Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel

"The Hutts will not be allowed to expand their dominion at our expense."

- Supreme Chancellor Leontyne Saresh

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel, simply known as Rise of the Hutt Cartel, is the first digital expansion pack to the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, released on April 14, 2013 as part of Game Update 2.0.

Plot summary
In the wake of Karagga's death, the Hutt Toborro seizes the leadership of the Hutt Cartel, establishing himself as the new Supreme Mogul with Szajin, as his right-hand man. Seeing the Empire weakened, Toborro decides to continue Karagga's campaign of expansion, but with the planet Makeb at the heart of a new era of Hutt conquest&mdash;for Makeb is home to deposits of the incredibly rare and powerful mineral known as isotope-5. Isotope-5 is capable of warping electromagnetic and gravitational fields, and a gram of the substance can generate immense amounts of power. Toborro therefore pays off Makeb's defense force, the mercenary army known as the InterStellar Regulators, to help the Hutts conquer the world, and the Cartel blockades the Makeb system as Toborro begins to mine the isotope-5 in Makeb's core without any regard for what it would do to the planet.

Republic
Upon learning of the Hutts' actions, Chancellor Saresh consults with the Jedi Order and learns that the Hutts will likely try to continue their conquests if they are not stopped, so she pledges Republic aid to the citizens of Makeb. Saresh's forces make contact with Shalim Avesta, leader of the Makeb resistance and the planet's de facto Head of State, and help him rescue his niece Lemda, who is a geophysicist who was captured by the Regulators after she discovered that Toborro's drilling will cause the planet to break apart. After breaking into the Hutt Embassy in Makeb's capital Talaos City, the Republic forces and the Makeb resistance learn of the Ark, an enormous vessel being constructed inside the hollow Giant's Spear mesa that will ferry Toborro, the other Cartel personnel, and their isotope-5 stores off of the planet when the planet begins to break apart. The Republic and resistance forces promptly seize the Giant's Spear and the Ark, repurposing the vessel to carry Makeb's civilians as a true ark to safety.

A furious Toborro unleashes the Regulators against the Avesta Plantation, but the Republic forces head off the Regulators on the Fingers mesa and also destroy the Storm Carrier warship, killing the Regulator Vice-Commandant Grevin in the process. Toborro then reveals that the Ark is powered by isotope-5 before sending his Regulators to attack the settlement of Tarlam along with isotope-5 droids, powerful war droids powered by isotope-5, though the Republic and the resistance evacuate Tarlam's civilians to the Ark. Desperate for a fuel source to power the Ark, the Republic and resistance forces assault the Sanctuary research complex in order to locate Dr. Juvard Illip Oggurobb, a Hutt scientist and the creator of the Ark and the isotope-5 droids. The Republic forces are able to successfully locate Oggurobb with the Hutt's help in bypassing the Sanctuary's security systems, as Oggurobb wishes to defect to the Republic because he has realized Toborro has gone insane.

Oggurobb confirms that Toborro possesses the fuel rods, but warns the Republic that the Hutt leader has increased mining operations to maximum levels&mdash;an action that will result in the destruction of Makeb long before the civilians are evacuated. Republic forces then disabled several mining platforms and vented the planet's core, reducing the buildup of heat and the seismic activity, giving them more time. Around the same time, most of the leaders of the Hutt Cartel, having come to recognize that Toborro has gone insane, approach Shalim Avesta and the Republic with a request to board the Ark. The Republic convinces Avesta to allow the Hutts aboard the Ark in exchange for an alliance between the Hutt Cartel and the Republic, gaining the Republic a new ally in the ongoing war. Using a secret entrance provided by Oggurobb, Republic forces infiltrate Toborro's Palace and search for the fuel rods, confronting the mad Cartel leader. Toborro unleashes a powerful isotope-5 droid known as Toborro's Glittering Fury upon the intruders, but after it is defeated, the Hutt commits suicide by igniting his isotope-5 stockpiles in an attempt to kill the Republic forces. However, the Republic forces escape with the fuel rods before the palace's destruction and return to the Ark, where the fuel rods are installed and the Ark is launched just as the Giant's Spear collapses.

The Hutt Cartel is ordered to supply a new home and credits to the people of Makeb as part of their alliance with the Republic, but the Republic is surprised to see that Makeb's destruction did not come to pass&mdash;unbeknownst to them, Darth Marr's Imperial strike team was able to prevent the planet's destruction. As the crisis passes, it is discovered that Regulator holdouts are still alive down on the surface with thousands of civilians who were believed to be dead, leading Supreme Commander Malcom to devote Republic forces towards rescuing the people and securing the still-valuable world.

