SWTOR names its next era: Masters of the Force, with Ryloth and pick-your-own difficulty

Broadsword has finally named the next era of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Game Update 8.0 is Masters of the Force. Most of the content went up on the test server at the start of August, so the title was the last piece still under wraps.

The era opens with the Galaxy in Chaos storyline. Darth Malgus's broadcast reached every Force-sensitive being out there and left both the Republic and the Sith Empire in disarray; the announcement places that arc later this year. The new planet is Ryloth, the Twi'lek homeworld, with the Hutt Cartel as the local threat and dynamic encounters scattered across it.

The change with the biggest day-to-day impact is the set of difficulty modes across the overworld: Story, Veteran and Master, switchable whenever you like. They don't split the playerbase either, since you can group with friends running a different one.

The other bet is Ventures: Classic or Expert characters built to recapture the feel of early SWTOR, with their own goals, separate progression and rewards you can't get elsewhere.

The new raid is Children of Nul: three bosses for groups of eight, set in the abandoned sections of the Enigma and the experiments Darth Nul left behind. It launches in Story and Veteran modes with Master coming later, and the first boss is already up on the PTS.

Rounding it out: a level 85 cap, new abilities across every Discipline and a reworked gearing system. No release date yet, though — Broadsword has only committed to Developer Let's Play streams over the coming months.