Returning player after a few years. What are some of the perks of the Galactic Strongholds? Just cosmetic and fun player housing? I have one, but I have no idea why its good or what to do with it.

I'm at lvl 38 and thorougly enjoy playing my Deception Assassin. I played a fury warrior in WoW and was planning on playing a Sith Maruader due to the similarities in the two, but played a Jedi Shadow to 25 during Beta and LOVED it! Force Cloak is great for survivability and the CC works great when using Khem Val and turning off his AoE's. I rarely have any problems soloing content and can usually solo Heroic 2+ quests with Khem Val. It has been nice to finally get gear with alot more Crit stats as Crit is SUPER important to Deception Assassins. Maul works great IMHO. So far, Deception Assassin is a win for me.

Wondering if there are any Utah based empire guilds that my friend and I could possibly join. Had some friends that we were going to join with, but they switched to republic...I know...lame...