I play an infiltration spec shadow in a top-tier raiding guild.
1) Um, can we get a Sentinal instead? Or maybe a smuggler? Does someone have a ranged dps available?
2) In full Campaign gear I come in about 200 to 300 dps behind other similarly-geared players. My damage starts out strong, but in 15 seconds or so the other classes catch up and surpass me as my damage sputters down. We have enough dps in the raid to get the bosses down, but, obviously, the raid would be better off with another class filling my spot. Add in the squishiness, the lackluster aoe, and the fact that damage suffers even more in mobile fights, plus we bring no raid-wide buff or utility, and it's hard to make the argument for bringing an infiltration shadow over any other dps class. I love playing he shadow though; i just wish it wasn't so gimped. FYI -- I tried Balance spec for a while. It's not significantly better to make it worthwhile.