Thoughts on 6.3: The Dark Descent

The latest update to SWTOR, 6.3: The Dark Descent, saw us attempting to pick Darth Malgus’s trail back up after his disappearance in January of 2020 (has it really been that long? Gosh!) and discover what it is he has been up to. This update also saw the introduction of the newest game-system, Galactic Seasons, which is essentially an extension of the daily login rewards.

How do all these fit together? Let’s find out!

Decoration Documentation: Alderaan Noble Estate

Oh, joyous occasions!

Ever since Strongholds have been a thing I've been voicing a wish to get an Alderaan Stronghold at any given opportunity. Alderaan is still my favourite planet in-game all these years later because I find it to be absolutely gorgeous, so I was keen to have any excuse to park at least one of my characters there on a nigh-permanent basis.

So when BioWare placed a teaser for the newest Stronghold on Fleet in 6.0.2 I was absolutely thrilled to discover that it was to be an Alderaanian one. I loaded up the PTS as soon as it became available to check it out and I loved what I was seeing.

Since it was announced, I planned to 'give' it to my Sage, Vihala. My Gunslinger has Rishi, my Guardian has Manaan, my Imperials have a half-finished Dromund Kaas, and my Trooper (and until now, Vihala) just has Tatooine by default.

Funny to think that the Stronghold I had put the most effort into first is now something of an afterthought...

As a result, this estate has been turned into a Jedi Academy of sorts, so expect to see more than a few Jedi themed decorations, including the occasional Jedi NPC, in the following images.

Tasks and Signals

I haven't forgotten about my Thoughts on 6.0 series. I wasn't very happy with the post I had drafted up for the Onderon story so I kept it back for a bit until I could improve it to match my expectations. However, I haven't had a lot of time to go back to it with college work and such, so it's still in limbo.

Until then, I'm going to use recent goings-on in SWtOR to re-jigger my blogging capabilities and hope that that finally gets the Thoughts post up to standard.

6.1 brought with it three things which I intend to touch on in posts at some point. The first, something which I had been hoping for ever since Strongholds were introduced, is the Alderaan Noble Estate. The second, the subject of today's post because it's the easiest to write about at short notice, is a small story update, The Task at Hand, which focuses on either Task Force Nova or the Empire's Hand before setting up the 6.2 story in Signal From Noise. The third and final notable change, from my perspective, is the removal of Veteran's Edge in Master Mode Operations.

For now, though, it's time to analyse the little story update and see what happened!

Thoughts on 6.0 #6: The Characters, part 2 (Republic)

This is the sixth post in my "Thoughts on 6.0" series. You can read the previous entries here:

1. Gear
2. Crafting Changes
3. Group Content
4. The Locations
5. The Characters, part 1 (Empire)

The Republic forces are essentially the defenders of the expansion, trying to stop the aggressive Empire from crippling its war effort and any necessary reinforcements. There are quite a few returning characters as well as some quite interesting new characters.

Characters I’d Like to See Introduced or Brought Back in Onslaught

Hello again!

The SWtOR community has been buzzing recently about the new details regarding the “play what you want, how you want” gearing system that is Spoils of War. While I, too, have been caught up in the whirlpool of hype (and confusion), I am choosing to wait until we actually get to see this new stuff in-action on the PTS before I offer my thoughts on it here.

Instead today I’m turning my attention to something I care about far more than gear, and that’s the in-game story characters. I’ve been thinking a great deal about who I’d like to see, either brought back or introduced for the first time, on Onderon and Mek-Sha and I just thought “hey, why not make a post about it?”

Obviously, some characters are a given. Darths Krovos and Malgus, Empress Acina, General Daeruun, Jonas Balkar, Major Anri, Moff Pyron, NR-O2, Tau Idair, and Vowrawn are all definitely going to be back in some way or another, either because of their prominence or their popularity. I’m also considering Alec Ranin and Lord Izar from the Hearts and Minds mission to be certainties since the two outreach programs would be well-used at various points in the new story.

I am also not thinking of the remaining missing Companions because 5.0's cycle is still not over and I don't want to include them here just in case BioWare surprise us and they all turn up in 5.10.4.

I doubt it, but I'm sticking to that rule anyway!

Beyond this lot, there are quite a few names (and one concept) I’ve come up with. I don't hope to see all of these characters with the initial launch, but I would certainly like to see them at some point in 6.0's story cycle.

Thoughts on 5.10: The Good, the Bad, and the Eeehhhhhs [Full Spoilers]

Fun fact: since Manaan was used to represent Copero, Ossus is the first actual new planet seen from space since Umbara.

Happy new year!

Now that that's out of the way, it's finally time for me to turn my attention to going over as much of what came with 5.10 as possible. Since this was a fairly major story patch, the most significant we've had since 5.0's nine Eternal Throne chapters, I decided to enact my "one-month spoiler-free" safety window, hence why it's taken me so long to get around to posting this.

Of course, as is the way of things, this 'safety protocol' was rendered somewhat nullified as BioWare promptly began churning out full spoilers for the appearance of a certain character on their website and social media channels. I can't say I blame them, as this move will undoubtedly attract several long-gone veterans just for this update alone.

Anyway, on with the stuff.