to the release of SWTOR 8.0! Including in-development photos of multiple planets across the game!”<\/em><\/p>\n

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Kal tied together some deep lore cuts, some of his own fun fan achievement tracking projects, and some actual lore we’ve encountered in recent updates. This prank is a really fun look through if you like imagining what might be in SWTOR – especially because Kal goes indepth in making fake Dathomirian screenshots!<\/p>\n

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“Happy April 1st SWTORnerds. Get trolled LMAO.” – Kal<\/em><\/p>\n

2026 – UwU Bot<\/h2>\n

The big SWTOR community discord also played a prank, turning on the UwU bot, which liked to randomly pick players’ discord replies and uh… transform them into something horrendous.<\/p>\n

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2026 – Spring Abundance Scavenger Hunt<\/h2>\n

While not quite a prank, the guild I am in advertised a fun social event on April 1st, including this amazingly beautiful image depicting Kai Zykken in bunny ears. I assume this screenshot was editted by player Lyon, and somehow, I think Kai Zykken would be proud.<\/p>\n

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That’s what’s new in 2026, now let’s take a stroll back in time to see some of the historic pranks over the lifetime of the game.<\/p>\n

2010 – Sarlacc Enforcer Class<\/h2>\n

The SWTOR developers released information about the next class. “No team would have the skills it needs to survive its mission without the practice and invention of a dedicated Sarlacc.”<\/p>\n

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The Sarlacc page<\/a> is a bit broken now as it is over ten years old but I’ve presererved the text for you.<\/p>\n

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\n
Patient, Calculating, & Elusive
\nThe galaxy is filled with every sort of riffraff, refuse and space trash imaginable. For thousands of years the brave souls who answer to the name Sarlacc have made sure it doesn\u2019t pile up. As deadly as they are misunderstood, these determined individuals are the ultimate authorities on final judgment in the galaxy. A new definition of pain is waiting for anyone who would dare cross one.Contrary to popular belief, a Sarlacc is much more than an extreme omnivore \u2013 a misconception the cunning Sarlacc have been exploiting for thousands of years. Frequently, a Sarlacc will act as a mercenary-for-hire, contracting their services \u2013 and their tentacles \u2013 to underground groups needing extra muscle. Occasionally, one will pose as a trophy pet of an egotistical Hutt gangster, capitalizing on the perfect disguise as they zero in on their targets.But the Sarlacc aren\u2019t just opportunistic scavengers waiting for a free lunch; they are paragons of patience and planning, always waiting for the right moment to pounce on their quarry \u2013 even if it takes one thousand years. A Sarlacc has no trouble keeping their sights on a target that has long since forgotten them. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and no one serves this dish better than a Sarlacc.Professional Courtesies
\nMost Sarlacc have learned more about the galaxy than most other professionals could hope to learn in ten human lifetimes. Not only has an average Sarlacc done everything under the double suns, many techniques that are synonymous with other professionals were innovated and perfected by a cunning, resourceful Sarlacc.Every Smuggler knows that one dropped shipment could lose him respect \u2013 and a year\u2019s worth of credits, but only the insane would search for contraband cleverly stashed in the belly of a Sarlacc. Imperial Agents breaking the will of interrogated prisoners rely heavily on techniques handed down to them by the Sarlacc \u2013 who are known to telepathically torture information out of their most reticent victims. Jedi Knights train for years to master The Way of the Sarlacc, Shii-Cho Lightsaber form as the foundation of their amazing combat prowess. Consulars of the Jedi Order spend long hours meditating on Sarlacc to develop the dissonant serenity that keeps them calm in the midst of chaos. Bounty Hunters \u2013 a Sarlacc delicacy \u2013 have perhaps benefitted most from developing contacts in the Sarlacc Underground; it is here that hunting and trapping are brought to new heights and Bounty Hunters learn to become great, or die. No team would have the skills it needs to survive its mission without the practice and invention of a dedicated Sarlacc.Field Recon
\nOutfitting
\nCombat Tactics
\nField Reconnaissance
\nTraditional wisdom dictates that to lessen the chances of a run-in with a Sarlacc you need only avoid remote sandy places with big holes in the ground (e.g. the Great Pit of Carkoon). As the Sarlacc feel the pain and pressure brought by the Great War, many of them are taking more active roles in galactic affairs. In this age a careful observer may notice a Sarlacc doing population control to help maintain the balance of a fragile Outer Rim ecosystem, arbitrating treaty disputes, and lobbying for a dock workers guild in the Galactic Senate. There has been some speculation that Sarlaccs have an innate Force sensitivity, however because of their extreme age, none have been considered trainable by either the Jedi or the Sith. Collectively, they may represent an unallied sect of Force users.Outfitting
\nThe Sarlacc is a testament to nature\u2019s ability to equip warriors with powerful gear that science strives to synthesize. A Sarlacc\u2019s tentacles are not only resistant to most attacks, they also contain a powerful neurotoxin. This venom puts most species into a type of stasis until a reaction with enzymes present in one of the Sarlacc\u2019s invulnerable stomachs awakens the target for torture. Even so, a Sarlacc \u2013 especially a young one \u2013 doesn\u2019t consider itself above the occasional upgrade. Sarlacci resourcefulness knows no bounds and several of them have learned to put collected vibroblades, ion cannons, and stealth field generators to good use.<\/p>\n

