Star Wars: The Old Republic – The War for Iokath is Live

The War for Iokath update for BioWare’s MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic is now live. Here’s a short description:

You are the Outlander, conqueror of Zakuul and the galaxy’s single most powerful leader. When a deadly new superweapon is discovered, Republic and Imperial forces mobilize for war – and you are called into action once more. Choose to align your forces with either Republic or Empire, then fight your way to the Droid superweapon before it can unleash galactic devastation!

And that’s just the beginning. Join a massive Player-VS-Player factional war, battle in Walker-VS-Walker combat, reunite with fan-favorite Companions, and much more!

Rally your allies and pick a side… ‘The War for Iokath’ has begun!

And the launch trailer:

And since the full changelog is rather lengthy, here are a few highlights:

Highlights

• New Iokath Storyline: When a superweapon of unimaginable power is discovered on Iokath, you must choose to align your forces with either the Republic or Empire — and deal with the inevitable consequences. Once you complete the storyline you will gain access to host of repeatable Missions in a brand-new daily area.
• Returning Companions: Prepare to fight alongside Former Sith Warrior Companion Malavai Quinn or former Republic Trooper Companion Elara Dorne!
• Gods From the Machine: Team up with friends and guildmates to take on the first boss of this new Operation, Tyth, the God of Rage.
• Galaxy Map: Accessible from anywhere, explore the galaxy like never before with the new and improved Galaxy Map.
• Galactic Command Gearing Changes: Crates get better as you level, greater chances to get set bonus gear, guaranteed Unassembled Gear drops on Operation bosses, and more!
• Master Mode Uprisings: Earn new Achievements as you fight through all 10 Uprisings, now available in Master Mode.
• Updated Class Story Introductions: The introductory scenes for the original eight class storylines have been significantly updated and improved.

General

• The Knights of the Fallen Empire Chapter 1 “The Hunt” and Chapter 2 “A Dream of Empire” Mission Rewards have had their Command Experience values reduced.
• The audio that plays when a Group Finder queue is ready has been improved to be more noticeable.
• The 100% Command boosts, both from the vendor and Cartel Market now work at all Command ranks.
• Republic players can now obtain the “Makeb’s Mysterious Survival” codex from the Makeb Weekly Mission. This once again allows Republic players to obtain the “Loremaster of Makeb” Achievement.
• The Imperial Scholar title and codex can once again be earned by completing “The Hate Machine” Mission on Korriban.
• Credits have been added to the in-game mail a player receives for choosing the light side conclusion of KOTET.
• Removed an incorrect border color which would appear on the Knights of the Eternal Throne loading screen on some screen resolutions.
• Coruscant authorities have taken an aggressive stance against weeds growing planet-wide. Players will see a reduction in plants randomly sticking up through metal flooring around the planet.
• Imperial and Republic Fleet Exploration Achievements will now display properly in the Achievements interface.
• The Quick Travel bind point for Breaktown now automatically unlocks during Chapter VII: The Lady of Sorrows when you arrive in Breaktown for the first time.
• Custom HK-51 appearances will now appear properly during Chapter IX: The Alliance cinematics.
• Quick Travel abilities can now be used from inside of ship hangars.
• The following Legacy Perks now have additional benefits due to the new Galaxy Map:
  • Priority Transport: Personal Starship – If you have this perk you can travel directly to your ship from the Galaxy Map.
  • Priority Transport: Planet – If you have this perk you can travel to that location via the galaxy map for no credit cost.
• All enemies now have a Command Experience value when killed.
• The base Command Experience rate has been greatly increased. The new base rate is slightly lower than the adjusted rate from the Command XP event.