Star Wars: 10+ Things to Know About Knights of the Fallen Empire (KOTET) – SWTOR 5.0

If you already know what Knights of the Old Replublic is, you can skip this and the next 2 paragraphs. If you don’t, read on.

Are you a Star Wars fan? Are you a gamer? Have you ever wanted to be a jedi or otherwise live in the Star Wars Universe?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions and haven’t heard of Star Wars The Old Republic, get ready to live out your Star Wars fantasy in your own, personal Star Wars story from none other than Bioware, the masters of story-driven role playing games. If you’re not already playing or haven’t played in a while, you can get a ton of free stuff using our link when you sign up.

Learn more about the game here.

Knights of the Eternal Throne (KOTET) is the latest expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic and constitutes SWTOR update 5.0. Here are 10+ things you need to know about it.

1. Bioware star writer Drew Karpyshyn, who also wrote the bulk of the new KOTET expansion, has written a short story to give the background on the first full KOTET trailer above. You can read the short story here.

2. KOTET contains 9 playable chapters that pick up where the last 16 chapter expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire (KOTFE) leaves off. There will be 2 new planets explored in the expansion as well as revisits to existing planets. It is highly advisable to complete at lest the Voss Star Fortress before starting KOTET if you haven’t yet done it.

KOTET is available free to all SWTOR subscribers as a subscriber reward. Early access starts 11/29 with availability to all subscribers starting on December 2, 2016. It is not available to free or preferred players.

The 9 chapters are playable in different difficulty levels and are replayable. Though, the only play-through that will affect your story is the first. The 16 KOTFE chapters are also replayable as of the launch of KOTET.

3. KOTET takes players to level 70 and is heavy on group content with the introduction of “Uprisings” – short, fast-paced but challenging missions crafted mainly for combat-driven gameplay designed for 4 players. Think of them as “mini flashpoints”. But don’t underestimate them.

With 2, and soon to be 3, combat levels, and waves of randomizing enemies, SWTOR Uprisings are reported to be every bit as challenging as full 8-man flashpoints. There will be 5 Uprisings available with the launch of KOTET. A full uprising preview from Max and Sema of the SWTOR Escape Podcast is below.

4. KOTET a.k.a. SWTOR 5.0 introduces Galactic Command, the new end-game reward system available to all subscribers at level 70. Command XP is earned for any gameplay you do at level 70 and rewards “Command Crates” affectionately called “CCs”. CCs will contain loot including end-game gear, cosmetic armor, weapons, crafting materials and more.

Command XP is by character and not legacy-wide. They are considering a catch-up mechanic for alts but no confirmation as yet as to whether or not it will occur.

5. All end-game gear vendors are going away and being replaced by earning CCs through Command XP. There will be a 20% Command XP boost available on the Cartel Market and the maximum Command Rank available at launch will be 300. After you reach rank 300, you will still earn CCs. The video below from Zak Ember gives a good overview on preparing for the expansion.

 

6. All classes are receiving updates to their abilities in 5.0. Advanced classes are now chosen at level 1 and each advanced class will gain a new tier of abilities. The video below from SWTOR Central gives a good overview of the changes.

7. Dark vs. Light: Starting at level 1, all players will earn Dark and Light points to sway the balance of the Force on their server. Winning will cause large-group boss battles around the galaxy and everyone will earn rewards based on their character alignment. The boss battles are designed for 8 – 16 players.

The DvL competition is meant to occur quickly, every couple of hours, with victories (and losses) happening several times per day on a given server.

The DvL competition brings with it a new reward currency – DvL tokens. These tokens allow you to purchase new cosmetic items based on your alignment.

The video below from Dulfy contains the last SWTOR 5.0 developer live stream covering all the changes and additions coming including a full explanation of the Dark vs. Light battles and rewards. The SWTOR website also has a blog entry describing Dark vs. Light competition.

8. There are multiple 5 year anniversary awards available to all players, including free and preferred.

5-Year Celebration Jawa; Senya Holo Trainer – allows you to train new abilities wherever you are; 7-Piece Poster Art Collection – 7 posters to decorate your stronghold – each piece celebrates a different milestone and expansion over the 5 year history of SWTOR; Dromund Kaas and Coruscant Strongholds available for only 5000 credits.

The 5 year rewards are available starting December 13^th through January 16^th, 2017. Full details are on the SWTOR website here.

9. There are a number of things you should do to prepare for the 5.0 expansion due to the changes occurring:

• Spend all of your in-game commendations on either companion gifts, which you can sell for credits, gear or decorations. They will be removed from the game and exchanged for a low amount of credits – less than you can sell the gifts they’ll now buy for.
• Turn in any gear tokens you have for gear.
• If you have unlocks for Flashpoints, Warzones, etc., in your guild bank, take them out and keep them in your personal inventory. These will be converted to Cartel Coins ONLY if one of your characters has them, but if they’re in your guild bank, they will have no value and will essentially be lost. These unlocks are being removed from the game since all end-game will be subscriber only.
• On the 28^th, queue up all your characters with crafting missions before you log off and do not claim the missions. When you log in, you’ll earn crafting XP for the new crafting level.

The video below from SWTOR TV gives an overview of how to prepare for KOTET.

10. Once you’ve signed up for the game, you can use this SWTOR New York Cantina Mount Code – NYCantina16 – to get a free in-game vehicle as well as a cosmetic reward.

Just log in/sign-up and go to your account page. Click “Code Redemption” on the side menu and enter the code NYCantina16. The next time you log in to the game and you will receive the Korrealis Sheriff speeder in your mailbox.You’ll also get one for every character you currently have and any you create in the future.

I’ve personally been playing SWTOR since early access 5 years ago. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable game and extremely well done. It has depth as well as fun and exciting game play for solo as well as group players. If you subscribe now, you’ll not only receive the KOTET expansion, but you’ll receive all previous expansions up to now. And, if you use this link, you’ll get some free gifts as well as a week of subscriber level benefits, if you were a past subscriber.

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