Because Andronikos Revel is such a hot rebel. ;]

Not sure about PvE, but as far as PvP is concerned it is really a personal preference question. Just pick the playstyle which you consider to be more fun, both advanced classes are perfectly viable. The Sorceror is a ranged DPS/healer - you basically want to be at the back of your team with Jugs/Maras in the front taking most of the damage and you yourself freecasting from behind. The burst is not as insane as Assasin burst, but your sustained damage is quite good. As for the healing spec, it isn't as viable as Operative healers, but is still very good. The Assasin is a stealth melee/tank character. The class name says it all - you will depend on stealth a lot and move behind enemy lines to wreck their healers and fragile players. Apart from the insane burst you also have numerous CC at your disposal and can use these to protect nodes or kill players in 1v1 situations. Sin tanks are not really viable in PvP atm, Jugs are better in nearly all tanking aspects.

PuGs are very often held by 1-3 exceptional players, the rest being average players. Which is not to say bad, just average. So of course if these players resign then there isn't much chance for that PuG to win, but it isn't really your fault if you are doing the max you can and people are still not cooperating.

You dont really point out what exactly you view as unfair. This isnt really a nerf-bat issue since classes are practically the same, as are the map designs. A win:loss ratio could simply reflect player skills which is not something that should be addressed by adjusting key mechanics. There isnt really much BioWare can do to counter you having the inexperienced players on your team while the enemy has the veteran ones. Also, keep in mind that low level PvP is very unbalanced - several classes unlock their key mechanics sooner than others, so for instance as a Marauder or Juggernaut you lack some of your main abilities, while Snipers already have most of those they need to be killing machines. I play on The Ebon Hawk, and from my experience (I only play Imp), very rarely do I see Pubs win and when they do, it is usually in situations where the Imp team has less players than their team or attempts some wacky tactic which doesnt work.

I agree that the skillcap for Operatives is considerably higher than some force-user advanced classes. But let's be honest, healing as an Operative is not that challenging. Sure, it might be more challenging than other healing specs, but that still doesn't make it hard.

What you're implying is that the team with more healers wins by default, but this does not really apply. Sure, in a scenario where your team has 2 healers and the enemy has none, the enemy team is disadvantaged, but in scenarios where your team has 5 and more healers, at least in my experience, it is your team that tends to be disadvantaged. Healer damage output is not that high, and while they can spam heal eachother, if the enemy DPS team focuses their damage on one target (and uses the occasional pushback), they shouldn't be able to outheal the damage, especially if you use AOE CCs. Plus, they won't be pressuring your team that much. Warzones aren't just a series of 1v1 where each player has a certain value, a large part of Warzones is based on cooperation. The thing is, if healers were killable in a 1v1 scenario (talking Operatives, because Mercenaries are easily 1v1able), then healing would be obsolete. What's the point of being a healer when you'll be extremely easy to kill and most players who have at least a minimal idea of what's going on will target you. Even now as a healer you usually end up with 2-3 enemies on you - unless you are lucky and the enemy team is cluelessly ("doh I iz doing dps why hp no drop???") attacking random targets. I suppose I would agree that the amount of communication needed to drop healers is somewhat high considering your average level of communication in a pug. And it is easier to heal than to chain CC/focus enemies as a team.

Stacking on med packs (and/or adrenals if you like) is quite a good idea, especially if you do not have Biochem on any of your characters. If you're maxed every other currency, then there isn't really much you can do apart from that until you reach 55, sadly.

Have to agree with you that selecting an Advanced Class should be mandatory prior to entering. It really does cripple your team if you get the odd Sith Inquisitor with no talents and a massively underaverage ability pool (since higher leveled players also have acess to further abilities). Very rarely see players like this though - always presumed it was PvP enthusiasts who just can't wait to get into that Warzone, despite not even having an advanced class yet. Doubt it factors into that many defeats, though maybe I'm just on the wrong realm.

As people said above, I think the main issue is that DPS players don't use their CC adequately, and in most cases just randomly blow it at "some" point. But that's not really their function. Sure, you can use it to annoy players, but it's best to save it for that special moment. It's a pity these discussions usually deteriorate into "only a terribad DPS can't kill a healer" and the mirror argument "only a terribad healer complains about DPS". Don't think healers are really meant to be soloable by one DPS player - more of a stalemate where the healer outheals incoming damage while dealing low amounts of damage themselves. The whole point is that if you pressure the healer, he has less capacity to heal team mates. Earning the kill on them is secondary. At least that's what I presume. Operative healers are perfectly killable if you focus them. If you don't focus them and just run around attacking random targets (I never understand why everyone has to have their "own" target - if you see someone attacking someone else, go help them and you'll drop their target faster increasing the damage output of your team and decreasing the damage output of the enemy one) then yeah, they will have a very easy time healing everyone and themselves from the occasional random attack.

I sometimes leave my Warzone as well. Wouldn't really call it rage-quitting, since I'm not angry in the slightest. It's just that, in those scenarios that I leave, I generally have the impression that there is absolutely nothing to do in said Warzone. And it's not about losing, it's just when your team is getting owned to the point of one player of the enemy team being able to beat 3 of your team mates alone. You know, like when the skillcap gap is massive and you can't even go out solo killing because the enemy always moves in packs. Apart from that, if we are losing, but still able to give the enemy hell before we do, then I have no problem with staying in said Warzone, even if it is a certain loss. At least you can hunt down enemies and increase your body count a little before the match ends. Don't think people leaving is that much of an issue as long as the system is able to replace them and hence the team they left isn't crippled by their departure.

