Star Wars: The Old Republic Update 1.3: Allies Overview

Patch 1.3: Allies brings forth tons of quality of life updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic. The features list is impressive for a patch and players logging into on patch day will be surprised by how enjoyable the game is to play now, with the group finder now active and ranked warzones now part of the game. So let’s start looking at all of the new features coming in Patch / Update 1.3.

Group Finder

The “no duh” addition to the patch is the group finder, a tool to; well help you find a group. You’ll hear some varying opinions about it on the Internet, ranging from how it is like taking bacon and making a bacon sandwich, with bacon bread, and bacon spread while others ramble endlessly on how grouping with other strangers is as terrible as the weight scale is after you indulge in ten of the aforementioned bacon delicacies.

Well, here’s the run down. You can either choose a story mode operation, a flashpoint, or a world area that is level appropriate to queue up for. The system pairs you with like minded adventurers on your same server and faction, then offers you a free ride to your destination. If you choose a random flashpoint, you’ll get a daily reward. Simple, efficient, and effective.

The bacon sandwich part is that you’ll no longer need to sit in the fleet station and beg for groups. The weight scale part is that, well, the groups are random and you’ll be paired with the best and worst players on your server. The good news is that, its players on your server, and bad apples can easily be /ignored.

Ranked Warzones

PvP is the main activity for many players in SWTOR and ranked warzones could come no sooner. Why? Well, first it’s actually something for PvP players to do that’s actually competitive and more than a way to farm various currencies. Second, it lets players who are attempting to gear up for ranked warzones fight one another while the serious contenders join the “big leagues.” It’s another step in separating PvP into the little leagues (1-50), minor leagues (non-ranked), and big leagues (ranked).

Augment Slots

Augments slots now rain down all around you and can easily be added to any gear. You can find our guide here that goes over the particulars, but basically you can add an augment slot to everything (unless it has an augment slot). This helps remove the confusing “should I wear crafted gear or not” thing that was going on, since augment slots are free itemization.

Adaptive Gear

This is one that a lot of players are hot for: gear that adapts to your armor type. It only applies to social gear, but it does make custom gear a lot more attractive to wear. For those that don’t understand the big deal, basically most social armor is light armor right now, making it only viable for casters. Adaptive gear can turn it into medium or heavy armor, depending on your class.

Legacy Perks

A testament to the amount of additions to the patch, we’re through four features already and still talking about major features. Legacy perks are a per character perk system that lets you buy more XP (in percentages), quicker speeders, and a variety of quality of life updates. The biggest to me is the respec droid, but others may like leveling quicker.

Tab Targeting Improvements

First up, you can now select an option to show the next target that you’ll cycle through while tab targeting. Tab targeting also ignores things like mini-pets now, which gives you a cleaner cycle as you’re tabbing through to find your next target.

Respec Costs Decreased

It’s not dual talent specialization, but it’s a start. The cost to respect has been greatly lowered, making it easier than ever to change your playstyle.

Free Recruit Gear

You can get a free set of recruit gear now (or the accompanying credits) at level 50. The quest can be started at the fleet station terminal.

Much More

There’s tons of changes in the patch, so be sure to check out our Update / Patch 1.3 portal for more information on the update and more features.

How do you feel about the update? Is it enough in one patch or do you feel like that there should be more? Is it odd that this 1.3 launches the day that the Mass Effect 3 DLC launches too?