I imagine that with no spent cartridges to eject and the "controls" being on the top of the weapon (recharge and reload animation), that which side the weapon is held on is largely irrelevant. Being able to toggle, left handedness would be a cool option in the social menu though.

You can use Jorgan for a pretty long time, but by the time you hit the 40's your dps will not have scaled up with the higher lvl mobs hp resulting in much longer fights, which means the incoming dmg will be much more. For comparison, my lvl 46 vanguard, in level appropriate gear does less damage than my combat medic commando did in the mid 20's, let alone if she was gunnery spec. If you have only played a vanguard, you will be amazed by the damage output of some classes like commando or gunslinger (but with less survivability\staying power, gunslinger especially) The time it takes to kill multiple 10,000-15,000hp strongs, or a strong and 3-4 6,500hp normals will take a huge chunk off your hp bar and you will have to use recharge and reload after every single fight, vs staying at 100%hp with elara. With Yuun, i can -barely- kill 2 strongs with supporting normals, and a pair of elites would be impossible if they couldn't be kited. With Elara, I would never drop under 95%hp and can simply go from group to group dropping as much AoE as the cooldowns allow, making for both a faster, and much safer experience. The amount of content that would simply be impossible without Elara is quite large if you are a completionist and don't want to go back after being over-leveled. I have soloed all 2+ heroics with her, and several 4+ heroics. Champions are trivial with her, but impossible without.

I've been playing as shield spec, and yes you are unkillable. I'd suppose Assault is faster overall vs the normal trash mobs, but most likely wouldn't be able to crush the elites in the heroics like shield does. Although even the thought of taking dmg scares me away from assult.

BT3 females are easily the best size for female troopers, hands down. I'm 100% convinced that the BT3 model shown in the character creation screen is not the one used in-game, don't be scared away by it! The size 3 female model is the same height as the size 2 male models, but with feminine proportions. She's maybe 5'10"-5'11", 165ish pounds. BT2 is just too small at around 5'6" 120 pounds (BT1 is a malnourished twelve year old). BT3 males look much better once you get the "plate" style armour. Early on, the "cloth uniform" makes him look like he has a distended barrel chest due to the placement of the pockets. For example BT3 on a smuggler looks much better early on because the armour "fits" better. Also BT3 wears the full beard better than any of the other sizes, as it makes the face look slimmer (something you probably wouldn't put on a trooper)

Size 3 female. They are the same height as the size 2 males. Don't let the character creation screen scare you, they are actually a well proportioned (if slightly taller than average) woman, and they look very good in the trooper armour. They even have a different (more trooper like) sitting animation. Size 2 females are what? 5'6" and 110 pounds? The size 1's might as well be twelve year old girls. My Vanguard is a size 3 male and he fits the role perfectly, although the lowbie armour with the pockets makes it looks like he has a distended barrel chest. However, that problem solves itself as you level.

There is a lvl 14 epic chest piece, that is a random drop, that looks exactly like the ones you see on taris (the "officer" version with the shoulder armour) and there are matching lvl 12 crafted boots of the same skin. It is not the one linked earlier in the thread. It looks like the custom chest you can buy on tat, but deep green with white and black details. Easily one of the best looking armour sets in the entire game for troopers if you like a certain look. I have yet to see anything like it since. My female commando will never looks so good as she did from lvl 14-18.