Star Wars: The Old Republic gets Rise of the Rakghouls update next week

BioWare's massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic shipped in late December and publisher Electronic Arts was quick to herald it as the "fastest growing subscription MMO in history." Though it may have already notched such lofty figures, today EA announced that The Old Republic's journey is just beginning, with its first content update due next week.

Due out on January 17, the Rise of the Rakghouls update brings two major content additions to The Old Republic: a new Flashpoint and a new Operation. The new Flashpoint is Kaon Under Siege, and it tasks gamers with teaming up to lay waste to a group of Rakghouls. The content is available only for players who have reached the game's level cap of 50, and sports it Normal and Heroic modes.

The second significant addition in Rise of the Rakghouls is new Operation Karagga's Palace. This Operation pits teams of eight or 16 against Karagga and the Hutt Cartel, and it is available in Normal, Heroic, and Nightmare difficulty options.

On top of the new Flashpoint and Operation, Rise of the Rakghouls includes game updates like antialiasing and player-versus-player bracketing for WarZones.

As for future refreshes, BioWare said the next planned update for Star Wars: The Old Republic will arrive sometime during March 2012. This new update will include new Flashpoints, Operations, WarZones, and unnamed fresh "game systems."

For more on the Rise of the Rakghouls update, check out GameSpot's video preview, embedded below, as well as an interview with The Old Republic game director James Ohlen.