SWTOR Update 7.8 brings “Galactic Threads”, the next chapter in the Legacy of the Sith storyline. This guide explains all steps and requirements to access the new story content.
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Requirements to Unlock Galactic Threads
To be able to play Galactic Threads, you need a character level 80. You do not need an active subscription. If you have been a subscriber for at least a month between now and the release of Legacy of the Sith expansion (February 2022), you will be able to play the new storyline.
To access the new story, you need to complete the following main story progression requirements:
- Unlock the “Legacy of the Sith” expansion and story
The Legacy of the Sith Expansion released with Update 7.0. To access it, you need to complete the story content from Onslaught all the way up to and including the mission “Whispers in the Force“. A subscription is required to play the expansion for the first time. After that, it is forever unlocked for all your other characters.
- Complete the Manaan Storyline
The first part of Legacy of the Sith takes you to a new area on Manaan, called the Invasion Zone. The Empire and Republic have different goals. You don’t need to complete the Manaan Daily Area missions to be able to continue with the main story.
- Complete the “Ruins of Nul” Flashpoint
The second part of Legacy of the Sith’s expansion story requires you to complete the solo story version of the Flashpoint on Elom: Ruins of Nul.
- Complete “Digging Deeper” Mission
The “Digging Deeper” mission was released in Update 7.1 and serves as a bridge between the story from the expansion and the next chapter, which takes you to Ruhnuk. The mission is mostly cinematic conversations.
- Complete “Showdown on Ruhnuk” Storyline
You have tracked Heta Kol and the Hidden Chain to Ruhnuk. This is a brand new planet, added with Update 7.2. The mission chain starts with “A Rock and a Hard Place” and ends with “Showdown on Ruhnuk”. You don’t need to complete the Ruhnuk Daily Area missions to progress the main story.
- Complete the “Old Wounds” Mission
You will visit a new area on Voss, called Interpreter’s Retreat, released with Update 7.3. You will assist the Voss with some menial labor while looking to uncover more information about a secret vision the Voss leaders have involving Darth Malgus. The Shrine of Silence Flashpoint is optional.
- Complete the “Road to Nowhere” Mission
The first part of the “Chains in the Dark” storyline, released with Update 7.4, is a mission that takes you to Port Nowhere. You are chasing a lead trying to find Heta Kol’s whereabouts, when you are attacked by Hidden Chain.
- Complete the “Chains in the Dark” Storyline
In the second part of “Chains in the Dark”, you will travel to Kessan’s Landing, a new daily area on Ord Mantell. It is accessible to both factions, but you are not required to complete the Daily Missions to progress the main storyline.
- Complete the “Desperate Defiance” Storyline
The most recent story, “Desperate Defiance“, was added with Update 7.5, and takes you to a new area on Hutta, Minboosa District. This story was released shortly before the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Voice Actors Strike started. Since then, we have not seen any new main story content up until now, with Update 7.8. Minboosa District is accessible to both factions.
- Start the “Galactic Threads” Storyline
After you complete all required missions listed above, you will gain access to the new storyline, “Galactic Threads”. It will be automatically placed in your mission log. Enjoy!
How to start the Galactic Threads story
Details will be available shortly after Update 7.8 goes live. If you are caught up in the story, there will be a play button to click on, but check back later for more details.
Update Title and Missing Languages Explained
Game Update 7.8 is officially titled “Pursuit of Ruin”, however, the storyline you will be playing is called “Galactic Threads”. Broadsword had to make this naming scheme change to be able to distinguish Update 7.8 from Update 7.6.
“Galactic Threads” was planned and supposed to be released more than a year ago as part of 7.6, but due to the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Voice Actors Strike, the developers were unable to finish and release it in time.
Non-SAG-AFTRA voice actors around the world struck in solidarity with said union and since it’s a bunch of different negotiations, that has taken longer to resolve, only the English voices are available with 7.8. If you are reading this guide later, this paragraph may be outdated and no longer valid as the devs aim to add the additional languages as soon as possible.
In the meantime, if you use French or German clients, the game will offer subtitles, but the voices will all be in English only.
Galactic Threads FAQ
Below you can read the answers to some of the most popular questions you may have about the new story, especially if you have been away from the game for a while.
No. As of Update 7.8, the game only allows you to use a token to create a new character from the start of the Onslaught Expansion. You will have to play through all of the main story content released in the 6.0 era and up to 7.5, which was the most recent game update with new story.
You do not need an active subscription to access the new story content. You need to have been a subscriber at least for a month since the release of the expansion, Legacy of the Sith. If you have been a subscriber between February 2022 and today, all you have to do is make sure you have completed all story mission prerequisites to unlock Galactic Threads.
The Legacy of the Sith expansion and all of the story content from it, including the most recent chapter, “Galactic Threads”, requires you to subscribe to SWTOR for at least a month to play it. If you have been a subscriber between the release of the expansion and now, you have all of this content already unlocked for your account.
Manaan, Ruhnuk, Voss (to some extent), and Ord Mantell feature Daily Missions, new vendors and unique rewards. To progress through the main storyline, you are not required to complete the daily area starter mission or any of the dailies and weeklies.
There are a few choices that may result in you witnessing or causing unique events and outcomes, but the main plot moves in the same direction regardless of your reactions and decisions.
No. All story content in the game is designed to be doable comfortably with the gear you receive as rewards from the main missions and as loot drops while playing them. Using Endgame Gear will increase your speed and make some of the encounters look trivial, but is by no means a requirement at all.
No. The Wreckage on Dantooine mission and the newly released with 7.8 Dantooine Crash Site area offer a new twist on the Dynamic Encounters system. The developers are trying something different and the result is a mix of a Daily Area with Dynamic Encounters and challenging group content to finish it off.
The Legacy of the Sith Story So Far
It has been nearly four years since the release of the expansion and it is understandable if you have played through the story content and have the memory of the events fading already.
The following is a very high level bullet-point style outline of some of the key notes that you should keep in mind going forward.
- Jedi Padawan Sa’har obtains a holocron with mysterious power and meaning. She took it right from the hands of Darth Malgus, who killed her Master.
- Alliance Commander learns that Nul worked with Vitiate and made Children of the Emperor.
- Sa’har finds her brother as the right hand to Heta Kol, who is unsatisfied with Shae Vizla’s leadership and wants to reunite all Mandalorians under her own banner.
- The Alliance Commander learns of the location of the Hidden Chain’s base on Rohnuk where the Commander witnesses Shae dueling Heta Kol.
- Shae is injured, Heta gets away but has lost their hidden base. Ri’kan brings up the holocron as a tool for the Hidden Chain to win.
- Shae realizes Sith are involved and Sah’ar has a holocron. Malgus gets under her skin when they visit the prison and try to extract more information from him.
- At the Interpreter’s Retreat on Voss, the Alliance Commander learns that Nul used to be a Jedi named Master Raniah, gifted with the ability to make mental connections with people who could feel the Force and awaken that connection.
- Raniah left the Jedi. She kept reaching out and found the Sith Emperor, who took over her.
- The Voss share their secret vision with the Alliance Commander where not much is clear, except that the Commander will have a big role to play in events to come.
- At Kessan’s Landing on Ord Mantell and the Minboosa District on Hutta, Sa’har enlists the help of the Alliance Commander after she realized Heta’s true nature.
- Heta thinks she can use the holocron to awaken an army of force-sensitives trained by Sa’har. The machine does what Nul can do, presumably built with schematics inside the holocron.
- Ri’kan is furious about betrayal and there’s another showdown. Player gets to pick what happens in Nul’s holocron, but then Shae breaks Malgus out of prison.
