My main is a 50 sentinel, and all I ever read is how OP sents and maras are. I'm not really going to debate that, but what I find really strange is that no one complains about sorcerers and jedi shadows.

I bring this up because I'm currently leveling these two classes dps spec and I have died a grand total of zero times between the two in PvE. Seriously. Zero. Times. Not even my sent pulled that off.

My sorc is level 34 and my shadow is 28 or 29. I never feel like I'm in any danger AT ALL. I have no clue what kind of damage I'm doing but all I know is that on my sorc, I frequently get comments from other group members in FPs about my "insane damage" for my level range. I am in quest greens and blues with some orange gear mixed in. I have a three-button rotation and sometimes just spam force lightning until I get a wrath proc, then mash lightning strike. That's it.

I can literally SOLO all the heroics on the planets, take down any elite or champion mob with minimal effort (and a companion of course) and often times kill all the trash mobs in FPs with AoE before anyone else even gets into the fight.

My shadow is even more retarded. Stealth -> Force in Balance -> laugh hysterically. Nuke like a sage, melee like sentinel.

People say how OP sentinels and marauders are but I have NEVER had as much fun as I am having now playing a sorc and a shadow.

Is this just a case of these classes really shining at lower levels and then hitting a wall at 50, where other classes pass them by? Because sub-50 I actually find grouping up with others a nuisance because my sorc and shadow can freaking solo just about everything. Not sarcasm.

Levelling a second character is much easier than the first, because you get the cash sent back from your original, you know a lot more about the game, and you likely have the +100 presence bonus that massively increases the performance of your companion. Also, the Jedi Knight storyline is actually somewhat more difficult than most of the others, and you don't get a healer companion until Balmorra.

All that being said, if you asked me "what's the most OP class in the game?" I would answer Shadow/Assassin without any hesitation - especially in the hands of a really skilled player. They're excellent in both PvE and PvP, They have decent self-healing and outstanding damage avoidance. They have stealth and a cc. They do great damage as a dps and hold excellent threat as a tank. Whenever you see a "watch me solo EV" video on YouTube, it's always a shadow or assassin, because a very well played one is close to immortal.

Assassins (shadows for you pubs), compared to the other classes I leveled (or are leveling) has the most potential IMO. I can completely see peeps being able clear heroics and FPs solo with em. Stealth + CC + fantastic offensive and defensive abilities FTW.

However, the average player possesses little to no tactical ability. Their mind set tends to be, "I got my laser!!! *pew* *pew*" as they run straight into a mob... Which isn't really where assassins shine lol

I think you forgot how much marauders/sentinels suck to level. They really pick up fast past level 30-40, but before that you're stuck mashing Assault a lot between your 3-4 moves. I'm currently re-leveling one now on a new server, so I am for sure feeling those growing pains.

Assassins are beasts in single target pvp, their burst is very powerful. They also do competitive PvE dps, but have to use their Madness tree, which is more like a melee sorc than assassin. I can't speak on the strength of sorcs, as I haven't played one past level 14 or so.

The key difference is at the level 50 "elder game", those 2 classes just don't have the same tools combined with the high level of damage that a Marauder/Sentinel has.

In the end, it's the player that defines it, not the class.

Mara/Sent at 50 can turn into a nightmare.

Shadows and Sages (and Sins and Sorcs) are , indeed, powerful characters -- but they are also harder to play correctly. A bag of lettuce can smash big numbers , but sorc/sage requires awareness, balance, and forethought.

There's a video somewhere of 7 supremely skilled sorcs destroying 7 smashtarding SW, so it's not like they're invincible, but there are more of them and their balance is so skewed that it irritates people. There are pros and cons with all the other classes (except PT which should be dropped into the nearest sun and then shot with the Sun Crusher)