SWTOR Update 6.1.1: Everything you need to know

SWTOR Update 6.1.1 releases on April 21, a week later after its original planned date. This “smaller” content patch does not introduce new story to the game, but it brings key changes and new features like the Conquest system redesign, a month-long Double XP event, Bonus Series Missions transformed into Dailies and Weeklies, Class Balancing changes and a few more tweaks and bug fixes! Let’s check them out one by one!

I spoke to the SWTOR Community Coordinator Daniel Steed and he kindly provided me with a few pointers and a list of all the planned changes that will go into SWTOR’s 6.1.1 patch.

In the past few weeks I have been gradually making you a part of the SWTOR Update 6.1.1 development and have been sharing and analyzing BioWare’s announcements and comments about the upcoming patch. This article is a summary of everything you should know about SWTOR 6.1.1! All in one place, like the good old times.

In the next few segments I will tell you about the more interesting changes coming with 6.1.1.

6.1.1 release date change and shift in development plans

BioWare delayed the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Game Update 6.1.1 with a week. The original date was announced to be April 14. Unforeseen circumstances and the fact that the whole BioWare studio including the SWTOR team now work from home, caused some delays in the development process.

As I explained in another article earlier Update 6.2 was set to release in June. This was going to be the next major story update to SWTOR, delivering the conclusion of the Kira and Scourge storyline that started with Onslaught and 6.0.

Update 6.2 is now postponed indefinitely, as a result of the recording studios being closed down for the moment. As soon as they reopen, the development will continue. Based on current expectations, 6.2 should be released some time this Summer or early Fall.

On the Public Test Server BioWare made available the new Dxun Master Mode Operation along with new set bonuses for each class. These are being pushed back for release in Update 6.1.2.

6.1.2 is currently targeting June release and will replace the story content update 6.2.

Conquest changes in SWTOR 6.1.1

Since the announcement of 6.1.1 we knew that the biggest part of this patch was going to be the next Conquest system redesign. I lost count how many major changes and redesigns this system has seen since it was originally introduced to the game, but that’s not too important now.

SWTOR Conquest - Titans of Industry Objectives

In an attempt to better control the economy of the game while also striving to provide meaningful rewards for all types of players, BioWare decided to introduce three different tiers of player rewards from Conquest.

Levels 1 – 49

Mission EXP boosts
- These will be a new type of boost. These will offer bonus experience from Missions only and they’ll be stackable with other boosts. They will also have a shorter duration of 30 minutes per boost.
Companion Gifts
Credit Certificate (15k)
Gathering Lockbox

Levels 50 – 70

Mission EXP boosts
Companion Gifts
Credit Certificate (20k)
Gathering Lockbox
Heroic Box (Level Dependent Gear)

Levels 71+

Credit Certificate (25k)
Gathering Lockbox
Solid Resource Matrices
Tech Fragments
Small Conquest Equipment Crate

While the Solid Resource Matrices are considered by many an obvious nerf, BioWare promises to continue to adjust the system and find a way to compensate players, who relied on this specific item from the Conquest rewards they earned on their low level characters.

Learn more about the new Conquest Tiers from this preview!

The number of objectives for each weekly themed Conquest have expanded significantly. Many new tasks have been added. Some have been split into parts with Part 2 getting unlocked once your character completes Part 1.

Similar to the Rewards, the objectives are also based on your character’s level and will change slightly from tier to tier. In some cases new or different planets and destinations may be available, depending on your level.

The Objectives that are bound to missions on specific planets, are only available if your character qualifies for them, in other words – is high enough level to go to that planet.

Check out the full Conquest list of Objectives to give you an idea of what to expect.

Double XP returns with 6.1.1 for a full month

Among the currently running events in the world of SWTOR Double XP is by far the most popular and frequently asked for.

BioWare usually opens up a few days up to a week of Double XP each year. The biggest duration this event receives around May the Fourth.

This year is not an exclusion. Adding the forced upon us circumstances and the fact that we stay at home a lot more than usual, BioWare decided to give us a full month of Double XP.

SWTOR May the 4th Day 2018 - M4-Y7 ASTROMECH DROID MINI-PET — Each year players get a special reward for May the 4th. What do you want to get this year?

Starting with the release of 6.1.1 on April 21 and ending on June 16 2020 SWTOR will offer twice the regular XP, Renown, Valor and GSF. This event does not boost Conquest points.

