It's Lou. Lou Tennant Pierce.

Close.

Not entirely true. I've played a carnage marauder to 48 on my first server and have a second marauder (guild re-rolled to different server) at 49. Mara 1 used Jaesa nearly exclusively once she became available (Quinn to that point), and Mara 2 has used Vette nearly exclusively. 77 levels of carnage marauder have taught me to accept that I am squishy and that I should kill things faster than they kill me. You do take a beating, but as long as their red bar goes down faster than yours, you'll be ok

Ok, I'll bite. The short answer is, "You're probably doing it wrong". I have my second marauder to 47 (guild rerolled on a new server) and have played both exclusively as carnage so I can't make any head-to-head comparisons vs anni, but I can say from my own experience leveling with the spec that it is definitely viable I like my chances vs any same-level single-target (standard, silver, or gold). You didn't mention which companion you're using. I've found that a well-geared dps companion (Vette or Jaesa) is more effective than Quinn. For me, the key to this spec is to accept how squishy you are, and that you need to unleash as much damage in a short time as you can to kill things before your health bar ticks down to zero. If the fight lasts longer than 20-seconds you're in trouble. Fortunately, 20-seconds is more than enough to take down most mobs. You're going to want medpacks and stims. If you can't afford, or don't want to purchase, then Biochem is a good choice for reusable packs/stims. My current opening rotation looks like this, and with dps companion, can burn down same-level silver elite in a single cycle. Cloak of Pain -> Force Charge -> Battering Assault (build rage) -> Massacre (gets Blood Frenzy rolling for guaranteed Force Scream crit) -> Gore -> Force Scream -> Ravage. my pre-massacre rotation was identical, minus massacre. After that, I keep Force Scream, Ravage, Gore, and Battering Assault on cooldown (trying to time gore->fs, or gore->ravage where possible) with Massacre and Retaliation as rage dumps. Typically a silver strong is dead or very nearly so by the time the first ravage ends. Against gold elites (and champions too, if you were so inclined I suppose), you need to be a little more aware of your cooldowns and make sure you interrupt big damage casts/channels. Use force camo when you get low and let the mob beat on your companion for a bit. For difficult encounters, be creative and use some strategies. Use terrain to your advantage. Many casts/channels are interrupted when you break line-of-sight by hiding obstacles. Against some of the boss encounters in quests, accept that you may die and work that into your strategy by making sure you take out the henchmen/guards first, so that when it comes time for the main-event it's just you and the bad guy (or good guy, since technically WE a are the bad guy here...). On short instanced quests, I'll often take out the guards/henchmen, leave my companion as a decoy and head back to the entrance to reset the boss, then head back in for the main-event. So without getting into Anni vs Carn (because I've yet to try Anni), I can say without a doubt that there's no reason you can't succeed and have fun solo with Carnage. What I've described may not be the best way or most efficient way to do things, but it's worked well for me across two toons.