Whenever I see an Op I always DOT them instantly even if I'm not going to take them down just yet... so many don't bother to cleanse and it screws them from reentering stealth properly if they don't.

I found myself using Corso to level then swapped to Guss when I hit 50. I found his tanking, harpoon and damage were all very solid and just couldn't get the others to work well for me - although possibly because I could never get them fully geared in blue at-level stuff unlike Corso.

Dev Tracker is your friend. Use it.

It's story dependent and varies by class. Some, such as the Jedi Knight, get more companions much more quickly than others. We get Bowdaar during our class quest on Nar Shadda. Not right at the start either, you'll meet him swiftly but only gain him as a companion later on.

Scoundrels do need more utility in Huttball, spending half the game running back from the pit isn't much fun... I say running... its normally a crawl as you're in combat and often also snared from the KB too... Having to spend two skillpoints to get a 30% snare that lasts 6s (DF) is a bit rubbish, as is our other snare only having a 10m range. I've actually hit a Sorceror with both my snares only to watch him still be able to sprint through the fire and score without taking more than one tick from the damage. In contrast, even a mediocre snare while I'm crossing a pit will kill me because my default speed is already 'very slow.' I did a few things to make myself more useful at Huttball. One was picking up SRMP (30m instant HOT) which means I can throw things onto the ball carrier even without getting close enough to fight in support of him. Another was accepting that, for the most part, my role is to patrol and contest the centre of the field. Still, we're easily the weakest class in Huttball and a few tweaks to change that would be nice (starting with something to let us go faster - not Sage Speed just a bit faster for a medium duration, or immunity to snares/roots or... anything really.)

Ah I love my server... a server where often the Republic controls Ilum and where roughly even 30v30 fights occur at centre. When the weeklies refresh things get really epic. Had pretty much a full instance with two ops groups on each side clashing at central and actually fighting (well, if "Run forward, throw Shrap Bomb, throw Thermal Grenade, run back" is fighting... its so hectic and jumpy that I often end up just doing that plus throwing out HOTs on my group.) The Imps still outnumber us most of the time, but never to Zerg proportions. They also have a habit of running away to WZs when we get anything approaching a full ops group together. All in all, for the most part... it would work well if not for the crazy lag.

The difference between ranged and melee classes, while perhaps often exaggerated, is very real. Roughly equal damage output but where one can put that damage out for a higher percentage of the time is always going to end up being a bit imbalanced. Melee need either more raw damage or more survivability to compensate (the fact that ranged classes also get more CC, with longer range, is perhaps also a big part of the issue.)

I'm actually loving the PVP in SWTOR for the most part. I haven't played a MMO before this for a few years so don't have much comparison but on my server there are lots of tense, tight games between two teams who both know what they are doing. Sure, there are some definite balance issues but that's to be expected. If I was on a PVP server with a huge faction imbalance and the sort of mentality that generally goes with all that I'd probably feel differently but... really the issues are mostly with the players rather than the system itself (unless you think that they should have anticipated players being silly and designed to mitigate that better.)

This is my current build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MccMzZ0zZhrdorrGd0M.1 As you can see, it's very PVP focused and for PVE I'd drop Feelin' Woozy (probably for Cold Blooded.) While a lot of people swear by the Upper Hands you get from Medpac Mastery I've found that I prefer to have the extra defense (and Wounding Shot) that comes from putting more points into Dirty Fighting. On a Scrapper build, though, I'd probably go for Medpac Mastery - its just a Dirty Fighter hybrid really does need Wounding Shots.

What abilities were you getting 2.5k hits with? I only seem to get them on Shoot First (crits reliably) and, Flyby (rarely.) I'm in 500+ Expertise gear as well... although I suppose my targets have a lot more mitigation than yours would...

Go Hybrid. While Huttball will still be infuriating as you run back from the Pit a million times (tip: a lot of the time just focus on securing and holding the centre instead of trying to chase halfway across the map at a ballcarrier on gantries) in the other two maps I find I add a lot to the team (typically get 7-9 medals and 1-3 MVPs.) Slow Release Medpac is awesome, both for use on yourself (try it, with two stacks on yourself at all times you are no longer squishy which is awesome) and also for throwing on other people (it's an instant ability you can use at 30m while getting into position to do damage.) I also find that as a Dirty Fighter my damage isn't bad, even though I've sacrificed Cold Blooded and Hemorrhaging Blast to get SRMP. Open with Shoot First if possible, follow up with Back Blast/Blaster Whip, apply both bleeds, Wounding Shot x2, Whip/Back Blast... that's a lot of damage. Usually by that point my target is dead because other people have been working with me but if we're talking about a real 1 on 1 you'll also have been using your defensives in there (Screen, making sure SRMP is up) which will put you in better shape than your target. It isn't a very quick kill (10-20s usually for the engagement) but its more fun than the old 3-move killgames. The only thing that gives me real issues 1 on 1 are Battlemaster Sorceror healers who I can't really take down by myself (but they can't take me down either.) Do we need a sustained damage buff? Yes, but it's more to do with energy management than anything else. Between HOTs, DOTs, burst damage and survivability I've found that now I know how to really use my character I do very well with him. People often don't know how to fight me often because I am rather... rare... compared to what they often face. I'm flexible, dangerous and often overlooked except by the best PVPs on my server who seem to have now added me to their 'focus and kill asap' list.

