Greetings and welcome to Galactic Strongholds Early Access!

The introduction of Galactic Strongholds brings you a multitude of new features that have never been seen before in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!

Galactic Strongholds fulfills your dreams of owning your own home in the Star Wars™ universe, establishing your own Guild Headquarters in one of our four Stronghold locations, or conquering the galaxy in a formidable Guild Flagship!

We wanted to provide our players the choice of living in some of the most desirable locations available, each having an iconic look and feel. When you first arrive in your new Stronghold you will notice how each detail within your Stronghold perfectly fits the appropriate thematic feel of the corresponding planet where it is found. From there, we wanted to make sure that decorating your Stronghold would be easy, intuitive, and most importantly fun! There are an incredible amount of decorations available and all kinds of ways to get them. Everything from crafting to in-game vendors, Operations and Flashpoints will give you the chance to find new and exciting items with which to fill your Stronghold.

For the first time, Guilds also have a place to call their own. Guilds can establish their Headquarters in a Guild owned Stronghold or they can also choose to purchase a massive Flagship, which provides your Guild not only a true meeting place to gather, but now a way invade a planet and compete against other Guilds for total domination! Exactly how do I conquer a planet, you say? Conquests! Conquests are based on weekly objectives wrapped in a variety of themes that give you new incentive to visit familiar places. Some of these objectives will require a well-rounded group to complete whereas others can be done by yourself. Once you complete an objective, you will earn points towards your Conquest goal both on an individual basis, which helps you earn personal rewards, but also towards your Guild score and help your Guild climb the leaderboard. The Guild in the top spot at the end of the week will conquer the planet they have invaded and will be rewarded with special perks while on that planet. If your Guild does manage to conquer a planet, anyone who visits while under your control will know exactly who came out on top!

We believe that this digital expansion provides something for everyone. You may wish to just sit back and relax in your personal Stronghold, basking in the glory of past achievements or add to your collection by crafting, exploring, battling or perusing the market. Or you may choose to hyperspace across the galaxy with guild mates, both old and new, and take on the risky prospect of battling our new Commanders, found deep within enemy territory. This particular feature gives a whole new meaning to open world PvP and will certainly give your guild a reason to create strategies and weigh risk versus reward.

There’s still plenty more included in this expansion that I haven’t scratched the surface on, such as our new tactical Flashpoint, Depths of Manaan, and much more. We are incredibly excited to bring you Galactic Strongholds and can’t wait to see you in game!

Jack Wood

Producer