Better dps, utility, better snap agro than any other class. They can stay up without a healer longer than any other class....and when the caca hits the rotating aluminum they can stop drop n roll and rez if need be. Also, here anyway, they may be the best class at mob splitting (not that many here do that).
SK are for people who prefer to not be tied to a dedicated healer, as a warrior has to be, but who have greater defenses and DPS than a paladin. However, may SK would rather have better heals than a paladin and have better defenses than a warrior (or the same as both, which amounts to the same thing). I, and many others, would rather that did not happen.
What he said....
Class balance brings a lot of negative baggage from history. Think more in lines or role balance. The SK already fills a lot of roles. He's a darn good fake monk, and in some situations better than a monk. He's a darn good warrior and in a lot of tanking situations he is better than a warrior. He is better at being a cleric/paladin to himself than clerics and paladins are to themselves.
In terms of functionality a UC'd SK with 50% t4 / 50% T5 gear and a 4.5 epic with FS-V augs can solo anything in T5 90% of the time. Only a paladin can come close to doing that and my experiments show them having a bit lower success rate. Give them a heal boost and they'll be soloing the "Valley of Death" (triple spawn of green coral in a crevasse... nasty nut to crack).
If anyone needs a small boost in healling I'd say the warrior could benefit nicely from a 10-50 HP heal effect on nerd augs.
Skeezy Ratty Troll
