I'm a guild leader, so I'm most concerned about making the best contribution to the raid that I can. Right now, is seems like continuing as an Operative is not the way to do that.

Hmm. Not encouraging news. I'm level 48, be a shame for all that work to go to waste.

Mercenaries are clearly set up as single-target healers, and I've heard they're the best single-target healers in the game. Sorcerers are the best group healers in the game. So what are Operatives for? It's not longevity, because our regen isn't any better than a Sorcerer's. I can't imagine stealth healers being all that useful in an Operation, and our CC isn't any more impressive than other classes. So what are we doing in a raid group? What's the justification?

He cannot use blaster rifles, which is kind of annoying. He needs Cunning-based pistols, but he can use your hand-me-down vibroknives. Fun fact: None of the IA companions uses Strength. Even the melee tank companion uses Aim.

Dr. Lokin wears Medium Armor, not light. He's very poorly geared when you get him - he doesn't even have a weapon. This means he is pretty much useless to you as a healer when you first obtain him. You'll gear him with the same stuff you'd be wearing if you were a heal-spec Operative. FYI, if you're a Cybertech or have extra cash/commendations to buy mods with, a cheap way to gear up any of your companions is to buy the level 20 PVP gear from the Fleet and pop new mods in. A few matches a day will get you enough points to buy a decent set of oranges for any of your companions, and then all you have to do is keep their mods up to date.

What did you do? I'm a medic, never had problems soloing, and my Kaliyo is well geared. If I keep up interrupts on him, she dies. If I heal her, he heals more.

Wow, now I feel really bad about killing him. One more thing to blame Kaliyo for (she also convinced me to enslave her old buddy....damn I hate Kaliyo)

I've finished Chapter 2, and what I want to know is

Why would you need a crafting bag, when crew members can craft out of the mats you store in your ship's cargo hold?

That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure if Armormech had any hidden benefits I didn't know about.

I'm interested in pursuing the custom gear system, swapping upgrades as I level while keeping a consistent look. Would it be better to go with Armormech, to obtain the patterns for the armor pieces, or with Cybernetics, to craft the mods?