I think the Vong suffer the most from the lack of diversity since they (obviously) don't have a shooter of their own. So you end up with all melee or a Nom bombs squad which can fit in Cad just because he's good enough on his own to work well. Since the Yammosk, which is a great piece, only benefits the Vong, they're end up being restrained in what they can really use. Thankfully the designers have done an excellent job of expanding that faction and their options with the V-sets and I expect it'll continue to improve.

Something I thought of after reading your comment about Panaka; I realized that the Republic got a nice bump from the Battle of Theed subset. Perhaps the other "lesser" factions (OR, Sith, NR, Vong) could get some pieces in a subset to make them better, quicker. Maybe like an NJO subset with just NR and Vong pieces. Or for the Sith and OR maybe like a Jedi/Sith Academy subset. I don't know, just a thought.

And here's the thing, it sort of has to be slow. Bastilla is really powerful, so how do we create a valid alternative to her? The blanket +10 Dam is just too handy, much like Thrawn for Imps. I think OR does have some diversity, even with Bastilla being the cornerstone, and I don't see it changing that soon. She is just too much of a cornerstone. OR will be okay without her eventually, but baring outright replacing her, she will still be a vital component to OR.

Um didn't Bastilla just win Gencon before either Jaq and Carth even existed? Beefy Bastilla is still good. Now I would just take out one thing and put in Jaq or Carth. Heck, the Battlemasters may still be able to take out most squads. I wouldn't count out Belth as a "fun but still kinda good" option after Scum.

There is also something there with Jedi Exile, I just can't quite figure it out. I'm pretty sure she came in 2nd at a regional already. Pumping Jaq and Carth up even more seems legit.

Actually - I forgot about the droid-centric builds that are shaping up with Scum and Villainy; while you'd still expect to see Bastila in those builds, they'd be different from other Old Republic builds otherwise - for instance, you're unlikely to see the Old Republic Senator, another almost ubiquitous piece that I forgot to mention in the first post. I also agree that a slow and steady approach to it is good; Bastila was a huge change, and was only a couple of sets ago, but I would be freaked out if they got such another powerful piece anywhere in the near future. Plus she does obviously play a big part in the meta from stopping insane CE squads from dominating.

I do think that right now, there's a set template for almost every good Old Republic squad, and it looks like:
Bastila: 33 points
Old Republic Senator: 14 points (although it's not so helpful in an Exile/GMA squad)
Lobot/mouse droids/R7s/Ugnaughts: ~27 points
Carth Onasi, ORS/Atton 'Jaq' Rand: 29 points or 36 points

So that's roughly 100-110 points, and then you just have 90-100 points to play with, where you can choose between a bunch of stuff like Battlemasters or Seers/a second shooter/one of the big Jedi like Vandar, Kavar, or the Revanchist.

I did forget about that GenCon squad though, it's not that long ago; I'd be interested to know whether Jester007 would bring in the shooter or whether he'd stay with the beef.