Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is diving into character and environment modernization, and it’s bringing a mix of excitement and some head-scratching moments for players. With updates currently in testing on the PTS (Public Test Server), let’s unpack what’s happening, what’s planned, and what these changes mean for your beloved characters. What’s the Buzz About Character Modernization? Modernization isn’t just about making things look prettier—it’s about enhancing textures, lighting, and details to align with modern gaming expectations while keeping the soul of your characters intact. Think of it as upgrading your lightsaber from basic kyber crystal to something worthy of a Jedi Master. On the PTS, SWTOR players recently got a taste of these updates, though not without hiccups, including a shader bug that caused some unintended texture issues. Rest assured, fixes are in the pipeline for the next PTS build, and feedback from players is being actively reviewed….
Eric Musco
Sneak Peek: SWTOR 7.6 Update – What’s Coming Next?
Fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) are buzzing after a surprise teaser revealed some exciting features coming in the 7.6 update. While many were waiting for the usual livestream announcements, BioWare switched things up with a four-minute teaser video. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect from the new patch, including dynamic encounters, a fresh lair boss, and details about the Public Test Server (PTS). A New Gameplay Mode: Dynamic Encounters One of the standout features of the 7.6 update is the introduction of dynamic encounters. Think of these as spontaneous world quests that pop up as you’re exploring familiar planets. Unlike traditional quests that you pick up in towns or hubs, these dynamic encounters will appear on your map as you travel through the galaxy. It’s a clever way for the developers to inject new life into older planets without requiring new voice acting or elaborate…
SWTOR: Eric will be absent from the office to train his new apprentice for a while
In other news, Community Manager for Star Wars: The old Republic, Erci Musco will be AFK for a while do to parental leave. Danie lsteed will fill his shoes while he is gone. Here is the news: Hey everyone, A couple of years ago I made a post just like this one where I let you know I was getting married and would be out of office for a few weeks. (Round 1, if you missed it). Well, I am back for round 2… In a few short weeks, my wife and I are expecting our first child! Between paternity leave and some paid time off that’s burning a hole in my pocket, I am going to be in and out of the office quite a bit over the next few months. To keep things consistent, even during the time I am in office, I will be focusing most of…
SWTOR: PvP Season and Reward Changes
Eric Musco just informed us, that the SWTOR devs are making some changes to Ranked PvP. The main goal is to make the seasons shorter. Check it out: Hey folks, Starting with Season 10 we are considering some changes to the frequency of Ranked PvP Seasons and how we structure rewards. Let’s talk about what our goals are for these changes and what we intend to change. Goals We have a few specific things we want to address: Seasons are going longer than we would like. Although this gives us a lot of time to put together awesome rewards, it does mean you have to go many months within one season. Having a new Currency to collect every Season can be clunky and adds extra complexity to earning and spending currency. We have heard a continual desire to bring back prior Season rewards in a fair but accessible way. The…
SWTOR Game Update 5.5 planned for October 10
Eric Musco just informed the official Star Wars: The old Republic Community that SWTOR Game Update 5.5 will go live on October 10 with some content shuffled into Game Update 5.6. Any update in the Roadmap? What about 5.5? | 09.13.2017, 05:07 PM Provide you with updates, I can! The roadmap is still in progress. We have been shuffling some things around with respect to 5.5 and 5.6 and we need that to settle before we can let you know exactly what is coming and when. It was our plan to put out Game Update 5.5 in late September but we have made the decision to move it into early October (currently 10/10). We did this to allow us more time to focus in on quality for our Game Updates to avoid some of the issues we had with 5.4. Class balance is still planned for 5.5. I expect I will start putting…
Class Change Feedback in 5.3 and 5.4
Eric Musco of Bioware posted a list of the player feedback, that the game developers have received for the upcoming class changes in game update 5.3. Class Change Feedback in 5.3 and 5.4 | 07.07.2017, 09:18 PM Hey folks, One of the topics we have seen come up a bit in the past couple of weeks is all of your feedback regarding Class changes and what is happening with it. We understand we have not kept you updated on the threads where we posted the Class changes so we want to talk through what happens next and how we will use your feedback. For a multitude of reasons, Class balance is one of the most challenging communication topics. We dislike having to nerf a Class as much as you do, but sometimes we have to do it for the overall health of our game (as we talked about in our “How Class…
