Star Wars: Squadrons ranks, challenges, rewards, and progression system

The release of the next Star Wars game is just around the corner, and with less than two weeks away from launch, the developers have decided to share with fans details regarding various in-game systems.

Given that the focus of the game is on its multiplayer and competitive component, future players are eager to find out how will game's ranking and competitive matchmaking work, as well as how will we be able to progress as we play.

This information is the theme of the latest blog post from Motive Studios, the game's developer.

Star Wars: Squadrons Economy, Ship components and Cosmetics

(Picture: EA)

Electronic Arts have made a firm promise that Star Wars: Squadrons will have zero microtransactions, so players are interested to find out how the game's economy will work.

The game will have two types of in-game currency, plus a progression system.

The first one is called Glory, which you will be rewarded through Challenges, Operations, and your Level (more on that later).

Players can use Glory points to unlock cosmetics they would like to equip on their ships and pilots.

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The second in-game resource is called Requisition, which players earn by levelling up. You level up simply by playing the game and earning Experience (XP), in any available game mode.

Unlike Glory Points, which are used for cosmetics, Requisition allows you to unlock ship components, which affects gameplay.

Ship components can be equipped to change how your ships function, and they can add passive or active benefits.

Starfighters can be equipped with up to three passive components and four active components:

• Primary Weapons
• Auxiliary (x2)
• Countermeasures
• Hull
• Shields
• Engines 

Developers want to stress that by levelling, earning Requisition, and unlocking ship components, you are not getting better equipment, but simply more options and variations to pick from, allowing you to choose how would you like to play the game and what suits your playstyle the best. You can read more about ship components here.

Star Wars: Squadrons Levels

(Picture: EA)

Players in Star Wars: Squadrons will have their own personal level which is a linear progression path that does not reset.

You level up by playing the game and earning Experience (XP), and by levelling you are earning Requisition points, which, as we already mentioned, are used for unlocking ship components.

When players hit level 40, they will have enough points to unlock all components, allowing them to try out every potential starfighter build. Further levelling will give you more Glory points for cosmetics.

Star Wars: Squadrons Challenges

(Picture: EA)

Challenges in the game will be a sort of timed quest which will reward players with Glory and even unique cosmetics.

Daily Challenges are simple objectives which you can complete by playing the game and they will always grant you Glory points.

Diversity of these Daily Challenges is made so that it will encourage players to try different ships and components since some conditions for their completion will require different equipment.

Other than Daily Challenges, there are also Operation Challenges.

Operation Challenges

Operation Challenges are more involved than daily challenges and are completed over 8 weeks, each Operation brings with it a set of unique cosmetic rewards that can only be earned by completing Operation Challenges.

Their rewards are tied up with specific Operations, so once the operation is over, you will not be able to get these cosmetics unless that specific Operation comes back at some point in the future.

Operation 8-week cycles are tied into the 8-week reset of your Fleet Battles rank, which is the game's ladder system.

Star Wars: Squadrons Ranked Ladder and Ranks

(Picture: EA)

In Star Wars: Squadrons, the competitive ladder system is called Fleet Battles. Fleet Battles ladder seasons last for 8 weeks and then players' ranks reset.

Fleet Battles rank reset with every Operation’s conclusion, and in order to get a new rank, players will need to play in ten placement matches at the start of every new Operation cycle.

There are six Fleet Battles ranks, and each has 5 Divisions.

These are Fleet Battles ranks, from lowest to highest:

• Maverick
• Hotshot
• Hero
• Valiant
• Legend
• Galactic Ace

Players can not be demoted to lower ranks for the length of an active Operation, but you can fall to lower divisions within your current rank.

For example, you can't go from Legend to Valiant, but you can drop from Legend V fo Legend IV.

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When the Operation(ranked season) ends, players will receive Glory based on their maximum Rank achieved. This means, for example, if you were rank Valiant V at one point, but finished at Valiant II, you will still receive rewards for Valiant V.

In this way, developers want to remove players' ladder anxiety and fear of dropping ranks, and instead encourage them to push till the very end of the Operation.

Upon the first time reaching Valiant, Legend, and Galactic Ace Ranks, players will earn exclusive helmets as rewards.

Unlike unique Operation rewards, these helmets are the same across all Operations, so you don't need to worry if you don't unlock them the first time, they will be there with each new season (Operation).

Star Wars: Squadrons bonus events and additional rewards 

(Picture: EA)

When you complete the singleplayer campaign for the first time, you will be rewarded with a cosmetic bundle.

You can unlock another cosmetic bundle by completing the Fleet Battles tutorial.

Furthermore, developers say that they are also planing occasional bonus events that will offer additional Glory.

The game will not be GaaS (Game as a service), since no additional monetization is planned, and almost all of the game’s experiences will be built in at launch.

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Still, developers promise that they will "still be updating it over time."

They also plan to actively take feedback from players and "to make this the best possible starfighter experience" and closely watch for any balance issues that will need to be addressed.

Unlike a lot of modern developers, they are planning to provide patch release notes with each new update, so that players can know what's new and what's been changed. 

Star Wars: Squadrons is set for release on 2nd October on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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