If you're not using extricate to kill your friends on elevators then you're missing out on one of the biggest perks of the class.

Learning how to sage heal, for me at least, involved a lot of guides and talking to other good healers because it's very easy to do it wrong without realizing it. Scoundrel healing seemed a lot more intuitive, and I haven't given commando a try yet so I don't know what the difficulty curve is. It really comes down to your playstyle: if you want to be a mobile HoT healer then you should probably roll a scoundrel/operative. Sages/sorcs are turrety by nature and if that doesn't appeal to you then of course you're not going to enjoy the class. I enjoy being a heal turret and balancing life/force so sage is very fun for me. Grob'thok can suck a fat one, though.

Because what if a guy hits on you? That's one reason I've heard from men who were afraid to play female characters and it always made me laugh.