Sure, advice...never get into a land war in Asia. Ha, jk.

Alts aren't as bad as they used to be. With Alts, remember that all your vet characters will be equal because they share champion points. So once your account has 160 CPs (you're closer than you think) any vet you have can earn and wear best-in-game gear. And some content is more fun with one class or another. Amd there are some dailies you might want to complete on more than one character. If you decide you want to grind vet City of Ash for the helm, two vets means you can run it twice. But if you don't want to play multi toons, it's no big deal. A single main can collect all your achievements on one character, and they still earn CPs at the same rate that would be available to any future vet you make.

Regardless, your first task is to get your Templar to vet. This opens up a lot of the game for you and starts you earning champion points - very important. Once he's a vet, grab a psijic and do a run in a Wrothgar public dungeon. This will net you 20-30 CPs from the get-go so you can start playing with the tree.

In terms of which character to focus on overall, I really like magic Templars. They're fun and flexible, and they rock pve. A mag Templar is also a quick character to earn your CPs with because they can plow through enemies. They have great sustain. And the Templar skills make it so you never have to be a ranged staff fighter like a sorc. In fact, they're kinda designed to be "in your face." My second fighter is a mag Templar. His attack bar is sword and board w/ piercing jabs, gap closer, radiant Magelight, heal, etc. His retreat bar is a staff for the regen...but this is mostly a buff bar. He does NOT play like a Sorc. (I also have a vet sorc and know what you mean...I find them repetitive and the pets are annoying).

The downside is you're going to give up some power. Mag Templars don't hit quite as hard as stamina. But they get basically infinite health from piercing jabs, so they def make up for it. I supplement my dps with solid gear like Julianos and valkyn skoria. You'd also give up a lot of your weapon skills, which run on stam. Bow, 2h amd dual attacks don't work great on a magplar. But they get great class skills that offset this.

If you try the respec, don't waste crowns on a race change until you've played it a while. Mag temps are fun, but not for everyone. The race passives aren't worth THAT much. Or roll a new character as a mag temp and grind them to 50. Ten hours of running Wrothgar public dungeons on psijic will get you there. Having two temps is not a bad thing. Either way, I wouldn't waste crowns until you've tried the class for a bit.

If you want to play another character, I like stamina Nightblades. My main is one. I actually really like having a stamblade and magplar as my two fighters because they are way different and take on different content. When I want to run maelstrom I rely on my Templar. My Nightblade does my undaunted dps heavy lifting. The play is so different between them it adds a lot of value to the game.

A Nightblade (either magic or stamina) has a HUGE boon - dark cloak. This gives you 4 seconds per use of total blackout from 99% of mobs. In other words, a NB can walk through most areas without fighting. Why would you do this? Well...there are a lot of achievements, quests, etc where it's dang nice to be able to sneak past everyone. Like right now my NB is running Thieve's guild and dark brotherhood dailies...he gets a 50% chance at the motifs each perfect run, and I think I sold $300,000 in motifs last week.

Anyway, that's my input. For me, having a stamblade and magplar are about 90% of my play and I really like them both.