BioWare previews Star Wars: The Old Republic 1.2 update

In their weekly fan Q&A, BioWare dropped some major details about upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic update 1.2.  Earlier this month, in a previous Q&A, BioWare mentioned they had "big plans" for SWTOR PvP in update 1.2.  Today, they mentioned some of the additional features in the upcoming update, including endgame crafting, a streamlined Space Port process, and all-new animations.

One of the many complaints about SWTOR and their crafting system is the little incentive to choose Crew Crafting Skills outside of Biochem because all of the "better" end game gear can be acquired through PvE and PvP.  Thankfully, BioWare is addressing this with the upcoming patch.

"With the upcoming Game Update 1.2, we are adding endgame crafting for all professions," explained Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller. "This includes augment crafting, the ability to crit-craft custom (orange) gear with augment slots, new endgame schematics, new color crystals, expanded and improved research and reverse engineering and much more (we're up to 4 pages of crew skill related patch notes in 1.2. alone)."

"Combined with new features such as the ability to extract base-mods from purple items (including the set bonus) and the improved color matching feature, crafters of all professions will find themselves in a lot of demand once the update hits."

BioWare is also looking at streamlining the much aligned Space Port process.  While there are currently no plans to implement a quick travel to your ship, BioWare is adding the option for players to go directly to their ships from the planet's surface shuttles.  This will particularly help players on planets with Orbital Stations instead of Space Ports, like Tython, Korriban, Hoth, and Belsavis.  No longer will players have to run through the Orbital Station to their airlocks.

Of course, with such a major update, game balance and tweaks are coming as well.  Perhaps one of the more useful ones, in terms of competitive play, is animation timing and combat responsiveness.  SWTOR has been accused of lacking both of these.

"The animation team has been working on a new set of animations for abilities like the Trooper's Mortar Volley to provide closer matching of animation timings and improved combat responsiveness," Zoeller said. "We expect to roll these changes out with Game Update 1.2."

And for those looking for the less serious gameplay changes, BioWare has plans to add some new emotes.

"Even cooler, we now have tech that allows us to grant emotes as rewards for various game systems. In Game Update 1.2, we have several emotes planned as unlocked rewards of the Legacy System," Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert added. "My favorite is the special dance that is so inspiring that your companion feels the urge to boogie down with you."

There is no confirmed release date for the Star Wars: The Old Republic 1.2 update yet, but it is expected to arrive some time in March.