They are the most difficult class to play, they rely on using defensive cooldowns, interupts, and always burning enemies in the right order. Melee + Medium armor means low survivability without defensive abilities. While their Centering abilities (Transcendence and Presence) can really help turn the tide when I heal I find the class to be a hindrance in flashpoints. They tend to take the most damage because of splash damage from area attacks and when the jump is on cooldown they loose time while trying to run to enemies. People on these forums will tell you that you just need to learn to play because they have potential to be powerful when played right. But IMO when the other classes are powerful when mistakes are made it means the class has some flaws.

Its not that i find anything hard with sents its that in comparison they are extremely weak and inflexible.

They are the kings of area damage that more than makes up for the deficiency in single target imo. Mortar Volley does similar damage to master strike but to 5 targets. Plasma grenade - area damage, pulse cannon area damage, sticky grenade - area damage, explosive round small area damage, concussion charge - knock back area damage. In addition grav round reduces armor for the entire group.

My main is sent that i have been playing since release, recently I decided to switch my level 55 commando from the healing to the DPS tree and my god its a little bit crazy how much better commandos are. I mean i understand the reasoning for giving people an incentive to play non jedi classes and i agree with it but tbh its a bit overkill: 1. Ranged > Melee 2. More effective CC 3. Far more effective area damage > Slightly better single target 4. Ability to off heal in a pinch 5. Heavy armor > medium 6. Easier resource management I still prefer my sentiel because I want to be a jedi but i almost feel bad now when i enter a flashpoint. Its really shocking that there are still so many sents/marauders running around

You can complete most as soon as you get into act three. The acts serve as a gate no matter how much affection you have. I think there are a handful that are done only after the final mission though.

You are reading it wrong they are inviting you to try a new class if you havent because the double XP lets you skip a majority of the side quests

I agree with the OP, LI is unique compared to the rest of the level 50 flashpoints. LI is the only level 50 flashpoint that a group cant be carried through, its also the only level 50 flashpoint that group composition really matters. I have had only one failure as a healer I was a fresh 55 commando in half 61s half 66s non augmented, two sentinel DPS 53 and 50, and a guardian tank level 51. Each trash pull was painful as the tank in the correct stance with the right type of gear was taking huge damage. And because they were all Melee area damage which is common in that FP meant frantically trying to area heal with a poor area healer while trying to use channel heals in a flashpoint that requires constant movement. The problem isn't that LI is super hard, its that its not like the other level 50s. That group that I just described would have rolled every other level 50 FP, and that is the problem. Those people and myself were in the right queue to level and gear up but its incredibly hard and not worth the time to do so. Its not that they need to change the flashpoint, its that they need to not group it with the other cakewalk FPs, its notably more difficult it needs to be placed separately.

Except its not raiding gear. There is no raiding gear in this game, raiding gear would have a bolster that only helps in raids. Its the highest end PVE gear.

I really like my Commando but i wish i could play with something other than a cannon. Some of the rifles are really great looking yet im stuck carrying around a huge pipe with a handle.

First its not raiding gear, its PVE gear it doesnt have a bolster that only helps in raiding content. Its gear the gives sizable bonus to all content. If it was actual raiding gear that only granted bonuses in raiding no one would be asking for other ways to get it. Second there are reasons outside of raiding that people want top of the line gear. Like making up for poor teammates in flashpoints, taking out champion level enemies, running daily's faster, or soloing heroics (including Heroic 4s). Hell most people just want to feel powerful, its fun to work towards gear that just lets you smash things that used to be hard. Taking your example, PVP gear doesn't give you an advantage over other players in PVE or space missions, Space combat doesn't give you an advantage in PVP or PVE either. Why does "raiding" gear give you an advantage PVE that isnt raiding. Hell it gives you an advantage in PVP too, try going up against someone in 72s while you are in 66s.

To me its a huge open world that has enormous scale and the ability to interact with other people if chosen. Raiding sucks.

First operations are PVE content just like heroics, flashpoints, class stories, planet quests, and dailys. Your first point is an apples to oranges comparison. Here is the equivalent scenario, it would be like only getting the best PVP gear through open world PVP on a PVE sever that has very low population and no PVP zones like lawless sands. Sure it would be doable and lots of people would but its a needless pain. Second the reason why raids arent an option for everyone is because of the time constraint. Life gets in most peoples ways and they dont have the time to spend 2-3 hours playing constantly. They dont have the ability to make gaming appointments that raiding guilds demand. They would rather play the game then wait on fleet to coordinate a group or wait for AFKs while raiding. I randomly found a group to do scum and villiany story more that took 2 and half hours to make it to the third boss. Half the people were in top of the line gear and knew what to do, we didnt come close to wiping yet it still took that long because there was no sense of urgency and we ended up waiting 20 mins after every pull to wait for one reason or another. And third people are not asking for BIS gear for running daily's or mindless grinding. They are asking for an alternate path that could even be more difficult and challenging to undertake (half the pro raiders are being carried by their teams anyway). Not crafting, not purchasing from the GTN, one that can get from playing the game like all the stages before max level. They are asking for a capstone to PVE content that doesnt share the flaws that exist in end game raiding. Raiding is not an MMO, its an aspect of a MMO (like crafting and PVP) and it being the capstone is a bit tiresome.

The problem here isnt raiding gear, its raiding itself. Raiding isnt exclusionary because of difficulty or content, its exclusionary because of logistics. Lots of "Solo" players run through end game flashpoints without doing anything more than dipping their toes in raiding waters. The primary reason is the time constrain it forces on you. Grouping with 8 people or 16 means requires a significant time commitment to just find a group. After that its another time barrier to get everyone ready to start. Then its another barrier to get everyone ready to continue. Then another time barrier to find a replacement when someone has to quit early. If you want to avoid that scenario you will need to join a Guild that raids, a guild that will require you be on at certain times. The good mechanics in raiding (Gear Progression, Difficulty that requires perfecting your class, and demanding teamwork) are wrapped up in broken game mechanics that simply drive away a large portion of the community. "Solo" players quit MMOs because their is no progression at level cap. So what they need to do is make ALL OPS tuned to solo play. Make them a difficulty level higher than a Heroic 2 but all do-able solo only (Dont let people group), and make each successive operation scale in difficulty. Have each OP grant a piece of OP solo gear that sacrifices a small stat pool for presence bonuses that makes it equivalent in PVE content. Raiders will then regear for presence-less gear which keeps the treadmill running. Its a win win scenario for all: people that want to raid will learn what to do in raids before hand, they will learn how to play their classes, the gearing treadmill will still exist, a larger pool or potential raiders will exists, there is a new huge source of content with minimal effort, and it makes creating raids more valuable as a development focus.