SWTOR 6.0 Onslaught Release Date Changed to October

BioWare announced today the expected, but still unpleasant news about the game’s latest expansion. The studio used the PTS and player feedback as the main reason for the extra time needed to complete their work and be ready for release.

This week could not have started with worse news when it comes to Star Wars: The Old Republic. The release date of the next digital expansion – “Onslaught”, also known as Game Update 6.0 – has been pushed back from September to October 22.

This could also be good news. It all depends which side of the coin are you staring at. In the official message, which I will share with you in full below, the studio’s main reason is revealed – PTS participation and player feedback.

This is the official announcement as posted on swtor.com today, August 26:

We have been gathering your feedback both in and out of game since late June and we have already made sweeping changes to a number of systems, especially Spoils of War. Our new Operation, Dxun, should be ready for testing in a few weeks, and we’re making significant adjustments to set bonuses, tacticals, and amplifiers, which are key to our new gear progression system. For example:

• We used our initial Class offerings (Inquisitor and Warrior) to hone in on what makes set bonuses and tactical items exciting.
  • PTS testers may have noticed we already applied these learnings to the Bounty Hunter (and soon on Republic Classes including Troopers), and we’re making further changes to existing sets and tacticals.
  • New gear bonuses appearing only on the 6-piece set bonus were not satisfying, so we went back and adjusted every 4-piece set bonus in Onslaught to make them much more appealing.
• As we apply level-sync to our existing Operations, we’ll continue weekly refinements to improve the experience for everyone.

Also, the Nautolan subscriber reward was previously announced to be given to any player who is a subscriber on launch day. As a special thank you for all of your efforts with Onslaught on the PTS, we have decided to give the Nautolan species to everyone who is a subscriber anytime between September 1, 2019 and October 22, 2019. There has never been a better time to be a subscriber in The Old Republic and we can’t wait for you to experience Onslaught with us in a galaxy far, far away!

Thank you.
Keith Kanneg, Sr. Producer, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™

Now, what do we take out from this? First, this was more of an expected announcement. There was very little surprise to it. I have been around for nearly eight years and have followed the game’s releases from the very beginning. The moment BioWare started delaying and pushing back the PTS initial launch and its later phases, it became more and more clear that September is literally impossible when it comes to a release date.

It’s the end of August and we are just about to start Phase 2 of Public Server Testing. This phase will involve a much larger amount of new content, systems and mechanics for testing. So far we got to see the new class abilities (not all, actually), new tactical items for all classes, new gear sets (without their original appearances, though) and the first implementation of the new level sync tech for Group content.

To be honest, I was 101% certain a delay is imminent. I was waiting to hear from BioWare what reason they would give us. They mention the two top reasons in my book. It is for good, believe me. The Spoils of War could be a huge problem after release. It should have been in thorough massive testing since May, shortly after the first reveal on the developer live stream.

Furthermore – the further from December they release it, the better. Some of us still keep bad memories from major releases near the biggest Holiday of the year and bugs and exploits being left in the game until some time in late January next year.

The major overhaul of the looting and gearing system, called Spoils of War, is a very, very big and tough process and it is highly unlikely that it will launch without bugs, issues and lack of balance.

For some Star Wars fans the delayed release date brings another issue – Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is now releasing only a month after SWTOR’s 6.0, instead of two months. That’s a small complaint, of course, but worth listing.