Broadsword announced that SWTOR Update 7.6 Galactic Threads is releasing mid December 2024. The game update will feature a return to Ilum, a brand new Raid boss and a new gameplay content system called Dynamic Encounters!

Introduction

SWTOR 7.6 Galactic Threads was teased back at the end of the 7.5.1 livestream for Galactic Season 7, only hinting at what is coming in text form. On the 10th of October, SWTOR released a youtube video showing off the upcoming Public Test announcement for 7.6 Galactic Threads.
SWTOR 7.6 will release on December 2024 however the story will not be available until at least January 2025 due to quality control delays.

Game Story Content

LEGACY OF THE SITH SPOILERS AHEAD – LEGACY OF THE SITH SPOILERS AHEAD

The loyal Shae Vizla side of the Mandalorians ask the player for help on Odessen in tracking down Shae Vizla.

Remote Trading Outpost Bundle

Remote Trading Outpost Bundle has embedded rewards and quests inside the Cartel Bundle.

Comlink Cutscene Window

The Comlink window is a new KOTOR cutscene adjacent UI to handle interactive conversations with in SWTOR.

Player Character Overhaul

PVP Season 7

The Plumed Hunter and Plumed Trapper armor sets will be available to all players for the duration of PVP Season 7.

The Feathered Range and Feathered Huntmaster armor sets will be permanently available for PVP Tokens at the PVP Vendor on Fleet.

Life Day Event

Mac Launcher

Broadsword is confident it will either release soon or be opened to a larger audience in the next few weeks!

Companion Mounts

Any player that has a Subscription between November 29th and January 4th will get the Companion and Pet Mount: Meirm Cicada for free via in-game mail after 7.6 Releases.
Some companions such as Bessi do not work with this mount due to the companion size.

B1-SAL Droid

B1-SAL is based on B2EMO from the Andor Disney+ series. You can earn B1-SAL as a reward for playing the 7.6 Galactic Threads PTS coming soon.

Here are the requirements to earn B1-SAL the Prove Droid:

You need to complete:
25 Dynamic Encounters on Hoth as a Republic Character
25 Dynamic Encounters on Hoth as an Imperial Character
25 Dynamic Encounters on Tatooine as a Republic Character
25 Dynamic Encounters on Tatooine as an Imperial Character

For a guide on how to both install and play the pts, as well as a strategy guide to ALL the rewards on offer:

How to install the PTS

New Character Customisations

Vaylin Hair

Vaylin inspired ‘Ossus Padawan’ hairstyle is now available at character creator for Free to all players!

The haircut is available in the character creator/editor for free to all female characters (except Twi’lek, Rattataki, Nautolan, Zabrak and Togruta).

Shaved Hair and Braidhawk

Two new hairstyles, the Skeleton Crew inspired Shaved Hair and the Braidhawk will be available for purchase at the release of 7.6 in December.

Master the Fight Starbolt Edition Bundle

Price $99.99 USD | $149.95 AUD

This is a real world bundle that costs $99.99 USD, in this bundle you are given:
180 days of subscription time,
5,500 Cartel Coins,
Vectron 240R Starbolt Mount (rideable at level 1 and has a quick burst mode),
Primary Metallic Yellow Dye (x5 per character) and Secondary Metallic Yellow Dye (x5 per character).

The rough estimate or total cost in USD without the bundle is:
180 Days Subscription + 600 Cartel Coins every 30 days over 180 days $77.94 USD
5500 Cartel Coins $39.99
Mount – N/A
5x Metallic Dye Cost (if we consider all x10 dyes to be x5 full dyes) 8,750 Cartel Coins or approx $70 USD in Cartel Coins.

Total Cost of individual items (without mount) $ 187.93 USD

Therefore I only suggest this bundle IF you are a player that regularly buys the 180 days of subscription package as well as at least 5500 Cartel coins a year. It will only be available until the 14th of January.

You save roughly $17 USD before Mount and Dye cost is taken into account.

New Raidboss Propagator Core XR-53

Propagator Core XR-53 is a new Operation boss that will be available to play in both 8 man Story and 8 man Veteran mode for all subscribed level 80 players.

Eric Musco said to bring your best geared players and most skilled friends as it ‘won’t go down easy’. I am assuming this means that the boss will be designed for players wearing Item Rating 340 gear.

The Operation takes place on the Emperor’s Fortress, that has since crashed into Ilum since the end of the Battle for Ilum, which took place shortly after Corellia in the game story.
Propagator Core XR-53 will feature for testing on the 7.6 PTS when it becomes available.

Augments in 7.6

The 83 augments are made to be crafted by everyone at level 80, while the purple and blue 86 augments require materials exclusive to the new XR-53 raidboss.

