Expanding Horizons

Welcome to Expanding Horizons, where you can continue to tell your Star Wars story with more customization and control than ever. The Expanding Horizons update series includes this primary publish, as well as several subsequent updates that will build on what we’re launching today.

• Added Jabba has requested assistance locating ten pieces of his Desert Skiff that were stolen and scattered across Tatooine. A new collection, with a new server first achievement, and a badge that rewards a Desert Skiff Schematic, is now available for those that find all parts. Note: Collection pieces have no name but are collectible. You may examine the part to identify its part number.

• Added Profession Tree Flexibility! Skill trees have been redesigned such that many advanced professions have multiple options to achieve their prerequisites:
  • Commando may now pick two of the following: Sharpshooter Ranged Support IV, Brawler Unarmed IV, or Scout Trapping IV.
  • Smuggler may now pick two of the following: Sharpshooter Pistols IV, Brawler Unarmed IV, Scout Camouflage IV, or Medic Medical Support IV.
  • Bounty Hunter now requires Scout Camouflage IV and either Scout Survival IV, Brawler Unarmed IV, or Sharpshooter Ranged Support IV.
  • Squad Leader now requires Scout Survival IV, and either Scout Camouflage IV or Sharpshooter Ranged Support IV.
  • Combat Medic now requires Medic Ranged Healing IV, and either Medic Medical Support IV or Sharpshooter Ranged Support IV.
  • All Melee lines now have one required Brawler line and two others to pick from.
• Added Camouflage and Detect Camouflage systems have been reimplemented. All players will now have access to a Detect Camouflage ability, allowing them to attempt to reveal nearby cloaked enemies. Cloaked enemies may also be detected passively by walking near them and successfully passing a Camouflage roll. Camouflage acts as a countermeasure to both passive and active detection, and the Detect Camouflage stat increases your odds of detecting a camouflaged player.
• Added All characters and creatures now have a chance to Block attacks. When an attack is blocked, its damage is reduced by 25%. The damage can be decreased further with a higher Block Value skill modifier, which is granted by various buffs and skills (but not currently available as an Exotic).
• Added All player characters now have an inherent 25 PvP Damage Reduction, which provides 25% reduction to all forms of damage received from another player (or their pet).
• Changed Most looted/quest reward buff items have been rebalanced and regrouped. Items are now in one of five cooldown groups: "Legendary," "Epic," "Rare," "Special," and "Eternal." Buff items purchased from vendors, and some other special items, will continue to have their own, separate cooldown.
  • The Legendary group has a 30-minute cooldown and a 2-minute effect and includes:
    • Lair Crystal - 20% damage reduction, 100 raw damage bonus, 15 speed, 150 Opportune Chance
    • Shard of Retaliation - 20% damage reduction, 35% health drain on hit, 75 defense, 150 Toughness
    • Wampa Arm - 20% damage reduction, 100% knockdown resist, 75 defense, 150 Defense General
    • Gorax Ear - 20% damage reduction, 35% healing bonus, 75 defense, 150 Endurance
  • The Epic group has a 30-minute cooldown and varying durations
    • Sith Holocron
    • Cooling Spray Unit, which now offers 100% fire dot resist/absorb
    • Mustafarian Distance Globe
    • Old Republic Repulsion Generator
  • The Rare group has a 15-minute cooldown and covers most misc combat buffs:
    • Wild Force Shards
    • Selonian PSG
    • Nourishing Vita-Caps, which now grant 200 health
    • Chu-Gon Dar Cube consumables
    • All looted stims, which now last 15 minutes
  • The Special group has a 15-minute cooldown and is focused on utility, such as:
    • Revitalization Pack
    • Sprint Stim
    • Anti-Mobility Device
    • Synaptic Stimulation Collar
  • The Eternal group has a 2-minute cooldown but 100% uptime (but is still limited to only one at a time)
    • Infrared Electrobinoculars
    • Mustafarian Injector, which now affects Bleed resistance and absorption
    • Shard of the Serpent, which now affects Poison resistance and absorption
• Changed Knockdown has been changed into a 2-second debuff that keeps the affected character on the ground until the debuff clears, at which point they will stand back up and be able to take action again. The state no longer comes with increased damage taken. Consequently, the Knockdown Recovery ability has been removed.
• Changed Healing Efficiency is no longer granted by any skills, and the formula has been reworked for both Healing Efficiency and Healing Potency. Now, both grant a 1% increase to healing per point, and there are no diminishing returns.
• Changed The reactive heal from the Second Chance ability will no longer trigger on attacks that do less than 300 damage. In addition, the healing from the proc has been reduced by about 100 points.
• Changed Abilities that heal players will now generate about half as much hate (aggro) as before.
• Changed Endurance now grants a 0.05% (1% per 50) increase to healing *and* reduction to heal action/mind costs per point. Standard attribute diminishing returns apply.
• Changed Opportune Chance no longer grants Healing Efficiency.
• Changed Healing levels are reduced at Combat Level 1 and increase to maximum once you are at Combat Level 54.
• Fixed Healing or being the target of a Combat Medic DoT will no longer make your character stand up.
• Fixed Player pets and DoTs are now affected by PvP Damage Reduction.
• Fixed Animations on traps/grenades that loop will no longer repeat with each tick.
• Fixed A longstanding issue that could cause abilities to be on an "invisible cooldown" and even an invisible global cooldown, when used in situations where they were blocked, has been resolved.

