A Trooper’s Tale
Troopers in Star Wars: The Old Republic are the Republic’s answer to the Sith Warrior: all discipline and heavy armour rather than mysticism, built around the idea of an elite special forces soldier trying to do the right thing in a very messy war. On paper the class is straightforward—you are the big gun at the front of the line—but the advanced classes let you lean into that in a few different ways. Commandos take the heavy assault cannon and specialise either in sustained ranged damage through the Gunnery discipline or in keeping squads alive as Combat Medics, a flexible healing role with solid defensive tools. Vanguards keep the blaster rifle and head in closer, either as Shield Specialists, soaking incoming fire as front‑line tanks, or as Tactics/Plasmatech bruisers, mixing close‑range tech attacks with mobility and control. Between those options, the Trooper can cover DPS, healing or tanking, which makes it a versatile choice for group content as well as story play.
As with every SWTOR class, a lot of the personality comes from the companions who share the ride. Over the course of the original story you recruit five Trooper‑specific allies—Aric Jorgan, Elara Dorne, M1‑4X, Tanno Vik and Yuun—each bringing their own combat role and set of opinions to Havoc Squad. Aric Jorgan is a Cathar marksman and former Havoc officer who starts off as your superior and then ends up under your command, all sharp edges, sarcasm and an almost painful sense of duty. Elara Dorne is a former Imperial medic who defected to the Republic; she is meticulous, by‑the‑book and quietly idealistic, and the story has a lot of fun with the tension between her rule‑following instincts and the more pragmatic decisions you sometimes have to make. M1‑4X is an assault droid whose fervent love for the Republic borders on parody, happily charging into battle while shouting patriotic slogans. Tanno Vik is a demolition expert with a history of corruption and self‑interest, useful in a fight but very much on the morally flexible end of the spectrum. Yuun, a Gand findsman, brings a more mystical angle—he talks about omens and patterns, tracks targets with unsettling ease, and offers a perspective on the war that doesn’t map neatly onto the Republic/Empire binary. In the original design each of them also filled a specific combat niche—ranged DPS, healer, various flavours of tank or melee DPS—which made companion choice as much a tactical decision as a narrative one.
The Trooper story is built in three acts, with a clear through-line from small‑scale operations to major strategic decisions. It opens on Ord Mantell, where you arrive as a freshly transferred Havoc Squad sergeant in the middle of a separatist insurgency. Your first job is to recover a stolen ZR‑57 orbital strike bomb and help stabilise the situation, which serves as both a tutorial and a way of establishing the Republic military chain of command. The end of that prologue sees Havoc Squad’s existing leadership revealed as traitors who defect to the Empire, stealing high‑end hardware as they go. Promoted into the commanding officer’s role far earlier than expected, your Trooper is tasked with hunting them down and rebuilding Havoc as a loyal, effective special forces unit.
Act One follows that pursuit across key Republic worlds. On Coruscant you work with General Garza to cut off the renegades’ local support, tackling gangs like the Black Sun and the Migrant Merchants’ Guild. Later missions on Nar Shaddaa, Balmorra and elsewhere have you dismantling old Havoc members’ operations one by one, recruiting new squadmates such as Elara, M1‑4X and Tanno along the way. By the time you close the book on Harron Tavus and his inner circle, Havoc Squad is effectively an entirely new unit under your banner, and the story pivots from internal betrayal to outward‑facing war.
In the second act, Havoc’s remit widens. Rather than chasing traitors, you are sent on deep‑strike missions aimed at weakening the Empire’s ability to wage war—sabotaging projects, securing key technologies and forging or breaking alliances on worlds that are strategically useful but politically awkward. That shift brings more emphasis on planning, logistics and the cost of your decisions: you are no longer just a talented sergeant solving contained crises, but a commanding officer whose orders have knock‑on effects for local populations and the broader campaign. The final act raises the stakes again, throwing you into direct confrontation with Imperial black‑ops units and top‑tier enemies in operations that can shape the Republic’s long‑term prospects. The ending is often cited by players as one of SWTOR’s stronger class finales, offering a sense of closure that still fits into the ongoing war rather than simply dropping the curtain.
Running through all three acts is a steady drip of moral decisions. The light‑side/dark‑side system frames a lot of the Trooper’s big calls in terms of how far you are willing to bend or break rules to get results: do you execute captured traitors or hand them over for trial, prioritise the mission at all costs or divert to protect civilians, follow General Garza’s orders to the letter or quietly reinterpret them when they collide with your own principles. Those choices feed into both your alignment and your relationships. Companions react in distinct ways—Elara, for instance, strongly favours lawful, Republic‑aligned decisions and can distance herself or even break off a romance if your actions cross certain lines, while Tanno Vik is far more relaxed about collateral damage and personal profit. Aric Jorgan respects competence and tactical sense, M1‑4X cheers almost anything that can be spun as a victory for the Republic, and Yuun filters events through his own findsman code, approving or disapproving in ways that don’t always match the game’s binary morality.
The Trooper offers a solid mix of tactical gameplay and grounded military storytelling. You get the satisfaction of playing the Republic’s sledgehammer—big guns, heavy armour, clearly defined combat roles—but the narrative keeps nudging you to think about what that means in practice: who gives the orders, who pays the price, and what sort of soldier you want your character to be. Between the flexible advanced classes, a companion cast that pulls in several different directions, and a storyline that leans into loyalty, betrayal and the ethics of command, it remains one of SWTOR’s better examples of how to make an MMO class story feel personal without losing its place in the wider war.
