My Characters

When I discover a new MMO blog, I always quite like it if the author has a page not just about themselves, but also about their characters. It can be quite insightful: do they play a lot of different alts or do they recreate the same character in every game? Do they focus on a particular role or aspect of the game (e.g. lots of tanks, multiples of the same class) or are they a jack-of-all-trades?

I've been meaning to make a page like that for this blog for a while but always put it off before. At last, here it is! I primarily play on Darth Malgus, but I do have characters/legacies on every single server at this point.

DARTH MALGUS

For the Republic!

I started on Republic side because that's where my friends at the time were playing, but even after most of that original crew stopped logging in, the Republic remained my home. While the Empire tells some interesting stories, I can't really think of it as a comfortable home, considering how "evil" it is in many respects. It seems general chat is also a lot worse on Imp side.

Shintar, Trooper (Commando/Scoundrel)

Shintar was the first character I created when the game launched and has remained my main ever since. I just loved the idea of the trooper class ever since I saw the "Hope" trailer. I specced into the Combat Medic tree as soon as she got her first talent point and have never tried anything else as I simply love healing. It was hard to even choose a second combat style when that option became available with Legacy of the Sith. As my undisputed main, Shintar is the character I take to all the operations and was also my first character to hit Valor rank 100.

Golu, Jedi Consular (Sage)

Golu was my first Republic alt, and like Shintar she was a healer from the start, though I've dabbled a bit in doing dps as Telekinetics in recent years. While Jedi consulars don't have the most exciting of class stories, it did resonate with me on a personal level, and the Sage's healing style reminded me a lot of WoW's priest (which is what I played before coming to SWTOR), so playing her has always felt very natural. She's my "main alt", meaning that I try to keep her geared enough that she can fill the occasional healer vacancy in another ops group, and she was also my second character to hit Valor rank 100.

Fali, Jedi Knight (Guardian)

Fali is Golu's younger sister, and I love everything about her character and story, but unfortunately I suck at playing melee dps. Before Rise of the Hutt Cartel, I would occasionally PvP on her or take her to a retro ops run, but I found my frequent underperformance too frustrating to dedicate more time to working on her consistently. Knights of the Fallen Empire served to reinvigorate my interest in her somewhat, as I found it fun to play through the story chapters as a Jedi knight (the story did feel like it was written for them!).

Shilu, Smuggler (Scoundrel)

I created Shilu as my "event main" for 2016's Dark vs. Light event. As a result of this I used her to power through a lot of content in a relatively short amount of time. Before I knew it, I had become attached and she had replaced Racelle (see below) as my "go-to Scoundrel", so it's her role these days to keep up with the story from a smuggler's perspective.

Talara, Smuggler (Gunslinger/Scoundrel)

Talara was my first ever smuggler and did a lot of her levelling with a friend, until he stopped playing that is. Since I was so bad at playing melee but still wanted a dps character, I tried to get into playing Gunslinger in occasional alt operations. I did better than as melee, but still not great, and I just don't find doing dps nearly as engaging as healing or tanking, so she doesn't see a lot of play time these days.

Racelle, Smuggler (Scoundrel)

Originally created for the purpose of doing lowbie PvP as dps, Racelle ended up being conscripted into being the levelling partner for my pet tank's Gunslinger and quickly hit max level. Seeing how powerful Scoundrels were in PvP at the time, I continued to focus my efforts in that area. Up until Shadow of Revan, she sported a hybrid spec most of the time, because it was fun to play a healer who could also pack a bit of a punch if needed. After the discipline system eliminated hybrid specs, she became a healer full time, and spent a lot of time in the midbie bracket once Shilu (see above) supplanted her as my "Scoundrel main". Nowadays she sports both a healing and a dps loadout, and I actually took her all the way through the story to become a Republic saboteur.

Tiranea, Jedi Consular (Sage/Shadow)

The inspiration for Tiranea was that I wanted to create the closest equivalent to my first real World of Warcraft character (a night elf priest of the same name) that I could achieve in SWTOR. She's probably the alt of mine that has undergone the most cosmetic changes as more hair options were added over time. Otherwise she's just another consular that made slightly different story choices and gives me another option to do group content as a Sage.

Shinkit, Jedi Knight (Sentinel)

Shinkit was originally created because I didn't have a Sentinel yet, I wanted to replay the Jedi knight story, and to play with a friend who didn't even manage to make it off the starter planet. I enjoyed making slightly darker choices with her, but it turned out that the Sentinel play style didn't mesh with my personal preferences at all.

Shey-la, Trooper (Vanguard)

The main reason I created Shey-la was because I wanted to re-play the trooper story, and why not with the other advanced class while I was at it? While levelling (mostly through heroics, back when they were still hard) I swapped between damage dealing and tanking a couple of times but eventually stayed with the tanking role, since I enjoyed that much more than melee dps. Originally I wanted to go dark side for a change of pace as well, but I always wuss out because it makes me hate my characters, so she's only somewhat neutral really.

