Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Originally launched on December 20, 2011, the game takes place approximately 3,500 years before the events of the original Star Wars films during the era of the Old Republic, where the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire are locked in an uneasy cold war. Players choose from eight distinct class stories spanning both factions — including Jedi Knight, Sith Warrior, Smuggler, and Bounty Hunter — each with fully voiced narrative campaigns that set the game apart from traditional MMORPGs. The game transitioned to a free-to-play model in November 2012 and continues to operate with a subscription tier called SWTOR Preferred/Subscriber. Development transferred from BioWare to Broadsword Online Games in 2023, which continues to publish regular content updates.

SWTOR features a mix of solo story content and group-focused multiplayer, including flashpoints (instanced dungeons), operations (raids for 8-16 players), PvP warzones, and open-world zones shared with hundreds of players. The game originally ran on dozens of separate servers across North America and Europe, which were consolidated into mega-servers in 2017 during the United Forces update. In November 2023, Broadsword launched a dedicated APAC server (Shae Vizla) based in Sydney, Australia — the game's first cloud-hosted server, reflecting an ongoing migration of infrastructure. As of 2024, the game operates six total servers: two for North America (Star Forge, Satele Shan), three for Europe (Darth Malgus, Tulak Hord, The Leviathan), and one for APAC (Shae Vizla).

The game uses a custom build of the HeroEngine with proprietary networking. Game traffic runs primarily over TCP, which is atypical for MMORPGs but consistent with the HeroEngine architecture. Server tick rate is not publicly disclosed by developers. The game has a light-weight custom anti-cheat that monitors RAM and running processes for unauthorized third-party programs. VPN usage is not explicitly banned but shared VPN IPs can be flagged for security review, particularly following a security incident in late 2024. Connection stability for long sessions — especially during 24-player operations and PvP warzones — is the primary network concern among the player community.