<FANCY ART PLACEHOLDER>

Hello there,

I present you all the first T:SWTOR report. Many of you I’ve had the pleasure of playing in-game with already or talked to via Discord but now that we’ve all settled in after the holidays it's time to get down to business. That means lovely reports from yours truly. This month will be a little different since it's the inaugural report, but in general, I will cover SWTOR updates, current guild targets, featured community shots, featured tools and events, etc... Of note in addition to the above, today I will be covering the game plan for our SWTOR way ahead and what I’d like to see moving forward. With that said, let’s get right into it!

---

SWTOR Way Ahead and Next Steps

In one sentence, my big goal as T:SWTOR is to get people to play SWTOR together more regularly. Multiplayer video games were made to play together and the best magic moments in this club from a gaming standpoint is when a group of people hang out together and just have fun. All my plans I outline below will be to achieve the above in a consistent and regular fashion.

Way Ahead

Step 0: The Setup and Status Quo [Complete]

This past month-ish, I’ve been reaching out to SWTOR players to get a good idea of what you want to get out of the game and getting in some playtime as well in some heroic runs. Conquest awards and weekly conquests are now on a regular schedule. A news feed has also been set up so we can all share relevant information with each other. Lastly, there is a SWTOR Bonanza #1 currently ongoing to kick things off.

Step 1: Pull together our initial DB SWTOR Network [In Progress]

Basically, we need to play more group content together and thus start forming 4 man groups. Whether it be heroics or flashpoints or galactic starfighter or silly group shots, we need to play together more. It is my hope that we have regular teams so that we can even start practicing roles like DPS, Tank, and Healer. This of course will include all general guild management like expanding our guild flagship, light recruitment, etc.

Step 2: Scale-up our group parties

Once we establish a nice group gaming rhythm, I’d like to see regular, full 4 man team activities and eventually 8+ party sizes for bigger events like world bosses or maybe a fun DB huttball matches (I have the stronghold that has its own huttball arena). Operations may be a possibility and a clear bonus but that isn’t the main target simply because we have many free-to-play players and operations require subscribing. Nonetheless, there are plenty of group activities to do! This of course will include all general guild management like expanding our guild flagship, etc.

Step 2b: Recruit more people to our SWTOR Network, full-court press

Recruitment is the lifeblood of our club and anything we really do. The same goes for SWTOR. As we look to scale up our group parties, the plan is to hit recruitment hard. This requires some forethought because we want them to join the website not just in-game.

Step 3: Profit

Enjoy the fruits of the time we put into the club and hanging out with each other.

Next Steps

This is a high-level plan but I like to keep things simple. My laser focus is on building an awesome community around SWTOR. That said, for those wanting to help do that there are a number of concrete things you could do to help:

• Join SWTOR matchmaking groups
  
• Volunteer to host a SWTOR group run
  
• Hit as many of the SWTOR competitions as you can, especially the group ones
  
• Encourage your fellow clanmates to play SWTOR together
  
• If you see anything you really want to do and we aren’t doing it yet, feel free to dm me
  

Some of you will already know me from my previous community events where SWTOR groups were formed and some of you are still getting to know me. I’ve been playing SWTOR for 2 years now and I’ve got numerous operations and flashpoint experiences by this point. I’ve also done many SWTOR community events. I care about community A LOT and I look forward to gaming together with you all to achieve the vision of one throwing one hell of a SWTOR party.

