Yes. All Orange item shells are made up of an Armor slot, a Mod slot, and an Enhancement slot. When v1.2 comes around, the stats you've quoted will be split into x3 sub-pieces that correspond with those Orange part locations. This will allow you to remove those x3 slot locations out of your existing Rakata armor shell, then allow you to move them into any other Orange armor shell. Then if you move them into a critcal success crafted Orange armor shell, you'll gain access to an Augment part slot. At 50th level, you might be able to get a Purple grade +Cunning Augment. If that happens, then you can insert it into your new armor's Augment slot. This could potentially boost your Cunning value on the armor by another +30 pts or more.

Purple and Cyan crystals are now being sold at 50th by a NPC to each faction. You can purchase +Expertise PvP versions of the various crystal colors at 50th. Seperately you can buy White crystals at various level tiers for rediculous amounts of credits. Also the Magenta crystal recipes are being sold by the vendor, though their +33 values aren't as good as the +41 crystals sold by the vendor. Also on the Pre-Order crystal vendor, you can find the appropriate pre-order crystal colors at 50th level. All of these crystal sources are being removed from the NPCs as of patch v1.2. From what Bioware has said, the White crystal access is going to be permanently removed for the near future (which is why they cost so much). Based on what Bioware has implied, the other colors will likely be available through Artificers in v1.2. However Bioware has never really spelled things out beyond stating that Artificers will be able to create crystals that are superior to the +41 versions that Bioware is flooding the market with.

On a side note, the Consular's belt only has value from a visual appearance standpoint. You can buy Orange grade Light armor belts from the Space accomdation vendor, which inherently lowers the value of all Orange grade Light belt armor shells. Whoever is getting the Myrmidon belt is definitely coming out ahead in the deal since there aren't any sources of Medium or Heavy belts from NPC vendors until patch v1.2.

For the Orange grade armor pieces in the Waist and Wrist slots, there are no real differences between a low level piece and a high level piece. Assuming that we're talking about a Medium or Heavy armo piece, the value is subjective. Interesting enough, it's actually the lower level version that ends up worth more since it has a longer life span when used by a lower level alt character. At one point, it looked like high level versions of the same Orange slot and armor grade had more inherent Armor value as its starting point. It still does look like that at times. However if you equip both with the exact same Armoring piece and equip both Orange items, you'll find that the net Armor score auto adjusts them both to the same value. From my own observations, my server's Empire side only has IA pieces regularly for sale. Even then, I find that you can successfully sell them on our small server for about 100,000 credits within 24 hours. While you can probably get more out of them, there won't be as quick of a turn around time. Your friend is just getting greedy. Pound for pound, your exchange sounds like it's equal. However they mentally value their piece at a certain market price, which has resulted in them trying to make you pay for the difference based on their own pricing estimates. Some people are just like that. It sounds like they want a situaiton where the two of you privately sell your items to each other, which is much different then a true trade.

See the link below for the sticked thread about gearing up a newly 50th character (which is found in the Flashpoint forum on this site). http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=176836

1) Corellia has lvl 50 Blue armor component pieces that fit inside Orange armor. Doing the Daily repeatables on this planet can help give you a starting point if you're gear is lacking. 2) Belsavis and Illum repeatables are your next goal. (If you're gear is good enough, you can skip directly to this step.) They grant you Purple armor components that are the best around (outside of raiding) for Orange armor. Daily repeatables are a priority. Other key gear pieces from these vendors are the Implant and Ear slot items. 3) Once you've got a decent gear base, you'll want to start running group Flashpoints in their Hard Mode (HM) setting. The final boss of each HM flashpoint drops a specific armor slot location. These drops are the goal. Also the final bosses drop Biometric Alloy crafting components (which are current No Trade). These are used to make powerful 400 crafting skill gear items. Also make sure to collect the Daily and Weekly repeatable quests for these Flashpoints (which are from a quest terminal in your Fleet). The tokens from these quests will also be used to purchase nice gear. 4) Instead of HM Flashpoints, you could focus on the PvP side to grind for Battlemaster (BM) gear instead. Some people consider BM gear to be superior to Operation raid gear. Other consider a hybrid of PvP BM and raiding Rakata pieces to be the best. However don't PvP unless you find yourself enjoying it. It isn't wise to burn yourself out playing something that you find yourself hating. 5) The final stage beyond the HM Flashpoints are the multiple group Operation raids. These will drop your (Standard) gear versions and your Hard Mode gear versions.

So you just care about this from a PvP perspective? Then that makes it relatively simple. You'll want to either be a Jedi Shadow or a Vanguard. While I only play Empire side, the BH is the spike dps tanking class (which should translate into Trooper on your side). Trooper and BH are also known for having the highest Armor values of the tanks, which should help against some of the PvP class. From what I've read, Trooper is a straight forward class that's easy to play. If this is true, then I'd consider Vanguard to be a great starter class. However there's still something to be said for a very well played Assassin (or Shadow in your case). You get multiple different sources of self-healing, a good mix of melee & ranged moves, a speed increaser to close gaps or move around the map, decent Armor values from your tanking stance, and some really nice AoE dps output. More specifically, your end line tanking Talent tee ability is nuts. Getting some AoE dps, a 15 sec debuff (-5% damage output), and a 15 sec movement debuff are all very impressive for an ability with only a 12 sec cool down. Right now there are multiple threads whinning about Assassin and Shadow being OP from a PvP perspective. These class are just plain effective at anything they do. (Though with this in mind, it does make me question whether they'll get hit with the nerf bat due to all of the PvPers.)

