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Woohoo! I can also drop that million on two characters – people greatly enjoy buying my crafted dye packs for their Space Barbie and parting from their money.

Here is a list of non-spoilery new player tips, though the combat styles section is mostly outdated due to the new expansion decoupling combat styles from origin stories. (Previously, a Jedi Knight could only be a Guardian or a Sentinel; now, a Knight origin story character also has the other two Force combat styles, Sage and Shadow, available by default, and the Dark Side/Imperial mirrors – Juggernaut, Marauder, Sorcerer, and Assassin, respectively – are unlocked if you've reached maximum Dark Side points on a character. I think new players get the opportunity to swap over to the mirror if they get enough LS/DS points? (Tech classes get access to all 8 combat styles immediately.)

I highly recommend 1. unlocking extra inventory space and 2. turning on Exploration Missions (press M to get your map, ticky on the bottom left). You have your class questline, which has purple quest icons, and each planet after the first will have a planetary questline, also in purple. The class questline depends on your class/origin story (so Knight, Consular, Trooper, Smuggler, Warrior, Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter, or Agent) while the planetary questline, regular yellow sidequests, and exploration missions depend only on the faction (Republic vs Empire). For your first time around, have fun getting lost and doing All The Things! Enjoy that sense of discovery. Oh, and quick travel (P > General > Quick Travel) is very convenient. When you get some credits, you can unlock a shorter cooldown (press Y, I think Character Perks is what you want).

Once you've reached the fleet, you have access to a Legacy bank (yellow thing on the center ring), which enables you to transfer gear and money from character to character. If you're free to play, your characters can only hold a max of 1 million credits at a time, but your legacy bank has no such restrictions.

Now, onto general story stuff! You mentioned being a shipper gremlin elsewhere IIRC, so briefly about the romances. All the base game (the 8 class stories + Ilum) romances are heterosexual; everyone has one option in their companions, with some (male agents, smugglers, and warriors) getting a second romance option and some (female consulars and warriors) getting a chance at a fling with a companion. It's also possible to get into some kissy action with various non-companion NPCs as part of planetary questlines; your companion might disapprove but it won't affect any romance you have struck up so flirt with anyone you wish. All romance dialogue is signposted with [Flirt] in the text and is wholly optional.

The first expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel (Makeb) brought same-sex romances – Imperials get a planetary questline with a gay man and Republic scum characters get a bi woman. The next expansion, Shadow of Revan, gives everyone two new romance options, one bi man and one bi woman. These continue through Ziost, which is the last place free to play players can go IIRC.

All romance options are bi in the subscriber-only content – the Shadow of Revan duo's romances continue, and you get 0-2 new bi men, depending on your choices, a few male companions return as bi romance options, a few female companions discover their latent bisexuality and are new options for female characters of the appropriate class, and new non-companion NPCs are introduced whom one can flirt with. If you do end up subbing and doing Knights of the Fallen Empire, do choose the [Flirt] option in the cantina in chapter IX – you get a second submenu on whom you wish to [flirt] with, and if you don't pick that option the romance is over.

As for the rest of the story stuff: have fun, and don't poke around anywhere, tempting as it might be – a lot of it is best experienced unspoiled! Since you're doing a Republic class first, if you end up sticking around, do an Imperial class next for a wholly new set of planetary questlines and missions. And I believe it is customary to keep us all updated on your story progress!