Republic Calling. Do I Pick Up the Holocall?

                I play on a PvP (Player vs Player) server and data has been collected and confirmed by Bioware that in general there are more imperials than republic players on PvP servers.   This is true on my server as well, and needless to say I play on the side of the Empire.  I still have yet to hit 50 on any character but I am working on it with a level 40 Bounty Hunter and a 36 Imperial Agent operative.   So I have spent practically all of my time in swtor on the side of the Empire.  My highest level Republic character is a level 11 Jedi Knight.  I really like the Empire classes and the storylines I have done so far.

                Recently a few friends, that I generally run flashpoints and group quests with, decided they were fed up with the Imperials and are rerolling Republic characters on the same server.  Being the healer of the group they naturally want me to reroll and come with them over to the Republic.  They are only in their teens in the leveling process so I am not far behind if I were to reroll.  Also, not having a 50 I might not be leaving that much behind but as slow as I am leveling if I reroll now will I ever make 50.  With legacy updates coming out with patch 1.2, which is slated for early April, a transition to the Republic would be easier, but waiting that long would leave me well behind them in leveling. 

                The other problem I have is I love my operative so much I can’t not play him, so if I reroll what would I even play as.  I could play the mirror of my class naturally but I just can’t find the appeal of playing a Smuggler scoundrel.  I find the Trooper story interesting but not liking the way my Bounty Hunter heals makes me not want to play a Trooper commando (healer).  I mean I like the class but if I hate how it heals it doesn’t make sense to level one if I want to be a healer in endgame.  Last option: Jedi Consular.  I have yet to heal as a Sith Inquisitor sorcerer or a Jedi Consular Sage.  The healing style is something different than I tend toward, but I’m sure I could adapt.   

                Basically all in all I really like playing Empire.  I have yet to find a guild that I really click with and that has the same goals as me; though not being a 50 yet I haven’t been searching super hard for a great guild.  The guys I like playing with are going to form a guild on the Republic side.  I don’t know what I am going to do.  Either way I won’t stop playing my Empire characters but do I start working on a Republic character.  Help me; I need some advice.

                Side Note:  It would be the best solution for me if my operative would stick to just being a double agent and actually defect to the Republic.  Then I would get to heal on the character that I love to heal on while playing on the Republic with the guys I want to be playing with.  It would be the best of both worlds. 

Many Roads That All Lead to 50

               As previously mentioned I have been playing alts quite a bit.  Besides the first 10 levels or so before your toon gets to fleet the experiences are mostly similar and you don’t have sprint so you run and run and run and find yourself only half way to where you want to go.  Or maybe I have just been spoiled by the utility of sprint, which you get at level 14.

                The one aspect of swtor that I do like, since I have alts, is that leveling can be done in a variety of ways.  This can be a turn off to some people.  As when leveling there is just so much content that can be skipped, that is if you want to stay at level with content.  Leveling alts and leveling them differently can allow one to see more content.

                With my Bounty Hunter (BH) I have used all forms of leveling variety from normal quests, heroic quests, class quests, flashpoints (fp), space missions and PvP.  This lead me to doing about every other planet or so before I was just too over leveled and was just finishing class quest then moving to the next planet.

                On my Operative, who is now my main, I only run fp’s and do class quests with some PvP sprinkled in at slow server times.  As in when I can’t find a group to do a fp.

                On my Juggernaut, I am mostly questing and surprisingly enjoying it, as I don’t tend to like just questing that much.

                On my other BH, a Powertech this time I am just PvPing.  I am surprised at how beneficial PvPing can be for non fifty toons.  You get a fair amount of credits and experience in PvP.  My Powertech has been averaging about 6-7 medals a match since he got his Guard ability which allows one of my allies to take 5% less damage and 50% of their incoming damage to be transferred to me.  This ability improves one of my allies to survive longer.  See in swtor the PvP warzones split into two tiers levels 10-49 and level 50.  In the 10-49 warzone everyone gets a buff to make the players stats scale to a level 49 toon.  This puts everyone on a more or less equal playing field.  Really the only disadvantage to being low level in warzones is that your abilities are a bit limited.  PvP can be a real grind anyway so it doesn’t seem to matter that much. 

                Space Missions do offer a real change of pace and a solid amount of experience but they can become very repetitive.  I wish there was a little more variety.

                Class quests are definitely the meat and bones of leveling on all my characters.  They drive the story and guide the player on their journey to fifty.  The class quests are well thought out and fun.   These quests are what make me come back and start new alts.  

                I have enjoyed all the empire storylines so far granted I have only gotten through the first two planets on the Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor.  I am through chapter one on my Imperial Agent and up to planet Hoth which is somewhere in chapter 2 on my BH.  I will admit I have a Jedi Knight but he is only level 10 and just got to fleet.  I heard that story was good but until I finish my empire storylines or at least two of them my little Jedi won’t be seeing much action.