Three months later

I decided to do as Kristalys asked, and think about what those first three months in Swtor have been like for me.

I've only been levelling so far, and I have yet to reach level 50 on any of my toons, so that's the only part of Swtor I know, but to me, this game is pure fun. I think my favourite part is the class stories. I've tried lots of advanced classes so far and enjoyed most of them, at least for a while. Each advanced class has a little something that is unique and absolutely fun to play, so I can't pick just one and run with it. The stories are so varied, and engrossing, you just have to know what's happening next! And the voices! I just never get bored of listening to myself (my characters) talk, for some reason. It adds a brand new dimension to the characters and their personality. It can make or break a character, if the physical appearance you picked just doesn't fit with the voice. I just love to try and create the perfect character for each class, to have all these elements work well together. 

So for me, the Swtor experience has been amazingly fun. I'm the kind of person who likes to create a lot of different characters, and who enjoys levelling more than anything, and I think Bioware did an amazing job at making the levelling experience incredibly enjoyable. For some reason, there's a voice in the back of my head telling me that I have to hurry and get a toon to level 50 soon so I can experience everything. But it occurred to me that I have plenty of time to see the endgame content before it all becomes obsolete. There will be time later to do dailies, and farm gear and raid. Right now, what's important is to have fun, to play the classes I feel like playing, and see all the stories of as many classes as possible, because those are really great stories that are totally worth seeing at least once.

So over the last three months, I've created a lot of characters, deleted some, and am quite happy with my little family of alts. I have a strong preference for the Empire classes, but I do want to eventually level at least one of each republic classes also, if only to see their story. 

There will come a day when I grow bored with the characters I have, when they are all level 50, and when there's no new content to see. But that day is still far away.

My characters : Focusing on what I have

I've been thinking in the last couple days about what I want to do with my characters.

Marauder Lyrestra
before she turned to the dark side.

Of the toons I have, the ones I actually plan on leveling to 50 are the marauder, the juggernaut and the sorcerer, and the Gunslinger on another server. (By the way, how anyone manages to solo level a sorcerer is beyond me. I geared Khem Val with the best gear I could find, and he still dies quickly, and my dps seems pretty low. I also feel very squishy. But since Jori was my first character on the server, that she's level 35, that her biochem is almost at 300, and that I'm rather fond of her, I've decided to suck it up and get her to the level cap. Eventually. Just not by myself. Yay for leveling buddies! To all of you Sorcerers out there, I just don't know how you do it!) 

Sorcerer Jori trading an
holocron for assassins.
Sounds plausible enough.

I have other characters as well : Alyss the mercenary and Ashan the Sith Assassin. The problem is that I don't really enjoy either playstyle very much. I find myself reluctant to put time on characters I'm not sure I even like. I love how Ashan looks, because he's one mean badass, but I really don't see myself leveling an assassin. As for Alyss, she will most likely be deleted in the near future. Maybe I'll replace her with a Powertech! With me, who knows?

So far, I've always started my characters on a whim, without thinking it through, just "hey! I wanna try that now!" and just went with it. Sometimes, I just feel like trying a new playstyle, and some other times, it's as stupid as wanting a specific look (like Ashan), or a pretty hairstyle (like the Gunslinger, but that one turned out to be lots of fun!) I would prefer to have some sort of logic in all this, so here are my plans for my beloved characters. 

Nass doesn't have much patience.
"Your breathing is now dependant
on my tolerance as well."

• Lyrestra the marauder is my favourite toon, and my first love in Swtor. (My first character ever was a marauder. I blame Kizu for changing my mind and making me roll a Sorcerer when we switched servers. /glare ) She will reach level 50 and will receive all the love she deserves. Her class story is one of my favourites so far. I'm really enjoying myself when I play this character.
• Jori the sorcerer's story isn't as enticing as Lyr's, but I've already put much time and efforts in leveling her and her crew skills, so she will reach the level cap as well, if only to craft stims and medpacs for the rest of the family. Leveling her alone has been a pain, that's why I'm looking forward to leveling her with my bf.  
• Nass the juggernaut was created because I wanted to have a romance with Jaesa, and because I like the male warrior voice. The playstyle is similar to the marauder's but different enough to be interesting. I'm confident I can get him to the level cap and have fun even if I've already seen the Warrior storyline with Lyr. I just love warriors that much.
• Ashan the Assassin most likely won't be leveled very far, not anytime soon anyway, but I just can't bring myself to delete him, because he's just too cool. So for now, I will store all my mats and whatnot in his cargo hold, and maybe I'll level him slowly, if I ever feel like it. 
• In the future, I absolutely want to roll an Imperial Agent (a sniper), most likely a human male. I already know I love the playstyle, and I've read many times how cool their story is. Ideally, I'd create this toon after I reach level 50 on at least one of my Empire characters, and maybe on my Gunslinger as well. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Annoyed Ashan is annoyed.

As far as the Legacy thing goes, I have a vague idea of how my characters are related. In my head, Lyrestra and Nass are together, married or not, I'm not sure yet, but they definitely care for each other. Jori is either Nass or Lyr's apprentice. Probably Nass', so Lyr can be a little jealous, and Jori can try to seduce her master. Ashan is Lyr's apprentice, and also her boy-toy. *wink wink* He and Jori do not get along at all, which amuses Lyr greatly. As for the Sniper, he will be someone's brother. I know, that's not much to go on, but he hasn't been created yet!

What about you? Did you have a plan in mind when you created your characters, or did you just create them randomly? Are you unable to delete characters for whatever reason, or on the contrary, is it easy for you?

The perfect character for you

Hi, my name is Lyrestra, and I'm an altoholic. But maybe you already knew that. 

I spend a lot of time staring at the character creation screen, making new characters that often end up deleted not long after. For some reason, I looove creating new characters. Trying new races, new hairstyles. Not all those characters end up deleted though. But it often takes me a couple tries before I'm happy enough with a character to actually start leveling it seriously (as in past level 20). 

In WoW, I have deleted a couple level 70ish characters. I have even deleted a level 80 once. Because they weren't exactly right. Yes, I am slow at realizing that, I know. 

I guess you could say I'm fairly OCD about my characters. If something is bothering me, the hair, the face, the general look (or in this case, the voice), I won't want to play the character, and he will most likely be deleted shortly after that. A lot of my characters have a pretty short lifespan. 

In Swtor though, it's not only about the looks or which class to take. It's also about the voice and the companions. Which, for me, makes it very complicated to create the perfect character.

For example, let's take the Imperial Agent. 

I created Zashana, a female Zabrak, and I think she is adorable. I particularly love her hair. Now, I absolutely love the playstyle. I wasn't so sure at first, but now, I'm addicted to it. I can't remember who it was, but someone was saying in their blog that they were playing the imperial agent like it was made of pure crack, and I can only agree. But my point is, I love the way she looks, I love the class, and I love her voice. But - yes, there is a but - the romance option for female Imperial Agents is Vector. The weird ass enhanced guy (whatever that means) who has a thing for aliens and speaks strangely. He really freaks me out. 

Maybe I'm superficial, but it's important for me to actually like the romance option for my characters. And this one, I don't like. Of course, I could just not flirt with him and try and just flirt with random strangers throughout the galaxy, but it feels like I'd be missing out on an important part of my character's story.

So I thought  "Hey! Why not make a male imperial agent?" Great idea. Except... I hate the male voice! With a passion! He annoys me almost as much as Malavai Quinn does (which says a lot, because I really hate Quinn's voice.) And as a male, what would be my romance options? Kaliyo and Ensign Temple. Yuk. I simply cannot imagine Kaliyo involved in a lasting relationship with anyone, and although she's badass and I kinda like her, she has the goth vibe that I don't particularly find appealing. I watched some videos on youtube about Ensign Temple romance, and she just annoyed the crap outta me. No way I'm flirting with this one.

So my solution for this was to roll a female smuggler. Which worked out pretty nicely.

 

Lyrestra has my favourite haircut, favourite face and eyes, a sexy scar, and I like the sound of her voice. Corso is a sweetheart, and I love all the stuff he says in combat. I also love his voice, which is a plus, and aside from the painful experience in Taris, I'm really enjoying my time spent on this character. 

Maybe someday, when I'm done with my favourite characters, I will go back to the imperial agent to see the storyline. But I'm guessing it'll take a while before I come up with a character I actually want to play as an imperial agent. 

And this is only one example. I love my characters, and I care about details. I want my characters to feel right as I play them. The story, the voice and the companions are a big part of the experience, so I think it's worth it to tweak my characters until I find the combination that feels just right. Because at the end of the day, what matters is you enjoy whatever it is you are doing.

But maybe I just think too much.

There are two things I really want right now

• Character transfers between servers so my Maurauder can wreak havoc with her sisters.
• An in-game barbershop so Jori and Alyss can have different haircuts.

I'm such a girl, this is driving me crazy! All my toons being higher than level 20, I really don't feel like just starting from scratch...again. So fuck it, I'll try and be patient. I'm a big girl, I can deal with it.

/twitches