New Graphics Update

There are several major Graphics Overhauls in SWTOR 7.6 Galactic Threads, notably on Ilum, Hoth, Tython and Dromund Kaas!
For a fully detailed breakdown and video:

Ilum Comparison Video

New Sith Statue Decorations

New Statues of the Sith have been added to Korriban, Dromund Kaas, the Imperial Fleet and everywhere else in SWTOR. Roughly half of the old metal statues of the Sith have been upgraded with higher quality and reflective metal textures as well as a new face that looks much closer to Emperor Vitiate. Others remain unchanged.

Korriban Comparison Video

New Korriban

Korriban has had a complete overhaul to its ambience and atmospheric lighting across the entire planet. Both the upper Valley of the Dark Lords around the Korriban Academy as well as the ambience in the Lower Wilds has all been drastically changed.

Valley of the Dark Lords Overhaul

The brown slave statues and walls of Korriban have been replaced with brand new, high detailed orange walls and statues.

The Lower Wilds has also recieved some drastic ambience changes to both the desert as well as the entrances to the many tombs across the planet. There are also visible clouds in the distance behind the mountains of the Lower Wilds now.

The entrances to many tombs have had new large statues holding spears added, with a much brighter orange fog added across the entire Valley of the Dark Lords.

Korriban Tombs

The insides of many Tombs across Korriban have all been changed. The stone floors and statues of Sith have all been replaced with much higher resolution and poppier colors. While many of the wall details such as sith writing and stone walls have also had their cartoony graphics replaced with realistic writing and stone walls.

Many tombs, such as the Tomb of Naga Sadow have been made darker and their purple lighting replaced with dark red. The floors, walls and Sith statues in the tombs have also all been graphically updated. The sith writing on the walls has also been graphically updated to be clearer and stand out.

Hoth Update

The Ice wall and mountain textures on Hoth have been updated. The old blue ice texture has been updated to have a white sheen and a high detailed blue reflective texture when viewed up close.

New Snow

There are several new rock, snow and metallic wall texture updates available across Hoth as well. The overall blinding white seems to have been reduced by the new texture quality in some areas.

Tython Comparison Video

New Tython Details

Tython has recieved several new subtle detail changes. The Jedi Temple now has high resolution stone floor and wall textures. Several Jedi have also been updated to have Yellow or Orange lightsabers around the Jedi Academy.
All Jedi Padawan’s training sabers now glow with yellow light on the environment and nearby NPCs, where as before they just had a thin white light.

Tython Trees and Grass

All trees, dirt and grass textures and their shadows on Tython have been updated with high detailed flowers, moss and mud patches that didn’t exist before.

Distant Mountains on Tython have been updated with more detailed and shaded cracks and crevices, the moss and grass along the mountain edges has been made brighter and placed in new areas.
New high detailed trees and leaves have been added across all of Tython, including much more realistic tree trunks and shadows on the ground that are also animated to move in the wind.

Several buildings and dead trees across the Gnarls and the Forge towards the South of Tython have also recieved graphical updates, including the Tomb of Rajivari with a much higher resolution Jedi symbol painted on.

New Ilum Map

The planet map for Ilum has been updated, many of the ice spikes on the map have been removed, which better help see the actual playable areas of Ilum, most notably around the top edges of the Gree Event zone on the North-West corner of the map.

SWTOR has also added yellow roads to the Gree Event zone area which should help with navigation.

New Ilum Graphics

Not only has Ilum been updated with new Ice and Snow graphics, but there have been several major lighting updates across the entire planet that give the planet a brighter feeling in the light and a darker feeling in the shadows.

New Locations Added to Ilum

New Areas, Quicktravel and Taxi Points have been added to the abandoned West Ilum Ice Shelf which was removed after the release of 1.0 Ilum PVP in 2011.

As you can see by the above image, new roads and pathways have literally been cut into the ice to allow players access to the Western Ilum Ice Shelf PvP zone from 2011. This area was previously cut off from players unless they travelled through a secret tunnel inside the Gree PVP event area.
The Western Ilum Ice Shelf is now a PvP-free area and has both quicktravel and medical respawn bases for both Republic and Imperial players.

Both Republic and Imperial home bases on Ilum have also been updated with new graphics as well as a new Instanced area!

The doorway appears to lead players into a new Operation (raid) and is found opposite the entry point to the Battle of Ilum and the False Emperor Flashpoint doorways inside both the Republic’s and Empire’s base on Ilum.

Dynamic Encounters

Dynamic Encounters are a brand new gameplay system coming to SWTOR in 7.6 Galactic Threads.
Dynamic Encounters breathe life into planets, creating time limited events from dangerous combat encounters to quirky little quests.

You can see every possible Dynamic Encounter in a new ‘Events’ button next to the Codex on each planet’s Travel Screen on the Galaxy Map.

Dynamic Encounters may look like Green Stars on your Minimap when on planets, so keep an eye out for any active ones as you are exploring the planet.
Dynamic Encounters appear to take place on the following planets: Tatooine, Hoth, Alderaan, Quesh, Makeb and Nar Shaddaa.