Cheesha, Jedi Consular (Shadow)

Cheesha was created because I wanted a Cathar, and she became a Shadow because at the time, this was the only advanced class I had never played on Republic or Empire side. The idea of a cat skulking in the shadows just seemed to make sense. She quickly became part of yet another levelling duo with my pet tank and was therefore specced to tank (while he healed). I often think that I'd like to play her more, but as our duos have become too numerous and spread out over time, I don't get to play her very often.

Zeresa, Trooper (Commando/Operative)

Zeresa turned out a bit meaner than Shey-la, but I only really played her class story up to the end of Coruscant. She's another character that I created for the Dark vs. Light event, and since I found running flashpoints and doing PvP with her so much fun, I actually got her all the way to max level solely through those activities. I still don't really know how to dps as a Commando (there are like... five buttons!) but it seems more fun than most dps specs I've tried. She also has a healing loadout for when I need a Commando healer and Shintar is already locked out.

Starberry, Jedi Knight (Guardian)

Starberry, too, was created for the Dark vs. Light event, and I keep coming back to her every so often because I really love her design and because tanking as a Guardian is pretty fun.

Shin-dow, Jedi Consular (Shadow)

Shin-dow was another character I created for the Dark vs. Light event and who was levelled mostly through PvP and flashpoints. Nowadays she's my way of experimenting with the Shadow DoT spec in PvP.

Nautalie, Jedi Consular (Shadow)

This character was created when Nautolans first came out, to test the waters of the latest levelling changes by levelling purely through flashpoints. Now at max level, she doesn't really do much other than casual group content and PvP.

Pugette, Trooper (Commando)

Pugette was created during a time when I experimented a bit with making "let's play" style YouTube videos about random flashpoint runs. I mostly gave up on this due to how time-consuming it was and haven't touched her since then, just in case I do fancy a return to the concept one day.

Pacis, Jedi Consular (Shadow)

My somewhat infamous pacifist character who's never attacked a living creature in combat or in a cut scene. You can read all about her unique style of levelling here.

For the Empire!

Due to my loyalties lying with the Republic as explained above, the vast majority of my time in game is spent on Republic side. All of my Empire characters mostly exist because I wanted to see their class stories and/or because our Imperial alt guild needed a few more Conquest points.

Sigex, Sith Inquisitor (Sorcerer)

Created in spring 2013, Sigex was far from my first Imperial character, however I came to consider her my Imperial main after my pet tank and I levelled our duo of inquisitors to max level in what felt like record time and completed pretty much all the quests on Imperial side together, with the exception of some ops missions. Like her Republic mirror Golu, she's been a healer from day one - because it's fun.

Arrah, Sith Warrior (Marauder)

Arrah was levelled with my now ex-boyfriend and mostly drove home the point that I'm terrible at melee dps. While I loved the Sith warrior story, the sea of angry red faces on her action bars didn't make me enjoy the everyday gameplay very much. My interest in her saw a resurgence in Knights of the Fallen Empire however, as she was the best candidate out of my stable of alts to offer a different (dark side) point of view on the story.

Corinthe, Imperial Agent (Operative)

Corinthe was the very first alt I created in the game, and was a character that I mostly played on my own for most of her levelling. While I love the agent story and the healing Operative play style, the lack of regular engagement with other players means that I don't find reason to log on to her very often. I used to PvP with her for a while, but Republic faction pride kept pulling me back to the other side.

Corfette, Imperial Agent (Sniper)

Another character that I created for 2016's DvL event, though this one did not do any group content but instead levelled solely through her personal class story. My first Sniper, I also used her to choose the path in the Imperial agent story that lets you become a double agent for the Republic. It only felt natural to then keep playing through the newer story on her and make her an Imperial saboteur as well.

T'ir, Bounty Hunter (Powertech)

T'ir was an early alt that never really went anywhere and effectively got replaced when I levelled another character of the same advanced class right past her. I then decided to level her to the cap during 12x XP and chose a dps spec for her to distinguish her from my other bounty hunter/Powertech. Interestingly, I then ended up liking her so much that she overtook my other bounty hunters in story progression again and she's currently the only one of my characters with that origin that is fully caught up with the story.

Hekka, Bounty Hunter (Powertech)

Hekka was pretty much created as an experiment in tanking. It was quite fun, but like many of my Imperial alts she doesn't see much play time now.

Tessal, Bounty Hunter (Mercenary)

I originally created Tessal because I felt it was about time that I had an Imperial character of my main's mirror class, but then I didn't quite know what to do with her... until inspiration for my first flashpoint levelling experiment struck. To this day I like coming back to her to pug random flashpoints every so often, as well as playing her in the occasional warzone.

