Darth Hater

Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate is upon us! As of the time of this posting, servers are down but BioWare has the patch notes available for players to read ahead of them coming back online. Along with the new content that we've known about for a while now is also the Life Day Holiday items. If you would like to learn more about the content covered in the new update, head over to our coverage guide. For the patch notes in full, hit the jump.

Update: Servers are back online early!

Highlights

• Ancient Hypergate, a new Warzone, is available for play! Travel to an ancient ruin built around a Gree Hypergate and battle to control the precious technology for your faction.
• New incredibly challenging Weekly [HEROIC] Space Combat Missions are now available!
• All-new Grade 7 Artifact Quality Starship Upgrades are now available from the Fleet and Mission Support vendors!

Cartel Market

New Items

• A new collection of rare goods, freshly smuggled in by the Hutt Cartel is now available! The Blockade Runner Cartel Pack can contain Rare bonus items not found in any other Cartel Market Pack! Cost: 360 Cartel Coins.
• The Grade 7 Starship Defensive Bundle contains defensive upgrades that will protect your ship during the most difficult missions! Cost: 400 Cartel Coins.
• Purchase the Grade 7 Starship Offensive Bundle to give your ship enhanced firepower! Cost: 550 Cartel Coins.
• The Grade 7 Starship Tactical Bundle contains powerful upgrades for your personal starship. Cost: 350 Cartel Coins.

Life Day Items

• The following items are available for a limited time only!
• Purchase the Life Day Robes, an adaptive armor set containing Life Day Vestments, Lower Robe, and Boots, to show your Life Day spirit! Cost: 960 Cartel Coins.
• The Czerka LD-1 Celebrator, an adaptive speeder, combines the convenience of travel with the joy of the Life Day celebration! Cost: 1800 Cartel Coins.
• Use the Life Day Tinsel Bomb to spread cheer to anyone it hits with a blast of shiny tinsel. Cost: 300 Cartel Coins.
• The Life Day Orb is a commemorative orb used to celebrate Life Day. Cost: 60 Cartel Coins.
• The Life Day Holo-Tree brings the joy of Life Day anywhere in the galaxy! Cost: 600 Cartel Coins.
• Get the most Life Day cheer with the Life Day Bundle, which includes the Life Day Orb, Life Day Holo-Tree, Life Day Tinsel Bomb, Czerka LD-1 Celebrator, and the Life Day Vestments, Lower Robe, and Boots for the discounted price of 2400 Cartel Coins.

Fireworks

• The following items are available for a limited time only!
• Celebrate the conquests of the Empire with Imperial Fireworks! Each box contains 10 Fireworks. Cost: 125 Cartel Coins.
• Celebrate the victories of the Republic with Republic Fireworks! Each box contains 10 Fireworks. Cost: 125 Cartel Coins.
• Create a dazzling display of colorful sparks with Fountain Fireworks. Each box contains 10 Fountain Fireworks. Cost: 75 Cartel Coins.
• Complete your Fireworks display with impressive Finale Fireworks and send a series of large, colorful explosions high into the air! Each box contains 10 Finale Fireworks. Cost: 50 Cartel Coins.
• Celebrate in style with the Fireworks Bundle! This bundle contains all four Fireworks boxes with an additional 2 Fireworks per box at a discounted price! Cost: 300 Cartel Coins.

Bugfixes

• One-handed blasters and Lightsabers found in Cartel Packs can now be used in both the main hand and off-hand equipment slots.

Crew Skills

• Players who previously unlearned a Crew Skill no longer lose schematics when learning new schematics from reverse engineering.

Group Finder

• A new "Introduction to Group Finder" mission has been added to the Daily Mission Terminal on the Republic and Imperial Fleets. This mission is granted when players complete the Advanced Gear mission.
• Group Finder categories have been updated with tooltips that provide a recommended gear rating and an outline of the rewards available from the content.
• 10 Black Hole Commendations are now awarded by Story Mode Operations in Group Finder (up from 5).

Items

• Elite War Hero Items are now available on the new Elite War Hero vendor. These items can be purchased using Ranked Commendations.
• War Hero Items can now be purchased with Warzone Commendations.
• Battlemaster Items are no longer available for purchase.
• Ancient Artifact Storage Boxes can now be purchased for 25 Tionese Crystals from all Tionese vendors.
• Tionese items available from the Tionese vendor no longer require Tionese Crystals, and most of their commendation costs have been reduced.
• Companion gear no longer alters player character stats when modified.
• A tooltip issue that caused identical items in the inventory to appear to count towards a set bonus (even when not equipped) has been corrected.

Missions and NPCs

• A new "Advanced Gear" mission for each class has been added to the Daily Mission Terminal on the Imperial and Republic Fleets.

PvP

• The requirements for offense and defense bronze medals have been lowered. Players now receive each medal the first time they receive associated objective points, regardless of the value.
• New Rated bracers and belts are now available on the War Hero vendor. These items are unmodded items similar to other Rated items. The old bracers and belt are no longer available.
• Bolster now appears as a positive effect that cannot be removed by the player (instead of as a negative effect).

Space Combat

• The ammo count for missiles and proton torpedoes now includes the missile or torpedo in the chamber.
• Imperial Agents, Sith Inquisitors, and Jedi Consulars can now swap Power Conversion Modules by right-clicking them.

UI

• The tooltips for several currencies now explain how they can be acquired and what they can be used to purchase. These currencies include: Tionese Commendations, Columi Commendations, Black Hole Commendations, Daily Commendations, and Tionese Crystals.
• The Flashpoint Commendations category in the currency window is now named "Elder Game Commendations." Daily commendations now appear in this category.
• The friends list no longer occasionally shows some friends as always offline.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

• Players no longer occasionally see other players on their personal starship.