Critical Slicing Lockbox missions also give Mission drops which are the ones that you really want. They sell well on the GTN and if you run them yourself, they guarantee purple mats.

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/182cow

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/182cov

Welcome back. I heartily agree with you, bravo Bioware. I too am a founder, but have remained with the game throughout all the changes. Like you, I am more of a solo player and will group only to complete content that requires it, but like viewing the cut scenes. I did finally join guilds, but they were created by myself and 3 other like minded players before the server mergers began. We started the guilds so we could take advantage of the benefits of being in a guild without being hassled. We ended up on the Shadowlands after the mergers. Since I get summers off, I have used that time to personally fund the guild vaults and I even purchased a guild flagship for our Republic side guild.

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/182cou

This "dangerous precedent," as you put it, already exists in the game. My alts benefit from an improved Heroic Moment, increased presence, etc from my having completed certain tasks on one character. What makes the Datacrons different?

For some of the companions, there are quite a few customization options that were built into the game and with the newer cartel options, there are even more. Add to that the ability to use a variety of armors and you get lots of options.

If you are trying to use the social vendors at lower levels to obtain orange gear, ops runs don't apply. I agree that something needs to be fixed with this so you can obtain the social levels more easily as you level up.

Yes. This is a great idea. Since a few of the mats we received, like the Hollinium, are blue semi-rare materials, I think an exchange rate of like 3 to 1 would be fair. Get 3 of the usable mat for 1 of the other.