I had the same issue with the elites in the first part of Belsavis (and I'd been rolling with Guss since I got him). Every other area was fine afterwards so I just chalked it up to those comm station guarding elites as being 'slinger kryptonite.

I've seen a few drop from crew missions (not sure which crew skills as between my main and alts I have all of them covered). On my lowbie synthweaver I have the Dark Acolyte's Robe learned, with another nine recipes (5 blue and 4 orange) waiting for me to skill up.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=299969

control U twice usually fixes it for me. As others have said, it's been happening since launch, but it hasn't happened to me recently.

I never bothered with purple barrels while levelling because you level so fast there isn't much point in using anything over blue. I did find the barrels useful as I levelled because I was always overlevelled for the planet I was on so commendation rewards were always below me (plus vendors only have patron/commando at their max level and not skill/reflex) The only purple barrels I purposefully crafted were the level 49s and they were quickly outdated by the vendor on Ilum. Never bothered with crafting weapons at all as it seemed pointless when you get an orange weapon at level 10 so can just stick to barrels. The only weapon I'm considering crafting (for my 'slinger) is the pistol "Gamble" and thats only because it would make weapon swapping easier due to it being restricted to offhand.

Quesh first, then Hoth

I sometimes get the next level bracket to show up if I switch quickly between crew skills. But the next bracket of missions will not show till 65/400.

To be fair, knights get T7 at level 5 (as a guest), same again with Kira who you get (as a guest) at level 14-15 as you head to justicar territory.

So, it's not just me then Guess I'll set up camp by each stage of the quest begging for a group invite and quest share.

RD-07A Spider Bracers as I found one myself.

Keep trying, it's the "rare" to go along with shadow silk. Personally I wouldn't bother with grade 1 purple items, you level so quickly it seems pointless worrying about it.

They're rewards from crew skill missions.

The name (and level) implies it's on Ord Mantell, but I've never seen any of it.

Just be nice to your nearest cybertech, green modable droid armour is some of the first they can make.

Also note that you can buy a single champ bag before you hit level 50 (just can't open it), so if you have the time and patience then aim for 1000 merc/wz coms plus a bag in the bank.