Another vote for Gus "Oh no, not this time, I'm not being bait again" Tuno.

Endurance on gear, basically. You get a little bump in health at each level increase, but the majority of your hp will come from the endurance on your gear. The key is modifiable gear, as in orange gear as you're leveling, and/or end-game purple gear with mod slots. Keep adding mods that favor endurance over your class skill, and you'll get the high hp numbers. Note that very high hp is more useful for PvP than PvE (IMHO); for general questing, flashpoints, operations, etc, you'd want decent hp but also higher levels of your class stat so you can do more damage/healing/etc.

Great thread! /subscribe

Voss bonus series: Quest giver (at the end of a long rant): "Well, what are you waiting for?" Smuggler: "You were on a roll, I thought it would be rude to interrupt."

There's a whole, long thread on this here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=23016

Yea, it's worth visiting the fleet every so often; flashpoints are there, too, and some vendors you won't find anywhere else (i.e., light/dark side vendors).

There's also usually a starship upgrade vendor in or near the major spaceports.

True, as anyone who was out exploring and accidentally stumbled into an opposing faction cap (and died quickly from attacks by the NPC guards ) can attest to.

Very handy thread -- thanks! /subscribe

Actually, no -- the two sides see different versions of Balmorra. The first lower-level planet where you'll see Republic players running around is Nar Shaada, and that's in a Sanctuary area where you can't attack each other. There's a world PvP zone on Tatooine where you can also encounter Rep players and be attacked, but you'll get a clear warning as you approach it.

/subscribe

Guss is a hoot! On Belsavis: Gus: "You sure you don't want the Wookie with you now? I mean, he's taller, and probably enjoys fighting something called the World Razer."

I'm approaching 50, and this is a great thread -- thanks! /subscribe

Orange gear is fully modifiable. If you like how the gear looks, you can just keep updating the mods in the gear as you go higher in level to keep the gear up to your level without having to replace it.

This thread in the Smuggler forum has good links to complete guides to the smuggler companion customizations: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=23016

Here's one I haven't seen in this thread: On the Imperial side of Nar Shaada, there are speeders in various locations you can "requisition" to get around fast -- just look for the bluish colored speeders on the side of the road.

Hitting 44 and getting a better barrel or two made the difference for me -- went back and was able to burn the elite down with at least 1/3 health remaining, and only had to use 1 medpac to help Gus out with the healing.

Same wall, same place, in particular the one quest that has an Elite level 43 guarding every quest item. Even with Gus I couldn't kill them, as I had just hit 43 before going to Belavis. Ended up going to Alderaan and doing the bonus series there, which gave enough xp to almost get to lvl 44, so I'm shooting to hit that and then go back and try those elites again.

Did you try it while in combat? You can't change companions while you're in combat. If that's not the case, click on Corso's picture in the lower left and dismiss him -- you should then be able to summon any of your other companions.

I got Gus last night, and I agree -- he's a hoot to have around, and we only died once in the and that was only because it really caught me by surprise.

I take part of what I said back -- Ivory appeared on my ship last night...

That's really handy -- thanks!

Have you tried the "/stuck" command? NVM, just saw you say it didn't work...

I've not had either bug by level 41, so it's definitely a situational thing. I have seen Risha pop up in her old spot in the cargo bay on occasion, but there's still only one of her.

FYI: I got The Deadeye Elite Prototype Jacket (long coat) as a reward for the first string of Balmorra bonus quests last night, so you can add that location to your list.