Tha basic armor type doesn't changem and this reflects in the amount of armor it gives based on the mod you place in it.

I am from Brazil myself and am paying the game with an international card to pay for it, given that there is no launch over here, your friend probably won't have any issue using the time cards you provide to him.

Also if you manage to have a friend lvling with you the entire time, social levels will run by you.

This site might help you on that choice: http://www.torstatus.net/

Well, I never went out of my way, to kill or to avoid and had nothing but zones below my level so far.

A more complete answer: The orange gear is entirely moddbale, the mods change the quality of the item compared to the ones you find from drops or gain from quest rewards. Armoring, Barrels and Hilts will define the item's basic stats like armor and min / max dmg, the rest is stats, you can't wear na orange item with a mod that requires a level higher than your own. Additionally, some orange gear has a level reuqirement of their own, that is basically to avoid low level characters running around in end game looks. An advice: orange gear for yourself is great, if you can get one from a quest it might even be worthy saving for lvl 50 if the look is appealing to you, but don't level trying to put all orange on you and your companions, odds are they will be weaker than picking quest greens for your companions and that some of your items will lag behind.

The quests are very hard to miss, but the bonuses aren't, when I get to a new zone I usually kill each kind of mob I come across just to see if there is a bonus for it, and also kill each new beast I find to see if there is a codex entry.

If you avoid a lot of mobs, don't do any flashpoints and heroic quests it is quite easy to be underlvled for the content, just do some pvp in between, great way to get gear for lvls 20, 40 and 50 by the way. Also, when you get a heroic quests it is always good to ask for people to do it while youa re in the close area, not that hard to get people to do them right now, but it will become worse as the game gets older.

Good idea, the format is still not THAT friendly, but much better than most lists we find around the web. Personally I am using this one: http://dulfyforce.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/quick-list-of-companion-gifts/

Slicing is useless, say goodbye to mission discoveries from it because you gotta send a companion to gather lockboxes, which give you a penalty or a ridiculously low profit and have a slight chance of delivering a mission discovery. When we send people on money finding missions aren't they supposed to give us profit? The other skills don't deliver money, they deliver goods, how about they return stuff that is not even worthy the credits they cost for the mission as well?

As in this: If you redeem your product registration code during the grace period, and add a valid payment method to your account, you will begin your billing cycle from then, and you will be entitled to 30 days of game time. If you redeem your product registration code before December 20th, your billing cycle will begin on December 20th at 12:01AM EST (the official launch date and time of the game).

I got slicing and sending my companions to gather lockboxes actually gives me more money than I pay for them, this allows me to quickly stack money or make enough to send them on other missions without jeopardizing anything else (like speeder training).

If you enter it before the 20th you are going to get 30 days from the 20th, if you wait until the graace period is over, aka 22nd, then you get 30 days from the 22nd, as in 2 days more without paying for it. Minor, I know, but I actually prefer to have my billing closer to my payment.

This is going to be of great use for those looking for a server when it finally is available for everyone.