095*NOR/news The Old Republic

Hail*NOR/

“Insolence? We are pirates. We don’t even know what that means.” This month finds me catching up on something long over due. In July the amazing Duke Intisar was awarded the Venerable Order of Yserbius. Intisar has led our ragtag group of hooligans in repeated efforts at mischief and herded cats like an Olympic cat wrangler. He truly deserved this award and has earned all of our respect. Congratulations!!

Yesterday the SWTOR team rolled out update 7.4 – “Chains in the Dark” via live stream. It is obvious this team is hitting the ground running now that they are with Broadsword. With this update there will be another new daily area, a new world boss (FR3-DOM), a continuation of the Mandalorian story, GTN improvements, lighting improvement, gearing changes, Life Day, new and exciting cartel market items, and a review of the “Best View in SWTOR” contest finalists. Ord Mantell will be the host planet for a new landing zone with daily areas. I know what you are gonna say, this is the republic smuggler starting world. How can the Imperials get here? Well, there happens to be a suspicious group of locals on the planet allowing access to the planet. Anyone familiar with Star Wars lore will remember that Ord Mantell would later house a base for the Black Sun Crime Syndicate.

The development team has been working on lighting upgrades in many areas but are now actually letting everyone know they were not losing their minds. The cut scenes have actually been changed to allow for dynamic environmental lighting to replace the previous bluelight spot light effect. This allows more realistic shading in game and is a welcome improvement for story components. The GTN (Galactic Trade Network/auction-house) has been revamped and will be including a radical new improved system with more enhancements than can be explained in this article. The bulk of which are to allow for more ease of use and for the computer to calculate what is needed. The gearing grind will be happening again. Gearing is getting upgraded from 336 to 340 (or 344 for veteran players.) This will mean a whole new batch of grind and number crunching from our resident math experts. There will be many new cartel market items that include weapons, armor and mounts. There will also be the addition of matte, metallic and pearlescent dyes. So anyone who has wanted a nice shiny Mando or Trooper can now have that shiny look. Life Day is coming and there will be a new Life Day officer uniform coming along with it. The next installment of PVP seasons will be coming shortly after the release. Halloween will be a pirate celebration this year. Everyone is welcome!! Anyone who has a character that has their personal space ship unlocked can participate.

Baron Gonzowill
*NOR/BA-swToR