SWTOR Returning Player Guide 2026: What’s Changed and How to Get Back In

A lot of people take time out from their favourite MMO. New games release. Life gets in the way. Sometimes you just lose interest for a while.

But Star Wars: The Old Republic, like many other MMOs, seems to have a pull factor that finds players returning to the game again and again. So, is it worth returning to SWTOR in 2026?

If you’re returning to SWTOR after some time away, the good news is that the game is still in a good place, despite what /r/swtor would have you believe (the doomposting there has been ongoing for over a decade).

In fact, there have been a number of decent updates over the last year or so, and according to the developers there are some big additions coming later in 2026 and beyond.

In this article we’ll outline some key changes that have taken place in the past year or so and outline some steps you can take to re-orientate yourself as a returning player.

This guide is aimed at players returning to SWTOR after a break of roughly 6 months to 2 years who have a basic familiarity with the later stages of the game and want to jump back into late-game/endgame content such as flashpoints and operations.

New Content

We’ll focus on new content since the start of 2025.

Dynamic Encounters

Dynamic Encounters are the newest quest type in SWTOR and Broadsword continues to place a fairly significant emphasis on them.

If you aren’t familiar with them, Dynamic Encounters are random encounters that take place in the open world of SWTOR and are shared between all players in a server. You can generally think of them as falling into three categories:

1. Solo encounters: These quests are essentially single player quests; quest items aren’t shared between players (such as “Incubation Miscalculation” on Korriban). You could complete them in a group with friends if you like though.
2. Group encounters: These quests are designed to be completed by multiple players and typically involve tougher enemies (such as “Republic Attack: Mos Ila” on Tatooine).
3. Dantooine encounters: The Dantooine dynamic encounters are the newest addition. They’re designed for level 80 players and take place on a dedicated area of Dantooine. They’re a little bit more complex and require some setup but VULKK has a great article explaining everything you need to know here.

Dynamic encounters are a fairly Marmite addition to the game, but they’re an easy source of conquest and offer some variety in the game, encouraging you to visit planets and areas you might not normally go to.

Relentless Replication (XR-53) Lair Boss

Relentless Replication is the newest lair boss in SWTOR. In case you aren’t familiar, lair bosses are essentially mini operations with minimal trash and only one boss fight (other lair bosses include Toberro’s Courtyard and The Eyeless).

XR-53 isn’t the only boss worth playing, but he’s still very relevant in the game at the moment as it is the only source of Corrupted Bioprocessors, which are a key crafting material used to make the highest tier of gear augments.

As of Update 7.7 there are now three levels of difficulty: Story Mode, Veteran Mode and Master Mode. Each level of difficulty grants significantly greater rewards, with the caveat that XR is a surprisingly difficult fight for a lair boss; it isn’t unusual to spend an hour trying to clear VM if you’re pugging.

If you haven’t played him before, it’s highly recommended that you stick to SM for now. VULKK has a good guide here. Pugging VM is possible but often slow and difficult; it’s highly recommended to find a decent guild. Don’t attempt MM without a highly competent group.

Various Story and Quality of Life updates

7.x has seen a variety of story and quality of life improvements for the game. Most of them don’t fundamentally change the game, but there are some new terminologies and features to be aware of:

• Development Roadmap: Broadsword seem to be making efforts to increase transparency and have for the first time in SWTOR’s history released a development roadmap for 2026 and beyond. Major announcements include progress on an upgrade to DirectX 12 (which should see significant performance improvements) and the release of the next major update, 8.0, which will release… erm… at some point in the future. More details available from TodayinTOR here.
• Eras: Broadsword is moving away from “expansions” and is instead dividing the story into “eras”, including the class stories, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Shadow of Revan, Knights of the Eternal Throne, Knights of the Fallen Empire, and so on. There is a new Eras window that you can access through your character panel in-game to see where your character is in the storyline.
• Galactic Threads storyline: 7.x continues the Galactic Threads storyline, which will come to an end with the release of 8.0.
• Character Modernisation: One of Broadsword’s first undertakings was a modernisation of characters, including reworking models, texturing, lighting and so on. They added a number of new character customisations including a much wider range of skin tones, some new complexions, and new hairstyles.
• Various other minor improvements and new cosmetics.

