i personally liked alot of the armor aesthetically better than the robes. not to mention some of the benefits gained from armor such as the yavin station armors. i wasn't too fond of the way the robes looked personally, and so i kept the really good armors, and sacrificed a few force powers. through the game i focused mainly on powers not restricted by armor. force wave is an absolute must.
but needless to say you will reach a point where you have to take some powers restricted by armor. and not only that but powers such as force armor, master speed, and master valor when combined will make you almost invincible. and these buffs are practically necessary on the star forge. so on my second time through i did pretty much the same thing and focused on powers that were not restricted by armor first. but only with my main character. and then i supplemented my powers by giving the powers i did not have to other jedi party members. then by the time i got great robes like the qel-droma robes, and the star forge robes, i had the powers necessary to hack through the star forge like a crazy man.
class-wise i went scout/guardian. great saves all around, force jump
, free implants, uncanny dodge, and the gurdian class gives stats that make this class combo very comparable to the soldier/guardian combo.