If you are enjoying the melee premise of the marauder, but want some non-CD based survivability, guardian is a really nice option. Even your DPS specs are going to offer you heavy armor versus medium, and if you enjoy playing the tank role, the defense spec of the guardian offers a different PVP experience that if really fun to play. You just have to remember in PVP that instead of being the first in the fight, to hang back until everyone in the fight has chosen a target that's not you, then start tossing guards, taunts and slows to screw up their team. It doesn't sound glamorous, but you can wrack up some medals and respect. As far as soloing the content goes, as with any class, you will need to keep a companion geared up, but the quests are considerably easy as a tank.

Drop it like it's Hoth Cookies for Wookies Girl Scout Wookies Sith Happens Force Chokin' Chickens

For those who are saying Boba Fett, he so didn't die. He just got eaten. Jonah and the whale? No. Boba and the Sarlacc is the Star Wars Bible story I'm reading my kids. Worst dead out of the movies has to be Greedo... You know that he saw it coming...

It seems to me that between the speeder bikes that quick travel to each base, and the 8 long seconds it takes to capture a turret from the enemy, the game is really just a race to see who gets the turrets first. Between the speeders, and the quick speed higher level players can race across a battlefield, it feels almost impossible to steal a turret once the other team has control. Would it not make more sense to have the non-controlled turrets still take 8 seconds to capture, but cut the time it takes to steal a turret down a bit? Maybe to 4 or 5 seconds? That way, the initial battle for the turret is still the fight it needs to be, but it's not a game over or people call "GG" as soon as a team has two.

Uhm... I hate to be one of those people, but have you tried the other tanks out? For a game where most of the mobs use blasters, troopers have some of the better control and range mechanisms to support the mob types. They have a fairly effective resource management system and heavy armor too. If you want to complain about a tank, play a shadow or guardian and then compare them to your trooper so you have a better argument.

Might want to drop scavenging for treasure hunting. T-hunts can give gems that you can use for advancing artifice.

Familiar only with pre-50 PVP, I don't see an issue here. I know my role; wait for Hell to break loose and then run in and start throwing taunts, guards, sunders, and snares. Yeah, I die eventually if there's not a healer in the party, but that's the way PVP works. If there is a healer in the party, he's pretty happy I'm there, because chances are, we're both staying alive that day. By the end of the battle, if I'm scoring at least 6 medals (bad game), and I've chart topped my protection points (or at least scored 'em high if there are no other tanks) I'm pleased. More than anything, I'm just happy that I don't have to respec from tank to DPS every time I PVP in order to be useful.

A couple of things to consider: Sentinels will take a long time before they really start to shine. (Usually around the higher 20s, early 30s.) In the lower levels, their damage is relatively low, their ability to survive is simply laughable, and if you ever want to PVP during your way along the game; you're completely shafted until mid-game. HOWEVER, given that you like to deal damage and JUST deal damage, the sentinel gives you a couple of really neat ways to do that, along with providing some decent buffs to your party in both PVP and PVE. Just be wary of this class, as they have a numerous amount of keybindings. (This part is really important. You're only in medium armor; you MUST remember your defensive cooldowns or you are nothing more than dual wielding cannon fodder.) The Guardian, on the other hand, picks up around level 14 if you plan on defense specializing, and at that level, if you PVP, you aren't quite as shafted. Yes, being melee, you'll be CCd quite often, but you'll begin racking up those medals and guardian points so long as you remember to guard people. Now if you don't like guarding people, your damage will never be "chart topping" until later on, when you get more of your utility abilities. As far as shadows go, they definitely have an advantage in PVE and PVP in stealth, as you save a lot of time / deaths by sneaky sneaking around. However, I don't usually see them chart topping. That's not to say they can't do great damage, accomplish objectives, and support the party; they just aren't your raw numbers guys. If you're wanting classes that do lots of damage and avoid major tanking/healing roles, you'll probably want a ranged class of some variety. I myself am a huge fan, player, and supporter of melee classes, but they are the much more difficult to play in terms of situation awareness, positioning, and surviving.