Episode 124: You Had Me at Copero!

This week on the show, we’re going back to Copero, and we might not leave. Don’t worry, we’ll still be alive. I’ll explain what I mean.

Also, this week, Date Night is coming to the Old Republic. I’ll tell you all about these special repeatable missions.

Finally, this week, I’ll tell you about PvP Season 5, Game Update 7.5, and the big Cartel Market Sale happening right now. 

Transcript

Episode 124 of the State of the Old Republic Podcast was originally recorded on February 20th – 2024.

It’s the State of the Old Republic Podcast. 

 This week on the show, we’re going back to Copero, and we might not leave. Don’t worry, we’ll still be alive. I’ll explain what I mean.  Also, this week, Date Night is coming to the Old Republic. I’ll tell you all about these special repeatable missions.  Finally, this week, I’ll tell you about PvP Season 5, Game Update 7.5, and the big Cartel Market Sale happening right now.

 And with that it’s time to make the jump to lightspeed and cue the moron.

 Welcome to Episode 124 of the State of The Old Republic Podcast, I’m your host Ted, and as you heard in the opening, I have a great show lined up for you today.

On February 14th, The SWTOR Dev held a livestream to detail all the features coming in Game Update 7.4.1.

There’s Galactic Seasons 6 and the Copero Stronghold. There’s PvP Season 5. Date Night with Companions. Art modernizations. Character transfers to Shae Vizla, and more Ashoka themed armors and weapons for the Cartel Market.

There’s a lot of great stuff in this update, but I’ll be honest with you - they had me at Copero.

Deep in the unknown regions of space in the Southeast Sector of the Chiss Ascendancy lies the beautiful world of Copero. A world that we will soon be able to call home.

That’s because the Copero stronghold, that’s right I said Copero stronghold, is the big reward that we will receive by participating in Galactic Seasons 6 – Building a Foundation.

As we all know, the Chiss aren’t the most welcoming species in the galaxy. The one and only time we visited Copero was during the Traitor Among the Chiss storyline. And the invitation to visit Copero was a really big deal.

Outsiders have never been allowed on Copero. You trust us that much? I do have one stipulation. I'll send a representative along to keep the Ascendancy's best interests in mind.

The Chiss let us on Copero, and we marveled at the beautiful sunset, lush palm trees, and snowcapped mountains all while blowing up droids, decimating Chiss Security forces, and inserting ourselves in the center of Chiss Ascendancy politics. 

Given all of that, why on earth would the Chiss ever invite us back to Copero, never mind let us establish a home there?

Here is what Eric Musco said about why we’re going back to Copero.

You're going to work with the Inrokini Chiss family because they want to learn about the strength of the other species around the galaxy. So they're going to be working with that family to bring them records of galactic events in exchange for some Chiss technology.

There'll be some really fun stuff that you'll experience throughout this storyline, so we're really excited for you to do that.

Speaking for myself, I’ve wanted a Copero stronghold ever since I set foot inside the Traitor Among the Chiss flashpoint back in 2017. It’s been a long wait, indeed. I’ll admit that there have been times where I have run the flashpoint for no other reason than to visit Copero and take in the scenery.

Alright, let’s dive into how we’ll get the stronghold. It’s not just a simple reward from Galactic Seasons. Yes, we’ll get it right away, but it will take some work to get it fully unlocked as additional rooms are tied to the story and rewards track.

Here’s Eric Musco with the details on how it will work.

You're going to gain the first main area as part of the first story mission, and then the next two story missions, because again, there's usually three story missions that are a part of the, uh, the Galactic Season track. So free to play players will get three of the stronghold rooms as just playing from the story missions as a part of the galactic season track.

If you're a subscriber, so in the subscriber track, you'll get access to three additional rooms as part of your subscriber track in the galactic season track. And then if you want, you can purchase three more rooms as a part of, for, with, you can purchase with cartel coins.

It should be noted that just like in previous seasons, the story missions are tied to specific levels on the Galactic Seasons Track. We’ll acquire the stronghold at level one, the next story mission becomes available at level 15, and the final mission at level 40.

During the livestream the SWTOR devs showed off some screenshots of the stronghold, I’ve actually posted them and the video of the stronghold on my Instagram page, more on that later.

Now, I prefer small and medium-size strongholds, and Copero looks huge. That said, no matter how big it is, it won’t be big enough. The place looks stunning.

