star-wars-the-old-republic
Various items can be purchased in-game using Cartel Coins from the in-game Black Market.
I have noticed that it is possible to get certain items marked as 'Cartel Items' (for example a minor experience boost consumable item) but is it possible to get Cartel Coins from any source other than the 'pay to win' store?
The color of your lightsaber is dependent on your color crystal, and you should be able to get any color you desire, no matter if you're Sith or Jedi (or Dark or Light, the below is no longer correct).
Your Light/Dark side affiliation will affect your options though:
See this question for more information on lightsaber colors: What colors of lightsaber crystals are there (and where can I get them)?
When you visit a crafting trainer, by default you only see the items you can craft with your current crafting skill. So, new items will appear there when your crafting skill reaches higher level.
But you can let it show all schematics (including those that you can't craft yet) by choosing "All" instead of "Trainable" in the dropdown in the upper right corner of the window. This way, you can find out what level of the crafting ability do you need to craft the better items.
In the screenshot above, you can see that I have chosen "All", so that even schematics that I can't craft yet (that require level ≥ 380) are visible.
Best Answer
Yes! In Game Update 2.0, certain Legacy Achievements grant Cartel Coins. They only grant once per Legacy, so it's not a feasible way to get a lot of them for free, but it's kind of cool.
From the official SWTOR blog (emphasis mine):
Currently you can get a total of 860, as per Dulfy.