• Added The Community Engagement Hub has opened its doors outside the Mos Eisley Starport. A familiar building now has a new door to enter, where you’ll find a small lounge space and two objects of importance: B1G B3R-THA, a Receptacle Droid that both collects and provides gear (more below) and a Ventures Vending Machine, which provides access to special rewards to eligible accounts for participating in various future promotional campaigns. These campaigns include:
  • Expanding Horizons Program - Launching now - All players, including new registrants going forward, will receive a Heroic Jewelry set of their choice (No Trade Shared), as well as the ability to respec their skill trees. This offer may only be claimed once per account.
  • Referral Program - Launching December 23, 2024 - Invite your friends to join our galaxy through your custom referral link available now at swgr.org/account/referrals. When your friend creates their first character, they’ll get a getting-started bonus of 500,000 credits, 500 fortitude tokens, and an exclusive hover-chair vehicle. When your friend reaches 10 hours of playtime, you’ll receive the same rewards (no limit, vehicle is tradable).
  • Returning Player Offer - Launching December 23, 2024 - Jump back into the galaxy if you’ve been away for six months or more with an additional free respec, free dye kits, 500,000 credits, and two surprise gifts. Joining us sooner? Create a ticket with Community Support to let us know and we'll make sure you get the returning player gift even if you start playing now.
  • New Player Offer - Launching December 23, 2024 (and for all accounts registered between now and the launch of the offer) - Get started with new player armor, weapons, jewelry, and kits provided by other artisans and members of the community. Artisans can craft and donate kits for a reward to B1G B3R-THA which can then be picked up by new players.

