I'm also a SWTOR 7.0 refugee who started in January. (I played on their PTR and didn't even bother installing that crap when it released. Who releases a UI after your players tell you it *hurts their eyes*? It's mind boggling.)

Anyway, it did take me awhile to get comfortable with the idea that you basically only play one character to do everything in the game with. How I got around it was playing with the character creator for many hours and saving many different looks. Also remember that you can change with Phantasia if you really want to down the line!

I still sometimes wish that I had a bank, but your retainers are basically your banks. Buying the companion app to get an extra retainer is a good deal, in my opinion.