Star Wars MMO The Old Republic delays its next expansion

BioWare announced this week that the latest expansion for MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, called Galactic Strongholds, has been delayed from June to August.

"When playing early builds of Galactic Strongholds it became that clear that our June Early Access date was simply not enough," senior producer Bruce Maclean said in a blog post on the game's website. "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."

What this means is that BioWare has shifted the start-date for Subscriber Early Access to Galactic Strongholds from June 24 to August 19. Moving the date back allows BioWare to "deliver to you the most features at the highest level of quality," Maclean said.

"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," he added.

The additional development time allows BioWare to add the following elements to the Galactic Strongholds expansion:

• 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

The original Galactic Strongholds 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

The Galactic Strongholds expansion for The Old Republic will launch for Preferred players in September and then for all free players in October.