Well, I'd say don't worry too much about that because you can respec a couple of times a week without it costing much. Focus on what is useful and fun at any particular point in time (says the guy who didn't respec until after hitting 50.)

I think that what you're finding is that people are hoping you're a Scoundrel Healer because a L24 Scoundrel Healer is very useful to a PVP team (you'd have SRMP, 'nuff said) while a Scrapper without Shoot First or a Dirty Fighting without Wounding Shot... are both rather lacklustre. People are just hoping that you're useful.

I don't think there is such a thing as a good PVP build at L14. You really need one of the third tier abilities (Shrap Bomb, Sucker Punch, SRMP) to see much of a difference between different specs. Also, without a lot of the abilities that we only gain in the 20s... I suppose it depends on what you mean by a good PVP build, but I think that if I was choosing a L14 Scoundrel build to be on my team I'd want them to play healer. Underworld Medicine is a very solid ability that you have access to and it will actually make much more of a difference to the fight than you trying to do DPS. So, a couple of dots in Exploratory Surgery (every Scoundrel should have this for Upper Hand generation anyway) and then Bedside Manner, Healing Hand, Scar Tissue, SRMP. That will see you through to about level 20ish...

This.

The Belsavis Bonus Series is for 50s, unlike other bonus series that are designed to be done immediately after you finish the planet. If I remember correctly, it gets given to you by a NPC or Terminal on the fleet and has about 8-10 missions spread across 2 different areas. It includes a nice Heroic 2+ and a Heroic 4.

Did you recently put skill points in Sedatives? (Sawbones skill which debuffs when the Tranq wears off) That has always, and is supposed to, trigger aggro when it wears off. Removing those skill points should fix your issue. Otherwise, its new and I've not encountered the issue.

Which, of course, is amazingly useful for Scoundrels. Yes! Once I'm already within 4m of you I can go faster!

"Best"Abilities not being given to starting characters in a RPG? Wow, really? That's a new concept...

This. I love knowing 50% of my team when I log into a PUG WZ, knowing who is good at what, etc., and who to ignore... I love recognising my enemies, feeling dread at the sight of certain names and then the rush of finally beating certain individuals in 1on1s. It makes wins so much more meaningful when you KNOW you have just beaten a top-grade team instead of a bunch of randoms. The solution to queue issues is server merges, not cross-server WZs. I mean, I'm on a RP server and have only once had to queue more than 20 minutes. My average queue is about 5 minutes. Ilum also pretty much works for us... lots of 30 v 30 epic classes. More servers need decent population and faction balance. Merges solve population issues, only rerolls will fix the overall imbalance though.

Don't overlook the Belsavis Bonus Series (most of which is repeatable.) Its a better source than ilum for daily commendations.

Voidstar: Whisk to the door from the spawn point. Civil War: Whisking half your team across the map instantly. Huttball: Whisking people from your spawn point back to the far side of the map. The time to get from the spawn point to the objectives is a key part of balancing the WZs. Managing where your team are and controlling where the enemy are is the crux of team strategy. What you're asking for is basically to be able to bypass all of that... just because you don't want to wait for your friend at the respawn point (and apparently you need to badly hold each others hand the whole time... rather than realising that its better for your team if the people with good ooc communication channels are in DIFFERENT places instead of the same.)

So much potential for abuse and... really, no actual need for it. In Huttball, perhaps, it can be a pain getting to a particular other player but in the other two there are only a few places where you SHOULD be (and in Voidstar they are so close.)

Unfortunately for you, the best way to get mods for your stuff is to do the PVE content (planet stories, class quests.) That way you'd have a bunch of Blue 50 mods from Corellia and then Purple 50/51s from Ilum and Belsavis. Unfortunately all those purple mods are BoP so the only way to get them is to do all the missions required to unlock the dailies... Jumping straight from the 40 PVP gear to the Centurion/Champ stuff will be quicker after the new patch but... its going to take a while still.

There are brackets, its 10-49 then 50. With Bolster the only real difference between characters in the first bracket is their range of skills available. Once you hit about 20 or so... its not so bad. The real issue, really, is that they advertise PVP to people when they hit 10 when really it should start after you finish the first planet and get your ship - at that point it all becomes moderately balanced.