Is the Sith Order active? I've recently come back to the game and I'm looking to get involved in some roleplay.

So basically Annihilation is the way to go? What about grabbing the first 3 points from the Carnage tree by putting them in Dual Wield Mastery. Is this necessary?

I started a Marauder just before 1.2 hit (not because of the impending buff, but rather I found the combat on a sorcerer to be a bit lacking at early stages in the game) and I'm curious about leveling it up. I read the bit about Carnage in the guide that is pinned at the top of this forum, but not the Annihilation section. I don't think I want to go Rage to level since a lot of people are saying that it is a bit underpowered. I'm looking for the spec that will allow me to level up safely, engage in PVP if I have to (I rolled on a RP-PVP server) and still be competitive in Flashpoints and WZ's.