Embarking on a journey through the vast, sprawling universe of “Star Wars: The Old Republic” (SWTOR), players are introduced to a game that is not just expansive but rich in lore, character development, and unique gameplay systems. Among these, the Legacy System stands out as a shining beacon of customization and progression, offering gamers a way to intertwine their in-game achievements, characters, and rewards into a singular, overarching family lineage or ‘Legacy.’ This guide aims to dismantle the complexity of the Legacy System and provide you with the insights needed to master this detailed part of SWTOR gameplay.
Understanding the Legacy System
At its core, the Legacy System is essentially SWTOR’s ingenious method of binding all your endeavors and achievements across every character in your account on a specific server. Introduced in Patch 1.2, this system was a game-changer, allowing players to not just play an MMO but to inhabit and influence their corner of the Star Wars universe personally.
Unlocking the Legacy System occurs after completing the first act of any character’s story, marking the birth of your very own Legacy. From this point on, every action, from harrowing world quests to epic chronicle choices, contributes to the growth and prestige of your Legacy. It enables a multitude of rewards, customizations, and conveniences across all characters linked to your Legacy.
Legacy Perks
The assortment of benefits woven through the Legacy System is rich and varied, offering enhancements and shortcuts that affect gameplay in both minor and significant ways. Legacy Perks are purchasable enhancements that can give you an edge in leveling up, crafting, and enjoying the game’s content. Some perks are universally beneficial, while others cater to more specific playstyles.
Types of Legacy Perks
- Experience Boosts: These perks increase the amount of experience points (XP) you earn across different activities like Warzones, Flashpoints, and questing. Investing in these can substantially speed up the leveling process for all the characters within your Legacy.
- Travel and Convenience: Includes perks that reduce cooldowns on Quick Travel, increase mount speeds, and even unlock the ability to summon repair droids or mailboxes wherever you are.
- Companion and Crew Skills: This category boosts the efficiency and effectiveness of your companions, including faster completion times for crew skill missions and increased critical rates for crafting or gathering.
- Miscellaneous Base Enhancements: Other perks in this group provide various gameplay benefits, such as unlocking additional Cargo Hold tabs or expanding your inventory space at a discounted rate.
Purchasing these perks requires credits (the in-game currency) and sometimes specific Legacy Levels, which brings us to another core aspect of the Legacy System.
Legacy Levels
Illustrating your Legacy’s overall prowess and achievements, Legacy Levels serve as a universal progression system across all characters within a Legacy. As you partake in nearly any experience-earning activity in SWTOR, you’ll contribute to this cumulative level count, unlocking the ability to purchase aforementioned Legacy Perks and other enhancements.
Gaining Legacy Experience
The formula for Legacy experience is straightforward—it’s directly tied to the amount of XP your characters earn. Whether you’re profound-sinking into story arcs, engaging in player versus player (PvP) skirmishes or exploring distant worlds, all contribute to this singular progression metric.
Legacy Achievements
Adding another layer to the multifaceted Legacy System are Legacy Achievements. These are special milestones that recognize and reward players for completing specific content, achieving feats of strength, or collecting rare items across their entire Legacy. Far from mere laurels to rest upon, these achievements often come with tangible rewards, including special titles, mounts, and pets, along with bonus Legacy XP and credits.
Tracking and Completing Achievements
The Achievements tab in the Legacy interface serves as your ledger, cataloging every potential achievement available in the game and tracking your progress towards them. It’s a vast checklist begging to be completed, covering everything from PvP victories to exploration milestones.
Family Tree
Perhaps the most personalized feature of the Legacy System is the Family Tree, a visual representation of how all your characters relate to one another. This component allows you to literally draw connections between your characters, defining relationships such as siblings, spouses, or allies. While these designations are primarily for roleplaying and have little effect on gameplay mechanics, they offer a unique way to headcanon your characters’ stories and relationships within the larger Star Wars story.
Building Your Family Tree
Customizing your Family Tree is intuitive. Access it via the Legacy interface, and simply drag and drop characters to the desired spot. From there, you can link them through various relationship lines, crafting your unique saga within the SWTOR universe.