Rise of the Hutt Cartel

Executive Producer Jeff Hickman has posted a State of the Game on the Old Republic official website, outlining how Bioware plans on implementing some much-requested features in the coming few months. Spring 2013 sees the launch of The Old Republic’s first expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, and the community is still seeing a rise in population from the recent conversion to free to play. So to start off the year, Hickman posted four main points of interest for the coming year.

Over the coming year, Bioware plans on introducing more content at the end-game section (level 50). For fans of the game’s player vs player combat, Hickman notes that changes are coming to Ilum, describing the update as “a departure from what was there before.” Unfortunately those of you hoping for a re-implementation of the game’s open world PvP are out of luck. Hickman notes that while Bioware will be experimenting with a new approach to open world PvP, do not look for massive open world PvP this year (2013), as Bioware is focused on PvP seasons and warzones.

We’ve got new Operations, new Flashpoints, new difficulty modes, new PvP areas, and of course, the entire Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel (which is targeted at our high level players). We have a plan mapped out for the upcoming year that will keep the elder game fresh and interesting for players of all types.

Hickman takes on the subject of same sex relationships, a topic that has come up in the past and proven controversial for the developer. Same sex relationships are coming to The Old Republic, starting with NPCs on Makeb (the planet coming with the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion), and were originally delayed due to work being focused on the game’s free to play transition.

As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of.

Finally, players will be relieved to see that they will (eventually) be able to transfer characters over to the public test realm.

(Source: The Old Republic)

Players are able to take on the first fifty levels of The Old Republic’s story line completely free, but what happens when that is all of the story line? The answer: Expansions. The Old Republic’s first expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, is coming in Spring 2013 and brings with it several changes to the Old Republic game we all know and some of us might even love. The maximum level has been expanded by five to 55, and players are sent to the planet of Makeb, where they must put an end to the plot of the Hutt Cartel to become the new galactic superpower.

Free players will have to shell out $20 for the expansion, although subscribers can get it at 50% off for a mere $9.99. Preordering the expansion as a free player does upgrade an account to “preferred” status, and if either group orders the game before January 7th, they will have five days of early access to the new content. Otherwise, not a whole lot of information revealed at this stage. We can assume that the new planet will bring higher tier gear, raids, dungeons, and more space missions, and possibly more crafting options.

(Source: The Old Republic)