So I've played all advanced classes across both republic and imperial sides. Commando/Mercenary - Good survivability due to heavy armor - Gunnery/Arsenal is quite a friendly to use rotation, doesn't perform quite as high but still very respectable, bursty and easy for target switching - Assault/Pyrotech is the higher parsing tree for single target fights, ammo/heat management is a little trickier and not very bursty - both have access to off heals, and a semi-reasonable aoe heal. Sage/Sorc - doesn't take the hits quite as well, but has some good survivability abilities - Telekintics/Lightning is great AOE damage and is good at target switching and decent burst - Balance/Madness is currently parsing higher but again isn't as bursty and a lot of target switching can hamper dps if not done correctly - both have access to off heals, no aoe heal, but balance/madness if specced right has a heal built into your dots. Gunslinger/Sniper - Takes the hits better than the Sage/sorc due to medium armor, but no heals, also more range in playstyles due to having 3 dps trees as opposed to the others having 2 - I'm not really familiar with their current parsing numbers, but understand they all perform quite well. My main for over 18months was a gunnery commando, I was able to solo a lot of content including many of the HM flashpoints and greatly enjoyed the class overall, I'm now maining a vanguard tank due to my raid groups requirements, but hope the information above is useful to you.

Keybinding many of your abilities and where to keybind those abilities is all about preference. I know players who use the standard setup with the game quite effectively (1 to = and WASD for movement) I know others who have use Z to toggle auto run and the rest of their abilities on QWER ASDF XCV Regarding the comment above about extra button on your mouse, yes these can help, but aren't essential. Regarding movement, you can use the mouse to look, aim, and run. I can't remember exact default keys (cause I'm not at home atm to double check) but holding left mouse while moving the mouse will allow you to "Look" around (meaning you can observe around your character without changing the way your character is facing) Holding down right mouse button while moving the mouse will allow you to "Aim" (turn your character to face a different direction) Holding down both left and right mouse buttons while moving the mouse will cause your character to run in the direction you aim your mouse. Practice this for a while to get used to moving without the standard WASD. Once more advanced you can start using the toggle auto run button and hold right mouse button to "Aim" where you are going. Few other tips from an experience player, if playing DPS if you only keybind one thing, make it your interrupt. As a tank, having both your taunts on keybind is quite useful, but space them apart to avoid accidental keystrike of both taunts. You'll find "most" rotations can be keybound within 5-6 keys, put these in the most easy to access place for you, put your utility abilities further away Hope some of this helps.

Up until quite recently I played a commando as my main also. (vanguard tanking now) Even without hold the line, I had no issues getting out of his gravity circle. I would say the key to this is being right on the edge of melee range to the boss (aim for 3.9M), which is enough to ensure that if you get the mine, it will clear before you know it, and that you will have sufficient time to get out of the red circle, as mentioned above, jump on your way out of the circle as this kind of forces the server to recognise you're out of the circle, sometimes due to lag issues, you will appear on your end to be out of the circle, but the server thinks you are still inside it.

Not that I follow the lore that closely, but when I first saw that, I thought remnant of the star forge.

I also look at it like this, Player 1 isn't very good and has difficulty understanding the rotation and what they should be using. I get the impression that Player 1 is going to be hand fed the rotation early on and therefore more balanced. Whether that actually happens in practice is another story entirely

Yeh, Quite excited for it all.

It really depends on if you are going for a defence heavy build or a shield heavy build. I personally opted for a shield heavy build and currently use a mix of shield and absorb augments, mostly favouring shield. If you haven't seen it Dulfy has a good guide

I personally think, and suspect many would agree, the Sorc story is better.

Inquisitor has good story line (if your interested in that) and both it's AC's have very good DPS, but I would personally suggest Sorc. Mercenary is also quite fun. Enjoy those opinions and make up your own mind.

As they have just come to the game recently, it's quite unlikely they can even get Treek as a companion. But the general theory of levelling as 2 DPS while leaving the companions to Heal and Tank is IMO the best way to go. Trooper/Mercenary get their healing companion quite early (usually sub level 20) Consular/Inquisitor get their tank companions first. Guardian also gets tank companion first, and Warrior gets a healer companion second Smugglers first 2 companions are tanks, Agent however while they get their tank early on, the next companion doesn't come for some time. My personal preference based on how much I enjoyed the story lines Empire -Inquisitor (with tank companion) & Warrior (use heal companion as soon as you get it) Republic - Guardian (with tank companion) & Trooper (use heal companion as soon as you get it)

It's not possible to proc a Pulse/Flame Engine of a Pulse Cannon/Flamethrower, the reason for this is the Engine procs of direct damage attacks, and as Pulse Cannon/Flamethrower are considered AOE's.

Guild leadership has changed hands, I am now the guild leader. Update on recruitment status. Team 1 - Looking for skilled healers (raid times can be modified depending on peoples availability) Team 2 - Looking for 1 healer, 1 RDPS and 1 MDPS (team still in formation and raid times are not yet set in stone)

Please ensure you are trying to move the armouring sub-component (I assume this is what you mean by mod) to a piece that is the same as original. Basically you can only move head armouring to a head shell, or chest armouring to chest shell, etc.

Updating for relevant info in OP.

Can you shed some light on time zone you play in, for example, I'm an APAC guild, but basically do everything that your asking for.