SWTOR 1.1 update adds severe Valor exploit; BioWare investigating

The 1.1 update for Star Wars: The Old Republic launched today, bringing with it the "Rise of the Rakghouls," along with some unintended exploits that understandably have the game's community up in arms. The biggest problem seems to center around turret-farming in the high-level areas of Illum, which encourages large groups to camp the spawn-points of giant turrets. The problem seems to be exacerbated by the factional imbalances, wherein Imperial players still significantly outnumber those on the Republic side.

SWTOR community member DarkwingGT sums up the main problem fairly well on the game's official forums, stating, "The turrets give massive Valor, have no diminishing returns and respawn instantly." The upshot is that large groups are encouraged to farm these turrets, with some folks even claiming to have reached rank 100 Valor in a matter of minutes of such activity.

Problems with loading screens and hotbar icons have also been reported, following the 1.1 update.

BioWare has also noted in the SWTOR forums that it's working on an "official response," and though we're still awaiting said response, the developer has pointedly stopped using the adjective "potential" when referring to issues caused by the recent update.

To give you a better idea about just how problematic things have become for some players after the update launched, YouTube user suzpaz uploaded a video of the camping exploit, which we've embedded below.

(via Eurogamer)