• Added The IG-88 Heroic Encounter: The infamous Bounty Hunter IG-88 has returned to wreak havoc on Lok with new twists on the original instance. To begin the quest line, visit the droid behind the Mos Eisley Cantina. A new IG-88 weapon scope component, new droid schematics, new weapon skins, and more are available to loot!
• Added The Axkva Min Heroic Encounter: The imprisoned Nightsister, Axkva Min, is breaking out of her crystal prison. What will you do? To begin the quest line, inspect a strange Nightsister headdress on the side of the Mos Eisley Cantina. A new Nightsister Vibro blade component, several unique Nightsister-themed appearance items, heroic necklaces, and more are available to loot!
• Added The Exar Kun Heroic Encounter: Cultists have begun summoning the notorious Dark Jedi Exar Kun on Yavin IV. To begin this quest line, talk to the University teaching assistant in Mos Eisley. An all-new special armor set, Jedi necklace, new saber hilts, and more are available to loot!
• Added Heroic Jewelry may now be purchased from Sivarra Mecheaux in the Mos Eisley Cantina. 36 jewelry sets are available, spanning every profession in the game. Heroic Jewelry pieces each have some exclusive stats for the requisite profession and gain a bonus when wearing 3, 4, or 5 pieces at once (a “set bonus”).
  • Paintings from Axkva Min, IG-88, Tusken King, and Exar Kun
  • A Broken Ball Turret, one of the four Republic Gunship pieces
  • The Scoundrel's set, for Smuggler, focuses on Crowd Control and grants Pistol Whip, a melee-range Knockdown that will always land (even when they're immune!)
  • The Gambler's set, for Smuggler, leans into the trademark Smuggler luck, and includes a chance to trigger Lucky Break, which makes all of your attacks guaranteed to hit as a critical hit.
  • The Duelist's set, for Bounty Hunter, is all about tanking and draining your opponent. It grants Dread Strike, an ability that reduces your target's damage and self-healing.
  • The Flawless set, for Bounty Hunter, is about bypassing your opponent's strong defenses. You get Flawless Strike, which always lands, and you have a chance to make your next attack do the same!
  • The Rampart set, for Commando, is about standing your ground and blowing people up. You will learn Position Secured, an ability that ultimately makes you block more damage, deal more damage, and double-stack your DoTs!
  • The Juggernaut set, for Commando, is about AoE damage and mobility. You will be able to stack multiple grenade strikes at once, and gain a big armor buff when snared.
  • The Strider set, for Ranger, makes you even more stealthy and allows you to escape combat with a Decoy.
  • The Trapper set, for Ranger, allows you to place traps from Stealth and makes one of the traps into a Dire Root, an unbreakable debuff.
  • The Predator set, for Creature Handler, will allow your pet to use abilities that it doesn't normally have access to, depending on your own skills.
  • The Symbiotic set, for Creature Handler, allows you to use abilities that you don't know, based on the type of pet you have out.
  • The Hellfire set, for Squad Leader, is about unleashing all your new AoE abilities. It grants Orbital Strike, a long-distance strike that can also trigger Superior Firepower, granting you even more AoE damage.
  • The Veteran's set, for Squad Leader, makes you an even more effective leader to the group, and comes with Ray Shields to prevent all damage incoming and outgoing from yourself, an ally, or a foe.
  • The First Responder's set, for Doctor, makes you an unstoppable healer–but not just for health–as now Revitalize can restore your team's Action and Mind too.
  • The Pathologist's set, for Doctor, is about keeping your allies healthy with the powerful Serotonin Boost, which has the ability to clear multiple debuffs from your target.
  • The Plaguespreader set, for Combat Medic, enhances the strength of your DoTs, and even makes them contagious to nearby enemies.
  • The Blackbar's DOOM set, for Combat Medic, unleashes your deadly experiments on enemies, dooming them to death by applying all your debuffs on a target at once… before they burst into flames!
  • The Assassin's set, for Sniper, gives finishing power with Finishing Shot. This ability does more damage against recently incapacitated players or low health NPCs, and can even deathblow a player from range!
  • The Gunslinger set, for Pistoleer, takes your fast drawing attack controls to the next level with Fumble, an attack that causes your opponent to lose all their action for a few seconds.
  • The Dire Fate set, for Carbineer, gives you the ultimate crowd control tool with Dire Snares which can't be broken by any means.
  • The Soldier set, usable by all ranged professions, allows you to use whatever weapons and armor you want, increasing Pistol and Carbine range and removing all armor mitigations.
  • The Tidstill set, for Teras Kasi Artist, gives your tankiness some extra kick, increasing the hate you generate from NPCs and players alike (since you also drain their Mind!)
  • The Razor set, for Fencer, brings the dance with death to your enemies. In the Razor Waltz, you will bleed your opponents until there is none left to drain.
  • The Relentless set, for Berserker, makes your attacks Unstoppable. With this ability, any damage you deal will also return some of it back to you in health.
  • The Acrobat set, for Lancer, will destabilize your enemies in new ways. A destabilized enemy will lose one of their buffs, one at a time, until one of you is on the floor.
  • The Pursuit set, usable by all melee professions, gives you a speed advantage over anyone, and grants accuracy against your targeted opponent.
  • The Templar set, for Master Lightsaber, brandishes the mastery of the blade by allowing you to Reflect all nearly attacks back at your opponents.
  • The Manipulator set, for Master Powers, is about veiling your dark mastery and diminishing your opponents until the galaxy is yours!
  • The Sage's set, for Master Healer, shows that The Force is with you, allowing you to imbue more health on you or your allies and tying all living things together with Luminous Heal.
  • The Bane's set, for Master Enhancer, shows that The Force is no longer with your enemies, for you can use Force Sever to completely cut them off.
  • The Guardian set, for Master Defender, gives you the tools you need to protect your allies with Saber Intercept, redirecting all attacks on them to you.
  • The Captivator set, for Dancer, will turn any dance into a captivating performance, and your flourishes will give everyone watching a bonus to Persuasion.
  • The Thriller set, for Musician, allows your inspiring sounds to imbue a bit of Luck on everyone as well.
  • The Tinkerer set, for Artisan, shows that your craftsmanship is atop the galaxy, with a higher chance at amazing success and the ability to retain Bespin Port through multiple crafts.
  • The Slicer set, for Artisan, allows you to gain new insights in Reverse Engineering, causing breakthroughs that grant huge power boosts.
  • The Heroism set, usable by all professions, grants +150 to each of the core attributes (with the five-piece set bonus).

