HOW IS IT IN 2024?? The Free to Play Experience! Andrew Zamboni plays Star Wars the Old Republic 

The xp boosts help players who want to skip all the non-story quests. I'm on a smuggler playthrough atm, and I'm about 11 levels over the max for my third world, and I just arrived on the planet. Doing all the side quests and heroic missions really give you that boost to keep you from finding the content too challenging. Luckily, the loot drops you earn are from quest rewards match you at your level, so you won't be under geared if you try to do flashpoints and other quests that are harder. Joining a guild just for the xp boost isn't a bad idea either, I accepted my first one to a random guild just for the 15% xp boost they had unlocked for guild members. Guild strongholds can also be very useful if they have all their stuff unlocked. Once you unlock your starship, doing the starship missions (which you can repeat once per day) will usually earn you a level up, and with some skill you can punch above your level slightly if you keep your ship upgraded.

Imperial Agent had the best storyline :)