The Double XP was extended as a result of some issues related to the Bounty Contract weekly event and the mission terminals:

“The issues involving the Bounty Hunting event are a bit more complicated than we expected, so we had to remove the terminals once again. We apologize for all the issues this week and the impact it’s had on your game play. We know it’s just the start of Double XP, so we’ve decided to extend the duration of Double XP and the new end date is now June 16th.” – said Daniel Steed on the forums.

You might think that nine years later this game doesn’t benefit much from Double XP any more. If you have not been leveling alts during these times in the recent years, I urge you, once Double XP starts, check out the low level planets and compare their population to the numbers you usually see outside of this event.

Bonus Series Missions Transformed into Dailies and Weeklies

This was teased pretty early on and I almost missed it. Daniel reminded me of the studio’s plans to offer all Bonus Series Missions currently available in SWTOR as dailies and weeklies.

To be able to do them, you would need to first qualify for them. This means you need to complete the required main story missions first before you can open up the Bonus Series.

We all know that BioWare monitors players activity constantly and they probably have noticed that for years some of the most neglected content in the game have been the Bonus Series.

One reason could be the quick and easy leveling process. Another could be the fact that many players didn’t know of the existence of these story missions chains – they are easy to miss or neglect.

This content has been collecting dust for a while and it would be a shame to leave it in this state, I think. Money and effort have been spent on developing it. It’s a good idea for these Series to become Daily and Weekly Missions.

The big questions are now how would these new daily and weekly missions inspire players to go do them over and over?

Daniel was kind enough to answer some of my questions to his best knowledge.

The level requirements of some of the Bonus Series were considerably higher compared to the level requirements of the planet these stories take place. This meant that the player would naturally continue with their main story onto the next planet and then later (eventually) return for the bonus series.

This has been adjusted and now the level requirement for the Bonus Missions is “around the mid to high end of level bracket of the planet they’re on“.

Each Bonus Series consists of several missions that will be available to be repeated on daily basis. The wrapping mission to get the weekly rewards will be available only once per week.

There are no changes to the rewards of the missions as far as Daniel knew. This means no new faction, no new vendor, no new farm. You would be doing these missions just because you enjoy revisiting Hoth, Nar Shaddaa, Taris and so on, and because they would reward you with…. stuff and money.

Class Balancing Changes coming with 6.1.1

When the first set of class changes were announced, BioWare told us these are part of a more complex balancing action designed mostly to affect the healing disciplines of the classes. The next update(s) will most likely include more. Treat this as the beginning of the 6.0 Class Changes series – similar to what we witnessed in the 5.0 era.

Here they are (these are not final, changes may still occur leading up to the release date of 6.1.1):

Operative / Scoundrel

The Aggressive Medication set bonus is slightly redesigned:
- 4 piece – Now removes the energy cost for Toxic Haze / Bushwhack and appropriately works on the healer’s ranged version of the ability as well

The Tactician set bonus has been rebalanced:
- 4 piece – Tactical Overdrive / Hot Streak no longer resets the cooldown of Backstab / Back Blast, the critical chance increasing effect cannot occur more than once every 18 seconds (up from 10 seconds), and the critical chance it provides is 10% (down from 15%)

Medicine / Sawbones

Accomplished Doctor / Sawbones now also allows the initial heal from Kolto Infusion / Pack to refresh the duration of a 2-stack Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac in addition to its other effects
Fixed an issue where Kolto Waves did not appropriately generate Tactical Medicine / Bedside Manner when used with the Regenerative Waves tactical item
Tactical Item: The effect provided by Diagnostics Probe now lasts up to 15 seconds (up from 6 seconds)

Concealment / Scrapper

Prey on the Weak / Pierce and Batter now increases damage done by Laceration / Sucker Punch by 10% on targets affected by your Acid Blade / Flechette Round (up from 5%)
Calculated Frenzy / Rolling Punches now increases ranged and tech critical chance by 10% after Backstab / Back Blast is used (up from 5%)

Lethality / Ruffian

Cut Down now increases the damage of Lethal Strike / Point Blank Shot , Overload Shot / Quick Shot and Noxious Knives / Lacerating Blast by 15% (up from 5%) and increases the damage of Shiv / Blaster Whip by 10% on targets affected by your poison / bleed effects
Acidic Compounds now increases Toxic Blast / Sanguinary Shot damage by 10% (up from 5%)

Sniper / Gunslinger

Virulence / Dirty Fighting

The periodic damage effect applied by Lethal Shot / Dirty Shot with Exploited Weakness Tactical has been reduced by 30%

Juggernaut / Guardian

Vengeance / Vigilance

Destroyer’s bleeding / Keening’s burning effect bonus damage increased from 10% to 15%
Gushing Vein’s bleeding / Smoldering Saber’s burning effect critical chance bonus increased from 5% to 10%

Rage / Focus

Brutality / Swift Slash now increases the critical strike chance of Furious Strike / Concentrated Slice and Vicious Throw / Dispatch by 15% (up from 10%)
The Perseverance Tactical has been redesigned:
- Using Obliterate / Zealous Leap with Furious Power / Force Clarity causes it to critically hit and increases your critical strike chance by 20% for 2 seconds

Sorcerer / Sage

Decreased the initial portion of Resurgence / Rejuvenate healing by roughly 37%, but increased the heal over time portion of Resurgence / Rejuvenate by roughly 67%
The Empowered Restorer set bonus has been redesigned:
- 4 piece – Static Barrier / Force Armor leaves a heal over time on the target for 12 seconds after being applied
- 6 piece – Static Barrier / Force Armor immediately heals the target when applied
The Revitalized Mystic set bonus has been rebalanced:
- 4 piece – Refreshing Resurgence / Rejuvenate on a target refunds 5 Force
- 6 piece – Healing a target with another healing ability while your Resurgence / Rejuvenate is active on them has a 15% chance to cause your Resurgence / Rejuvenate to provide an additional, unscheduled tick of healing
The Gathering Storm set bonus has been rebalanced:
- 6 piece – Using Force Speed now reduces the active cooldown of Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity by 5 seconds (down from 10 seconds), and the duration of Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity is now increased by 5 seconds (down from 10 seconds) and requires Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity to be used while Force Speed is active
The Endless Offensive set bonus tooltip has been updated:
- 4 piece – Now indicates that Volt Rush / Telekinetic Blitz healing is also increased by 10%, if applicable
Tactical Item: Storm’s Succor / Metaphysical Mender (formerly Storm’s Succor) has been redesigned – now each charge of Energized / Empowered (formerly Energized) reduces the Force Volt Rush / Telekinetic Blitz consumes by 30%, and the healing component of Volt Rush / Telekinetic Blitz is a smart heal with a 20-meter range from the target with roughly 56% more healing

Corruption / Seer

Dark Infusion / Deliverance healing increased by roughly 7%
Innervate / Healing Trance healing increased by roughly 6%
Reduced the base Force cost of Revivification / Salvation by 15 (from 75 to 60) and the healing it deals by roughly 11%
Reduced the base Force cost of Roaming Mend / Wandering Mend by 20 (from 70 to 50) and the healing it deals by roughly 19%
Force Bending / Conveyance now reduces the activation time of Dark Infusion / Deliverance by 0.5 seconds (up from 0.25 seconds)
Force Bending / Conveyance now makes Revivification / Salvation activate instantly and no longer reduces its Force cost
Penetrating Darkness / Clairvoyance now increases the critical chance of Dark Heal / Benevolence by 10% (instead of increasing bonus healing by 3%)
Force Surge / Resplendence no longer affects Revivification / Salvation
Dark Concentration / Altruism now also increases the healing dealt by Dark Heal / Benevolence by 50%, in addition to its other effects
Renewal healing increased by roughly 67%
Secrets of the Dark Side / Erudite Mender has been redesigned and now increases the healing done by Resurgence / Rejuvenate and Renewal by 10% (instead of reducing the Force cost of Roaming Mend / Wandering Mend by 10)
Tactical Item: One for All has been redesigned – now gives Roaming Mend / Wandering Mend one extra healing charge
Tactical Item: All for One has been redesigned – now Revivification’s / Salvation’s pool concludes with a burst of dark / light Force energy, healing up to 8 allies within it

Lightning / Telekinetics

Reverberating Force / Reverberation critical hit chance bonus increased from 5% to 15%
Convulsing Currents / Magnifying Vibrations now grants a 10% damage increase to Crushing Darkness / Mind Crush while Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity is active

Madness / Balance

Disintegration / Critical Kinesis critical chance bonus increased from 5% to 15%
Fulminating Current / Psychokinetic Torrent critical chance bonus given per stack increased from 2% to 3%

Assassin / Shadow

The Death Knell Set Bonus has changed:
- 4 piece: The cooldown of Recklessness / Force Potency is reduced by 15 seconds. Whenever you activate Recklessness / Force Potency you gain Reckless Critical, making your next Maul / Shadow Strike or Leeching Strike / Serenity Strike critically hit

Hatred / Serenity

Languishing Lashes / Atrophying Attacks now increases the damage of Leeching Strike / Serenity Strike by 20% against enemies with less than 30% health
Severing Slash / Cleaving Cut now spreads Discharge / Force Breach and Creeping Terror / Sever Force periodic effects.
Fulguration / Rebounding Force now correctly applies to the Two Time Trouble tactical

Deception / Infiltration

Crackling Blasts / Deep Impact critical damage bonus increased from 5% to 20%
Dominating Slashes / Prevailing Strikes now increases the damage of Voltaic Slash and Reaping Strike by 20%
Surging Charge / Shadow Technique does an additional 30% damage

Bounty Hunter / Commando

Powertech / Vanguard

The Veteran Ranger set bonus has changed:
4 piece: Dealing damage with Shoulder Cannon grants Salvo, increasing Shoulder Cannon damage by 3% for 5 seconds. This effect can stack up to 5 times. In addition, while Shoulder Cannon loads missiles, you vent 2 heat per second.

Arsenal / Gunnery

Power Launcher / Charged Launcher now increases the damage of Rail Shot / High Impact Bolt, Tracer Missile / Grav Round, Heatseeker Missiles / Demolition Round and Electro Net by 10% (up from 5%)

Marauder / Sentinel

Carnage / Combat

Sever / Saber Storm now increases the critical strike damage of Devastating Blast / Clashing Blast and Massacre / Blade Rush by 15% (up from 10%)
Ataru Mastery now increases the damage deal by Ataru Form attacks by 5% (up from 3%)

Bug fixes and more

No patch in any game (not just MMOs) is ever complete without the usual section with bug fixes and small tweaks.

Since Eric Musco announced BioWare’s SWTOR 2020 plans in January and later on confirmed his second “vacation time”, the forums went a bit quieter on the “Dev Posts” front.

Lately some of the devs and other BioWare employees have stepped up to keep up the communication with the players. Some of the more recent “yellow posts” (dev posts are always decorated in gold-yellow).

A popular issue related to the Group Finder window is getting fixed in 6.1.1. It was first reported on the forums by user Shariva a couple of weeks ago. Currently it seems that for some weird reason only four operations are available on daily basis.

Another bug set to get a fix with 6.1.1 is the one that prevents you from completing the Mek Sha Heroic “A Matter of Respect”. As player Hammaclar reported on the forums a while ago ” Following the step to defeat the Jedi Investigators, exiting the instance does not provide the update on the mission”.

Other smaller (or not) changes and fixes like the “too bright Odessen Banners” will also receive treatment in 6.1.1 along with more bug fixes and tweaks, plus some Quality of Life improvements perhaps.

Updated and new SWTOR 6.1.1 Class Guides

More are coming soon. Please, check back later or visit the SWTOR 6.0 Class Guides sections here on VULKK.com!

Summary

Here is the most important information about SWTOR Update 6.1.1 you need to know:

Conquest changes
- Personal Conquest objectives are now split into three level ranges, each offering different and more relevant objectives/rewards.
- Personal Conquest objectives now have a shortcut to pick up the relevant mission, open the relevant window directly, or open the galaxy map when applicable.
- Many additional objectives have been added to each Personal Conquest, offering more ways to achieve Personal Conquest goals on more characters.
Double XP Event
- Starting April 21st and lasting until May 19th, there will be a month-long Double XP event.
Bonus Series Missions
- The level requirement has been adjusted for all the Bonus Series Missions to be around the mid to high end of level bracket of the planet they’re on. That way the content is able to be accessed by players when completing the main story content for the respective planet.
- The Bonus Series Missions will be daily repeatable, with the wrapper (the bonus series itself) being repeatable weekly. This means that the individual Missions inside the Bonus Series can be done once a day, but the wrapping Mission to get the weekly rewards will obviously be available once a week.
- No changes to their rewards or reputation, they should remain the same.
Class Balancing Changes
General bug fixing

As of the time of this publication PTS is closed down. It will reopen some time next week with additional changes to the Dxun Nightmare Mode Operation, which as you know already has been moved for a release in June with Update 6.1.2.

You can now check out the full official SWTOR 6.1.1 Patch Notes. BioWare released them on April 17, a few days prior to the launch of the update.