On November 10, 2025, the SWGoH team marked the game’s 10-year anniversary and previewed a sweeping overhaul designed to refresh its core systems and support both new and veteran players. In short: the team is embracing a new “Era” structure to create seasonal content, more accessible progression, and meaningful rewards for all.
What’s New: The Era System
One of the biggest changes is the introduction of Eras, a seasonal structure built around three Episodes per Era, six marquee units, a Journey Guide event per Era, weekly Episode Quests, and Era Challenges.
Key features include:
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Era units: New characters (“Era Marquees” & “Era Journey Guides”) released within an Era, which use Era resources for progression rather than legacy gear/Relic systems.
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Isolation: Era content is kept separate (“isolated”) from Legacy content. Legacy units continue under the older system; Era units use the new system. This allows new players and returning players to engage together without old-roster penalties.
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Expanded access: Features like Episode Quests, Episode Pass, and Character Quests unlock at much lower player levels (e.g., Episode Quests at Level 10, Character Quests at Level 20) to bring new/returning players into the action earlier.
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Era Levels: A new progression path for Era units (levels, stars, Era materials) with a conversion into the traditional system when the Era ends—so progress isn’t wasted.
New Modes & Content Adjustments
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Coliseum: A new seasonal mode launching at player level 10. Daily rotating bosses, high-score leaderboards, and Era-shards (new type of shard that resets each Era) are part of it. Rewards include Relic 10 materials for high-end players.
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Era Challenges: Replacing the older “Galactic Challenges”, these allow players a week between marquee releases to complete challenges using Era units. Designed to reduce daily grind.
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Cantina & Campaigns updates: Light and Dark Side tables are being consolidated into a single “Campaigns” table, with deeper modernization of the cantina experience coming next year.
Changes to Legacy Systems & Economy
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Marquee cadence: All players will receive Era Marquee units upon logging in first time during their Era (even if they missed the event), though upgrading starts when the Marquee event goes live. Shard/ship-node timing is also adjusted.
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Relic & gear economy: The Relic system receives major tweaks: fewer gear/Relic material bottlenecks, increased inflow of Relic resources, improved access to Relics through updated shipments and scavenger recipes.
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Relic requirements lowered: For example, Relic 4 now requires 5 stars instead of 6; Relic 5: 6 instead of 7. At the same time, Relic 10 is introduced for competitive end-game players.
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Relic Delta: A new system affecting damage modifiers based on Relic differential between squads. It will first affect modes outside the “Stranger arc” Realization.
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Episode Track updates: Free and Pass tiers get more Era material rewards; Episode Quests adjusted to give more value; Galactic Challenge points migrated into Episode Quests.
10th Anniversary Specifics
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Anniversary Era Marquee units: To celebrate the milestone, they’re releasing units that pay homage to characters present at launch in 2015, but re-imagined for modern play. The six are: Stormtrooper Luke, IG-90, Yoda & Chewie, Asajj Ventress (Dark Disciple), Inquisitor Barriss, and Darth Vader (Duel’s End).
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Anniversary Era Journey Guide unit: Maul (Hate-Fueled) is the Journey Guide unit for this Era.
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Anniversary Quest chains: Spanning through to November 17, 2026, these are special quest lines available from Level 10 onward for all players, with major rewards (Lightspeed Tokens, Zeta / Omicron materials, and character unlocks).
The Four Pillars Behind the Update
The SWGoH dev team laid out their guiding design pillars for this Era overhaul:
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Seasonal Play is for All Players – New and veteran alike can engage with latest content on a level playing field.
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Focus on the Fun – The update aims to reinvigorate rapid progression felt by new players, immediate usefulness of new units, and content that makes you go “wow.”
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Tell a Star Wars Story – Deep narrative experiences and immersive modes (beyond just character collection) are part of the plan.
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Eras are the Most Efficient Path for Player Progress – Progress made during an Era should carry forward and not feel wasted; resources invested should translate into long-term roster strength.
Final Thoughts
This anniversary update represents a major pivot for Galaxy of Heroes — it’s not just new characters or events, it’s a restructuring aimed at making the game more accessible, fresh, and equitable while preserving the long-term investment of veteran players. The dev team acknowledges that the system will evolve based on feedback and they’re excited to continue the journey with the player community.