Hello there Holotable Heroes!
We're excited to announce a massive update coming to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, which will enhance your gaming experience by streamlining older processes that have been around for our 9-year tenure. We expect these changes will make your sessions more enjoyable and rewarding! One major change is our revamped quest system, making quests easier to track and complete. We will also implement the Episode Track, a new reward track with Free and Paid tiers to reward you along your journey, as well as a loyalty program for those who interact with our webstore. Most importantly, we will be creating a clearer schedule for you to follow in your SWGOH journey, to allow you to plan your sessions better.
In addition to the above, we will discuss a highly requested Quality of Life update to make many events SIMMABLE which will be coming in a near future update (soonTM)! Plus one more QoL surprise.
So let's get into it!
As a reminder, while this is still in development, anything is subject to change, including visuals and things visible on said visuals
So why are we making these adjustments 9 years into development?
That’s a great question which partially answers itself: Our game is 9 years old with a lot of systems, some older than others, and our game needs to adjust to ensure the experience reflects the love and passion we put into it. This means we need to make some hard decisions, look at the game as a whole, and figure out what needs to be reworked, moved around, or removed altogether.
As we go through the rest of the update notes below, you’ll start to see our process and how we went about the adjustments.
To get where we are today took months of hard work and dedication from many disciplines inside Capital Games and we are extremely happy with where we landed. We consider the experience delivered with our next update to be a great foundation for the future of the game, making it more enjoyable every time you open up Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
“Throughout this process, or journey we should say, we prioritized what makes Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes compelling for many types of players while simultaneously smoothing out portions of our game that we felt would have the most impact on a player’s day to day experience. Our main focus was to make sure we kept all our groups of players top of mind with every decision we made. One group in particular we wanted to focus on with these changes was our Free to Play players and how they will interact with the new Episode and Quests systems. This approach guided us to create experiences and opportunities that allow many types of players to be able to enjoy the latest Star Wars experiences.”
Chris Stott / “CG_SBCrumb”
Lead Producer for this Title Update
Improved Scheduling
One of the largest changes you will see is with our content cadence, which will be moving to a more defined 12-week release schedule. If you’re anything like MeatheadMilitia, you probably would love an image to better showcase what this schedule looks like, so here you have it: a Meathead-special piece of art.
We intend to announce all of each Episode’s content just before that Episode starts, so you can better follow the story we are telling, and so we can showcase the characters who will be joining us as part of that story. We want you to see your intended end goal as well as what to expect along the way.
What is an Era? What is an Episode?
An Era is a period of time in which released characters and events are themed around a specific story being told. Eras last just under 3 months, or to be more specific: exactly 12 weeks. Each Era is broken up into 3 Episodes, each lasting exactly 4 weeks, or 28 days.
An Episode’s content arc is thematic to the specific unit or units acquired during the Episode. There will always be a new Marquee unit released to start each Episode, with most Episodes containing a second Marquee released midway through the Episode.
At the end of each Era we intend to provide a new Event or Journey-Guide-level unit to pursue using all of the units you’ve worked to acquire through the Era. Over the course of a calendar year, you can expect 12 Episodes contained within 4 Eras, plus an additional 13th Episode each year during our normal time off in the Holiday season. Holiday Episodes are an exception regarding Marquee releases, as they will not contain new Marquee characters.
Launch Era: The Era of Apprentices
So after laying all of this out, this is where I deliver the news that the first Era begins one week from today, on November 19th, 2024, and will play out slightly differently than what’s described above. This squad will be based on the events of Season 3 of the Bad Batch Disney+ Series, and includes a couple of characters that make use of the new Mercenary tag. We can’t wait to announce more details in the new year!
Episode 1 of the Era of Apprentices begins at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on November 19 and, as planned, features 2 new Marquee Characters. The first, (drumroll please,) is Huyang, the lightsaber architect and storyteller droid who was Ahsoka’s companion on the show.
The second, arriving two weeks later, is none other than General Syndulla, Ahsoka’s longtime friend, close ally, and a General in the New Republic!
Episode 2 of the Era acts as the Holiday Episode for 2024 and does not include any Marquees, but is included in the Era since the release of Galactic Legend Ahsoka Tano lands during Episode 2, to wrap up the Era’s theme.
The First Full Era: The Era of the Cavalry
Our first full, 3-Episode Era begins on January 14, 2025, and clever players may already be able to deduce the theme based on the title. This Era will contain 5 new Marquee Characters to create a new Bad Batch squad! This squad will be based on the events of Season 3 of the Disney+ Series, and includes a couple of characters that make use of the new Mercenary tag. We can’t wait to announce more details in the new year!
