A few weeks ago, a video appeared online with the promising message “Welcome Home” revealing that there will soon be housing in SWTOR – it has now been officially announced along with some facts!
As part of a new digital expansion called “Galactic Strongholds”, players will soon be able to access their own residences in Star Wars: The Old Republic: Currently confirmed are apartments on the planets Coruscant (Republic), Dromund Kaas (Empire), and Nar Shaddaa (Neutral).
As with the last expansion, access to the new content will be staggered, so subscribers can enjoy early access starting June 24, preferred players will join on July 29, and Free-To-Play players will be included with the official launch on an undisclosed date in August.
But what exactly can we expect? Because technically, all players already have a small “home” through their spaceship, which is, however, hardly customizable and does not feel very homely, so let’s take a quick look at the core features:
A personal apartment – More than just bragging rights?
Once an apartment is chosen, players can furnish it and, for example, display their trophies from won battles, but there’s also talk of “crafting modern furniture”.
It has not yet been revealed whether this will be implemented through quests, a separate interface, or even a completely new profession, but the expansion is set to launch with “hundreds of unique decoration options,” many of which will be available through achievements, PvP, and faction reputation, and some can even be purchased from vendors for credits.
For each object added to the dwelling, players will earn a certain amount of prestige, which can be compared with other players, and a listing of the most prestigious players will be publicly accessible – whether this is merely a matter of prestige or brings additional benefits remains a mystery for now.
Better late than never: Guild ships and legacy storage
For months, players have been wishing for their own guild ships to create a sense of unity that can actually make a difference within the Star Wars universe. Role-players have long awaited this as well, since only a handful of players can enter their own ship at the same time – the big “us” feeling is lost in the process.
With the launch of the expansion in August, guilds can finally secure their own flagship; what gameplay benefits this will entail is still up in the air. Update: You can now read more information about the flagships and even a new mode here.
At the same time, players will receive a legacy storage, essentially a bank that all characters of the same account can access, which means the tedious back-and-forth of sending messages to bank characters will finally be a thing of the past! The size, scope, and especially the unlock fees are still under wraps.
Subscriber bonus
For subscribers, BioWare has of course prepared some special perks to bridge the waiting period: All players with an active subscription on April 3 will receive 500 Cartel Coins for free, and the same goes for May 5, where there will be a whopping 1000 coins for free.
Last but not least, all players who are still subscribers on May 11 will receive early access to the “Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace Fortress”, a particularly luxurious dwelling with three additional rooms that would otherwise need to be purchased for 1,500,000 credits.
First impressions
This whole situation leaves me with a bittersweet taste. Of course, I’m happy that my Twi’lek Cortyn will finally get a home of her own and can appropriately represent her role-playing wealth. Unfortunately, it seems to be the current trend in MMOs to focus on housing. After WildStar announced WoW Garrisons and now SWTOR is following suit with apartments and guild ships – how long this has been in the works can only be speculated.
However, what bothers me a lot is the announcement that some furniture will only be available through the Cartel Market – and those will typically be the most useful and beautiful items, so the “free” Cartel Coins are actually not an added bonus but will only be enough to buy a few of the better pieces of furniture.
But I don’t want to condemn this before it even goes live: The ideas and approaches are nice; let’s hope that they are well implemented and can stand up to comparable games – because the timing of such an announcement speaks volumes.
– Your Cortyn
Meanwhile, new posts about the “Galactic Strongholds” expansion have emerged:
