Broadsword has announced the SWTOR Update 7.3.1 release date, which is bringing, among other things, Galactic Season 5 and a new armor set inspired by Ahsoka’s robes in the live-action shows.
Game Update 7.3.1
Game Update 7.3.1 is launching on Wednesday, September 6th, 2023. We don’t yet know the full extent of what will be coming until September 5th when we get the patch notes, though don’t expect any major content.
So far, we know the biggest part of 7.3.1 will be Galactic Season 5 “Confidence in Power”, which will be getting some adjustments, the most notable of which is the absence of a new companion. However, we’ll still be getting a (likely unvoiced) story with a droid named 3V-1L.
We’ll also be getting some changes aimed at combatting credit inflation as part of Broadsword’s ongoing Credit Economy Initiative. Many players will be excited to know that the maximum price per listing will be increased to 3 billion credits!
Finally, there are some QoL changes for Quick Travel and the Spoils of War armor sets. Kai Zykken is going away in favor of just letting players buy the full sets of armor from boxes in exchange for 10k Tech Fragments and 1 million credits, so you won’t have to worry about gambling anymore.
While it’s not linked to 7.3.1, SWTOR’s server migration to the cloud (AWS) will continue as well. All that’s left are the NA servers, Satele Shan and Star Forge. I highly doubt anything more will happen on this front before 7.3.1 is released since they’ll be focused on deploying that update instead, but I imagine it will be soon.
We still don’t know if an NA server merge is in the cards or if there will be any kind of load balancing done to prevent divergent server populations in the future. Broadsword hasn’t committed to adding a dedicated APAC server yet either.
Update from September 5th: The Patch Notes have been released and you can now read our detailed overview of the SWTOR 7.3.1 Changes.
Ahsoka and Thrawn Armor Sets
The Expatriate’s armor set and lightsabers will be coming to the Cartel Market with 7.3.1 as well as an armor set for Grand Admiral Thrawn, though we only got images for Ahsoka’s outfit.
An expatriate (or expat) refers to a person who lives outside of their native country, which is a pretty perfect name for her robes since she was taken from her home planet, left the Jedi Order, and is probably leaving the galaxy soon.
The regular lightsaber and shoto are not hand-restricted, so you can use either of them in the mainhand or offhand.
I think the armor set is a bit of a mixed bag. They did a good job with Ahsoka’s lightsabers, and while the individual armor pieces look nice, I don’t think the whole ensemble resembles Ahsoka’s getup as well as the other recent sets on the CM do.
There’s hardly any detail on the chest and no continuity in the fabric texture between the pants, belt, and top. I think using the same texture on the top would help make the outfit look more unified even if it is less accurate.
I recognize that her layered and loose fabric robes would be exceptionally difficult to depict in SWTOR’s style and commend their efforts with the pants specifically. However, I feel like another layer is needed to make it look like she’s wearing a dress when standing still. Perhaps they were worried about clipping issues or something.
The gauntlets are also a bit off, the bracer part shouldn’t be segmented and the stitched sleeves look just 1 diamond too short (though the bracers might just be too long). Honestly, the Wasteland Crusader Gauntlets I recommended in How to Create Ahsoka in SWTOR are a better match for her than the ones from the Expatriate armor set. It’s especially distracting because the belt, boots, and headbands are pretty much exact replicas of her outfit in the show.
Hopefully, they add that headband to the customizations for the Togruta too since all helmets are hidden for the race. It would be absurd if almost all the other species could wear it EXCEPT for the Togruta!
I am quite concerned that just about everything in 7.3.1 seems to be rushed. There’s no companion for GS5, seemingly no balance changes, and an outfit that looks incomplete along with another that should be easier to make. I really hope that it’s just because the devs had less time since they were probably busy with the move from BioWare to Broadsword, but it could also be indicative of a permanently smaller workforce.
I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here, but 7.4 is gonna be a defining moment for the game. Broadsword has to knock it out of the park or they’re gonna lose a lot of the people that haven’t already lost faith in SWTOR’s future.