Where do Conquest characters and Galactic Legends fit into this schedule?
Conquest characters will continue to be released at their current cadence, but are not tied to an Era. While occasionally a Conquest character will line up with an Era’s theme, they often will not. This lets us continue to release powerful one-off characters without being limited to our planned themes.
The relationship of Galactic Legends is still being worked on, but we definitely will not limit participation in an Episode around owning a GL. While GL Ahsoka will release during Episode 2 of the Era of Apprentices, having her unlocked is not a requirement to enjoy any other part of the Episode.
What is happening to Daily Activities?
The upcoming adjustment to the Daily Activities portion of your SWGOH adventure is one of my favorite changes in this update. For starters, they are now called Daily Quests. Additionally, you’ll only need to complete 7 quick and efficient Daily Quests each day to collect your Daily Quest Reward.
Individual Daily Quests are one source of Episode Points (EP), that progress you along the Episode Track for each Episode. More on this in a minute.
Below are the quests that you will see each day when you are at Player Level 85. Players below Level 85 will have a different selection of Daily Quests to complete each day as they level up.
Daily Quests
- Use 600 Energy, Cantina Energy, Mod Energy, or Ship Energy
- Purchase 3 Shipments
- Finish a Galactic War battle
- Finish 2 Challenges
- Finish 1 Fleet Challenge
- Open 1 Data Pack in the Store
- Complete 1 Squad Arena or Fleet Arena battle
Spoiler Alert: See that first quest to spend all those different types of Energy? You probably recognize that 600 is the total spent Energy or Cantina Energy required to earn all of your daily Guild Raid Tickets. Well, now Mod and Ship Energy also contribute to earning Tickets, making it easier to help out your guild and focus on nodes you care about, and easier for your Guild Officers who don’t have to chase you down to earn those dang Tickets.
And by the way, that Energy change goes live TODAY!!!! So you can enjoy earning those tickets faster, before the release of this Feature Update.
This change is intended to guide players of all levels, and reduce the amount of focus required for this part of your daily gameplay, so you can dedicate more time and resources to the fun stuff and your personal goals.
What are the Episode Track and Episode Pass?
Once a player hits level 85, they unlock the Episode Track and can start earning additional rewards on the Track by completing Quests. You progress along the Episode Track by earning Episode Points (EP) which are given as rewards from Daily Quests at level 85, as well as from the new Episode Quests and Character Quests. Additionally, earning feats in Galactic Challenges now rewards you with EP.
In each Episode there is a Free Track and an Episode Pass track that is unlocked by purchasing the Episode Pass. Fear not: if you are a Free-to-Play player who completes all your Daily Quests and Episode quests, and engages in Galactic Challenges, you can expect to complete the Free Track by the end of the Episode. However, purchasing the Episode Pass will let you complete the track more quickly, earning more rewards such as Marquee character shards, Relic tier materials, Kyrotechs and ability materials such as Zetas and Omicrons. It also includes a repeatable Bonus Reward at the end of the Track that can be claimed as many times as you can unlock it before the Episode ends.
Note that the Episode Pass will include shards for both Marquees to be released over the course of the episode. Initially, shards for the first Marquee will be available on the paid tier of the Episode Track, while shards for the second one will be a reward for completing one of the Pass-Exclusive Episode Quests that appear at the same time that the Marquee is released.
The cost of the Episode Pass will be $20 (USD) and will provide a significant amount of value. The rewards inside the Free Track are about equivalent in value to earning 4 Tier-10 boxes, (a.k.a. red boxes) and 4 Tier-9 boxes from our previous Galactic Challenges.
What is the Episode Shipment store?
Similarly to the Raid Shipment tab, the Episode Shipment tab will allow you to choose the rewards you’d like to spend your Episode Currency on throughout the Episode, as you earn that currency on the Episode Track. At release, Episode Shipments will refresh once per week, on Tuesdays. The total value provided across shipments is far more than any player could spend in a single Episode, so there is plenty of flexibility to pursue the rewards that you would like. Notably, Episode Shipments contain Omicron Ability Materials, very inexpensive Mods (presented just as they are in Mods shipments,) and character shards for many characters at discounted value.
Episode Quests
Another source of Episode Points are Episode Quests. There are 28 Episode Quests in each Episode, one of which is revealed to players each day. These 28 quests are divided into 4 “Chapters” with 7 Episode Quests per Chapter. Completing 7 Episode Quests in a Chapter lets you claim a larger Chapter reward.
