Star Wars: The Old Republicis gearing up for its next expansion,Legacy of the Sith, sometime in December, right around its 10 year anniversary. In a recent post from the development team,Star Wars: The Old Republicdetailed an overhaul of the system of gearing characters at max level that no longer relies on random chance.
Star Wars: The Old Republicis adopting a new philosophy towards gear progression in theupcomingLegacy of the Sithexpansion. It wants to let players get the gear they need to do the content they want and to allow gear to grow in strength as players do. WithLegacy of the Sith, RNG will be completely eliminated from the equation: bosses will all now drop either currency used to buy gear upgrades or an item that gives a character’s weakest piece of equipment a power boost.
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With this new system, each type of content will have a certain “gearing ceiling”–a maximum power level each type of content can reach–with some higher than others. For example, Master Flashpoints and challenging solo Conquests will provide access to stronger gear than Veteran level ones, and raid-like Operations will provide access to the best gear available, the absolute best being available in the new raid, the R-4 Anomaly. As the game releases additional patches, the gear ceiling will rise for all content, meaning everyone will be able to improve their gear even if they are casual ornewThe Old Republicplayers.
That isn’t allStar Wars: The Old Republichas planned for itsLegacy of the Sithexpansion. Alongside the ability to decouple combat and story class, allowing force-users and gunfighters to customize how they fight independent of the narrative they play,The Old Republicis adding legendary items–a concept familiar toWorld of Warcraftplayers. Characters will be able to collect and upgrade two of these powerful items, which carry unique power-ups for a character’s abilities, much like the set bonuses this system is replacing.
Old and newThe Old Republicplayersare satisfied with the new systems. It will make gearing simpler for all players and ensure they can always get a gear upgrade if one is available. Giving players control over the process via upgrades and currency means they won’t suffer the frustration of having a redundant piece of gear drop because of bad luck.
Plenty of players are irked by the changes coming inLegacy of the Sith, of course. Many thinkThe Old Republicis making a mistake by copyingWorld of Warcraftwith its inclusion of legendary items. That said, in spite of recent legal troubles,Blizzard has seen incredible success recently, so borrowing another system or two fromWorld of Warcraftis probably not a bad plan. Crafters, however, are worried they may not be able to create gear anymore, since the update didn’t mention how crafting would be affected. Players will have to wait and see ifThe Old Republicdetails how crafted gear will fit into this new system, if at all.
Star Wars: The Old Republicis available for PC.Legacy of the Sithis slated to launch somet time in December.
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