I think it's the combination of the focus on storylines and the subscription-based MMO model, which really don't work all that well together. I'm always a bit irritated when people say SWTOR has no content, because dialogues and storylines *are* content. It's possibly not the kind of content you expected (or wanted), but it's content nonetheless. The problem is that this kind of content doesn't lend itself very well to the subscription model, which depends a lot on the player's desire to acquire something (usually items) by doing something repeatedly dozens of times. If you strip SWTOR of its storytelling, it plays like an old MMO that hasn't evolved for the past 4 years. It's a very polished MMO, but an outdated one nonetheless. When you're done with the storylines, you're left with something that feels more or less like WoW in space, minus the refinements that were added over the years and a much more limited amount of group content. That wouldn't be that bad by itself, if not for the fact that you're still being billed that $15 even though the core feature of the game has run out. In short, I honestly think that SWTOR is a great game - it's just not worth the subscription price for an extended period of time. This game should have been "KotOR 3 with multiplayer", not an MMO. At the very least, I think a microtransactions model like LotRO's would work better.

I personally went Scoundrel/Sniper, partly because I wanted a Republic main with access to something else than DPS, but mostly because I thought it made more sense that way. The Gunslinger to me feels more like a soldier/mercenary than a true smuggler, who I see more as a resourceful rogue who tries to scrape by using whatever feels convenient along the way. Some shooting, some punching, some patching up and some sneaking. The GS gameplay of hiding behind something, charging two blasters and making aimed shots, just feels ackward to me and I think it fits more someone with a rifle. As for the silliness of using blaster whip on a Sith, well Fett did headbutt Obi-Wan in AotC. Though to be fair, the blaster whip is probably the only thing that annoys me with my scoundrel. As an ability that you end up using a lot, I think they should have come up with something better.