Combat Tactics
\nWhether meditating from a reinforced base in the desert of Tatooine, intimidating the pirates in the alleys of Ord Mantell, or doing some mercenary clean up on the lower levels of Coruscant, a Sarlacc has a trick up each of its countless sleeves. Taking a no-frills approach to hand to hand to hand to hand combat, the Sarlacci have a well-earned place among the galaxy\u2019s most feared warriors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I think these are the Sarlacc Enforcer abilities!<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

The creator of these videos, DJ Crabs, actually chimed in after seeing this April Fools post! “There were 3 more but all variations on those 3. Like a sarlacc just burping instead of spitting and the stealth without the guy. they weren’t released :)”<\/em><\/p>\n

2011 – Shyriiwook Localization<\/h2>\n

Wookiee translation would be added to the game. Play Esseles, romance Risha, or follow the noble path of the Jedi while speaking Wookiee. News Article Link<\/a><\/p>\n

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The videos of cutscenes in Shyriiwook are no longer available on the official site but a player has preserved them in a YouTube video!<\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

The localization in to Wookiee also came with a beautiful new User Interface covered in Wookiee fur to help you immerse yourself!<\/p>\n

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2012 – Live the Ship Droid Experience!<\/h2>\n

“You will soon be able to assume direct control over your Droid\u2019s actions with Ship Droid\u2122, a brand new mini-game coming to The Old Republic!” Article Link<\/a><\/p>\n

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“Playing as the ship Droid, you can become the main hero and your class characterwill become the companion.” The website videos are down but a player has preserved them!<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

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You could romance your ship droid as Scorpio!<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

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And you could play a “minigame” as a droid… don’t let your main character walk in though.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

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\\- Meal Preparation
\n\\- Window Cleaning
\n\\- Wall Repainting
\n\\- Seat Repadding
\n\\- Air Circulator Nectar Enhancement<\/p>\n

2013 – Dance of the Hutts<\/h2>\n

New PvP Area: Toborro\u2019s Shakedown. Join friends and queue up for dance battles in cantinas galaxy-wide. News Article<\/a><\/p>\n

From this point forward, I need to add a little more formatting, but enjoy browsing! Happy April Fools! – Swtorista<\/em><\/p>\n

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“Use the new class combat moves, the \u201cSith Mosh\u201d or the \u201cJedi Boogaloo,\u201d to make enemies cower at your feet and finish them off with the devastating \u201cWompa Stomp\u201d.”<\/p>\n

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“Master your dance moves and earn specialized Reputation points to purchase an affectionate, but reluctant new mount, the Huttese Transporter!”<\/p>\n

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2013 – Grey Loot<\/h2>\n

While not an April Fools joke, this really funny prank seems to have succeeded, where a player asked redditors to send their friend grey loot items in the mail as a prank for their birthday. Apparently 139 emails were received!<\/p>\n

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2014 – Be the Weapon! Be the Asteroid!<\/h2>\n

“Who needs blaster bolts, ion cannons, or missiles, when your ship itself can be the weapon?” News Article<\/a><\/p>\n

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“Thanks to new Czerka technology, pilots can now jump into the cockpit of The Asteroid and take out their enemies head on.”<\/p>\n

