Back in April, fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic were treated to the game’s first event, the ‘Rakghoul Epidemic’. The event went well with fans overall, including myself, but was over altogether too soon. Just a couple of months later, BioWare has introduced the ‘Grand Acquisition Race’, a new event that arrived with just as little fanfare as the ‘Rakghoul Epidemic’ and looks to also only be available for a limited time.
Similarly to the ‘Rakghoul Epidemic’ event, the ‘Grand Acquisition Race’ was introduced to players via an Imperial News Network video report that is cut into by a representative of the Chevin, an ugly, almost elephant-looking species that is well known for unsavory activities. The Chevin representative is looking for capable agents to assist him in the eponymous Grand Acquisition race, a race to acquire a number of rare items. According to the Chevin, those who seek out these items and return them will be rewarded with great riches.
Sounds too good to be true, right? After all, we are dealing with the Chevin. These guys aren’t exactly known for being on the up and up with their dealings. The event itself is basically a glorified scavenger hunt, but before you can get to hunting, a representative from your faction will seek you out in order to find out what the Chevin’s motives are here. It appears that players may eventually be given a choice to either side with their faction or with the Chevin, but I won’t spoil the story for you. Suffice it to say, things aren’t necessarily as simple as they appear.
Gameplay wise, I’m honestly not as excited about this event as I was about the ‘Rakghoul Epidemic’. Both events featured elements of scavenger hunting, but this latest event is almost entirely comprised of it. Fortunately, the scavenger hunting in this event is a bit improved from the ‘Rakghoul Epidemic’ in that players don’t necessarily have to look up guides to find the items. Several quests will point you in the right direction for a number of items, while other items’ locations can be gleaned from examining a number of fairly obvious clues found on Dromund Kaas and Nar Shaddaa.
On the positive side, acquiring the different items often involves a variety of gameplay activities, ranging from combat, to puzzle solving, and even a bit of platforming. Of course, we haven’t seen all the items yet; there are two more left to be enabled over the coming days, so perhaps we’ll see even more variety.
The highlight of the ‘Grand Acquisition Race’ is definitely the rewards. Finding the various items involved in the hunt or opening up Smuggler’s Crates littered around Nar Shaddaa will reward players with Tokens of Enrichment that can be turned in for a number of Bind on Legacy items, including several bowcasters (sniper rifle/blaster rifle variants) for both the mid and endgame levels, a full set of Sand People Bloodguard adaptive gear (not Bind on Legacy yet, but will be soon!), a pet, and even a mount. Unfortunately, the mount is only rated at 90% speed, so it is fairly useless to endgame level characters.
So far I’ve managed to acquire almost the entire set of Sand People Bloodguard gear and I’ll be looking to pick up the unique Assassin’s Touch bowcaster (sniper rifle) for my Imperial Agent. What have you picked up so far and how are you enjoying the event? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
