Quick tips for non payers starting out?

Pick one character from each section to focus on, arena, cantina and GW - hopefully there are light side/dark side nodes for them also. Pick the toons you want from those spaces. Ewok a are good from a synergy perspective, so that's nice. Lumi is a good healer. QGJ is a great all around toon so is worth focusing on. Ultimately try to have fun, you've started at a period of turmoil when many folks are unhappy with certain game aspects, but those are probably a while out for you so just enjoy!