What Slims said pretty much applies. Players that make mistakes and are willing to learn from them are never an issue. Everyone was new at some point, and provided the feedback people give them is positive, as in not something along the lines of "loal fail noob L2p", they improve rapidly. The issue is people who are not willing to improve, especially when it comes to bad habits such as clicking (yes keybinds are faster) and keyboard-turning, but also general knowledge of the spec and class. And with these people you just cant help but shrug off the image that they think everything is fine and there is no need to change playstyle.

The IA storyline is, in my opinion the most detailed and enjoyable storyline there is. Sure, the other storylines have their fun moments as well, but the IA storyline is just interesting at every point, and I for one felt a lot more actice and involved in it than in some of the, somewhat passive storylines of other classes. Some side quests do have interesting twists and turns, but it is quite rare amidst the plethora of "kill X NPCs" and "collect Y quest items". Not to mention that the IA storyline is something that follows you throughout your gametime, while the side quests are local quests that are always restricted to a planet. Everything has it's charm though. I play my IA as a sort of polite character, who acts nice to manipulate people and then kills them when they are of no use. My Sith on the other hand is more of a "everyone bow before me" kind of person. So I guess the paranoia is just you clinging to your IA genre.

When I started playing, I was actually quite surprised how balanced the game was. I mean sure, some classes have a slightly higher skillcap than others - which is understandable if you want to avoid class homogenization, but at the end of the day there isn't a "lol-I-win" class. Every class has its advantages and disadvantages. People like to throw that class X is OP around a lot, and it usually translates into "I can't kill class X so it obviously is OP". But that is faulty reasoning, and a more beneficial question would be "what can I do to beat class X as a player of class Y?". Improving, rather than holding your breath for a class to get hit by the nerfbat. On topic of which class is FOTM, I tend to see Assasins/Shadows in WZs a lot. Doesn't necessarily imply they are FOTM though, it could be simply that: 1) Their easy playstyle which still produces high burst attracts newer/inexperienced players. 2) Their playstyle is considered fun by a lot of players (as a Concealment OP I can identify with this). 3) They are a ****** looking class. 4) Interesting character story/companions/etc.

This has been mentioned before and Id like to second it - while forming premades as a damage prevention is indeed a legit and understandable reason to do so, but I imagine the main reason is that playing with friends is considerably more fun than playing with random players. If you acess to voice communication, you can have a great laugh at whats going on, gossip a bit about team members and enemies or just talk about random stuff. It really does add to the experience, and since the game is an MMO, it is understandable that completing content together is encouraged. As for forming premades to avoid bad players, I suppose people do that as well. I personally dont mind inexperienced players - the game isnt that hard to understand, atleast on a basic level, but what really makes me shudder is melee keyboard turners. Dont you just love when you are healing this dude in a 1v1 melee vs melee fight and he is doing about a quarter of the damage his enemy is because he always has to turn into the right angle while his enemy is already in his back...blugh really...dont do it.

Fun is really subjective. Ultimately a class that is fun to player X can be awfully boring to play for player Y. For instance I never understand why there is so many Sages/Sorcerors everywhere - the class seems quite dull to me, but it obviously isnt for other players. My main, and most favorite class has always been the Operative (or Scoundrel if you like). The healing spec is viable in endgame PvP and PvE, and is relatively versatile with the exception of AOE healing. And if you like a stealthy sneaky assasin playstyle, you can try the Concealment spec. Though here Id just like to add that while Concealment is viable in PvP, the skill cap is relatively high, and the class is quite gear dependant, at least compared to some other DPS classes. But that could be just me. In your case, Id just ask myself "what do I want to do most?". PvE? PvP? Tank? Heal? Complete PvP objectives? Be a good support spec? Own players in 1v1 scenarios? And then select an alt based on that.

I dont mind losing as long as you at least have a decent chance to score a few kills and give the enemy team hell, but if the game reaches the point where your team is absolutely outmatched then I usually just leave - little point in staying there when there isnt anything to do apart from dying. Dont get me wrong, this isnt a "if my team is bad I leave" response, just not really interested in playing games which pass a certain boundary. And I dont see a reason why deserters should be punished - the player is usually replaced by someone else. If it reached the point where everyone just left the moment their team began to lose slightly, then id understand, but at the moment it is more of an individual convenience thing. Concerning WoW, I frequent the Battleground forums quite a lot and I assure you that players do complain about the Deserter debuff - mainly in scenarios where they d/c or when they get "Report-AFK" unfairly (or so they say), and there were suggestions to remove it as well. Though WoW has a slightly different playerbase, and Im not sure removing Deserter there would be beneficial.

In general any role that requires more responsibility than others - that is to say defending, is also more prone towards abuse. What people dont realise is that by being abusive they make others reluctant to carry out said roles, which just hinders their team. They dont even (usually) get the most kills while doing so, and its generally an unappreciated task. Hopefully youll come across more considerate peeps in the future.

I see lots of Sorcerors/Sages and Shadows/Assasins, but yeah - it seems that its often Snipers who top the kill counts. Im an Operative, so cant say I mind them. x]