The 7.5 Public Test Server offers a look into the new “Ventures” system Broadsword plans to implement into SWTOR, along with the new Basilisk droid companion!
After the SWTOR Developer Livestream on May 1, 2024, we learned that SWTOR’s Public Test Server (henceforth PTS) will be available soon after.
The Public Test Server is known to be a mixed bag as there may be bugs or glitches here and there in the new areas, but that’s what these tests are for!
In this article I’ll show you what has been made available thus far in the PTS. You can use our guide on how to access SWTOR PTS and transfer a character.
Basilisk War Droid Companion: B3-S1
This has been an on-going project for some time in the story with Lana Vizla. After recovering the Basilisk War Droid from another Mandalorian, she’s been working day in and day out on making a functional Basilisk. The time will come to test this droid out in 7.5!
Intro Mission
You can gain the introductory mission on Ruhnuk assuming you have completed all the Ruhnuk dailies on your copied character.
B3-S1 has to be trained as her learning process is different, so you’ll need to bring her with you while you run a couple of daily missions. The kicker here is that she only has one ability in DPS, Tank, or Healing modes, so she’ll be rather bad in combat to start.
Completing the daily missions will grant you resources that can be used to upgrade her. Let’s say if you increase her combat training like I did, she’ll have two abilities to use instead of one. These are purchased with unique Venture currency found in your inventory.
New Currencies
The Data Chips are used to make B3-S1 active for one hour so you can take her on daily missions. The Combat Systems Data are for upgrading her DPS capabilities, while there are Defense Systems Data and Support Systems Data for tanking and healing respectively.
The Prototype Data is used for all upgrades and can be used for purchasing Training Data that unlocked additional chances to perform dailies for B3-S1.
Tracking Your Progress
Your progress can be tracked in the Legacy window under a new “Ventures” tab. Here you’ll see her DPS, Tank, and Healing Progress, along with some empty slots that have yet to be explained.
The developers have stated on the SWTOR Forums that these Ventures will take time, so you can expect this to take days if not weeks to complete.
The exact time frame to fully unlock B3-S1 is unknown, but it’s a fun concept to train a droid yourself. It is unknown if all Ventures will follow this same formula or if each will have its own unique twist. Only time will tell, until then let’s take a look at the new area on Dantooine!
Dantooine Spring Abundance Festival Event
With a Summer, Fall, and Winter event available in SWTOR, the Developers felt it was time to round it all off with a Spring event. At the moment, this is referred to as the Dantooine Spring Abundance Festival.
How to start the event
You’ll be able to travel to a new spot on Dantooine known as Blba Groves. This is a small and quaint area with no hostile NPCs in the open.
New Event Missions
You can find a mission terminal near the dropoff point where you can test the new event missions before they go live. You’ll be able to fish, make pies, harvest crops, and other farm duties!
A farm is located to the north of the map where you can find another mission terminal to perform daily missions.
Galactic Starfighter PvP Season Implementation Cancelled
There was a thread on the SWTOR Forums that stated plans to finally add Galactic Starfighter (GSF) to the PvP Season. This felt like a long-time coming as while not a conventional ground battle PvP scenario, it was still a PvP game mode regardless.
The plan was to have the community share their thoughts about a decent amount of medals to make for a weekly objective, and the community certainly did share their thoughts. After a mere two days, the dev team decided to drop this entirely and will no longer implement it into the new PvP Season. Bryant Wood of Broadsword had this to say:
“Hey everyone, thanks for your feedback regarding the addition of Galactic Starfighter to the PvP Season track! The team has taken a look at the issues you’ve raised surrounding the current state of Galactic Starfighter such as the medals, objectives, skill gap, and bugs. After evaluating this feedback we’ve come to the conclusion that GSF is not in a good position to be added to the PvP Seasons track at this time.
Thank you again for your constructive feedback regarding this change! We will continue to monitor PvP Seasons and your feedback to improve PvP Seasons going forward.“
The thread was later unpinned by the developers and has left many others leaving replies, for better or for worse. The PvP Season can be a bit of a slog given the current state of PvP in SWTOR right now, and adding GSF would have been a nice change of pace. It doesn’t have great pop times due to a lack of interest stemming from the large learning curve and the massive skill and equipment gaps that give veteran players a huge advantage.
Requiring medals would only promote unhealthy PvP behavior such as medal farming, something that often occurs in traditional PvP as well. This happens when players stand near objectives they own to farm Defense medals they got for “guarding” the objective. This is a detriment to players who are actually trying to play the game. With the /kick player option removed from PvP, it’s not an easy issue to fix.
A simple fix would be to have players complete or win 8 Domination or Team Deathmatch games. Even then, this wouldn’t stop players from just sitting in a corner and doing nothing as this is also an issue with the live server’s GSF games. It’s disappointing that this may not be an option for PvP Seasons yet, hopefully the developers change their minds in the future.
If you’re interested in learning how to copy your characters for the Public Test Server, check out our SWTOR PTS Download and Character Copy Guide! If you would like to learn more about Galactic Starfighter and what it has to offer, see my Galactic Starfighter Guide. Be sure to stay tuned to VULKK for any future news updates with SWTOR!
