SWTOR PvP Changes Coming in Game Update 7.2.1

SWTOR Alderaan Civil War Warzone Map

Here is an overview of some of the changes coming to SWTOR PvP in Game Update 7.2.1 and some changes coming to PvP Seasons 2.

You can find out more here:

The release date for Game Update 7.2.1 is Tuesday, March 28th. PvP Seasons 2 is also included with 7.2.1.


Table of Contents


Alderaan Civil War Map Changes

The following adjustments have been made to the Alderaan Civil War Map.

  • Defender points per tick have been increased to 700 points per tick (up from 500 points per tick).
  • Turret Control Zones have been increased.
  • When within the control zones of a turret controlled by the player’s team, they will receive 500 defender points when defeating a player. 
  • When within the control zones of a turret controlled by the opposing team, players will receive 500 attacker points for every player they defeat. 

The developers have stated that adjustments will gradually be made to all Warzone Maps. It is currently unknown which Map will be adjusted next.


Medals

The number of medals needed to earn all potential rewards has been reduced.

The amount of Medals earned for full credit has been adjusted to players needing only to obtain 7 Medals instead of 8.

This will affect earning maximum PvP Season Points and Valor as well as Conquest Objectives.


Matchmaking

Some changes are being made to how matchmaking works that will place a higher priority on queueing premades against each other at the cost of increased queue times.

There will now be a much higher priority during matchmaking to pair premades against each other when possible. There are two considerations that we will be monitoring very closely: 

  • This will likely increase queue times for all players as we are enforcing harder matchmaking rules upfront to pop a match.
  • With this in mind, as time passes with a player in a queue there becomes a delta where we will prioritize popping a match over everything else. Meaning you can still be paired with a premade but it will take a longer duration of time to pass in the queue for that to happen.

A reminder that there is a careful balance we have to consider between the quality of matches and the queue time of players. Catering to this balance is also why we have moved away from having solo vs group queues. As stated, we will be reviewing and monitoring data and feedback as the season progresses, and if it is found that the matchmaking system is causing excessive queue times, we will explore other options to improve the overall experience for players. 

In other words, given population constraints, the developers had to choose between separate solo and group queues or separate warzone and arena queues.


Queue Lockout Timers

The lockout timers were reduced on the PTS and are assumed to be going live with 7.2.1. However, they are not listed on the PTS.

  • Leaving 1 match = 5 minute lockdown (down from 20 minutes)
  • Leaving 2 matches = 15 minute lockdown (down from 1 hour)
  • Leaving 3 matches = 1 hour lockdown (down from 6 hours)

PvP Season 2 Achievement Changes

Rather than adjusting the requirement for completing the Arena Weekly, the developers instead reduced the requirement for Seasonal Achievement for both Arenas and Warzones.

The requirements for the Arena Advocator and Warzone Warrior Achievements have been reduced from 25 weekly completions to 12.

This means that you will now only have to complete the Arena and Warzone Weekly 12 times to complete the Achievements in Season 2.


PvP Season 2 Medals Points Adjustments

To take into account the reduction in Medals need for max rewards from 8 to 7, the total points earned for match completion has been adjusted. Reminder, that points are doubled for subscribers!

Warzones

Warzone WinWarzone Loss
7 or more medals248
6 medals217
5 medals186
4 medals155
3 medals124
2 medals83
1 medal42
0 medals00

Arenas

Warzone WinWarzone Loss
7 or more medals124
6 medals103
5 medals83
4 medals62
3 medals42
2 medals31
1 medal21
0 medals00

Bug Fixes

The developers posted the following PvP-related bug fixes in the 7.2.1 patch notes.

  • The PvP/Warzone button on the Utility bar now displays the correct message “You are in a queue for Warzone or Arenas” when the player who is not the leader of the group is in a queue.
  • Class buff no longer disappears when queued in a match group with at least 2 characters of the same Origin Story.
  • PvP Challenges are now working correctly.

This sums up all the changes we will probably get to PvP when Game Update 7.2.1 and for PvP Season 2. I feel more needs to be done though. I’ll have an article coming out soon discussing changes that are still needed for PvP.

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