Christmas will be December 20th of this year for me (or when early access begins for The Old Republic pre-orders).

I’m really looking forward to this game and like many other fans I’m sure I’ve already started thinking a lot about what class I’m going to play, when I finally got it in my dirty hands.

So far I’ve narrowed down the options a bit by method of removal:

Round 1:

I usually play a casting or ranged class.

I prefer to get away from the fight and unleash devastating bursts of firepower or help my party members with heals or buffs.

Getting up and personal is for the rabble, right?

So I probably won’t be casting a Jedi Knight or Sith Warrior as my first class.

Round 2:

I tend to play the “evil” side.

There’s something very satisfying about the way you can wield incredible power without humility or concern for the consequences as evil characters (unlimited power, huh, Palpie?).

And while I hardly consider myself an emo kid, I find the dark color schemes of the Sith classes very appealing.

That means I’ll probably go with the Empire faction.

That also removes the Jedi Sage, Trooper, and Smuggler.

Round 3:

In general, sneaky classes aren’t really something I do.

I’ve never played a rogue in WoW, despite playing for 6 years and playing every other class to at least level 40-60.

Creeping in the shadows and stabbing people in the back doesn’t appeal to me that much.

When I kill my opponent, I prefer to do it head-on, with the explosion of my fireball casting a beautiful orange reflection in the eyes of my doomed victim.

Therefore, I think I will not go with the Agent.

Round 4:

That leaves us with the Bounty Hunter and the Sith Inquisitor.

That’s hard.

My gut says the Inquisitor.

The Emperor was one of my favorite characters in the old Star Wars movies, with his manipulative ways and incredible lightning (not so much when a cripple threw him into a thermal pit with one hand).

The Arbiter also looks just nice and imposing in his “dark wizard” type outfit, so he really should be an easy pick.

Buuuut… the Bounty Hunter is just great!

I’m not a huge fan of the new movies and I’m not even the biggest fan of Jango Fett, but I still think some of his scenes really reflect the Bounty Hunter’s badass attitude, like his fight with Obi-Wan. in Kamino.

I love jet packs and flamethrowers.

The feeling that whatever you do, the bounty hunter will have already figured you out and has a countermeasure ready (just stay away from the Sarlacc pits).

Decision time:

In the end, I think the power of the Dark Side will probably win out and I’ll go ahead and create a Sith Inquisitor.

The opportunity to cast force lightning in an MMO is simply too good to pass up.

The Inquisitor has it. Now to practice: “Power!… Unlimited… Power!”

Of course, that leads to the next exhausting question… What race?!… Ugh…

What do you think about the class picks for launch?