• Added The palette used for Imperial faction clothing has been expanded.
• Changed Outdoor and Camouflage clothing have been updated to allow for more color options.
• Changed Assembly Skill and the quality of the Crafting Station being used now plays a minor role in a players’ experimentation roll.
• Changed All attributes in a multiattribute experimentation will now get the same result.
• Changed The Crafted Clone Trooper armor now has an expanded palette to allow for more coloring options when selecting the base colors.
• Changed Several clothing color palettes have been adjusted to allow items to achieve shades closer to true black and white with consideration for digital rendering of the color scheme by the client.

• Added Vehicles can now be upgraded with Engines and Boosters by visiting your local Garage. These new components are supported by sub-system components in order to gain the full benefit of the upgraded components. For more detailed information, radial your vehicle near a Garage to view your Vehicle User Manual and visit the [Vehicle Tinkering System](http://comlink.swgr.org/features/vehicle-tinkering-system) Comlink article.
• Added Players may view detailed attributes of their vehicle as well as the health of vehicle sub-systems by examining the vehicle control device in their datapad.
• Added Vehicle components drop from new Scrapper type NPCs on Dathomir, Endor, Yavin IV, and Mustafar. Component Attributes include:
  • Engine - Top Speed
  • Booster - Booster Speed
  • Chassis - Hitpoints and Maintenance
  • Cooling System - Booster Duration and Cooldown
  • Stabilizers - Turning
  • Energy Core - Acceleration
• Added Vehicle Systems: Vehicles have four sub-systems that need to be balanced and functional to gain vehicle upgrade benefits. Each system (Cooling, Structural, Energy Core, and Stabilizer) contributes 25% of the benefit.
  • Structural System - Balance Mass with Structural Integrity
  • Cooling System - Balance Heat Generation with Cooling
  • Stabilization System - Balance Fluctuation with Stability
  • Energy Core - Balance Energy Draw with Power Generation
• Added Reverse Engineering: Droid Engineers can Reverse Engineer vehicle components by placing two vehicle components and a Vehicle Tuning Modulator in a Vehicle Calibration Device. Note that components can be reverse engineered multiple times.
• Added A new command, /vehicleBoost, can be used to temporarily increase the speed of your vehicle if your vehicle has a Booster and Cooling System installed.
• Changed Vehicles now maneuver more realistically and have steering similar to driving an actual vehicle. Handling has been implemented such that turning requires forward movement and an actual turning radius. This can be improved, along with all other vehicle features, in the new vehicle tinkering system.

• Added Life Day is upon us! New rewards have been added to the Life Day gift boxes, and a new badge can be claimed from the Life Day trees in Wayfar or Doaba Guerfel. All new for this year's event is a new city decoration and customization system that has been added for all players to participate in.
  • City Mayors have been granted a special Life Day tree to place in their city. Life Day gift boxes (for you and for a friend) from under the Life Day trees in Wayfar or Doaba Guerfel will include a random ornament box. Once the Mayor has placed their tree in the city, citizens of that city will be able to use their ornaments to decorate the tree. There are hundreds of combinations possible! After Life Day, the decorations will come down, but the tree will remain up.
  • New Gifts for Life Day include: Pileus Hat, Fur-lined Life Day Ankle Boots, Planet of Mustafar Ornament, Gold Colored Ornament, and a Kashyyyk at Night Painting.

