SWTOR wants you to start over: how the Ventures in Masters of the Force work

The Game Update 8.0 name reveal took the headlines with Ryloth, the Children of Nul operation and level 85. The fine print underneath matters more to anyone who has already seen it all: Ventures, dedicated characters you roll from scratch to replay the game under harsher rules.

There are two flavors. Classic aims at the feel of early SWTOR: one full origin story, level 1 to 50, on Veteran difficulty, with planetary arcs, crew skills and the original flashpoints all counting toward it.

Expert sits at the other end: level 80 and up on Master difficulty, built around heroics, dailies, rare enemies and exploration. Either way the character is locked to its difficulty from creation, and getting out means pulling an eject button that cannot be undone.

The condition that will sting: a Venture only advances while your subscription is active. Broadsword promises new goals, meaningful progression and unique rewards on the official Masters of the Force page, but it has yet to show what those rewards are or how many Ventures there will be.

The Story, Veteran and Master difficulty modes out in the open world are a separate thing, and they don't depend on Ventures at all: anyone can use them, and you can group with players running a different setting. All of it is already on the public test server; as for a release date, the studio still says nothing beyond "later this year".