SWTOR: How Class Balance Happens
Eric Musco posted a pretty lengthy blog post on exactly how the developers try to reach optimal class balance in Star Wars: The old Republic. Quite an interesting read if you are into PVP: How Class Balance Happens | 06.15.2017, 02:33 PM Hey folks, Over the next few weeks, as you know, it is our plan to give you specifics on upcoming Class/Discipline changes. One things that we have never done before is really get down in the trenches and explain how we balance Classes. With our continued move towards more transparency, we really wanted to lift the hood and provide as much context as possible for those changes. Below you will find an elaborate breakdown from our combat team on not only how they balance Classes, but why. I highly recommend you read the entire post (I know it’s long!). For the non-reader among you… TLDR – We do not…
SWTOR Discussion Topic: Class Changes This Summer
Eric Musco took on the official forums, and posted a list of specs and classes that are up for some balances in patch 5.3 coming this summer. Check it out: Discussion Topic: Class Changes This Summer | 06.07.2017, 10:06 PM Hey folks, As Keith mentioned in the roadmap, we want to start the process of having weekly discussion threads here on the forums. Let’s get this started with our first topic, Class changes starting with Game Update 5.3. Let us know what you think of the list! Are these the Disciplines you expected to see? Are any missing and if so which ones and why? The following is each Class/Discipline we are currently looking into changing. By Friday, we will begin posting in-depth threads on exactly what is happening to each Discipline. This will include whether they are being buffed or nerfed and why, along with the specific planned changes. These threads…
SWTOR Choosing a Faction on Iokath
Eric Musco posted some new information regarding Iokath. This time it’s a post on choosing your faction on Iokath with patch 5.2. Hey folks, As we mentioned in our PvP post last week, and on our original 5.2 livestream, when you arrive on Iokath you will be able to choose which Faction you want to side with in the War for Iokath. We know that there will be many questions coming off of this around what this actually impacts so we want to clear up exactly how this works, and exactly what it affects. First, to avoid any confusion: The faction you choose has no effect at all outside of Iokath. It only impacts story choices in the Iokath storyline (and future stories) and some gameplay impacts on Iokath. Let’s start by talking about how the Faction choice works mechanically. You will be able to choose which Faction you want…
SWTOR Season 7 Update
Eric Musco too on the official forums to explain why it took the SWTOR Developers so damn long to release the Top 96 pvp titles for Season 7. Season 7 Update | 01.13.2017, 02:46 PM Hey folks, Let’s talk about Season 7. We have just finished our full investigation of Season 7 and a few things have happened. All users who were found to be win-trading, hacking, botting, etc. have had their Season 7 ratings wiped out on all of their characters, they have been removed from the leaderboards, and appropriate ToS action has been levied against their account. With those actions being taken, we have gone ahead and sent the top 96 titles to the top performers of Season 7, so be sure to check your mailbox. We wanted to explain a little bit about why this process delayed the Season 7 rewards. In past seasons we started to…
Gearing Changes in Knights of the Eternal Throne
BioWare is making some some big gear changes to Star Wars: The old Republic with the launch of the next expansion: Gearing Changes in Eternal Throne | 10.17.2016, 03:44 PM Hey folks, One of the things we talked a bit about on the stream is that there are gearing changes happening with Knights of the Eternal Throne. This thread is meant to give you a few more details on some of the things that will be happening in KOTET, along with being a place that I can address questions or concerns you have with these changes. First, here are the details on how gearing will work at level 70: Once you hit level 70, the source of end-game gear will be Command Crates from Galactic Command. Most activities in the game will earn Command Experience Points (CXP), which will earn you Command Ranks. Each time your Command Rank increases, you…
Musco Responds to the SWTOR NYCC Cantina Chatter
Eric Musco took on the forums and posted a response to clarify some of the things that was talked about during the SWTOR community cantina at this years New York Comic Con last Friday. NYC Cantina Discussion – Official Response? | 10.11.2016, 03:34 PM Quote: Originally Posted by Jamtas So I appreciate that Cristina Petrarca did some live tweeting during the Cantina of the information spoken of to go along with the site updates from Friday. (and thanks to Dulfy for linking them all as well) However, I just wanted to see if Eric, Ben or Charles was going to make a post summing everything up that was discussed as well so we can get some clear idea of everything? Are chapters being released all at once for the “binging”, in batches? Mention of a livestream in January regarding operations. Is that true, or is it not operations but Group content…
SWTOR: Is this lack of communication normal?
