Sorry, but you'd have to powerlevel; that's what I'm doing (currently level 12 and hunting Lord Tarnis on Coruscant). If you're interested in reminiscing on the story so as to not be in the dark when we get flooded with companion quests when the patch goes live, I think rolling a knight on the public test server would work pretty well. The way I see it, the patch isn't going to be out for a while, so I've got time to get a character there up to the Defector and try some things out. That way I'll have a heads up as to what conversation answers will do what etc., as well as let myself know the order in which these side quests are supposed to come. But it's all up to you (PS: There are hardly any people over on the test server; I was one of about 3 on average on Coruscant today, and about 3 on Tython yesterday)