There's too many variables that you haven't answered. While we could all give you a biased answer, you really haven't clarified the play style you're looking for. 1) Is being a truely Ranged tank important to you? Or are you willing to deal with being a Melee tank with some AoE capability? 2) Are you looking to fullfill the role of MT (Main Tank) in Operation raids? Or are you looking to take the OT (Off Tank) role? 3) If you're willing to be Melee tank, do you NEED to have a Leap ability to reach your enemies? Or is it acceptable to use a run speed booster to physically run to your enemies? 4) Are you looking to be a true AoE tank, a melee tank with nice AoE capability, or a dedicated melee tank that specializes in single targets? 5) What kind of casting mechanic are you looking for? A regenerating energy pool which you can't directly influence over the course of a fight? Or perhaps a Rage point activation system which forces you to take actions to increase your casting pool? Would a Heat system which forces you to remove casting pool penalties be more your speed? 6) Is it a requirement that you MUST have access to Heavy Armor? Or is it acceptable to wear Light Armor while getting an increase to your Armor value from your tanking stance? 7) Are you looking for a class which can have a high burst capability in terms of dps and aggro generation, which makes it superior for short fights? Or are you looking for a class with a more sustained dps output? 8) Is it a requirement to be a tank which is capable of healing yourself through multiple sources over the course of a fight?

If you're refering to Threat of Peace, that web comic series is based on almost an entire generation before the current events of TOR. A physically fit younger man can easily become a porty middle aged person. Yet if you're refering to the concept of having an over wenght Sith Lord, then that's another subject. While many people hate Baras because of his weight, I actually like him for it. His persona for a starting SW comes off like am indulgent older uncle figure, which fits his chubby body. Also Baras is an in-game example that shows people that a Sith doesn't have to remain in top physical condition to retain their power and influence. To be honest, that adds a level of complexity to the Sith that we don't usually see in TOR.

Based on the cliff notes information about the Legacy system that IGN posted in their most recent article, race unlocks are based on the player. If you have a Chiss character and you level it to 50th, then Chiss becomes a permanently unlocked race for every class and faction on your account (for that server). Eventually a person could theoretically unlock every since race in the game if they wanted to constantly make new alts and possibly delete characters after they had been used for the unlock slot. Lore aside, it's an interesting concept. These are really just cosmetic changes, which I'm normally all in favor of. Now people can have the Chiss Sith characters that they've been wanting. Or if someone is willing to play on both factions, then they could eventually have a Chiss Smuggler or something like that. From a visual concept, I think that this could have a lot of potential.

A BH's armor use is tied to their Advanced Class. At the beginning, you start in Medium armor proficiency. Then once you hit 10th level, your Advanced Class choice further influences things. If you choose to be a Mercenary, then you'll stay at only knowing Medium armors. Or if you choose Powertech, then you'll gain the Heavy armor proficiency.

You need to head to your faction's Fleet and look for the Space Commodation vendor. Amongst the vendor's items are a couple of Belt armor slot Social armor pieces. If you're a Light armor user, it's an easy source for acquiring an Orange belt. The issue is that the Armor piece values would be far too low for Medium and Heavy armor users to equip those Light pieces, which is why they need to grind mobs out in the game world (or get lucky on the random item roll Commodation boxes). Theoretically patch v1.2 is going to introduce some Medium and Heavy versions of Social armor pieces. People are hoping that this will give them access to Orange grade Belt and Wrist armor pieces in all types. However time will tell.

FYI. Bioware's v1.2 patch is supposed to increase the RNG rate for Blue and Purple recipe discoveries. At the higher levels, the proc rate for these things can get pretty horrible. Since patch v1.2 is theoretically supposed to go live some time this month, you might want to hold off on burning through a mountain of crafting materials for now.

Yes. You can fail the Discovery missions. It is certainly a subject of much fist shaking when your Companion fails one of these missions, but it is what it is. From what I've been able to observe, the failure rate is based on your Companion's Affection score and the difference between what your current Mission skill score is vs the Discovery skill score. (Therefore running a 340 skill mission at 345 skill has a decent failure chance. Yet running that same 340 skill mission and 400 skill has a very low failure chance.) I hate failing Discovery missions. The highest tier missions are at 340 skill. When you use a Purple grade version of this mission, it takes the Companion about 2 hours at max Affection to run this mission. Then after you've lost those 2 hours and all of th associated credits, they can still fail. It stinks! However it is what it is.

While I only used Jaesa on Hoth, everything that I've ever noticed in this game says that it shouldn't matter. While the story quest finale on Taris did force your Companion useage based on your previous conversation choices, that kind of situation is the rare exception to the general rule of how TOR seems to be designed.