Last week BioWare offered up a look at Flashpoints for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). But what exactly is a Flashpoint? SWTOR World Designer Jesse Sky serves up a new developer blog this week explaining that very question and takes us through the development process of the BioWare team responsible for crafting these instance-based story missions.

Instancing buys us a lot of flexibility to change the course of your experience based on decisions you make. You may find that moral choices come with more consequences than an alignment shift. You may also find that completing bonus objectives opens secret doors for you – or new avenues to victory.

Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller also chimed in to explain more about combat in Flashpoints, which he states will require a full group of players to complete and some tough decisions along the way.

Numbers alone won’t be enough either - with a cast of adversaries among the most memorable and powerful in the game and scenarios that often leave the party with impossible choices, players are expected to show superior coordination and skill in order to overcome the challenges ahead.

You can learn more about Flashpoints in SWTOR in this week's developer blog.