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Eleven years later, Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally moving to 64-bit code as part of an ongoing revamp. Star Wars: The Old Republic continues to be a niche yet profitable game for EA and BioWare, continuing to roll out updates and new content at a sporadic pace.
The eighth expansion of The Old Republic was released in February of this year after a two-month delay dedicated to finalizing the game. However, when Legacy of the Sith did come out, players were disappointed by its length and the content available. A new operation, the 8 or 16 player version of The Old Republic raiding, has been delayed until August, along with a recurring daily zone for the planet Manaan. Thankfully, the year for the MMO seems to be ending on a high note, with the release of Update 7.2 last week, possibly containing as much content as the expansion’s initial launch.
Moreover, The Old Republic announced that the 64-bit version of the game is available for players on the public test server (PTS). BioWare has made frequent use of PTS in recent years, usually allowing players to plug in and test upcoming features before the official launch. As of today, the PTS is “open to players who can experience Star Wars: The Old Republic in 64-bit” and will contain “content included in the game’s 7.2 update.” Anyone who wants to start their journey through the Old Republic is strongly advised to avoid PTS until they have reached the maximum level and have completed most of the existing content at least once.
This is a significant update to an often criticized engine that is considered to be holding back development. Despite significant improvements to character models and cinematic animation that began with the 2015 Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion and have continued gradually ever since, The Old Republic finds it particularly difficult to maintain consistent performance when trying to accommodate large groups of players. The move to 64-bit means “players can use more memory and are not limited to 4GB per process” and also reduces the limits developers face when it comes to “how much content can fit in each area”.
For those who don’t really want to deal with the legion of bugs that are likely to be present in the PTS, patch 7.2 “Showdown on Ruhnuk” offers a lot of interesting things for subscribers and those who play for free. Ruhnuk is a new planet introduced in the update, where the next story chapter begins, where the Mandalorian civil war comes to a head. PvP has been completely restructured; the Ranked competitive mode has been removed, the free-to-play limit has been removed, and a seasonal model has been added in which players can earn cosmetics, mounts, and titles.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is available for PC.