Star Wars: The Old Republic’s next expansion is all about mixing things up

Star Wars: The Old Republic is turning ten, and a new expansion to the story-based MMO is on the way. On Thursday, BioWare announced a new expansion called Legacy of the Sith, which comes with tons of story and mechanical upgrades to the game.

Players get to hunt down the renegade Sith Darth Malgus on the aquatic planet of Manaan. Malgus has been a threat in the game since the very beginning, and the conflict with him has been building throughout various quests and campaigns.

After Star Wars: The Old Republic’s launch in 2011, the story took a diversion into exploring a third faction, the Eternal Empire. More recent expansions have returned The Old Republic to the very familiar battleground of Empire versus Republic, and the conflict will continue as the sides battle over Manaan.

Legacy of the Sith will raise the level cap by 5, up to 80, and will also introduce a new Flash Point and Operations for players to tackle together. In addition, players can expect some big improvements to day-to-day play style. The character customization, class design, and itemization is all being streamlined and improved.

The most interesting addition is Combat Styles, which means “independently choosing a specific class story and combining it with ability sets from other related tech or Force-wielding classes.” In short, it’s less about picking one class and being restrained to specific abilities, and more about going with a tech or Force character, then mixing and matching components to build a playing style you enjoy.

Legacy of the Sith will arrive during the holiday season in 2021, and kick off The Old Republic’s 10th anniversary event, which runs throughout 2022.