Like you, I’ve only seen the video and screenshots, and I’m excited about all of it. Well, mostly all of it.

One thing you'll notice in here is there's NPCs standing there. Well, that's because you're going to get your missions inside of the Stronghold. And that's actually where you go back to as part of the Galactic Season storyline.

So, the beautiful Copero stronghold, perhaps that most amazing stronghold the team has ever created, the stronghold to end all strongholds – comes with a home invader? A squatter? Dare I say, a roommate? This is wrong on so many levels.

And if you’ve seen the screenshots, this stranger danger isn’t even Chiss! They’re Nautolan.  Maybe we can charge them rent and utilities.

While the Copero stronghold is the big seasonal reward, it’s not the only reward we’re getting in Galactic Seasons 6. While they didn’t go into a lot of detail Eric and Jackie did tease some of things on the rewards track.

There's a whole bunch of other stuff that you get as part of the Galactic Season track, and we're only going to show you just a very, very small portion of it. There is, uh, mounts, armor sets, all of the other things that you'd normally expect that you'd get.

There's a metallic die pack that you get as part of the track as well, which we're also not going to show you today. Um, so just stay tuned for the Galactic Season article. Can I say it? It's purple.

Purple is one of my favorite colors, so I can’t wait to see that metallic dye pack. Now, in past seasons the dyes have come in stacks of ten. I’ll be curious to see if they do the same thing with this one.

So that’s a look at Galactic Seasons 6 but wait there’s more. Coming up I’ll tell you about Date Night with Companions, and I’ll tell you what we know about Game Update 7.5.

But first here’s some info. on armors, dyes, decorations, and other cool items you can expect with 7.4.1.

To go along with that Copero stronghold, there will be a Copero themed utility bundle. These are things like Cargo Holds, Mailboxes, GTN Kiosks, and Item Modification Stations.

The SWTOR Team is also doing an art modernization on existing utility decorations. They’ll have lights and small animations.

And if you already own these, which most of us do, they will be updated automagically.

There is a new stronghold decoration of Darth Krovos that you can claim. Go to SWTOR.COM/redeem and enter the code LotSKrovos. That’s L-O-T-S-K-R-O-V-O-S. And remember when entering the code, capitalization does not matter, but spelling does.

For the Cartel Market, there is a new Pink/Red Metallic Dye. That’s available now and will remain for sale until February 29th.

In March, a new Green/Gold Metallic Dye will go on sale. And with the release of 7.4.1, there are some new armor sets and weapons inspired by the Ahsoka Series on Disney+.

There’s the Prime Centurion armor set based on the character Enoch, and the Gothic Master armor set based on the characters Marrok, Baylon and Shin.

The weapons that you can get are the Gothic Master Dualsaber and the Gothic Master Lightsaber.

And finally, there is a giant Cartel Market Sale currently happening for Decorations and Armor Sets. You’ll see these discounted anywhere from 25 to 90% off. The sale ends on February 29th.

If you are into romancing companions, you might want to take advantage of that Cartel Market sale and pick yourself up some nice threads, because in 7.4.1 we are getting Date Night with our most special companions.

So, what exactly is Date Night? Here is what Narrative Director, Ahsley Ruhl said about it during the livestream.

So this is a new narrative feature. It's a alliance, uh, alert cinematic only mission. Where you get to spend some time with your romance companion in a very unique environment. Uh, and just time to give you, you know, with your love interest. Uh, and each date is very unique to the companion. So it might be a thoughtful game of Dejarik, might be drinks at the cantina, or maybe even a little bit of sparring. Uh, this is also going to be a weekly repeatable mission, so you don't have to just play it once, you can play it as many times as you want.

7.4.1 will allow you to experience Date Night with four companions. Lana Beniko, Theron Shan, Koth Vortena, and Arcann.

Obviously if you haven’t romanced one of these companions, then well no Date Night for you. But keep in mind, this is the beginning, and over time, we will get Date Night with other companions. Here is Ashley Ruhl again, talking about future Date Nights.

I'm happy to say that starting with 7. 4. 1, we'll be releasing one to two new date nights per, uh, alongside Galactic Seasons with, uh, new Romanceable Companions, uh, to try and cover the whole gamut of Romanceable Companions in the game.