Eric Musco took on the forums earlier today to address the lack of communication from the SWTOR Developers. Hey folks, I thought this thread was a good opportunity to talk about the communication as of late. Although I may not post every day, I am definitely here, reading the forums. I know that there is frustration right now because you are all eager to learn more about what is coming in Knights of the Eternal Throne. We just aren’t ready to talk about Eternal Throne yet, and so I can’t answer your questions at this time. But, I do want to make sure you know when we will begin really talking about Eternal Throne. That date is October 7th. The day/night of our New York Comic-con Cantina is when you can expect details about Eternal Throne. Once we have crossed the 7th (and through launch), I will be able to…
SWTOR Cartel Pack Changes with the new GEMINI Pack
Eric Musco just posted some clarification regarding the cartel pack changes with the newest GEMINI pack: Cartel Pack Changes with the GEMINI Pack | 06.29.2016, 01:47 PM Hey folks, Yesterday, we made a few changes to how Cartel Packs work with the release of the GEMINI pack. I want to share the changes that were made to the pack. Grand Chance Cubes/Bronze Items The primary feedback we have heard from players over the past few months is that you would prefer to receive Bronze items rather than Chance Cubes. For that reason, one of the first things you will notice is that we have re-introduced Bronze items back into the Cartel Pack. Although you can get amazing items out of the cubes, we took your feedback and made the following changes: We have introduced multiple Bronze items into the GEMINI Pack. To allow for the addition above, the drop rate of…
SWTOR: Light side / Dark Side event info comming Thursday
The official SWTOR forums have been going nuts over the upcoming LS/DS event, so Community Manager Musco had to take on the forums today to clarify some of the details for this event event. Check it out below: LS/DS Event info? | 06.21.2016, 12:44 PM Originally Posted by Toraak It’s a week away when the LS/DS event starts, are we going to get any detailed information about it before the 28th? Hey there! Yup, there are details coming before the event starts. The current plan is to announce the detailed breakdown of the event at the end of the week, most likely Thursday. -eric Possible Tease of New Companion? – Light and Dark Side Event | 06.21.2016, 12:48 PM I am torn on whether I should answer the question, or let the speculation continue . New is the key word. We will not be bring back an existing character such…
SWTOR: PvP Interview with Eric Musco [video]
If you’re looking to catch up on the state of PvP in SWTOR, then you will want to check out this interview with Eric Musco. Snave and Musco get together and talk PvP and while it’s a long watch (or listen), it’s worth it to see Snave pick Musco’s brain for a bit. As always, PvP is a hot topic in SWTOR (isn’t it in any MMORPG?) so there are going to be a lot of varying opinions on this. Does Musco really give any new info or is it doing the typical dance of answering-without-really-answering? I’d say he’s probably paid for the latter but there are still some tidbits you can pick up from it and some people like to read between the lines and speculate on this or that. As usual, we want to know what you think. Here you can see it for yourself: “My second interview with SWTOR…
SWTOR Addressing Weapon Tuning issues
BioWares Eric Musco took on the forums to address the weapon tuning issues the swtor community have been talking about. Check it out: Hey folks, I wanted to stop in to this thread and address some of the questions/concerns that have arisen since we introduced Weapon Tunings yesterday. First off, please keep the feedback coming. We have seen a lot of feedback relating to things like drop rates, adding the tuning to Collections, etc. The team is actively looking at all of your feedback and considering what future changes, if any, need to occur. Here are a few of the common questions we have seen: Is the Weapon Tuning more rare than other rare items? The Weapon Tuning’s drop rate is on par with most other rare items found in a pack. At times there are rare items which are exceedingly rare, such as the Unstable Lightsaber, but the Weapon Tuning…
SWTOR: Actions Taken Against Patch 4.3 Exploiters
As we mentioned yesterday, there is a major exploit going on in SWTOR right now. Eric Musco took on the forums and informed players on the patch 4.3 exploit that was going around and has since then being fixed. Hey folks, As many of you may have heard rumor of, there was an exploit which was introduced in Game Update 4.3. We have since addressed the issue and the exploit is no longer possible. However I wanted to share some details on what happened and what action we are taking. Without going into too much detail, there was an issue tied to certain players accounts which allowed them to very easily create large quantities of credits through use of in-game mail and trading. We got reports over the past few days that players randomly received very large sums of credits and this was instrumental in helping us find isolate who had…