What content is playable in 2026?

Most of it.

Galactic Starfighter is essentially dead and no one plays Uprisings or Star Fortresses unless they’re farming conquest or collecting achievements.

But beyond that, most content types in the game still have some level of activity.

Operations (raids) are still very popular and you will regularly find Story Mode and Veteran Mode ops groups forming on the Fleet. Ops are always formed in Fleet chat and never through the activity finder. NiM (Master Mode) ops sometimes form on the Fleet, but rarely, and this type of content is usually played within guilds or dedicated progression groups (which usually form inside or between guilds).

Flashpoints (dungeons) are also still very popular, with Story Mode generally being played for the story (as the name suggests), Veteran Mode usually being played for levelling and initial gearing once you hit Level 80, and Master Mode being played for higher level gear and rewards.

PvP Warzones and Arenas are still fairly active and you generally won’t wait any longer than 5 minutes for a queue pop during busier hours (weekday afternoons/evenings and weekends most of the day).

In short, if there’s a particular type of content you want to play, there are probably other people playing it. Ask on Fleet and there will generally be people willing to join you.

Gearing in 2026

End game gear is purchased using various currencies awarded for completing content once you reach Level 80; Conquest Commendations (conquest and related quests), FP-1 Stabilisers (flashpoints and related quests), and OP-1 Catalysts (operations and related quests).

Review our Level 80 Gearing Guide for more information.

Crew Skills (Biochem)

Biochem is still the king of crew skills since you have access to reusable gold medpacs, stims and adrenals that will save you a significant amount of money if you’re running endgame content regularly.

Other players who don’t have Biochem will also be going through a high volume of one-time-use purple Advanced Kyrprax medpacs/stims/adrenals, so there’s decent money to be made in crafting these items.

You should make sure you have max level Biochem on at least one character.

Useful Resources

SWTOR has some really great fan sites and communities, many already mentioned here, with a huge number of guides to suit all levels. You’ll often find people disagreeing on which site is best; the reality is that it’s often best to read a few different guides, try out a few different styles, and see what works best for you.

Some of our favourite sources of info:

• VULKK
  • Pros: Very beginner/returning player friendly
  • Cons: Occasionally outdated, some information is arguably not the best/most efficient way to play
• Swtorista
  • Pros: Beginner/returning player friendly, huge variety of information on all aspects of the game
  • Cons: Occasionally incomplete or missing information
• Merlyn’s SWTOR Guides
  • Pros: Short and to the point information that is easy to refer to as you play. We often use this as an aide memoire during operations.
  • Cons: Can be less information-heavy than other sites, useful for a refresher, less useful for new players learning a fight for the first time
• Admiral Nick’s SWTOR Guides
  • Pros: Very detailed guides, contains some information for niche combat styles/content not covered elsewhere. The Getting Started guide is highly recommended
  • Cons: Less beginner friendly, some high-level content is paywalled
• Illeva’s SWTOR Guides
  • Focuses on other content such as datacrons, achievements, companions, pets, events and fashion

Finding a Good Guild

Arguably, the best thing you can do if you want to learn to play well is to find a good group to practice, develop, and challenge yourself with.

A good guild provides a variety of benefits; experienced players who can help you settle back into the game, as well as other more tangible effects such as boosts and bonuses in-game.

EnterGuildName is an imp side guild playing on the Darth Malgus server. Alongside our sister rep side guild we enjoy a small, friendly community and many of our members have enjoyed years long friendships. We aim to be a welcoming and relaxed group where new, returning and experienced players can develop and engage in challenging content.

We maintain a core group of experienced players who lead guild activities and help new and returning players to learn, progress, and most importantly have fun in the game.

We run weekly guild activities on Saturdays at 8pm UTC and offer a variety of other bonuses, boosts and rewards including a 30m conquest prize pool, crit set bonus, 22% XP boost, and flagship summon for all guild members.

If you’re a returning player in 2026 we’d love to welcome you into our guild. You can read more information and join our Discord server below to request an invite.