Obviously, that list is very long, but we're very passionate about making sure these scenes are very personal, unique to each Companion, and that, you know, they matter to my, uh, they matter to us as much as they matter to you, so we're, like, very, uh, excited about making sure That, uh, they're very unique and special.

As Ashley mentioned, there is a long list of romanceable companions out there. I would say at least 20 beyond the initial four. So, 1-2 per Galactic Season could mean about six per year. So yeah, it’s going to be a while before we see them all.

Now they did mention that these will be cinematic missions only. And let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a good date night without an on-screen hug and kiss.

Now we’ve been experiencing these loving embraces and on-screen smooches ever since the game launched in 2011. Well, it turns out that creating these romantic moments might not be that easy to pull off.

World of Warcraft, which turns 20 this year, recently had their first-ever cinematic with an on-screen kiss. Here is what Warcraft Cinematic Narrative Director Terran Gregory said about this.

And one of the reasons you don't see many hugs in video games is just because when models of characters with big spiky shoulder plates or horns or beards get close to each other, they start intersecting  or causing all these different mishmash of geometric stuff to happen as the two of them come together.

The fact that it isn't just a collision of game geometry, but actually looks convincing. There is so much more work to making that clean than is evident by what you think is just… there it is.

I’d be lying if I said I knew anything about the technical differences between World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I imagine that when it comes to cinematics, that character models, art, game physics, and geometry all play out similarly.

If creating romanceable moments was challenging for the WoW team, I’m guessing it’s no walk in the park for the SWTOR team, but they’ve been doing it for 12 years.

In an article posted to SWTOR.COM in 2021, Ashley Ruhl talked a little bit about the romance cinematics in Star Wars: The Old Republic. In the article she states,

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I love crafting romance scenes in SWTOR. Relationship moments are fantastic opportunities for character performance in cutscenes, getting to know your companions beyond the saber slashing and blaster fire. The wide array of romanceable characters also gives us variety in our acting choices. How Jorgan approaches romance is different than Vette, and we bring that into their physical performance. Carefully choosing the perfect animations for an eye glance, a weight shift, a kiss… really makes these scenes a delight to create. Additionally, with so many kinds of player characters, it’s an incredible design opportunity to build romance scenes that can feel differently based on the character you’re playing, and even have different outcomes! One of my favorite romance scenes, reuniting with a particular Sith Warrior companion on Iokath, plays out in extremely different ways depending on your choices. I enjoyed creating visual emotional payoff for all of those branches, knowing that they each led to a very different kind of story.

No mention in the article about any technical challenges they face in creating their romance cinematics. So, while it may be new ground for the World of Warcraft team, for the Ashly Ruhl and the SWTOR Devs - creating these intimate moments might just be another Tuesday.

If you don’t have the special virtual someone, or Date Night doesn’t go quite as planned. You say the wrong thing, fidget with your data pad the whole night, or glance at the fine Zabrak at the other end of the bar. – You can always take out your frustrations in a battleground with PvP Season 5 – Pirates Plunder.

PvP Season 5 begins on February 27th. So, it’s independent of the 7.4.1 update. This season you can earn the Legacy Title of Ruthless Warlord, the Character Title of – The Mutineer. And there’s also a new Flair – The Pirate’s Bounty.

Of course, there are also new armor sets and decorations. On the rewards track you can get the Cunning Plunderer and Outlaw Battler armor sets. And on the PvP vendor you can get the Plunderer’s Greed and Outlaw Warrior armor sets.

The armor sets are similar, just different color variations. And I have to say, given the Pirate theme for this PvP Season, the armor sets don’t look all that “Piratey”. And I know they can do pirate themed armor as evidence by the gear you get doing the Shadow of Revan story. 

Decorations you can get are the Season 5 trophies, the Cunning Plunderer Armor Display, and the Battler Trophy. I believe there are some Season 5 banners as well.

Once again, PvP Season 5 – Pirate’s Plunder begins on February 27th. Yo-ho-ho.

Well, I think that’s everything you need to know for Game Update 7.4.1. So, what’s next on the horizon for the Old Republic? 

Well, that would be Game Update 7.5 – Desperate Defiance which is the next major story update. There has been a lot of speculation on where we might be going in 7.5. 

