It's at the Republic Fleet in the North East room. You've been at the place earlier before taking the flight to Corusant.

Vanguard is great, even though you wield a rifle for several reasons. You have the option of using Hammershot for ranged aggro rather than being forced to move towards a mob for melee damage. Great for tanks. For the dps lines it's still a great option of having a range for closeins or if you are rooted or forced to kite. Utility at it's best.

I'm leveling with Shield and only used Elara for certain world champion bosses and so on. Any elite etc. I just stick with Jorgan from the beginning and later switched to M1-4X in damage gear. Now I use Tanno Vik in damage gear due to his melee abilities. Considering you're going for a damage talent line and with Jorgan, then I'm sure Elara wont be needed alot unless you're up against alot of tougher enemies.

It's crafted. I don't remember the names on them, but I'll check when I get home from work. As Armormech I haven't gotten to use alot of moddable armor yet, as mods are always below in benefits compared to equal level crafted gear.

The D-400 Nova Carbine from Balmorra commendation. It's an IA rifle though, so required a bit of remodding ofcourse http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/120674317-4.jpg

In the start groups are somewhat troublesome as Vanguard due to little area damage. If you want my opinion then stick with Jorgan for a while for his damage to deal with packs. Besides that then what I experienced to be the best is to throw a Sticky Grenade on the middle mob if groups are packed up and then use Pulse Cannon. This means you shouldn't start out with a ranged attack, but just run into melee of the group, apply the grenade and Pulse away. Groups are usually badly damaged or dead after that. If you can keep upgrades in a good range of levels, then stick with Jorgan or M1-4X in damage mode. Elara is useless on normal groups, as her damage is pathetic and your other companions mow down units faster and cause you to lose little or no health at all. I'm at level 39 now and only used Elara on champion bosses. Anything else gets stomped instantly in melee range with me and Forex in damage mode.

I didn't find the place hard either. It's quite easy if you run close in throwing a Sticky Grenade first, using Pulse Cannon and Stockstriking remaining survivors.

How odd. I always use it versus groups or elites. It makes a big difference on my health bar during the duration compared to not throwing it. It's not an "oh crap" button, but rather an initial migitator. Just take a good look against rapid firing mobs. They miss quite alot.

I went with a costly gamble to see how the Agent rifle looked like, which you can find on the Commendation master in Balmorra. It's a Cunning stat blaster rifle. It looks like something from the future

I'm leveling as deep Shield Spec aswell on my Vanguard and I actually use Forex. The reason is simple. Mobs generally don't dent you due to tank gear, your dps is quite good and I went with the hazzle to equip Forex with only damage gear. Put him in Targetting stance for damage and turn off his Sonic Rocket that taunts. His damage is quite good due to using a blaster rifle. He's more mobile and faster shooting than Jorgan. Add in the Hook he gets and he pull in alot of mobs you can instantly Stockstrike in the face. The easy way on many pulls is to run directly into a group, apply Sticky Grenade and fire off Pulse Cannon. Forex does about 3-400 damage on his area nuke at lvl 37.

Strangely enough you all picture the event where Han shoot at Vader, because that's how the scene was. I think it would be much more different if Han Solo had the first draw on Vader from an ambush. Good luck absorbing blaster shots with your back.

It was there in the beta, so my guess would be it's still there. Using the plaque for the lore Codex unlock would grant you an endurance mod. +6 or +8 I believe.