Possibly coming back to check it out. A few questions first though.

I stopped playing SWTOR pretty close after 1.1 came out. I had already earned battlemaster (pre 1.1 instant illum battlemaster for the faction with the most people). I was 0/32 from the stupid bags, worst idea ever. I had cleared the 2 operations on nightmare (EV/KP). I played pretty hardcore but I am a bit worried that over the last 5-6 months there hasn't been much content released that would keep me busy. Now I don't plan to put in the time I had used to but probably 15 hours a week or so. I guess my guild broke up about a month after I stopped playing and I do not belive they are currently playing and if they are they are off the dead server (Port Nowhere) that I was on so I would be in search of a new guild but I have heard some decent things about the server mergers and actually having a full lively server. My main focus was PvP but I did plenty of PvE. Now on to my questions. Please note that if you're just gonna troll and say the game sucks blah blah I really don't care what you think. I am looking for some honest answers and be brutal if need be.

One of the main things that REALLY drove me insane was on my Gunslinger channeled abilites would have the channel bar going off on my screen but no damage was happening. IE the ability never actually went off but the animations/cast bar said it was. Is this still a widespread problem?

Has the terrible random chance at loot bag PvP system been changed at all? I was one of the first battlemasters on our server and I had nothing but the 3 items you could purchase off the vendor to show for it. It became a server wide joke about how I would never get an item from a bag. Sadly I never did (0/32).

I thought I had read somewhere about damage meters. Are there mods in the game now? I very much like theorycrafting and retooling specs so this would be a huge plus.

Have they done anything to fix how terrible cover was (Gunslinger/Sniper)? This isn't terribly huge as I tended to play Dirty Fighting (because of how clunky cover was) but I would like to try all the specs if I end up trying another month out.

How many bosses are in the new Operation? I didn't see a nightmare option on the SWTOR website, is this true?

One thing that kind of worries me is the IA/Smuggler ability XS Flyby or whatever it was called. Is that now something anyone using the legacy system can learn now? That was really my favorite ability and it made the smuggler/IA unique.

Last question is debateably but how is class balance currently? There were some nerfs in the latest patch but overall is there just 1 or 2 clear favorites or have they made every class have there pros and cons.

Thanks for taking time to read this! Look forward to your responses.

Edit:

Decided to plug my old PvP video. The first and only game video I have done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESBTtEpB9hE