---

SWTOR News Update

The biggest news to hit SWTOR for a long time is a whole new expansion called Legacy of the Sith. It’s due to be released on February 15, 2022 so we still have a month to wait for it but we already know some big things that it will be changing. First, this includes a change to combat styles that will be a big departure from how things are currently done. Second, the way gearing works in the game is revamped completely. Third, the ways one earns credits are changing slightly. There are also things like changes to how character creation, new flashpoint, new legendary items, and new abilities/effects, etc… This isn’t just a new coat of paint. It will probably feel like a very different MMO. I’ll spare the details here but will provide you with a great resource if you want to read all the news about the new SWTOR release. I will say this though. For most of our SWTOR players here, the biggest impact you’ll see day to day when playing the game is that personal conquests now require 100K to get rewards instead of the current 50K. Also, we’ll all have to get used to the new gearing system. It will be a lot of fun and I personally am looking forward to them getting rid of the random number generator for some gearing systems. (tldr: you know my class can you give me the thing I need rather than make me roll a dice for it each time)

Some tips for now though to get ready for 7.0:

• Save up your credits and earn as many as you can!
  
• Stockpile as many high-level augmentation kits as you can. The new system won’t let you just jump to the highest apparently without turning in your current piece of gear.
  
• Don’t bother spending any of your tech fragments on armor set bonus, save up for when 7.0 comes. Unless you really want a cosmetic cool of one of those outfits because apparently, it's going to be hard to just buy the sets once 7.0 comes.
  
• Catch up with the SWTOR storyline as much as possible before 7.0. It earns you credits, XP boosts, and stuff.
  

In addition to the expansion, there are a number of events going on in January. There are some nice opportunities here. Details on all the below can be found here.

• They include the 10 year game anniversary, which lasts all the way till January 2023. More importantly, all previous anniversary rewards will also be available during this limited time as well.

• We also have the Feast of Prosperity, which is a story event going on until February 1st, 2022. This is a usual SWTOR month-long event where you get to advance a new story element of the game, specifically an extravagant party held by 2 Hutts vying for power. Some weeks have already been completed but you can still get in on the action and use the coins to get yourself some new decorations, emotes, armor, etc... Of note, the event is focused on cooking tasks. A guide is linked here.

• Third, we have the Rakghoul Resurgence on Tatooine, which has you containing an outbreak of the rakghoul virus on yet another planet. Of note, it is a great opportunity to resolve your ‘Alliance Contact - Doctor Lokin’ mission if you haven’t yet. This runs from January 25 - February 1, 2022.

Overall, it's a very exciting time to play SWTOR and I hope you all are excited about it as well.

SWTOR Competition Highlights

In order to help achieve a better SWTOR community, I’ll be putting out regular SWTOR competitions designed to get you all playing together. Some will be new ideas and some will be old ones but they will all encourage group camaraderie. I call a SWTOR Bonanza and we are currently in our first bonanza. In December, we had some great group entries, which I’ll show off very shortly I promise. January offers similar opportunities. For your convenience, I’ve put together a short review of them below.

• [FIST] Time To Save The Day #1: Person who earns the most clusters playing SWTOR wins. You can only earn them through group play such as heroics, flashpoints, etc.. Get together your team and start cranking out those heroics at the very least. :)

• [FIST] Group SWTOR Card #2 Hangouts: Take a fun picture of you and your friends playing SWTOR together, more shenanigans the better.

• [FIST] January Conquest: Straight conquest competition.

In addition, I’d like to spotlight some great group entries from the December Holiday card group photo competition. Everyone had a lot of fun putting these together. :)

In first place, we have a Life Day card from Bentre Sadow. Great aftereffects and framed well. Very festive.

In second place, we have a Sithmas card from Tahiri Tarentae. Nice aftereffects. Very festive.

In third place, we have a Sithmas card from Ryan Hawkins. Made great use of in-game effects.

---

Current Guild Targets

Every Tuesday, I set the guild conquests for the week. When the guild conquest is achieved, you get to choose a reward in addition to your personal conquest. When that time comes, please choose the ‘Flagship Plans: Command Encryption’. I am currently collecting them to unlock the Forward Command Room. This request applies to both the official imperial guild and the unofficial republic guild. Once we have collected 250 of them, we can unlock some added guild benefits.

If you don’t know how to do this yet, here are some screenshots to help you out. Press ‘I’ and then click on the materials tab on the left tab. It will look like a diamond.

