I agree with the comments that making the character look a little older is important. My consular was bearded and wore a hooded robe for the entire game and the voice fit perfectly. The early levels were a little odd, since he looked and felt too old to be a Padawan, but for a Jedi Knight or Master, the look and voice fit perfectly.

I can confirm that you get the companions after the class quests for a particular planet. Since you're several levels ahead, that means you can rush to get a particular companion early if you so choose. It's also worth noting that you meet Nadia earlier (after Alderaan, IIRC), but don't get her as a companion until after Belsavis. Sadly, I also found that the order you get companions is the opposite of how interesting they are, so if you're bored by your companions, stick with it, it gets better.

I did it with Nadia at 43 (I think) as a seer sage also. I didn't use LoS. The real breakthrough for me was not trying to slog through the battle and outheal. He heals faster than Nadia can DPS. So you have to put in a lot of damage yourself too. Obviously start the fight with force bubbles on you and your companion, then initiate the attacks yourself. If you get a big white empire symbol below you, move off that spot. Since companions just stand there and get pummeled, you're probably better off with the aggro. Once his health gets low enough that he starts trying to heal (green icon), then you have to interrupt all of the heals. You can interrupt with force stun, mind snap, and even force wave. Hit him hard when you're not interrupting (e.g., use a medpac instead of taking the time to heal), and he should die fairly quickly. Although I didn't use it (it was on cooldown from my first attempt) the Heroic Moment skill would probably really help for the healing and extra interrupt.

I'm with you--I love Huttball. I can't predict the outcome of the match within the first 120 seconds like I can in the other game types and I love the teamwork required. All of the people who don't pass are aggravating, but I think it will get a bit better over time. The medal system does tend to punish those who play to help the team win, but a win from good coordination and teamwork is more satisfying than medals anyway.

It did have a small gear progression, just not in PVP. Those who PVPed a lot got gear that looked better, but was functionally the same (they also got a high ladder ranking and won tournaments if they were good). In PVE, gear progressed but it was pretty easy to get gear with the best stats. In GW, most of the rewards gave your character status and looks, but not actually a competitive advantage. GW wasn't as popular as WOW because its PVE wasn't as good, and PVE players are the bulk of MMO players. It had a vibrant PVP community, to the point that cash prizes were being awarded to tournament winners years after the game released.

This. I enjoy the PVP in TOR, below level 50, as a diversion. But the grind for gear is disappointing. I played GW1 extensively. When you lost matches, you lost because you, and your team, weren't as good. Progression is fine for PVE, but PVP is a competitive environment--it should be fair. If you make the PVP experience compelling, you don't need a grind to keep people playing it.

Hold the left mouse button and move the mouse. Don't worry, it took me a while to figure this out too. The camera controls aren't consistent with most other games.

I don't think you guys are giving the companions enough credit. Qyzen: Currently, Qyzen is wearing a highly coordinated outfit called "include all the primary colors". He looks kind of like something my five year old nephew would draw with crayons. I don't know what he's saying most of the time because I'm too drawn to the rainbow that is his armor to read the subtitles. From what I have read, I'm apparently awesome and can take down the most fearsome creatures as Herald. I do like how I keep accumulating sweet titles like Herald, Barsenthor (I should probably be more confident in the spelling of my titles), and Black Bisector. Tharan: Even though I'm a healing Sage, I decided to roll with Tharan for a while because he has the same beard as me. And nothing says awesome like that beard. Sadly, that was where the similarity ended. Tharan keeps talking about being a pacifist while shooting people; I make sure to take out everything that moves to get that bonus objective. Holiday: You know how Qyzen looks like the drawing of a five year old boy? Well, if you asked a five year old girl to color something, you'd probably get the all-pink Holiday. I can't really say much more, because I stopped using Tharan before he got the Holiday stun. It's pretty hard to level when you just stand there healing each other. Zenith: So far I've only met him in cutscenes, but I'm thinking it's probably not a good idea to give him a gun. Basically, the interaction went like this: "Don't shoot that guy! I'm trying to talk to him. Besides, he's not part of the bonus objective!" Nadia: Also cutscenes only, but I've determined that her dad, while kinda fat, is less crazy than the other ambassadors. C2-N2: If I knew Bantha ears were so important to crafting I would have collected some on Tatooine. If you haven't figured it out yet, this post is a joke. A lengthy discussion of Qyzen's color coordinated armor options would not be appreciated.