Why must the ability to heal as a DPS = underwhelming performance as a DPS?

OP sorry i have to say it, but most of what you are saying is just talking out of your ***. The ability to heal does not hinder the classes DPS potential in any way shape or form. Saying self healing DPS classes can't come within a 5-10% DPS margin output of strictly DPS classes is silly. Merc can do every bit as much DMG as a sniper, certainly more burst - probably a little less sustained. And i've seen operatives that can wreck a marauder in DPS parses. This an unnecessary thread.

OP sorry i have to say it, but most of what you are saying is just talking out of your ***. The ability to heal does not hinder the classes DPS potential in any way shape or form. Saying self healing DPS classes can't come within a 5-10% DPS margin output of strictly DPS classes is silly. Merc can do every bit as much DMG as a sniper, certainly more burst - probably a little less sustained. And i've seen operatives that can wreck a marauder in DPS parses. This an unnecessary thread.

i think you should look at the recent sorc answers in that bioware said, since sorcs can heal, they will not do as much damage or have as many defensive cooldowns as dps-only classes like sniper or marauders.

the reason this thread was created was in response to that comment from the devs themselves.

Guy, I was not arguing in favor of any of this. I don't even play a Sorc (yet--she is only lvl 35). I was merely pointing what the argument actually IS. People keep bringing up performance in PvE, which is NOT what people are talking about when it comes to Sorcs. It is STRICTLY a PvP discussion. And I don't PvP much at all, let alone competitively, so I cannot comment specifically on Sorc effectiveness in PvP.

As a matter of fact, I DO NOT support ANY changes to Sorcs at this time, as I believe they are fine. I hate it when (claimed) issues in PvP end up forcing changes that affect PvE, especially when that issue does not also exist in PvE.

Nowhere did I mention any personal observations or experiences, and you assumed I'm a whiny Sorc who wants to be OP. You know what happens when you ASSume things, eh?

Its called balance.

Talk about pulling stuff out of someone's ***... First of all I never said that the ability to heal directly diminishes your DPS potential, that's just preposterous, the design failure which arose from the developer's misguided notion that classes with healing abilities should not be able to deal as much DPS as classes without, is the cause. Furthermore I said 5%-10% is perfectly acceptable but 10%-15% (which is what it is at the moment among similarly geared and skilled DPS) is NOT. Lastly while it is true that this problem affects some DPS AC's with heals more so than others (for example mercs are certainly on the higher end of that percentile margin, as you point out), the only thing that shows is further incompetence in the implementation of class balance. As for a merc beating an sniper and an operative beating a marauder... well I will take you at your word for having seen those cases, but with a grain on salt, because all that tells me is that said sniper and marauder either weren't as geared or as skilled as said merc and operative (or most likely a combination of the two) and that simply isn't a fair comparison.

In the case of Sages and Sorcs, where both DPS and survivability are lower than other ranged DPS classes? Yes. Both.