I totally feel the same way. I switched from an Emp heavy server to a Repub one to play with friends. Loved my operative, so I thought "I'll roll a scoundrel!" - mirror class, right? It just didn't feel right playing even though they have the exact same ability sets. It felt clunky and unnatural, and I couldn't put my finger on it because they were the exact same class! Then I realized it was completely the aesthetics like the OP suggests. Operative has a blaster rifle, aiming and sniping at range then when closing whips out a flurry of knife attacks, spinning every which way... throw a grenade or two... fun class to play! Scoundrel doesn't seem like it knows what it is doing.... pulls out scatter gun here or there, nuts to the crotch, pistol whip... I guess that fits the "feel" of a smuggler because you are graphically pulling out everything but the kitchen sink to survive a fight. Also blaster pistols are so tiny and graphically under-represented that you don't really feel your upgrades imo. I really wish I could use a rifle :/ At the end of the day, they are all the same (although it could just be me, but scoundrel animations seem a lot slower than operative), and I recognize that it is all just in my head. I just have never experienced such a complete 180 in play enjoyment between two mirror classes.

I agree, this drove me nuts on my first character (a consular) and drove me to the Imp side to play an Inquisitor. You know, it doesn't even bother me that sometimes the objects are ridiculous (pulling boulders through a starship floor). My suspension of disbelief is strong enough where I was okay with that. I got to chuck rocks at stuff, and it looks awesome. The thing that drove me away though was the delay. When I was first playing, I thought the ability was channeled because there is such a long delay between the keypress and the impact/effect of the boulder. I seriously thought that the game was just letting you cast and move at the same time. When I played the mirror inq and shock damage/impact was instant on press like a real "instant" ability, I couldn't go back to the consular. Which is a real shame, because I would absolutely love to play one if the animation delays didn't drive me insane. And, yeah, pebble storm is pretty lame. Why not just animate a force stream like Sat in the intro Republic animation? Would look so much better.