Empire
Around the same time, the Dark Councilor Darth Marr learns of Makeb's valuable isotope-5 resource and dispatches a small strike team to secure the isotope-5 reserves for the weakening Empire. The team crashes on the planet due to Makeb's violent atmosphere. They are contacted by an Imperial agent who tells them to take control of Gravity Hook 7 to secure Imperial transport on- and off-world. Once they do so, they meet the Imperial agent in person, who introduces herself as Katha Niar, formerly of the Ministry of Logistics. She introduces the rest of her team as Lord Cytharat, their tactical advisor; Doctor Nadrin Tro, a Neimoidian scientist; and the Cathar Hanthor and Sergeant Bedareux.

The Imperial team goes to the resort of Solida Hesk, a Makeb collaborator with the Hutts. They learn from Hesk that the isotope-5 is being held at a facility called Stronghold One. In order to gain access to the stronghold, they decide to foment a rebellion against the Hutts to distract them. They track down the rebel leader Pollus Avesta and convince him to attack the Hutts. With the Regulators distracted, they attack Stronghold One. However, they find that the Hutt Archon Szajin has already processed all of the isotope-5 stored there into battle droids. They report back to Darth Marr, who is displeased with their failure. They decide that the only way to acquire isotope-5 is to secretly stabilize Makeb's core, allowing the Empire to take control of the abandoned planet. First, they travel into the planet's core via a mining shaft to locate the deposits of isotope-5 using an energy pulse. Doctor Nadrin finds a way to stabilize the core, but they require Makeb engineers to operate the drilling lasers. They rescue one group of engineers from the Regulators and abduct others from a Republic refugee convoy. They then enact their plan by attacking the drilling platforms to secure them from Hutt forces. The scientists and engineers accelerate the destabilization of the core, allowing it to settle into a new equilibrium before the mantle cracks.

Darth Marr congratulates them on their success. They return to Niar, but find she has been captured by Szajin's forces. They assault Szajin's Palace and rescue Niar, however it is too late, as now Szajin knows about Makeb's stabilization. They confront Szajin, who fights them in an isotope-5 powered mech. After Szajin is defeated, he orders his mercenary leaders to transmit the truth to the Hutt Cartel, but they use the mining lasers to provoke a massive groundquake that kills most life on Makeb, assuring the secret will be kept. They kill Szajin, and Niar dies from her injuries.

Seeker droids
During this time, the forces of the Dread Masters acquire the Seeds of Rage&mdash;powerful dark side machines constructed by the Sith Lord Fulminiss&mdash;when they convince a guard to help steal them from the Arcanum, the Sith Emperor's secret storehouse of Sith artifacts and dark side experiments. The Dread Masters bury the Seeds on planets across the galaxy so that they can sow fear and darkness as the Seeds warp the environments around them, prompting both the Arcanum keeper Darth Acina and the Jedi Master Cedral Gend to recruit help in locating and recovering the Seeds. However, the Sith Lord Tagriss leads a raid on the Arcanum after learning of the station's location, wreaking havoc and making off with the powerful Darkstaff.

Macrobinoculars
The mysterious spy known only as The Shroud threatens the Republic and Imperial capital worlds of Coruscant and Dromund Kaas.

Makeb
Rise of the Hutt Cartel's central theme is a new planet, Makeb, to both the game and the Star Wars canon. This will introduce a new story in which the Hutt Cartel conquers Makeb in order to rival both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire in power.

Operation: Scum and Villainy
Rise of the Hutt Cartel also adds an all-new level 55 operation, Scum and Villainy. The operation entails the players heading to the planet of Darvannis to prevent a Hutt army of mercenaries from forming. Also included in the expansion is a level 55 nightmare mode version of the Terror From Beyond operation.

Operation: Toborro's Courtyard
In addition to the main Operation, Scum and Villainy, the digital expansion also adds a mini-operation, Toborro's Courtyard, which can be accessed on Makeb.

Level 55 Hard Mode Flashpoints
Included in the purchase of Rise of the Hutt Cartel is the addition of Hard Mode Level 55 versions of flashpoints such as Cademimu V and Hammer Station.

Feature improvements
The expansion also features the long-awaited increase of the level cap from 50 to 55.