I've heard this is one of the few servers with a sizable Republic population compared to the Empire, as opposed to being outnumbered 20 to 1 on any given planet. Any truth to that?

I agree here. The endgame gear system is way out of wack. My guild was running the Eternity Vault the other night, and some of us we're getting T2 equipment, while others were getting T1 commendations. The T1 gear is practically useless to anyone who was geared to run a normal level Operation. So some of us got lucky while others walked away with nothing of any worth.

I would also like an answer to this question.

I spent most of my leveling as a TK spec and I respeced into Balance later to try it out. Qyzen works great for those earlier levels but after I switched to Theren I seemed to tear through mobs a lot quicker. I use Nadia a bit to since I got her, our health bars take a few hits in combat but we out DPS anything we have come up against so far.

Hey all! Scyver, lvl 23 Jedi Sage. Drop me a line in game sometime.