Operative

A lot of people seem to be debating which healer is going to be best, so to break it down a bit based off their skills and skill trees I feel its safe to say:
once you choose an advance class (AC), it cant be undone, but you CAN respec your skill trees for any one AC. keep this in mind when choosing. All of the healer classes have different resource systems, but each of them has at least one small, spammable, "free" heal that doesn't use any resources. It won't be enough to get through tight spots, but it will make resource management tolerable.

SI sorcs will have castable damage shields (think wow priest PW shield) and channeled or cast timed heals (mostly reactionary) with a recharging, mana-esque resource. It has a battle res. Its dps respec is a typical caster: cast timed burst spells, as well as some channeled DoTs and large aoes.

IA opers will have a single target HoT heal and then cast timed and reactionary instant heals with a constantly recharging energy system (think wow rogues). It has the ability to stealth and it has a battle res as well. Its dps respec is a melee class that can specialize in burst damage or poisons. It has some ranged skills, but not enough to keep it out of melee range effectively.

BH mercs will have a reactionary healing shield castable with multiple charges on a single target (think shammy earth shield from wow). and then the typical healing skill set. It uses a heat system that builds up with skills and dissipates over time, with a few mechanics to help lower it back down and a number of heat-less skills to keep it low. It does NOT have a battle res. Its dps spec is a ranged class that has some CCs and can either burn through all its heat in a quick burst or use a more sustained rotation to keep heat low (pvp vs pve maybe?)

It appears you can pick and choose from the specialization trees, but i doubt you will see such a mix too much in pve, but will likely be prevalent in pvp for a mix of survivability and dps.
I know some people only care about numbers, but for those who care about how a class plays, I hope this helped.

As a Concealment Operative, you have HIGH burst dps vs solo targets. You should be able to effectively kill any target 1v1 if you get the jump from stealth. At level 50 you have several stuns and immobilizers to ensure you always have the upper hand. You can sometimes take out an enemy before they even get a chance to react! Hands down my favorite PvP class.

*There are obviously more abilities you should use. These are most used.

My Concealment Build

After finishing the story, I'll say you should choose whichever option you feel represents the character you want your Agent to be. Light or Dark don't matter. After you've done the story to your liking, you can do Flashpoints to gain Dark/Light Side points to the maximum. As of 4.30.2012, most players are using Custom (orange) gear with no alignment requirements.

In the future maka0804, ask these questions on the SWTOR forums.

"I understand why but kinda sad and disapointed that Operative and Scoundrel are basicly copy pasted ( For balance reasons, abilities and skill tree are just paste + rename ) and just went with it.
It's the safe and easy road."

rather than looking at it like that, look at it as 8 classes available for both factions. Even WoW started with 8 each, and the only "unique" faction classes they had were paladin and shaman. And then even that didn't last past the first expansion.

It's not unique, but it will be balanced at least

This is the class and spec that I am looking play.

Besides, most will go for the usual jedi set up, so might give me the chance of being a little different to the norm.

Anyone @lvl 50 can write down their stats so we know which stat provides what?

Cunning:
1/5 bonus damage [ranged, tech]
1/140 crit chance [ranged, tech]
? bonus healing [tech]

Aim:
? bonus damage [ranged]
? crit chance [ranged]

Tech Power:
? bonus damage [tech]
? bonus healing [tech]

Power:
? bonus damage [ranged]

Accuracy Rating:
? accuracy [ranged, tech]

Critical Rating:
? critical chance [ranged, tech]

Surge Rating:
? cirtical multiplier [ranged, tech]

Alacrity Rating:
? activation speed [tech]

Endurance:
10/1 Health

If you dislike this that means you like to make out with dudes! But to the point. IA Op is my personal favorite class. I've played all but the Merc and the Jugg. I have all of my toons 25+ and a lvl 50 Assassin which has a stealthy DPS too and it is NO where near as much fun as the Op. If you like going evil with your character this is the one for it as well. Your first companion is pure evil and isn't it just so much fun to kill everybody in the boring story missions. Anyways keep the house on rock'n! Thanks for all the other info at the top except for the obvious that Cunning is the main stat. That is like saying a cornbread is made from corn.

Love to all my fans,
Ahnold Schwarzenegger

P.s. Watch me in the movie Expendables 2 coming out this summer! Yerrraaaggghhh! Go Now! Get to da CHOPPA!

What class isn't a dps/heal hybrid?

I've been told that Ops are every bit the healer as a Sorc... if you're interested in heresay.

Assassins are vastly superior to Operatives at this point in time.

Better mobility
Better Utility
Better sustained damage
Better survivability
Better resource system

The only thing that Operative is comparable to assassin in is opener burst, and after that Sin blows Op away.