BioWare has announced that the release date for SWTOR Game Update 5.10.3 The Dantooine Incursion has been delayed with one week. Meanwhile, the studio teased upcoming live stream and blog post full of details for the new gearing system in the upcoming expansion Onslaught this September!
The May update 5.10.3 to Star Wars: The Old Republic, called The Dantooine Incursion, has been pushed back one week and turned into “The June Update”. Its original release date was May 28th. The new one is now June 4th, 2019.Community manager Eric Musco shared the reason for that in a brief message on the official forums:
“Game Update 5.10.3 is being delayed by one week to Tuesday, June 4th. As we were in the final stages of testing and preparation for launch we discovered a critical bug that we need to take the time to address before going live. For context, the issue is that a large portion of combat animations simply stopped working. Obviously, that’s a pretty big deal! We are digging into whether it is a systemic change that caused it or just a bad build/version. Either way we want to take the extra week to ensure that we have time to fully understand why this is happening and get it resolved.”
This change directly impacts several of the in-game events planned for the end of May and the beginning of June. The originally planned Bounty Hunter week will now once again be scheduled to run for the week of May 28th.
The Dantooine Incursion update introduces a brand new recurring event – The Pirate Incursion. I know… too many incursions? The event will start with the release of the update on June 4. It will run for two full weeks back to back. In BioWare’s previous plans this was going to happen as well, but starting on May 28. In these two weeks you will be able to complete the Weekly missions twice. After that the Pirate Incursion will fall in line with the rest of the in-game events on rotation each month.
The Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event (an online casino gambling and entertainment platform) returns from June 18th until July 30th. There is no announcement if and what new items may be available for this year’s edition of the event.
Double XP will run for a week – from June 11th until June 18th. Musco called it “Double XP”, but based on past experience in the last few years, it is likely going to be a “Double Rewards Event”. This means that CXP and GSF will also be included.
The big tease for me in Musco’s post was the announcement of an upcoming developer live stream on May 30th – this is next Thursday:
“We were planning to do our first Onslaught livestream next Thursday, May 30th, where we would discuss Spoils of War! We are still on track for this to happen and so look for that stream next week. We will let you know if anything changes.”
What that means is next week will not go empty, following the delay of 5.10.3’s release. The Spoils of War is BioWare’s new and improved gear system that they plan to release with the upcoming expansion “Onslaught” this September.
The original announcement of Onslaught tells us a few things about the Spoils of War and how the new gear slot will help personalize our builds and make them unique:
“Our philosophy for this expansion is, play your way. Items have always been an important part of your character’s identity, but for the first time we are offering true depth and choice with exciting new items that let you decide how to play in the upcoming battle.
One of the ways that we’re adding this depth is with an entirely new type of gear slot – Tactical items. These build-defining items directly alter your abilities and playstyle. Taking these new items, players will be able to pair them with numerous new set bonuses to choose from, including general sets that can be used by everyone.
These item sets can be acquired through multiple paths. Acquire your gear no matter how you choose to play: Player vs Environment, Player vs Player, Galactic Command, and Crafting are all viable. New set items, Tactical items, and more open a pathway to limitless depth allowing you to play your character exactly how you want!”
If you are wondering what exactly are the devs prepared to show and tell on the stream, I can only quote their words that “there is a ton of information coming in that stream”. There will also be a new blog post on the official site to help further explain things if you miss the live event.
As usual, you will see, read and hear everything you need to know about the event and the new system “Spoils of War” that will be revealed right here on VULKK moments after the event is over.
