Shhhhh it's a feature!

You can get older shells from the alliance boxes (specifically I think you want the Ancient Relics boxes) you get from Heroics (or buy in the Oddessa cantina). I'm not entirely sure whether the set you're after is among the possible contents, but I think it is.

IMO Concentration is a great spec for solo play because it has so much resource income from Zen, and several abilities free of cost, so you spend so much less time faffing about with basic attacks to build resource, or setting up DoTs or whatever . Also the boosted Sweep helps clear trash real quick.

4X actually spends a lot of time punching things.

It might be possible in certain Disciplines to run a Commando or Sniper with a Blaster Rifle and still be mostly functional... But a single saber Shadow? Not happening, sorry. The Shadow's basic stances (like for instance Combat Technique, the tanking stance), from which large parts of their Discplines function, require the Double Bladed Lightsaber or Electrostaff.

Ohhhhh balls. I guess I actually did deserve all those Thumbs Down.

The problem with removing Heroic Star Fortress from the story though is that you would drastically reduce the ability to get a group for it. Since it's currently necessary, there's always lots of people who need it, which means getting a group is as easy as travelling to Oddessa and waiting ~5 minutes. If it were optional, I fear it would be a ghost town, and your only way to see it would be to solo it, which by design is meant to be very difficult.

TLDR: BW didn't realise their efforts to make the ghost-town Heroics more attractive would be so bloody successful that everyone would start solo grinding the frell out of them. So 4.0.2 wasn't balanced around that. But since that's what people are doing, BW are now balancing around that. The nerf has been reverted by ~43%. Have at it.

Heroic Star Fortress is group content. It's designed for at least 2 people. Soloing it is only for Achievement hunters.

So your objection is that GROUP content is only for groups. And this is somehow elitism. O... kay... I can't say I would really object if there was some Solo Mode added for the Ops and remaining FPs, but uh... What the flying fierfek has that got to do with the Companion nerfs?

The level of challenge OF WHAT?! Specifically what SOLO content are you referring to?

"Personally, I find Elitists just as annoying as Filthy Casuals." "Well, the important thing is that you've found a way to feel superior to both."

And which SOLO content is being excluded from anyone, exactly?

I've wanted this ever since Oricon.

I feel like this should be engraved into stone and mounted on a wall somewhere. It's like, nobody can think of any other solution to a problem except 'make Companions OP again.' Adjust Heroic difficulty, or the number of things to collect/kill for its objectives? Adjust mob health to reduce clear times? Boost the passive Out of Combat health regen to decrease downtime? Increase rewards for Heroics so they're more worth the time they take? Increase Influence gain per Alliance box to reduce grind? Introduce more ways to gain Alliance Influence? Add the option to purchase Alliance boxes with PVP and GSF comms? Add Common Crystals to any group content that doesn't already reward them, so they can be used to purchase boxes/gifts? No. NO. We must make Companions OP again! IT IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION!