I dont know if there is an either or comparison but there is a compare companion stats feature in the preferences. if its selected it shows the comparision for you as well as your companion. I forget where in the preferences it is though

I believe you can stack str all you want and in the end Q's base melee attacks will yes be stronger but you are basically gimping all of his tech based attacks. so what you are doing is making one melee attack (which is much like any no cost attack) strong while all the actual damage/threat building skills are seriously underpowered

Here's a penny for your thoughts and we all know how much a penny is worth.

This was quite possibly stated but not true. i have run essles and had drops that were bop for classes that were not in the group at all. this has happened in more then just the essless and could be a bug but i havent really heard anything more about it

that aside i have burned many credits on RE.

RNG a harsh mistress she is

http://www.boldee.com/primus_nova/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=34 the above is a link to a combination page for making an artifact from matris shards. it takes a minimum of three to make the artifact and if you have picked one up it woul dbe in your inventory. under the mission items

you can get a orange robe from running the Republics most wanted Heroic+2 on courasant. at your level you should be able to solo it i think

yes i believe you can have 8 maybe more

The information in the stat screen is most likely incorrect. Aim for fess works as if it was strength adding bonuses to his attacks and damage. Unfortunatly with him being an Aim stacker, techblade upgrades with Aim come few and far between. i have only found them as rewards from side quests making his progress reliant on completing quests that will grant a companion weapon reward and with the lack of finding an orange weapon for him he gets stuck with the same weapon for many levels

The different combinations do have levels. this may help as they both provide the combinations required to create the cubes http://www.republictrooper.com/matrix-cubes-relic-items/ http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=91505&highlight=matrix+shards

Fess was originally a ranged tank who used blasters. This was changed late int he game and they left the stat as is. there are other companions that use aim and are melee as well

I use the solid steel siberia v2 and they work amazing

you can check the GTN for crafted or looted ones there are also the ones you can make yourself from matrix shards. although you have to have 3 shards and from what i have found the last one to combine requires going to higher level planets http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=91505

I am begining to believe that if BW actually was really listening to all these nerf posts we would all be sitting on the starter planets using emotes. when are theses threads going to end BW has all the data and can see OP classes let them do their job