Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Update 1.4 now live on PTS

Star Wars: The Old Republic's Game Update 1.4 is now live on the Public Test Servers, BioWare announced today.

The new update brings with it a new Operation, new weapons and armor, an improved group finder, and much more. BioWare is encouraging players who have high level, copied characters on the PTS to test out and explore the many new features.

Terror from Beyond, the new Operation, will take you to Asation, a remote planet in the Gree Enclave. Described as a "swampy, wetland world", Terror from Beyond contains five new major boss encounters, one of which is a "puzzle" encounter that "really steps outside of the bounds of what you normally see in a boss fight".

In addition, here are the other features you will find in Game Update 1.4:

• New Weapons and Armor – Upgrade your characters’ effectiveness and appearance with the Legendary Dread Guard gear.
• Improved Group Finder –Join a group for an Operation or Flashpoint and return to your previous location when you’ve completed the mission.
• Unify Colors for Companions – You can now select an option to match all your companion’s gear to his or her chest piece for a more stylish look.
• New ‘Facial Expression’ Emotes – A new set of slash commands will allow you to set your character’s expression. Let the rest of the galaxy know how you really feel.

Unfortunately, if you don't already have a copied character, you're out of luck as BioWare will not be able to offer the ability to copy characters for this test.

In July, it was announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic would adopt a free-to-play model, giving players the option to access to each of the eight Star Wars character class storylines up to level 50 for free. However, certain restrictions would be applied.