Episode Quests are intended to be completed without significantly adjusting your normal gameplay behavior within SWGOH. There may be quests that require you to use a farmable character, but these quests are front-loaded in the Episode to allow time to get them if you do not already have them. Fortunately, our first Episode features quests that require various members of the original Phoenix Squad, which all players now have unlocked by the time they reach level 85.
Another great feature is that Episode Quests remain available to complete through the entire Episode, which means if you miss any days, you can come in later and still complete Episode Quests to catch up. While we plan on some Episode Quests being time-sensitive around events, (e.g. “Attack 3 times in a Territory War,”) we fully expect all players to be able to participate in and complete each Chapter if they are playing consistently.
For those who purchase the Episode Pass, there are additional quests in each Chapter that can be completed to help you progress down the Episode Track even faster (but are not required in order to reach the end of the Track). These quests also count towards the Chapter reward, so can be completed to make up gaps if a time-sensitive quest was missed.
Character Quests
This new type of quest is in support of the Marquees that get released during an Episode and will reward a player who participates in both the unlock and advancement of said Marquee Character in the 2 weeks after the Marquee’s release. Like Episode Quests, there are 28 Character Quests, divided into 4 parts of 7 quests each, and again, completing all 7 quests in one part grants a larger reward. Unlike Episode Quests, all 28 of these quests are revealed and available immediately when a Marquee is released.
Character Quests are intended to be simple to complete, and are focused around using the new character in battle. In fact, just playing through the Marquee Event will complete many of them! However, claiming these quests requires the player to own a specific number of shards of the associated Marquee Character. Shards that have already been used to promote a character count towards these requirements, so don’t worry about using them!
Completing Character Quests also earns Episode points to progress you down the Episode Track. These quests are intended to give a player a boost in their progress on the Track, but are not required to complete the Episode Track itself.
TL;DR: The faster you progress a Marquee Character during their Episode release window, the quicker you'll unlock additional rewards.
Journey Quests
A few months ago we released a significant update to rewards earned from quests granted from levels 1 to 85. That was the start of work we are continuing with this Title Update, as we give these quests the official name of “Journey Quests” and present them in a more easily-digestible format. All Journey Quests now have only a single task, and going to the Journey Quests tab in the new Quests UI will allow you to see everything that quests are asking you to do much more easily than tapping through a list of identical quest-giver portraits.
In general, we’ve reduced the amount of grind required for many of these quests, which now focus on investment and the introduction of players to new features as they advance to level 85 much more quickly than before.
Prestigious… Achievements!
So how do the existing Prestigious Quests fit into this new quest format? To put it bluntly: they don’t. As a result, Prestigious Quests have been converted into Prestigious Achievements, which appear in your list of achievements along with all of the others. Most of these new achievements focus only on investment goals, and the long, grindy tasks of old have been removed, making these much more achievable for many players. They still grant the same rewards that the quests did before, and many players will earn one or two immediately upon logging in after the release of this update!
For example, the new Prestigious Bounty Hunter achievement now grants the Bounty Hunter title and requires completing the 7 other new Bounty Hunter achievements. Each of these new achievements corresponds to one of the 7 Bounty Hunters featured in the old Prestigious Quest, and requires only that the Bounty Hunter be upgraded to Gear XII. They also can be completed in any order!
If you’ve already completed a step in a Prestigious Quest, you won’t see the associated new achievement listed, and if you have an active Prestigious Quest in your Quest Log when your game is updated, you will see a quest marked “Prestigious Quest: Legacy” in your new Journey Quests tab. This can still be completed, and you will still be able to earn the reward.
Quality of Life Update: Simming Events!
While working on Daily Quests and making sure that was a solid QoL improvement to your gameplay, we wanted to do more to improve the overall quality of your time spent in the game. We realize that some systems and events have been around for a long time, which take extra effort to get through, and may impact your ability to continue your normal farms. So with that, we will be introducing the ability to sim some events in the near future!
We hope this helps to reduce your overall time in-game as well as let you focus that time on things more suited for the journey you are on.
Events that will now be Simmable are:
- Galactic Legend Ultimate Journey
- Mythic Events (all tiers)
- i.e. Artist of War, Daring Droid, Pieces and Plans, Emperor’s Demise, Grand Master’s Training
- Smuggler’s Run I and II
- Galactic Bounties I and II
- Endor Escalation
- Ghosts of Dathomir
- Defense of Dathomir
- Contraband Cargo
We will continue to look for more ways to help improve your gameplay and make sure your time and experience inside SWGOH is the best it can be.