In fact, back in late December, Shintar from Going Commando, wrote a blog post titled – Will We Return to Hutta in 7.5. She dove headlong into the deep end of the theory crafting pool assembling all the clues and bits of speculation from the larger SWTOR Community.

In her post she wrote,

At the end of my review of Chains in the Dark, I asked whether anyone knew who the Rodian on the loading screen was, since I hadn't encountered a character like him anywhere in the story. At the time I just wondered whether there was some story variation or side mission that I'd missed, but the subject ended up sparking some interesting conversations on Discord, during which Jawaface and Kal pointed out that there were actually other things on the splash art that hadn't featured in the story, such as the Hutt Palace on the right side of the screen, and the ring structure that surrounds the logo in front of Heta.

Later in her post, Shintar wrote,

Now, my first thought was that maybe there had once been a plan to have 7.4's story take place on Hutta for Imperial characters, but on second pass that didn't really make sense as - even if that had ever been the plan - it would have had to be scrapped long ago, leaving them with plenty of time to come up with an updated image.

But what if Hutta wasn't something that was scrapped, but rather something that's still to come? When 7.4 was first announced, I noted that revisiting Ord Mantell matched something Keith had said for the tenth anniversary, that we'd get to "return to where your character’s journey first began so long ago". This has now come true for Republic (tech-using) characters - going to Hutta next would make for a nice mirror experience for Imperials.

During the livestream, Eric Musco, confirmed Shintar’s theory,

Those of you with a very keen eye may have noticed if you pulled out your magnifying glass and looked deeply at our key art from seven four. We're going to Hutta! That's right, so in 7. 4 we took you to Ord Mantell, which was a fun experience for, uh, Empire players to be able to just go trudging through Ord Mantell, because you're not supposed to be there. Well, good news, Pub players, now you're going to Hutta, where you're not supposed to be. Um, kind of.

Um, so, anyway, if you, again, if you go, now go take a look at the 7. 4 key art, you'll notice we kind of left some, some, some, clues there, um, that were actually beyond the scope of 7. 4 storyline as it kind of branches over through the thing, the events that will happen in 7. 5. So stay tuned as we'll talk more about what's coming in 7.5 storyline.

Game Update 7.5 will also include the conclusion of Lane Vizla’s research which Eric Musco said is both adorable and terrifying and we will have our work cut out for us.

Game Update 7.5 will introduce a new Spring Event that takes place on Dantooine. This will be along the lines of the Nightlife event and the Feast of Prosperity which take place in Summer and Fall respectively.

As to when Game Update 7.5 will be released, well, here is what Keith said in livestream,

Well, the release date for 7.5 is… Ha ha ha ha!

Eric Musco did draw attention to the fact that the new event in 7.5 is a “Spring” event. 

That means we should expect Desperate Defiance to go live by the end of June – Unless he was talking about Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case that could be anywhere between September and November.

Okay, some final notes before I let you go. I thought the livestream was great. It was silly but not amateurish or juvenile, and it was informative. We got a lot of great information out of it. 

Jackie Ko mentioned that it was the first time they’ve done a livestream that wasn’t for a major patch, and I hope they continue to do more of these. Besides, who doesn’t like getting free decorations.

Hey, SWTOR Team, there’s you tagline for you livestreams – Come for the Deco, Stay for Info.

There’s no specific release date for Game Update 7.4.1 other than March 2024, and it doesn’t look like this is going up on the PTS either, so we’ll just have to wait until March to see that beautiful Copero stronghold.

PvP Season 5 starts on February 27th, You have until February 29th to claim the Darth Krovos Decoration – code is LOTSKROVOS, and the Cartel Market Sale for Armor Sets and Decorations end on the 29th as well. *whew* 

And that’s the state of the Old Republic for today. Let me cut in the sub-light engines and cue the music, crack open a Corellian Ale, and congratulate you on surviving another 1/2 hour listening to Episode 124of The State of the Old Republic Podcast. 

I’m your host Ted and I thank you for tuning in.

You can find this podcast on Buzzsprout, and iTunes, wherever else you find your podcasts. I’m also back to putting these on YouTube.

You can listen to the show directly from the show site which is sotorpodcast.com, and there is an RSS feed where you can subscribe to the podcast directly.

If you have a question for the show, you can e-mail me at sotorpodcast@gmail.com.

Until next time, remember the Sith Code - Cake is a lie.