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2015 – Go Big, Go Small, Go Nowhere<\/h2>\n

Introducing all kinds of new “mounts” to the game! News Article<\/a><\/p>\n

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Go big with Mega Mounts! “*Use the Sandcrawler-100 at your own risk. Fall insurance not included.”<\/p>\n

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Go small with Micro Mounts! The type of vehicle that will make people say \u201cHow does she do it?”<\/p>\n

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Go nowhere with Stationary Mounts! And they all have one thing in common: they don\u2019t move!<\/p>\n

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The developers even had a developer’s post<\/a> answering player questions haha.<\/p>\n

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Best part is that the stationary log is now ingame in two forms. One is a joke health regeneration item that does not move (not a mount). You can get it from the GTN. Kai Zykken’s Unparalleled Log Mount.<\/p>\n

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The second is a log mount that movies incredibly slow with rockets strapped on. Was a limited-time PTS reward no longer available, meant as a joke reward for players who helped test changes.<\/p>\n

2014 – Guild Deletion<\/h2>\n

Players like to play pranks too. Rav_Griffon<\/a> shares a prank their guild played where they were ‘deleting the guild’, which was believed too well by one member!<\/p>\n

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“The best April Fool’s day jokes, in my humble opinion, are the ones that make people actually fall for it, though, and in that regard both games’ jokes were pretty safe: nobody will have missed that it wasn’t serious. The real surprise came when I checked my Imperial guild (of SWTOR) and found the following Important Notification from our guild master on their website…”<\/em><\/p>\n

2016 – Floating Eyeballs<\/h2>\n

Sadly as far as I can tell there were no ‘official’ pranks during these years by SWTOR between 2016-2020, but there was lots of funny player ones and glitches!<\/p>\n

Another funny patch but not for April Fools, there was a period of time in 2016 in the game where many, many characters were running around with no heads and only had floating eyeballs.<\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

2016 – Companion Fashion Police<\/h2>\n

While not an April Fools prank, TorFashion ran a contest called “Companion Fashion Police”. The beautiful winner was Nymana\u2019s Skadge of The Ebon Hawk by Metae who also submitted a drawing of their companion.<\/p>\n

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2017 – Malgus is Snoke<\/h2>\n

In 2017, player IntisarNOR also made another very special April Fools joke decoration for SWTOR. Their blog is great with lots of cool Aurabesh photoshops (most not pranks, but translations).<\/p>\n

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2017 – Quitting for Candy Crush<\/h2>\n

In 2017, players on Corellian Run Radio a now-retired SWTOR podcast pranked their listeners by explaining their interest in their favorite MMO was waning, and they would now be covering Candy Crush as a segment from now on. Listen to the audio<\/a><\/p>\n

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This one is making me laugh so hard… in the Candy Crush segment they talk about modding StarParse so they can track their Candy Crush damage. The idea of modding StarParse is so ridiculous the other host breaks character and starts laughing for a second. They also cover how clicking is so incredibly ineffective you need to keybind your candy crush. “It’s like 81 buttons to remember.” They also asked for multiplayer candy crush content from the devs.<\/p>\n

2017 – Santa<\/h2>\n

I accidentally pranked some of my watchers a few years ago, though not for April Fools. During a holiday video I made a fake “developer post” with what I would want on my wishlist to Santa… not everyone figured out it was a joke.<\/p>\n

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2018 –\u00a0Defiant Vented Pitchfork<\/h2>\n

While not on the official swtor.com website, this was a joke or prank that was in the actual game files, an ‘item’ called the Defiant Vented Pitchfork. This was not on April Fools, but it was clearly added as a prank towards those who like to dig into the games files.<\/p>\n

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This was posted by a player on reddit as: New item from PTS refresh 5.10 #8: mtx.weapon.dualsaber.mtx04.pitchfork \/ “Defiant Vented Pitchfork”<\/p>\n

Funny enough, there is actually a codex in-game called History of the Vibro-mop<\/a> which is also a bit of a joke.<\/p>\n

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2018 – Chiss Names<\/h2>\n

If you happened to browse the SWTOR subreddit in 2018 on desktop using the old-school theme, I made a special prank that would rename every user with their ‘chiss’ name using the chiss naming conventions while I was volunteering as a moderator. Sadly, no screenshots remain.<\/p>\n