Bioware on Missing Monthly Cartel Coins in SWTOR
Eric Musco address an issue regarding missing monthly cartel coins for some players. Subscribers check your cartel coin ledgers, BioWare may be ripping you off. | 03.28.2016, 04:44 PM Hey folks, I wanted to pop in this thread and address your concerns with the 3 day delay on Cartel Coin grants. Since August of last year an issue creeped into our granting system which caused Cartel Coins to be granted every 33 days, instead of every 30 days as intended. As you pointed out, if this issue went on for a long period of time, your monthly grant could be affected and so we definitely did not want that to happen. As of right now the only effect is that your grant may be delayed. With that in mind, we have a fix for this issue planned with next week’s maintenance. After next week your grants should continue forward, 30…
Lost legendary player status in SWTOR
Eric Musco have posted some clarification on official forums regarding the lost legendary player status, that apparently have a bug. Lost legendary player status | 03.11.2016, 03:25 PM Hey folks, We have seen quite a few reports of players who have lost their Legendary Status following Game Update 4.2 on Tuesday. First, a reminder of what Legendary Status is. This system was put in with Knights of the Fallen Empire as a reward for players who had completed all 8 Class Stories all the way through Act 3. We wanted to make sure that their efforts were rewarded, beyond just Achievements alone. Along with the KotFE launch, we also introduced Start at 60 tokens. Unfortunately, there was a bug where sometimes a character made from a token would grant a completion for Legendary Status. This was not intended as that character never played through and completed Act 3. With Game Update…
SWTOR March Producer’s Livestream Coverage
Here is the SWTOR March Producer’s Livestream notes and coverage for Star Wars: The old Republik Where: https://www.twitch.tv/swtor When: 2 PM PST (about 1 hr from this post) What: March Producer’s Livestream Notes Agenda State of the Galaxy Chapter 11 Odessen Proving Grounds & Rishi Arena Quality of Life Improvements Eternal Championship Chapter 12 story time State of the Galaxy Eternal Championship delayed due to quality issues. It wasn’t fun to play. We know there are a couple issues with Chapter 11 launch. Patch tomorrow morning to fix. Couple more fixes by early next week (hopefully Tuesday). They like to thank the youtubers/podcast for sharing info. /u/swtorista was mentioned. Chapter 11 Join forces with Major Jorgan and Havoc Squad. Venture deep into enemy territory and change the course of war. New Disavowed Cartel Market Pack is live. Standing mount and Havoc armor most popular Odessen Warzone/Rishi Arena Coming with Chapter…
Clarification on Megaservers in SWTOR
There have been talk about new mega servers in SWTOR for a while, and with 4.3 PTS Patch Notes, the forum went wild. Eric Musco was quick to dispel the megaservers rumors though: Check it out: Megaservers | 02.25.2016, 09:56 PM Quote: Originally Posted by Joesixxpack They’re coming. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=873570 Hey folks, By the term “Megaservers” I presume you think we are collapsing multiple servers together into “megaservers.” Especially with many of the quality of life features you highlighted. These changes were only designed to allow friends to play together, regardless of their personal playstyle. Now someone who wants to play on a PvP server can play on the same server as their friends who don’t want to. Hope that clears up any confusion. -eric
SWTOR Livestream Updates
SWTOR Community Manager Eric Musco, just made an update about changes coming to BioWares Livestreams. Apparently the users over at the official Star Wars: The old Republic Forums, don’t like the story Livestream hosted by Charles Boyd. There for team is shutting it down and will try to do a vblog that will be hosted on youtube instead. Check out the full story below: Livestream Updates | 02.24.2016, 01:16 PM Hey folks, Thanks to all of you who have posted feedback on our Livestreams. Based on your feedback we have some changes planned. The monthly Producer Livestreams, scheduled the second Thursday of each month have been well received as we are able to address community concerns and offer information into what is coming – so that is going to continue in its current form. The Story Livestream hosted by Charles Boyd, offers insight into the upcoming story chapters. Unfortunately, this…
SWTOR: Nightmare 224 Loot Drop Changes Patch 4.1
Eric Musco informed the SWTOR community that starting with patch 4.1, the final boss of each nightmare operation will drop a nightmare token loot. January Producer Live Stream Wrap-up | 01.15.2016, 03:37 PM Hey folks, One of the questions that came up on the stream was around Loot in Nightmare Operations. I said I would post the answer on the forums after the stream, so here is the update that I have. Starting in Game Update 4.1 (with Chapter X) the final boss in a Nightmare Operation will now have a 100% chance to drop a 224 item. All other bosses in the Op will still have a chance to drop 224, but it is not guaranteed. -eric