Yes, by all means do your final tightening with a torque wrench but the preliminary & progressive tightening with the T-bar are highly recommended since you can FEEL if you’ve got it right or not.

Yes, I mean a 1 piece bolt as an alternative to an auto extractor.

Octalinks for the road (V2?) are most definitely splined in a specific way. It is easy to overlook this fact. I mean if you got it really off then they would not be 180 degrees apart and you would most definitely feel that asymmetry. But it is also possible to erroneously install the drive side wrong, tighten it up wrong, then put the non drive side where you think it should be then tighten it up wrong as well. I’m at work now - when I get home I’ll post a photo demonstrating that what I’m talking about is a real thing.