Just don't become a Jedi or we will have to kill you. 

So i've been looking online via google(SWTOR forums search feature still not available) and asking in game, but nothing much definitive. Does anyone know what [Prototype] items are? Such as these:

And even though i'm synthweaving I can reverse engineer these(i did not make them, got them from a container bought with commendations). Any ideas?

They mean that you can modify them.

sigh.....although I have my main character (level 42 sith warrior) on another server with our now 100+ member guild I guess it's time to create an ALT on the Kaas City server.  Too many of you nubs playing there to be ignored......hehe     I'll post my character name as soon as I get that done.....

I think I might try to be on Kaas tonight.  

Nod, that's obvious. Some things I've read online seem to suggest you can get a schematic if you re-engineer them.

If it's got mod slots, you can mod it. In my experience you only get Synthweaving patterns from REing items if it's something you know how to make. Could be unlucky in terms of prototypes, don't know. But I don't think thats how it works anymore.

I would expect that you can get a schematic for anything that you can reverse engineer. But you need the appropriate crew skill, of course. I could be wrong though.

It is extra weird to me because I have gotten Prototype boots, but the word wasn't in parentheses. Maybe it is a snafu from beta? 

AFAIK you can only mod orange items. 

BTW, anyone still stuck on Quesh like me? Least favorite planet so far. 

You can modify any item with component slots. Orange items are the most common of these, and their level is based entirely on the armor/barrel/hilt that you put in them. They'll have equivalent armor rating or damage to an item of the same level and quality as that "core" component you put in them, so you can upgrade them all the way from 10 to 50.

Purple items can also have slots, but the armor/barrel/hilt piece is permanent (and hidden). These are better than normal purples, but they'll still eventually outlive their usefulness.

Any crafted item can also have an additional augment slot if the crafting crits.

Yep, the only way to learn some high-end schematics at all is by REing raid drops.

I didn't like Quesh at all when I was playing my Jedi.  Luckily the Quesh stuff was really short.  Don't know what its like on the Empire side since I'm only level 31 there. 

It will be difficult to find good information on this through a keyword search, as "prototype" is also one of the terms the game uses for rarity.  My best guess is that there is a prototype rarity (blue) item called "Indignation Boots" and an artifact rarity (purple) item called "[Prototype] Indignation Boots", which would mean that the "[Prototype]" in the item name is there to make it distinct in the database.

Also, there are plenty of things you can reverse engineer that have no chance of giving a schematic.  For example, an artificer can RE augments, but I'm pretty sure can't make them.

Alright, finally went Imp! Started a Sith Sorceror on Kaas City, name is Qualkech (yep, random named it, but I'm sure I'll have 5 alts starting with Qual in no time), hope to see all you guys in there.

bonscott: yes, you have to be the same (either Republic or Imperial) to group, or hell, even to speak with another person.

Hoth is my new favorite world. I loved Taris for its concrete jungle cityscapes but nothing is as beautiful as a white maw base loading up ice crawlers with supplies as I sneak about their massive base looking for soft targets. It is just a wonderful place to walk around in. The first time i have really felt alone in the wastes. Kind of wish some other Lords of Hyperion would come join though.