Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way, players will befriend courageous companions who will fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players’ actions. Players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.

Galactic Strongholds will allow players to show off their own style and expand their influence by acquiring and customizing personal Strongholds.

In Galactic Strongholds, players can live on multiple planets and customize their prestigious apartments. Players can live in the heart of their faction’s capital world, live in style among the high-rollers of Nar Shaddaa, or even both by owning multiple Strongholds. Hundreds of unique decorations will be available for players to express their own personal style, as well as to boost their Prestige score to compete for top ranking in the Stronghold Directory. Friends can be invited and transported to a player’s Stronghold from any in-game location to socialize. At official launch, Guilds will also be able to launch powerful Guild Flagships where members can meet, plan, and strategize for their next adventure.

The Old Republic Senior Producer Bruce Maclean has revealed that EA/Bioware is not going to make the projected release dates for either the Galactic Strongholds Early Access (moved from June 24 to August 19), or actual launch (moved from August to October) of the expansion.

For the past year, we've made it our goal to share updates and information on what’s happening in the studio and our upcoming plans for the game. We got the message that you appreciate transparency and want to know what we are working on. With that in mind, we wanted to share a change in plans to our most recently announced digital expansion, Galactic Strongholds.

We have been listening to what you, our players, were hoping to see from the Galactic Strongholds expansion. When playing early builds of Galactic Strongholds it became that clear that our June Early Access date was simply not enough. For this to truly feel like an expansion, it needs to include the full set of features, including those originally coming later in the year. So what does this mean? We are moving the start date for Subscriber Early Access from June 24th to August 19th in order to deliver to you the most features at the highest level of quality. The result will be a far more compelling experience, including additional features such as the ability to place your vehicles and pets in your Stronghold and for Guilds to conquer planets . To conquer a planet, Guilds must complete weekly Conquest events earning points to place at the top of the Guild Leaderboards. Conquering a planet gives the Guild special perks and rewards. This means that Subscribers will be the first to play the full slate of expansion features (everything!) at the start of Subscriber Early Access, a month before everyone else.

This additional time allows us to add:

• Conquest Events: use the power of your Stronghold to dominate these events and earn rewards
• Guild Flagships will now offer expanded functionality for Guilds:
• • Provide powerful buffs to Guild members from orbit
  • Transport entire groups to your personal coordinates instantaneously
  • Compete in Conquest Events to conquer entire planets
• New Stronghold: Tatooine Homestead
• Vehicles, Mounts, Pets, and Companion Characters can be placed as decorations in Strongholds

Combine that with the original feature list…

• 3 unique Player Strongholds, one on each Capital World plus the Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace
• 2 faction-specific Guild Flagships (Valor-class Cruiser for the Republic and Harrower-class Dreadnaught for the Empire)
• Legacy Stronghold Storage
• Ability to gain Prestige tracked on Prestige Leaderboards
• Hundreds of Decorations to discover and collect

…and the result is an expansion that’s worth waiting for!

The additional features and time shift means some adjustments in other parts of our plan:

May 4th remains the Subscriber deadline for Bonus Cartel Coins Grant to the sweet tune of 1000 Cartel Coins!

May 11th is no longer the deadline for Strongholds Early Access rewards but as a thank you to all of our Subscribers as of this date, we are giving you the following rewards:

• Exclusive Subteroth minipet (delivered in Update 2.7.2)
• Two Character Titles “The Intrepid” (delivered in Update 2.7.2) and “The Illustrious” (delivered in Game Update 2.9)
• A sprawling Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace with five additional rooms unlocked
• Stronghold Name "Galactic Stronghold"

July 15th is our new deadline for Subscriber Rewards for Early Access, and you must be a Subscriber by this date to claim the Subscriber Early Access Rewards:

• The luxurious Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace with three additional rooms unlocked
• Stronghold Name "Galactic Stronghold"
• Character Title "The Illustrious" (delivered in Game Update 2.9)

August 19th is Game Update 2.9: Galactic Strongholds Digital Expansion Subscriber Early Access!

Preferred Early Access and the Official Launch will follow in September and October. Be sure to visit www.swtor.com/galactic-strongholds for more specific dates and details.

Our goal is to keep you informed, so stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for an update on the summer roadmap, including Game Update 2.8. For all of us working on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, we appreciate your support. We’re extremely excited about Galactic Strongholds and can’t wait to share it with you. Keep the feedback coming! See you in-game!