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2018 – Rakghoul Operation<\/h2>\n

In 2018, fansite vulkk also made a great April Fools prank video about a new Rakghoul operation.<\/p>\n

“This fall we will see not one, but two Operations in SWTOR! So far we only have information about one of them with the second one hopefully coming later in April or May. I manageds to get exclusive access to some art and screenshots from the new instance. It is going to be, yes, you have guessed it, TARIS! We will battle rakghouls once again! The plague has been spreading on Taris and out of the planet slowly, but steadily. The times has come for a group of brave heroes to put an end to this. The Taris Operation will include 6 boss encounters – 5 traditional ones and a special secret boss.But, wait, the good news don’t end here! There’s more! For players, who defeat the secret 6th boss, a brand new class will be unlocked. It’s a lvl 65 special herotype class with its unique story and abilities.”<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

2018 – Playable droids<\/h2>\n

Using an ingame quest from the Agent storyline, player sechari “shows off” a bit of gameplay from playable droids!<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

“As a SWTOR influencer, BioWare allowed me a few minutes of sneak peak play with the new droid playable race coming in patch 5.10!”<\/em><\/p>\n

2020 – Force-sensitive Uxibeasts<\/h2>\n

Playing off a common visual bug seen ingame, @IllevaGaming<\/a> shows a first look at Force-sensitive Uxibeasts!<\/p>\n

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2020 – Baby Yoda Decoration<\/h2>\n

IntisarNOR released a new decoration design that should be waddling its way in to the game soon.<\/p>\n

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2021 – Crazy Photoshops<\/h2>\n

While there weren’t any officials pranks, a little before April Fools player Shoroghyt mad a post titled Give me your craziest\/funniest SWTOR idea and I will photoshop it for you (I am bored)<\/a>… and actually followed through, creating 28 silly photoshops!\u00a0 If you like wierd memes… there’s a whole swtor memes subreddit.<\/a><\/p>\n

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2021 – Indigo Vulptilla<\/h2>\n

Player Aviriia made a silly prank<\/a> where she photoshopped the existing Vulptilla mount purple, and said it was a ‘new item’ with an exclusive preview.<\/p>\n

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What’s fun is a few days later… the normal Vulptilla went on sale!<\/p>\n

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Even funnier, there is now officially a purple vulptilla, though it is a different shade and is called the Amethyst Vulptilla!<\/p>\n

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2023 – Expansion Leaked: The Ring Forge of Morrod<\/h2>\n

The start of Kal from Today in ToOR’s “leaked expansion” pranks, Kal showed off a new class in the expansion called ‘The Ring Forge of Morrod’. Read the article<\/a><\/p>\n

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Clever players might have noticed that “Morrod” sounds suspiciously like Morder…<\/p>\n

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Since this was Kal’s first time trolling, he got all kinds of nice comments including messages such as…<\/p>\n

“YOU ******ing ******* I WAS SERIOUSLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT STORYLINE WHEN I SAW THAT”.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today in TOR also paired up with Remus and they made a video about the ‘expansion’! Remus later re-titled the video “I regret making this video about SWTOR Expansion 8.0 2025”.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n

2023 – Skadge Romance<\/h2>\n

Illeva posted a teaser of some new romantic content coming to the game…<\/p>\n

“Rumour is NEW ROMANCES are coming to #SWTOR! Those who knows me well, knows that I’m looking forward to Skadge!”<\/em><\/p>\n

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2024 – Expansion Leaked: The Rise of Malgus<\/h2>\n

Kal from Today in Tor kept up his terrible-tradition\u00a0 of releasing “leaked” expansion details, calling this round The Rise of Malgus. Read the article<\/a><\/p>\n

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“SWTOR dataminers have leaked a Major update to Star Wars the Old Republic: 7.6 The Rise of Malgus!”<\/em><\/p>\n

What gets funny, is his version in 2026 has all kinds of real details as we actually know somethings about 8.0 and the next expansion!<\/p>\n

2025 – An Actual Downtime<\/h2>\n

Pretty funny, there was no April Fools in 2025, but there was…<\/p>\n

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I also apparently tried playing a prank but it didn’t go so hot lol.<\/p>\n

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What pranks will be played in the future? No idea, but I love seeing them!<\/p>\n