• Added More descriptive naming has been added to the following items: Lyase Enzymes, Isomerase Enzymes, Creature DNA, Weapon Enhancements and Weapon Augmentations.
• Changed Object prerequisites for the Enzyme Extractor have been changed to match the Extract DNA command.
• Changed Familiar buffs no longer scale by their owner’s combat level.
• Changed Structures no longer have a profession requirement to place or maintain them. This includes Cantinas, City Halls, Hospitals, Merchant Tents, and Theaters.
• Changed Various rare items (to avoid accidents) and Jedi Contraband, not including those looted from the corpses of Player Jedi, are no longer sellable to Junk Dealers.
• Changed The Reverse Engineering junk loot combination for Dance Knowledge has changed to Medical Heal Speed.
• Changed The Rancor Handler's Necklace is now a Right Bracelet, which allows it to be worn with Heroic Jewelry.

• Added Five new, fully customizable, playable species, including:
  • Nautolan: A species of amphibious humanoids from the planet Glee Anselm, known for their distinctive head-tails and natural ability to breathe underwater. They are skilled in diplomacy and are often associated with the Jedi Order, like Jedi Master Kit Fisto.
  • Chiss: A highly intelligent and secretive species from the Unknown Regions, characterized by their blue skin, red eyes, and high strategic acumen. The most famous Chiss is Grand Admiral Thrawn, a brilliant tactician in the Galactic Empire.
  • Devoronian: A species from the planet Devaron, known for their red skin, sharp facial features, and often portrayed as mercenary or criminal. They have horns on their heads and are known for their strong and sometimes volatile personalities.
  • Mirialan: A humanoid species from the desert planet Mirial, known for their green or yellow skin and distinctive tattoos. They have a strong cultural emphasis on spirituality and are often skilled in combat and the Force.
  • Bith: A species of highly intelligent, musical, and cerebral beings from the planet Clak’Dor VII. They are best known for their appearances in cantinas, playing the jizz band music, and their large, domed heads.
• Added A new vendor that sells Nanites has been added to the Image Designer Salon in Coronet. These Nanites may be used to change species and gender. Nanites can only be purchased by Master Image Designers but can then be given to their client for use.
• Added The x64 Beta Client now utilizes an enhanced texture pack focused on improving the visual quality of details and game experience across the Galaxy, especially on higher resolution settings.
• Changed Base player movement speed has been increased.
• Fixed After a lengthy hiatus, thousands of items of furniture that belonged to the interiors of NPC buildings have once again returned to the Galaxy.

• Changed The maximum number of Hunters that can have a mission hunting the same Jedi Padawan has been reduced to three.

• Changed Grenades no longer share a cooldown.
• Changed Flamethrowers used with attacks that apply a debuff will now only apply that debuff to the primary target of the attack (instead of to all enemies hit by the expanded area).
• Fixed All commando attacks will now correctly generate hate (aggro).

• Changed Pet attacks will no longer trigger a global cooldown on the player bar. Instead there will just be a minimum 1 second delay between pet attacks (auto-attack, clicking, and macros will all respect this).

• Added The Droid Tune-Up System: Droid pets now have values for Functionality and Lubrication. Droid Engineers can boost base stats by keeping droids in proper working order. These attribute bonuses will gradually wear off with use.
  • Maintenance: Droid Engineers may now perform a minigame to both diagnose and repair droid malfunctions. Crafted diagnostic tools are used to figure out the problem, and crafted repair items applied to the correct system are used to boost the droid’s functionality. A high Functionality value increases the droid’s damage and armor rating above its base values.
  • Oil Bath: Droid Engineers may now craft Oil Baths and place up to three droids at a time in an Oil Bath. Oil Baths require Lubricant resources and have a time component related to the quality of resources used and the functionality of the Oil Bath. A high Lubrication value decreases droid speed and increases the droid’s Hitpoints beyond their base values.
• Changed Crafting templates for the Dwarf Spider, Magngauard, Probot Advanced, and Union Sentry (as well as Battle Droids Droidekas, and Assassin Droids) have been modified such that they can have equivalent combat capabilities as CWW8, Super Battle Droid, and Guardian Mark II droids.
• Changed Droid Engineers may now call any droid regardless of their combat level.

