I'm inclined to agree with you at least for leveling. There are some exceptions - troopers for example, having armormech made gearing all companions (since all but one take the same gear type) very easy. Cybertech is pretty great for leveling- and from what I have heard from ops runners it is very good for that as well (if you can get lucky with a couple of RE procs).

Fastest quest grinding I've done in this game was with vector and a hybrid spec. I went up the medic tree to the hot (11 points) then dumped the rest in concealment. Being able to run dps companion with a dps (mostly) spec with instant cast hots and the stimboost heal from the concealment tree has been ridiculously good. Pull out Kal if you get into a tight spot but I haven't found a need to yet. (lvl 38).

So it gets better? I just started it and did the "chase the bounty hunter" part but now it seems like I'm just riding around looking for boxes. I hope that isn't all there really is, I'd say it's a disappointment but that would imply I had hopes to begin with.

Hrm, I use Carbine burst all the time and quite like it. It isn't as flashy or obvious as flamethrower/pulse cannon but I've never had difficulty with it...

One thing that stuck out from reading (most) of this thread is the folks that want to compare the pve gear grind to the pvp gear grind. This is a deeply flawed comparison for one reason - there is gear level appropriate content to play in pve while you grind out that next tier of gear. In pvp you go against people who have already farmed the gear - there is no intermediate step, there is no logical playtime progression that coincides with the gear progression. This is what needs to be fixed- fresh 50s in recruit gear have nothing to "Farm" in pvp other than pain and frustration. Sure, if you can endure that for enough time you can get where you need to go but until you get there - the fun just doesn't exist. The most logical implementation would seem to be the gearscore idea. In 1-49 pvp the obvious advantage goes to the higher level characters since they have their skills unlocked but there has never been a time in 1-49 WZs where a 49 has melted one of my lowbies in any fashion even remotely resembling what happens at 50. Whether you like the gear progression scheme the way it is or not you have to admit that WZs would be more fun if more people were playing them and right now plenty of folks love pvp until 50 and then don't touch it.

But making the lfg service x-server would "ruin the community". What community is that again?

Best advice is try them both. I started with a shadow (republic mirror of assasin) and the tank spec is fun but I absolutely despised both dps trees. Stealth is fun, tank character with a healer companion is great for heroics as well but I didn't want to stick with a character that only had 1 interesting tree (again, for me) so I ditched him in his 40s. Sorc is only lvl 25 atm but I love all 3 trees so far. Dps and healing are both fun (for me) in pvp and pve. I haven't touched the shadow since I started the sorc. Obviously YMMV as I know some folks that loved leveling with the dps trees for assasin/shadow but as stated, I really didn't like either of them. Good luck!

Echo what others are saying here. My sorc is only 25 and madness is already beyond easy - good amount of fun in warzones too.

That just isn't true at low levels at all.

I like you.

Honestly at this point the lack of communication regarding the project just means (to me anyways) that nothing is being done with it. If they had ANYTHING exciting to announce they would have announced it already, instead of just watching their sub base bleed out. If they had it they would tell us. What would be the benefit to keeping this a secret? Wait another six months to tell your fanbase and I'm sure both of them will be very excited.

Sharpshooter or Sab both work very well although I prefer Sab for 40-50. Incendiary grenade with thermal grenade spam is fantastic for all those group clusters. Sab is a blast in PVP as well (IMO). Single target sab is slower if Sabotage charge is on cooldown though. When I was sharpshooter specced I found myself killing only what I needed to kill and avoiding the rest. Sab blows through groups so fast that I've found myself just chain killing in certain mob dense areas (Gormak on Voss come to mind). The xp rate, especially when rested, is amazing as long as you go from group to group fast enough.

As soon as you choose the AC you will be somewhat effective. Super simple class to play- you have all of your vital skills early on and just make them better through the skill trees as you level. Above numbers aren't wrong (except for the guy saying wait til 30) You should see good results immediately if you already know the WZs.

Not to be all doom and gloom but I doubt we will see new classes. As mentioned above, the amount of development that would take is on level with an actual expansion - which after the F2P announcement I would be amazed if they are even considering a full expansion. I expect content to trickle at a pace no greater than it is now. Play the game now because it is fun, I wouldn't bank on the future though.

Two things keep me from running flashpoints while I level: 1) The "dumped off at the fleet" issue. Travel and load times etc just make this suck... 2) I am probably in the minority here but while I love the story driven quests etc while leveling I really don't like story driven "dungeons". I genuinely liked blowing up heroics etc in WoW but flashpoints in SWTOR just feel disjointed- not to mention you can never get a group of folks that all agree on the spacebar. Does a "daily" flashpoint system exist in SWTOR? I'm still relatively new.