you get lockboxes with gear from the herioc 2s on planets.
i havnt crafted anything since 4.0 for leveling.
the boxes contain everything you can equipt aside from a mainhand
( dual wielders can use offhand if its a gun).
since you will be doing sidequests as you said, you will probly be lv 50 by the time you finish alderaan/act 1.
oh almost forgot, the old companion gear thats 192.
you can wear it on your commando now at lv 55, a big boost in stats that will last until 65.
levelings so easy now, you can put your companion in dps mode for most of the time, use heal or tank mode for h2s only.