Wait, there’s another Quality of Life Update!
With the release of the Huyang Marquee Event, you’ll see a brand new Marquee UI that will make it much easier to navigate and participate in Marquee Events. You’ll be able to see what the rewards of each tier are without needing to unlock the tier, and you’ll be able to quickly navigate to and from the Character Screen and Store for a more streamlined process of acquiring Shard Packs and promoting the character.
I can’t believe it’s another Quality of Life Update!
You may have noticed in some of the above screenshots that while Guild Activities have not changed, there is now an indicator right on the navigation tab that shows you how many Raid Tickets you’ve earned. No more digging through menus to know for sure how many you have!
What’s happening to Galactic Challenges?
Our biggest change to an existing system in the next update is the removal of “boxes” as rewards within Galactic Challenges.
Rewards from the Galactic Challenge boxes have been moved to the Free Track of the Episode Track and inside the new Episode Shipment store. As mentioned above, completing the Free Track rewards the equivalent value of 4 Tier-10 boxes (a.k.a. Red Boxes) and 4 Tier-9 boxes. For the majority of players, they should see the same or more rewards as they received before.
Galactic Challenge Feats are still a part of this system, but instead they provide you with Episode Points. These are rewarded immediately upon completing each feat, which means you will no longer need to wait for the GC to end to get the rewards you’ve earned. By earning these Episode Points and moving up your Episode Track, you will earn Episode Currency that you can spend on new Episode Shipments for items you need. Similarly to how you are able to choose your rewards with Raid currency, you will now be able to do that with your Episode Currency, giving more freedom to choose the items you need for your current goals.
As for the Feats themselves, there are a few changes. At launch, the feat to beat each tier with no squad restriction will require the Episode Pass to collect it. (Beating the tier and then buying the Episode Pass will work, but you’ll need to complete any GC battle to “refresh” the data and trigger the Feat completion.) Another feat asks you to win the battle with the newest Marquee Character on your squad at a specific Star requirement. (They don’t have to survive!) This requirement escalates from 3 Stars in the early tiers to 7 Stars at the top tiers.
For example, these are the feats for the first GC to arrive after the release of Episodes, on 11-20/24:
- Win the battle with a full team of Rebel Fighters
- Win after removing 400% Turn Meter from enemies
- Win the battle with an active Episode Pass
- Win the battle with a 3-star Huyang on your squad
- This is for tiers 1 and 2, escalating to a 7-star Huyang for tiers 9 and 10.
This adjustment is intended to reduce the time required for players to participate in Galactic Challenges as well as reward players who are actively engaged with the newest Episode content. Don’t worry, the feats without Episode Pass or Marquee requirements don’t have to be maxed out in order to reach the end of the Episode Track by the end of the Episode, but completing more feats will accelerate progress on the Track and increase the potential for more Bonus Rewards at the end.
One final change: because Galactic Challenges reward Episode Points directly, they now require the player to be Level 85 to participate. For players under Level 85, focus on your Journey Quests and you’ll get there in no time!
Schedule Changes
With the changes to Marquees and Galactic Challenges, the scheduling of these events is changing as well. Marquees are moving from Thursday to Tuesday to coincide with the start of their Episode. GCs will now begin on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with Tuesdays as the day when no GC is active.
What is the Loyalty Program (Kessel Run)?
With the above changes coming to SWGOH, we will also be introducing a Loyalty Program, which will be known as the Kessel Run. This feature will only be available for the Webstore at launch but we have every intention to bring the Loyalty program to the PC Version at a later date.
In Kessel Run Events players complete objectives to earn Coaxium. As a player earns Coaxium they advance to new milestones, called Parsecs, where they earn new in-game rewards. Earning Coaxium can be done through free-to-play actions, but making purchases in the Webstore can earn even more.
Closing
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on our latest update in the coming week. Our goal with this Title Update was to put us on a path towards a more streamlined and transparent experience, particularly benefiting Free-to-Play players, while focusing on what makes Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes fun and appealing - collecting a roster of Star Wars characters and using them in exciting events to relive iconic Star Wars moments and create new ones. This is certainly not the end of this journey, we have many ideas for how we continue to shape the game to be engaging for years to come.
Most importantly, we also want to hear from you on how it is going and will be looking forward to your feedback.
Thank you all for reading.
If you have any questions about what you’ve read above, please submit them HERE: https://forms.gle/sAEmGtVHA8NWuGFDA
Capital Games Team