• Changed Force Powers will no longer reduce the condition of your Lightsaber.
• Changed Force Powers are now affected by the Force Cost modifier on your Lightsaber/Crystals.
• Changed Force Choke and Force Storm will now always hit their targets.
• Changed "Power" (the red Meditation Buff) now has a more significant effect on Force Power damage.
• Changed Lightsaber crafting/experimentation stats have been moved out of the Master Lightsaber box and into the Shien line.

• Added Several combat abilities have been added to Ranger, with a heavy focus on Stealth, Traps, and Crowd Control:
  • The Hiding and Concealment line grants progressively stronger Stealth buffs, which give varying amounts of Camouflage and move speed.
  • The Stealth and Subterfuge line includes Burst of Shadows (a speed boost used while stealthed), and Camouflage Ally, which can be used to temporarily cloak an ally, even in combat.
  • The Anti-Personnel & Traps line grants Venomous Ploy (a close-range strong Poison trap) and Razor Net (a wide trap that snares and causes bleeding).
  • The Pursuit and Countermeasures line grants Tangle Bomb (a wide snare), Net Trap (a wide Root that also ensnares them in a net that must be destroyed to break free), and Advanced Detect Camouflage, an ability with a much higher chance of detection.
• Changed Ranger's profession requirements are now Scout Camouflage IV and Trapping IV (instead of Master Scout).

• Added The Foraging skill mod has been added, which will increase the chance of successfully foraging.
• Changed The requirement to move a minimum distance between foraging attempts has been removed.
• Changed The message given upon successfully harvesting a creature will now reflect the local quality of the creature.

• Fixed Group buffs may now be activated even when a grouped player is not on the same planet. Grouped players must still be within the squad leader's range to receive the buff.

• Added New schematics have been added to the Tailor profession:
  • Ankle Boots
  • Fur-lined Boots
  • Simple Belt
  • 15 types of crafted earrings (including both-ear and single-ear stud variants)

• Changed Initial Pilot Prototype equipment has been upgraded slightly to benefit new players.
• Changed All levels of Bomber Strike now spawn Tier 5 allies against Tier 6+ enemies.
• Fixed The Space Battle Status command (/spaceBattleStatus) now properly returns the status of all space battles.

On The Horizon…​

We mentioned at the start that this wasn’t the end for Expanding Horizons. Over the next several months, more updates that expand customization beyond the stars are on their way, including:

• A reimagined Image Designer profession, simply known as Designer, condenses the Image Design profession into one branch and adds three new branches with brand new abilities and systems: Aesthetic Design - Focused on bringing life to unique spaces and places; Experience Design - Focused on enhancing the spaces that bring people together; and Gaming Design - Focused on creating memorable experiences when people are together. And yes, image-designing vendors.
  
  
• The ability to decorate the galaxy like never before, with the help of Designers, players gain access to the entire lot perimeter around their player structures to decorate as they like, just like their interiors. More customizations to structure exteriors and brand-new items will be available, in addition to the long-desired porch and roof decorating.
  
  
• Means to create the best spaces with an expanded system for customizing Player Cities and new Player City mechanics that add meaningful changes to how players interact and the benefits of community. With changes that allow cities to have an impact on the galaxy and the choice of where you call home having more weight, many new possibilities are in the atmosphere.
  
  
• A new way to defy the mold by dropping color palettes altogether in favor of a new color-picker system so you can fine-tune the exact color of every object in your world. With the help of a new ordering system, you can review a custom catalog of offerings by artisans, place orders with an item preview, and pick up your items via a secure drop box, with features like this, among others, advancing asynchronous commerce across the galaxy.

Stay tuned…

May The Force Be With You,
The SWG Restoration Development Team