I wish BH could use rifles. I'm guessing the choice for pistols only was based on the character story. He is a gun-slinging, Western type of dude. Unless they come out with alternate class stories, that probably won't change. Now, if there was a Mandalorian class I would soil myself if they weren't able to use at least a Blaster Rifle.

Regardless, my Wish-list includes Mon Calmari and Rodian. Rodian are iconic for Star Wars. There should at least be a Rodian companion. Maybe an awesome special comp like the Ewok or assassin droid.

I had to stop playing my female Sorc and start a male Sorc. Only having 1 romantic option, that pirate guy, really limits things.

Jedi live an asthetic lifestyle, shunning material luxury. Sith believe in personal glory and passion

This. And give your character a personality that you enjoy using during dialogue choices.

I'm a male but I play several female characters. Sometimes it's just easier for me to give a character a unique personality if they're female. Personally, I don't have any of my female characters dress scantily. Style is more important than hot pixels. My Powertech BH is an older female cyborg. She's tough and gritty but solidly on the Light Side. She wears cybernetic hands / feet and wear a purple trench-coat / armor chest. My Sith Sorceress is a Ratataki female. She's self-absorbed and stuck up. I put her in the fancy dress outfit you can get when you first gain Social rank 1. I dyed it black / red and I'm having trouble finding any other outfit that looks as good on her. Especially that hat with it's huge feather. Awesome! I used to play a Vanguard Trooper who was a brutish female Mirialan, but my Powertech was more interesting to play, so she's in level limbo. She wears that hairdo that looks like a native Amazon tribal do and a Forest Scout trench-coat. She's got the looks, but just isn't as interesting in terms of personality. I have a petite, prissy Mirialan Shadow but I stopped playing her when I realized how I love Sage / Sorcerer play style much better than Shadow. However, she does rock the Stylish Robe outfit that uses a hood. This game provides us with dialogue options some of which that have Light / Dark side choices. I think it's a good to have an idea of Who your character is. Other MMOs don't have those options, so you could just play a generic cookie-cutter toon without any depth. I prefer this way much better. Its more fulfilling for me.

My BH is "too old" for Torian too. I made her an older cyborg with serious facial scars. But, heck, it IS the Imperial side anyways! She's totally flirting with Torian but she doesn't have expectations that the romance will lead to marriage or anything. He's just a boy-toy to her. Torian was raised Mandalorian, so he's pretty mature for his age. Mako, on the other hand, acts AND looks young.

I totally agree. Companions are a major part of the game-play and everyone loves customizations. It could be a Sub thing with available unlocks for ftp and Preferred. The Appearance Changer kiosk would be a natural place to make the changes. Obviously, certain companions will have limited templates due to their morphology and such but the convenience of buying the desired customization instead of travelling to a specific vendor would be worth it. If you sell it, they will buy. Personally, I would like to see a few more templates for the Trooper droid comp 4X. As far as I know, his customizations are only available at a single vendor and you need a Security Key (or something) to even get them. That's pretty lame. Some 4X template ideas: camouflage paint job, tacky neon design, black "stealth" design, goofy smiley face with flowers... Khem is another comp whose appearance does not change with his gear, but he seems to have many good available customizations. Since most of the human / near-human comps can change their appearance when their gear is changed, I personally don't think there's as much need for more customizations for them.

The BH mechanics are the Imperial version of the Trooper skills and abilities. They both some rough muthas. As far as story goes, I felt a lack of motivation to work for the Imperials. For Act I, I felt like nothing more than a cheap thug willing to work for facists (Imps). During Act II, I actually feel like a sought-after professional. I only have a lvl 5 Smuggler so I don't know jack about that. (I've been playing a Sith Inquisitor lately and they have a much better feeling of motivation and entitlement.) Sadly, you only have direct dealing with a Hutt on the starter planet. A few stories on Nar Shaddaa (the Smuggler's Moon) involve interactions with a Hutt or 2, but they are only support for some Imp schemes.

I really like playing Sage/Sorcerer. The 30m range of their attacks makes them my favorite Force User class. I also like that they can cast heals and shields and both start off with a melee tank companion. My Commando has higher dps and can wear heavy armor, but as far a Jedi/Sith go Sage/Sorcerer is my choice. I'm not too fond of melee classes. The Sage/Sorcerer play style is blast from a distance and provide support to other team members. Shadow is much closer range but has benefits of stealth and can carry a shield generator. Sage is like a wizard while Shadow is like a kung-fu tank. Shadow's ranged attacks have such a short range that it makes me wonder what the point is. The Consular and Inquisitor stories are both different, so why not make one of each so you can experience the stories and decide which mechanics you prefer?

New advanced classes to the existing base classes is probably the best way to add class variety. And easiest to write. A third Trooper class could be the Arms Master. They can use a greater variety of weapons such as sniper rifles, scatter-guns, vibroswords. Their skill tree is dps, crowd control with just a little healing, or the third one that Commando and Vangaurd already share. Of course, this would work well for BH too. I like the Jedi with a blaster pistol idea. That's what Luke Skywalker was doing. I think that could be the 3rd advanced class for Smuggler. It could be called Force Adventurer or something. I would love to see more species available for player characters. I understand a playable species will have to be able to speak Galactic Basic (or whatever it's called). Unfortunately, this probably rules out Rodians. But Mon Calamari, Devaronian, Nautolan, Nikto, and Weequay could qualify. I understand costuming could be difficult with some body types and that might be the reason near-human aliens are the only ones we really see available now. Wookies could be great. Their story could be written into Ord Mandel and they could choose melee tank or ranged dps/support for advanced classes.

I'm sure that a father-less boy born into slavery isn't gritty to some people.

I leveled a Merc Bounty Hunter and Commando Trooper sort of at the same time. I like ranged and Mandalorians are cool. I ran into survivability issues, but figured it was part of the learning curve to this game. I leveled a Powertech BH for a while and enjoyed the survivability but got sick of working for The Empire. I went back to my Commando and have been pretty happy. So far my Commando is in the early 40's. Having the tank droid, 4X, as a companion really helps. Once I max my Commando, I plan on playing my Vanguard more.

Forcry, I know there's a Companion Gift vendor on Nar Shada in the Promenade. There are probably others somewhere. Nice necro, btw.

Apart from gear, some strategy could help as well. Use the "~" key (left of the 1 key) to open your companion's ability menu. You can order Jorgen, or any companion, to attack first and thus become the main target of that mob. This frees you to destroy the mobs with less pain. I'm going to assume that you went the Commando route. If so, you should be able to heal your companion a bit. Attacks that temporarily prevent a target from attacking you really help. You start with Explosive round and that will knock-down a low-power target for a few seconds. Target a second mob and blast it with your basic attack. Target the first mob again and hit it with another Explosive round, knocking it down again. Retarget the second mob and blast it with basic attack again. This will effectively keep 1 mob from being able to attack you and allows you to pin down 2 mobs. Cyro Grenade locks down a target for a little longer. Of course, try to use Mortar volley or the other aoe (area of effect) attacks on clusters of low-powered mobs. Tougher mobs will have a silver or gold star by their name. It can make fighting a silver or gold mob easier if you take out any low-power mobs they might have with them. Silver or Gold mobs will not be knocked-down by Explosive Round but can be locked out with Cryo Grenade for a few seconds. Something that I like to do: Explosive Round target 1. Sticky Grenade target 2. Full Auto target 3. Explosive Round target 1. Hammer Shot target 2. If I'm close enough try to finish all 3 with the close ranged Plasma Discharge (wrong name) power or use Stockstrike on a target.