FYI, I'm crafting for free as long as mats are provided, as well. Tips always welcome, though

The mat prices may be a little high, but going from BM/Arkanian Implants to Underworld is a much bigger difference than going from a 69 Mod/Armoring/Enhancement to a 72 Mod/Armoring/Enhancement and should be treated as such.

Unsure. I have the Reflex Armoring 31, though, if that makes you feel any better. -Valanthe Quorum Begeren Colony

When I did the math on switching Crit to Power, I found I only gained about 30 Bonus Healing, while losing 3% Crit. I feel like the math itself isn't necessarily incorrect, but it seems like very much a preference call to me. I'll likely take and get the Arkanian ear and replace the Power Augments with Willpower Augments at a later date, though.

Even if Bioware knew what it was, policy says they won't comment on it because it's an exploit.

Another option is to RE the components in an attempt to learn schematics to craft for other people later (or for yourself). This is especially handy for pieces like Barrels and Hilts where non-raiders can only get offhands.

Do you have a link to the numbers that have been crunched? I've been trying to find something in terms of Sorc Healers and have been unsuccessful in doing so.

From a Personal healer perspective, I've found that the extra ~5% crit I'm getting from crit mods/Enhancements becomes extremely relevant in Ops. (Note that I'm not currently in Underworld gear, but I'm in full Arkanian.) Current stats (no stim): 1017.7 bonus healing 29.42% Crit chance 73.69% Surge 5.03% Alacrity (Upgraded to Underworld for purposes of this argument, spec also included:) http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/f0340e7f-c89d-4702-a862-46a9de68fdc0 You lose very little in Surge by adding some Alacrity, so that seems obvious. Being able to force a crit on a Dark Infusion when you need it with Recklessness is very relevant as well.

I found the easiest way to get Thermal Regulators was to buy the Slicing Missions off the GTN. I've given almost 2 stacks to guildies for their Augments and still have a full stack left for myself.

The point is that Republic players had access to the ability to receive these commendations whether they participated in Operations or not. 16 Comms/week of the Expansion is 1 piece of gear, 1.5 if you are running the belt/bracers mod-rip. There's no reason why this can't happen. (And if you have multiple characters and want to have it all go to one character, that's a flaw in the system, sure.) EDIT: Another option is to give them to anyone who's completed the Scum and Villainy and TFB quests at least once.

There's quite an easy way to fix this. Rise of the Hutt Cartel came out on April 9th. That was 7 weeks ago. 7X16=112 Ultimate Commendations that Republic characters had access to that Imperial Characters did not due to Bioware's mistake. Since it's impossible to tell which characters were affected by this horrible Bioware mistake, every Level 55 character on the Imperial side on every server should be given 112 Ultimate Commendations that don't count against a weekly cap. If this continues past Tuesday (which it will) add another 16 for each week that Bioware doesn't fix this.

You do realize you can learn 30 Barrels off of Black market Off-hands, right?

Message sent to your Sith Character in game.

This is incorrect. You can still RE Comm-bought items for schematics, at least in the case of Black Market-grade gear.

Hold onto them for now. They're still broken and don't give Turadium (plenty of Mythra though).