Nettika, Sith Warrior (Juggernaut)

Nettika was one half of a Sith warrior levelling duo with my pet tank - for him it was the only class story he had never completed, and I wanted to see the light side version, including a completely different Jaesa Willsaam. That, and I simply wanted another Cathar. (Her name is "a kitten" spelled backwards.) I also enjoyed playing the tanking role again, even if it seems like none of my tanking alts ever end up seeing much play time at max level.

Dormaba, Sith Inquisitor (Sorcerer)

Like T'ir, Dormaba was part of an early set of Imperial alts I made and whose levelling stalled because I just couldn't get into their story. When I levelled Sigex, another Sorcerer, right past her, her existence felt increasingly pointless, but at the same I felt too attached to her to delete her. I used the 12x XP event leading up to Shadow of Revan to level her to the then-cap of 55 and to at least finish her class story. This also provided me with an opportunity to try out Sorcerer dps (so much lightning).

Cheriza, Sith Warrior (Juggernaut)

Cheriza is another character I created for the DvL event. I used her to explore the most evil dark side choices a Sith warrior can make and have been enjoying playing her in PvP a lot.

Shinister, Sith Inquisitor (Assassin)

Shinister is another character that I created for 2016's Dark vs. Light event. Assassin was the last advanced class I had not played yet at the time (only its Republic mirror, Shadow) and it turned out to be pretty fun. Still, with so many other alts that I find even more fun, she hasn't received much attention ever since the event ended.

Shi-rah, Bounty Hunter (Mercenary)

This is probably my least played alt that originated during the DvL event, mostly because I already had so many bounty hunters! However, when I do play her I mostly use her for PvP and GSF.

Shincere, Sith Inquisitor (Assassin)

I tend to think of Shincere as my "pandemic character" as she was created with a free character boost during 2020 when I felt I needed more characters to run flashpoints with my guildies. She's a tank because that's what everyone else seemed least comfortable playing and I didn't mind (plus I didn't have an Assassin tank on Imperial side yet). She's technically also an Imperial saboteur but hasn't done much story questing.

Squizelle, Sith Inquisitor (Sorcerer)

Squizelle was created because I wanted a new character to do lowbie PvP with and was levelled all the way to the cap doing warzones and arenas. That's still what I do with her at max level as well - story-wise she's barely past the point where you get your ship.

STAR FORGE

Shintar, Trooper (Commando)

This character was originally created on the Ebon Hawk in 2016, which eventually ended up being merged into Star Forge. Nowadays I use her to occasionally join American acquaintances for some group content fun, as well as to do Galactic Seasons on multiple servers (the latter applies to all of my characters on other servers).

Shintoo, Sith Inquisitor (Sorcerer/Shadow)

Shintoo is my other character that was created with a free booster token, to take part in Kal's Galactic Championship in 2023. Having another high-level character on Star Forge but on the other faction has certainly turned out to be handy.

SATELE SHAN

Zilek, Jedi Consular (Shadow)

My first ever male character, Zilek languished for a long time since I really struggle with motivation when it comes to playing characters of the opposite sex. However, he did grow on me over time and I imagined him to be a bit like a Clone Wars era Anakin in terms of personality - someone with good intentions but too righteous for his own good and quick to anger.

SHAE VIZLA

Apacella, Sith Warrior (Juggernaut)

My first character created on the APAC server when it launched, Apacella ended up being a Sith warrior purely because it aligned with a Galactic Seasons objective that week, however she also reminded me of just how much fun it can be to PvP and distinguished herself by doing most of the heavy lifting to carry me to full achievement completion for PvP Season 4.

TULAK HORD

Shíntar, Trooper (Commando)

I created this character for Galactic Season 2 (originally just to claim login rewards!) and decided to make her a "clone" of my main who looks the same and largely makes the same choices. I just had to add the accent to the name since the original Shintar was already taken on Tulak Hord.

THE LEVIATHAN

Fangirl, Jedi Knight (Sage)

Fangirl was created around the same time as Tulak Hord Shintar and was also one of my first characters to choose a combat style that wasn't originally available for her origin story. I named her Fangirl because on a whim I pictured her being a fan of Commandeur Koshiran, a prolific French artist whom I often saw post on Twitter and who tended to draw himself with lots of twi'lek ladies admiring him.

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In addition to all of the level 70-80 characters listed above, I have a bunch of lowbies that I'm still levelling. The reason I'm not listing all of them is not that I think that the game starts at endgame (which I don't), but rather that I feel that both their characters and their role in my "play schedule" are not sufficiently fleshed out to write about them in much detail yet.

Last updated: January 2024