Hopefully, you’ve seen our other coverage of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community cantina that took place this past weekend. If not, you will want to read that before we jump into what BioWare Creative Director Charles Boyd told Massively OP friend and Bothan spy Eliot W. during Star Wars Celebration. Boyd gave our Cypher Nine extensive details on the Tactical gear slot, what it means for defining your personal playstyle, and how it impacts the current systems.

The biggest thing that Boyd wanted to get across to all new and returning players is that the new gear progression system will contain multiple paths to earn good gear and that it wouldn’t be “just like what you had before but with bigger numbers.” In fact, the developers wanted to avoid that kind of power-creep with the new system, although that will likely be impossible to eliminate completely because the new expansion Onslaught increases the level cap by five levels.

Based on Boyd’s statements intercepted by the MOPIA (Massively OP Intelligence Agency), players with similar classes and disciplines will seek out the same stats as they always have, but the new set bonuses will reflect the player’s style or gameplay preferences. Although Boyd didn’t announce all the different types of bonuses, he did mention that one of the bonuses might be a movement-speed enhancement. He emphasized that the reason certain bonuses fail would be because they didn’t work in that situation not because the other team had a bigger gear score. There will be bonuses that focus on PvP, endgame PvE, and crafting. Yes, there will be Tactical bonuses that will improve crafting.

The ways to earn these bonuses will practically be unchanged. Of course, Onslaught introduces new content, but the means of earning gear remains the same. PvE, PvP, Galactic Command, Conquests, and crafting remain the different paths for acquiring gear and Tactical bonuses. For players that might be new to acquiring gear, Boyd said that there would be clear and valid ways for players to earn the bonuses they are looking for.

In the future, perhaps in update 6.2 or higher, Boyd wants to give players a better understanding of what the Discipline Utilities do. Although he didn’t give any specifics on what he will do, he explained that he wants to avoid a situation where there is a rigid grid of icons and players pick a few of them. But that’s well past the Onslaught launch at this point.

Watch for the Hyperspace Beacon later this week for a roundup of things that might have gone unnoticed from the Onslaught announcement. And a big shout out goes to our embedded operative Eliot for getting us the scoop from Star Wars Celebration. Don’t give away his position; we don’t want him captured, or worse, turned to the Light Side.

Source: MOP friend and Bothan spy Eliot W. Thanks, Eliot!