Dynamic Tatooine Encounters

One of the Dynamic Encounters shown off on Tatooine is the Imperial Attack. This mission appears to last for 21 minutes and involves killing 20 Imperial Troopers before time runs out.
Other players can join in and help complete the Dynamic Encounter together without being in a group.

Once all Imperials have been defeated, a Boss will spawn. All players that participated in defeating the boss seem to get credit for completing the Dynamic Encounter: Imperial Attack!

Another Dynamic Encounter shared on the trailer was Road Gig 1, which seems to be exclusive to Republic Players.

Road Gig 1 appears to involve killing Womp Rats across the desert and looting them to build up percentages of repairing the Band’s musical instruments and Speeders. When all Speeders are repaired to 100% the Dynamic Encounter completes.

See all Dynamic Encounters on Tatooine:

Dynamic Hoth Encounters

There also appears to be many Dynamic Encounters on Hoth.

The Hidden Chain Invaison on Hoth appears to require calling in Allied Reinforcements, Killing multiple Hidden Chain enemies and recovering lost ammunition. Once you complete all three tasks before time runs out, a Boss will spawn that needs to be killed to complete the Dynamic Encounter.

See all Dynamic Encounters on Hoth:

Dynamic Encounter Rewards

While completing any Dynamic Encounter rewards you with 50 tech fragments, there are many special rewards that can be earned from playing Dynamic Encounters, here are what has been uncovered so far on the PTS:

Pet Riding Mounts

Completing the meta-achievement for the Tatooine and Hoth Encounters will grant players the Desert Sand and Frozen Peaks Mounts.

Both of these mounts allow your pets to ride on the back of the mount as you travel around the world.

Hidden Chain and Electric Gaze Armor Set

The Hidden Chain armor set can be earned piece-by-piece by completing Hidden Chain Invasions! Each Hidden Chain Invasion has a small chance to drop a random piece of the Hidden Chain armor set.
Hidden Chain Invasions occur roughly once an hour, each Hidden Chain armor piece is bound to legacy.

Freckled Loth-Cat Kitten

The Freckled Loth-Cat Kitten or ‘Catpuccino’ is a rare reward from dynamic encounters on Hoth. Upon completing a Dynamic Encounter there is a small chance that a random player may recieve a Freckled Loth-Cat Kitten as a pet reward.

Retired Cartel Market Armor Sets

There are several unobtainable Cartel Market armor sets such as the Guard Captain or Czerka Avalanche armor set that has returned as a Fitted armor set, obtainable through completing random Dynamic Encounters.

You can see which retired Cartel Market armor sets can be earned when you play Dynamic Encounters through the World Map.

New Galaxy Map Graphics

Some new star shaped planet map icons have been seen in the 7.6 PTS Trailer video including both Green and Yellow/Red stars. It appears that all maps with a Green Star represent active/unstarted Dynamic Encounters and a Yellow/Red star may represent either some kind of special Dynamic Encounter.

Amethyst Vulptilla

An Amethyst Vulptilla mount has been found in the decorations window on the PTS. While the mount doesn’t exist in collections or in the mounts list, it is listed as a twitch livestream promotional reward.

Tirsa G1-F7 Lifeday Mount

A new mount by the name of Tirsa G1-F7 (Gift) has been found in the decorations window, this mount appears to be a red sleigh like vehicle stacked with presents in the passengers seat.

New Armor Sets

Mysterious Rogue Armor Set (comes with and without Jacket)

The Ornate Lifeday Armor Set (Left) will be available to all players at the Lifeday Event Vendor starting in december! The right image shows the same outfit with a Red and White dye.

New Weapons

Fearless Buccaneer Weapons Set

New Enhanced Dyes

The new Metallic Gray/Chrome White and Chrome White/Metallic Gray dyes have been applied in the second and third panels.

New Pets

The D5-CO DJ Droid is a new pet in SWTOR. It appears to be a pink and purple Gonk Droid with an internal record player and disco ball that plays music, likewise the Baby Dianoga is a new floating minipet. Both of these pets are obtainable to players that purchase and unlock the Remote Trading Outpost Bundle on the Cartel Market.

New Decorations

There are a multitude of new decorations on the PTS. Each decoration comes in two versions being a broken version from the Decoration Bundle and a repaired version that appears to originate from the Remote Trading Outpost quests unlocked with the Bundle.

Thanks to Ranadiel on Reddit for these images.

Remote Trading Outpost Bundle Quests

While looking through the inside of the new collections log on the PTS, I discovered that there is at least one Quest exclusive to purchase through the Cartel Market. The ‘Outpost Repair’ quests are unlocked when purchasing the Remote Trading Outpost Bundle.
Completion of these quests will reward you with special copies of the Cartel Bundle decorations and 2 pets.

Meirm Cicada Companion Mount

The Meirm Cicada is SWTOR’s first Companion Accessible Mount which appears to be a copy of the children’s Speeder Bike from the upcoming Skeleton Crew show.

Any player with a subscription between November 29th and January 4th will get this mount for free after the release of 7.6 via in-game mail!

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