The developers of Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (SWGOH) have released a new Design Fireside Chat Edition, and it’s packed with insight into one of the most significant changes to progression the game has seen in years: Relic Delta.
This is not just a patch note—it’s a look behind the curtain at the philosophy guiding SWGOH’s design team as they balance scalability, progression, and player investment in a live-service game that’s now a decade old.
TL;DR highlights
- Relic Delta: a scalable, matchup-based damage modifier that rewards higher relic investment without blowing up the meta.
- Onboarding changes: you’ll progress through gear tiers and lower relics on new characters without spending gear or relic materials, freeing those resources for your older squads.
- New materials access: Droid Brains and higher-tier Signal Data get added to the Scavenger as alternate acquisition paths.
- Playtest still running: testers can’t stream placeholders, but they can talk openly about what they’re seeing and the feedback they’re giving.
- R10 is coming: with a new Signal Data not farmed via energy; available through the Scavenger and other modes.
- New content pipeline: a new game mode, new events, and Era-related Journey Guide updates are on the way so everyone can use new characters quickly for real rewards.
Why Relic Delta?
For years, relics have been the backbone of vertical progression in Galaxy of Heroes. Introduced six years ago as a replacement for the gear grind, relics simplified character progression and provided clear, scalable upgrades. But here’s the issue:
- Relics haven’t advanced since Relic 9, released four years ago.
- High relic levels (like R9) don’t feel worth it outside of requirements for Galactic Legends or niche uses.
- Players hit a wall where additional progression doesn’t translate into noticeable power or faster clears in PvE or PvP.
This is a scalability problem. If vertical progression stalls in a vertical game, the core loop of Play > Get Rewards > Invest > Get Stronger > Play breaks down. Without meaningful progression, rewards lose value—and players disengage.
Relic Delta is designed to fix this.
The Basics: Vertical Progression vs Horizontal Progression
The devs framed the conversation with a classic design split:
- Horizontal progression: More tools, not more raw power. Example: adding new characters or abilities that expand options but don’t drastically raise overall stats.
- Vertical progression: More power with each step forward. SWGOH has always leaned vertical, with stronger characters, higher gear tiers, and relic levels.
Relic Delta ensures vertical progression remains meaningful, without invalidating older investments or leaving new players hopelessly behind.
Why Not Just Buff R9 or Add R10?
Several community suggestions were addressed directly in the Fireside Chat:
- Do nothing: Eventually, everyone reaches R9, and there’s nowhere left to go. The core gameplay loop dies.
- Buff R9 stats: Risks creating “winners and losers” among characters, with uneven impact across kits. Doesn’t solve scalability.
- Add R10 alone: Without content to absorb the new tier, R10 becomes another wasted progression step.
- Add flat damage multipliers: Creates walls in progression and punishes lower-level players, making content feel worse instead of better.
Each of these options fixes part of the problem but fails to provide long-term scalability.
The Chosen Path: Relic Delta
Relic Delta borrows from a system that’s been in SWGOH since launch: level deltas. In that system, higher-level characters have modified crit chance, accuracy, and damage against lower-level opponents.
Relic Delta applies a similar logic to relic progression:
- Higher relic characters deal more damage to lower relic ones.
- Lower relic characters deal reduced damage against higher relics.
- This creates a scalable curve that keeps progression meaningful at every tier.
Why this works:
- It speeds up old content without breaking it.
- It protects investment in new relic levels.
- It preserves strategic choices in PvP and PvE.
- It scales automatically with future relic levels.
Importantly, the devs emphasized that this only applies to damage, not all stats—so relic levels still matter individually and the meta can adjust over time.
Addressing Community Concerns
Players worried that Relic Delta would “kill strategy” by flattening out theorycrafting and counterplay. The dev team disagrees, pointing out that:
- Strategy still matters—mods, team comp, and counters aren’t disappearing.
- Relic Delta closes the gap where under-invested characters could punch above their weight unrealistically (e.g., G12 Malicos beating R8 Rey).
- Investment decisions become part of the strategy—choosing which characters to push higher becomes as important as team synergy.
Alternative Versions Considered
The devs considered variations like only applying Relic Delta at high levels (R7+), only boosting damage without damage reduction, or using team-average relics. Each was rejected for good reason:
- Threshold systems create confusion and inconsistency.
- Pure damage buffs leave glass cannons exposed.
- Team averages punish squad-building and invite exploits.
Relic Delta as implemented is cleaner, scalable, and fairer across the board.
What About Resources?
Progression costs have always been a pain point, and the Fireside Chat addressed that too:
- New character progression will require fewer gear and relic materials, freeing up those resources for older characters.
- Droid Brains and high-level Signal Data will now drop from the Scavenger, giving players alternative paths to farm rare materials.
- Relic 10 will launch with a new Signal Data type, not farmed with energy (to avoid bottlenecking existing farming).
This means new players won’t be choked by the relic grind, and veterans can finally redirect resources to under-invested squads.
The Future of SWGOH Progression
Alongside Relic Delta, the Fireside Chat hinted at:
- A new game mode coming soon.
- New events tied to relic progression and upcoming content.
- An update to Era-based Journey Guide events, ensuring players can use fresh characters immediately for meaningful rewards.
The message is clear: SWGOH’s design team wants progression to feel rewarding again—and to ensure every relic tier matters without burning out the community.
Final Thoughts
The Design Fireside Chat Edition shows a team deeply aware of the challenges of live-service game design. Relic Delta isn’t just about damage modifiers—it’s about keeping SWGOH alive as a progression-based game.
By making progression scalable, resource acquisition smoother, and relic investments worthwhile, EA and CG are ensuring that Galaxy of Heroes remains engaging for both longtime veterans and new recruits.
This is one of the most ambitious systemic overhauls in years, and its success will depend heavily on community feedback during the ongoing playtest. But one thing’s for sure: the era of stagnant relics is over.
Stay connected with the galaxy’s latest updates!
Follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest for exclusive content, mod guides, Star Wars gaming news, and more. Your support helps keep the Holonet alive—one click at a time
