Straight to the Point: If you're trying to DPS in a tank build, with a tank buff, you're doing it wrong. I'd elaborate, but I really don't think it should be necessary.

Good input. Why buy the mats when I can get them running missions though? And I can of course sell extra mat's for profit, as well as the stim's / adrenals / etc that I make from Bio. Without any significant credit-sink, what's the point in acquiring 5 million credits? For some, that's a goal and that's fine...for me, if there's no utility in it, I see no reason to shoot for that. I agree it makes sense to leave an alt running Diplo missions for the mats; I get that. It's more about ease of use--logging off main, logging on alt, running missions, logging off, etc. Appreciate the input thus far. There's no doubt slicing is a very easily managed credit source, and I definitely like that.

What are the reasons to keep slicing once you've hit cap (skill and player level)? Minor credit gains from sending companions off on Missions Chance to gain blue/purple Mission Discovery's Pick up Credit Cases in the wild FP bonuses (not sure if these are really that useful / necessary) Personally I think I'm sitting on plenty of credits and don't have anything to spend them on (other than repairs and the occasional upgrade at the market), so I'd like to pick up Diplomacy to pair with Bio, but I'm hesitant to drop a 400 skill that does make me money. Thoughts?

I mostly solo'd to 50. Going at your own pace, you can make life much easier on yourself by spending a bit more time in each zone to ensure you're either in the middle or at the upper end of the level range for the next planet. All too often, I'll see in general chat other players who tried to zip through the story-line and move to the next planet too early...they're the ones always asking for help. Be sure you keep your companion well-geared also (obviously).

Talos. I'd like to use Andronikos again, but Talos just makes things so much easier. If I want to DPS more, I just put my DPS set on and go to town, if it's a champion I'm soloing, I'll put my tank gear on and slowly knock him out--regardless, Talos makes things safe. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Andronikos (until I picked up Talos) As a melee, you want a ranged companion so you don't both take damage from PBAoE's.

Bump, more people need to see this and verify / critique. With all the "which does more DPS" posts we see here, having some documented numbers will help quite a bit.