Then scroll down to ‘Miscellaneous items’ and you will see ‘Flagship Plans: Command Encryption’. You can drag them to your main inventory.

Finally, go to the purple guild bank (we have one on the guild flagship and there is always the one on the fleet), and deposit them in the ‘Missions/Mods’ tab. If you can’t access the guild bank, let me know.

Hope this helps! Lastly, if you have lots of spare credits on hand and nowhere to put them, donations to the guild are always welcome.

---

Conquest Raffle Prize Spotlight

For those that achieve 100K conquest points for a week for the guild, you get up to 3 entries in a raffle to win a prize that you can pick from the guild bank. It is my pleasure to share some of the awards handed out so far. :)

First, we have Ric Hunter in his Team Rotworms Huttball away uniform.

Second, we have TuQ’uan di Plagia with his new WL-29 Blaster.

I’ll spotlight some more next report but when you pick out a reward if you want yours to be spotlighted just send me a picture of you using it!

That said, here are our SWTOR Raffle winners so far!

• 11/23/21: Ric Hunter
  
• 11/30/21: TuQ’uan di Plagia
  
• 12/07/21: Ryan Hawkins
  
• 12/14/21: TuQ’uan di Plagia
  
• 12/21/21: Rayne
  
• 12/28/21: Ric Hunter
  
• 01/04/22: Ood Bnar
  

A huge congrats to each and every one of you. I really appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into the guild so far. Well done!

SWTOR Resources

I’d like to spotlight our discord SWTOR News Feed. It’s a thread we have set up under gaming chat where you can find and share SWTOR news with each other. Many of you have already done so and we have a nice batch of information already as it pertains to the new SWTOR expansion, tips to get ready for it, class guides for optimal builds, etc… If you are interested in SWTOR and haven’t joined the thread yet, I highly encourage that you do so. If you know someone who likes SWTOR and hasn’t joined it yet, share with them the thread so they can join as well.

SWTOR Group runs

Lastly, I’d like to encourage you all to join SWTOR group runs. I plan to run them fairly regularly now that holidays are out of the way. This will usually occur on the weekend. Now, I’m not the only one who runs these as of the last year or so, so I encourage you to join others’ SWTOR group runs as well as any I host. Personally, I’ll do my best to attend group runs that are going on and to offer you all some diverse time frames to do them. Never be afraid to message me and ask for a buddy to play with. We’ll set a time, I’ll form a group, and we’ll see who we can get playing together. :)

---

Ask the T:SWTOR

Ric Hunter asks: Can we start our own item exchange? Maybe have crafters that can make things and trade them guild-wide? Could help with leveling trades and getting better equipped.

Aura: I think that is a great idea. Let’s chat more about the implementation of it. :)

Ric Hunter asks: One more question from me... with the changes in the conquest system coming, are we looking at ways to increase participation in heroics?

Aura: Absolutely. There are a few things I plan to try to increase participation in the heroics. I really like the discord events in advance, so I’ll be taking advantage of that. I also plan to leverage guild officers who are interested in hosting heroics runs in addition to myself. The more heroic runs we can host, the more people we can pull together. ^^

Turel asks: Do you have any events planned to help people get ready for the new expansion?

Aura: Leading up to the release of the new SWTOR version, I’ll be leading SWTOR group events on the weekend. This will be an opportunity to ask questions about the upcoming 7.0 release. It will also allow us all to group-game together to finish heroics off quicker and thus earn a lot of credits, which we should all be stockpiling now. To incentivize group play, there is also a SWTOR cluster race going on. As a supplementary item, the Discord SWTOR News Feed has some great resources posted for prepping for the 7.0 release one can read on their own in detail as well. For example, this one.

---

That’s it for now. Thank you for your time in reading this report. I hope it came in handy. We have a lot of fun things coming down the pipe and I look forward to doing them with you all.

~Signed with Pheromones

Aura Ta’var
T:SWTOR