Finality

“Never” is a short word, but it’s a massive concept. The idea that, somewhere, sometime, you will do something for the last time, and never do it again, is terrifying, and yet it will eventually happen to us all with everything we’ve ever done and ever shall do.

For me, I thought I had reached that point with much of SWTOR’s content. I took note of the last time I’d completed the HK, Macrobinocular, and Seeker Droid quests with some sadness, and was ecstatic to have taken my Powertech through Eternal Throne et al., because at that time, that was… it. As far as I was aware, those were the final times I would ever have done that content. I was convinced I was never going to create any other characters, and so, yeah, why wouldn’t I believe that?

That belief aged very well!

When the idea planted itself in my head to create a new Trooper, who I’ve identified before is a Sniper / Operative, to act as another ranged Tech character if needed for raids, I was very reluctant to follow through with it. After all, I had proudly asserted that I would “never have to do” all this content again, and I knew full well what creating another character would mean. Eventually, the voice telling me to do it just became too demanding, and I rolled Trooper #10.

I think. I can certainly only name ten.

I must acknowledge that combat styles were not something I was ever anticipating when I made that post or claimed to be “done” with everything. At that time, a Trooper could only ever just be a Commando or a Vanguard, and I had no reason to suspect that anything would ever change on that front. After all, I’d sworn off Commando completely, and having already levelled a Vanguard, why would I level another one?

Yet now Republic Snipers are a thing. Republic Operatives are a thing. Both classes, particularly Sniper due to aligning with Aric Jorgan, suit Trooper particularly well. In a way, I’m now quite glad that BW never managed to get the “choose your primary combat style!” thing working for pre-established characters, as I know full-well I would have chosen Vanguard for my other Trooper alongside Operative to not leave my Hunter as the only character with the faction-equivalent style selected. I would have absolutely kicked myself if I had done this only to then realise that I could have gone Sniper and prevented myself from starting on this road again.

Unusually for me, this is the first time in a long, long time that creating a new character of the same class will not be leading to the deletion of her now-predecessor. As I’ve highlighted above, I still have a Hunter who can be a Powertech… and I never, ever want to be in a situation where I have only one character of any given style. While I’m not playing it now, what if I ever wanted to give it another go and really got back into it? I’d be stuck with only one Powertech / Vanguard type character, and that wouldn’t do.

So, I’d rather just continue with two Troopers. I don’t quite know how I’m going to align them both with my desire to consider each character as the “archetypal” character of their class, but that’s something to figure out later.

Because I vastly prefer the aesthetic of Sniper over that of Gunslinger (and the Gunslinger in question has always been more of a Scoundrel in my head because I really don't like the concept of dual-wielding pistols), this has also led me to realise that if I go back to being a ranged Tech main, I can return to the days of being a Sniper main. Last time I could do this was 3.0, and obviously that was only on Impside. But now… I can keep the same playstyle in high-end raids as I’ve used for years but with a look and feel that I’m much happier with.

It would also be something of a nice bookend for the tenth anniversary celebration. I started endgame as a Trooper main, and now, ten years later, I could be returning to being a Trooper main for endgame yet again.

It’s funny how things work out.