A Second Combat Style?

When I came back to Star Wars: The Old Republic I wanted to try something new, so I picked a class I had next to no experience with, Vanguard. This was an easy choice for me because out of the few classes I didn't play before, this one worked perfectly. The others being stealth classes meant that my ping would be an issue for them with my positioning and being in stealth. However, soon after I came back the developers put out update 7.0 with the option of a second combat style. This renewed my classic indecisiveness with picking something that makes not much of a difference. 

The Easy

The main thing I want in my second combat style is the ability to heal. This shortens my list of options because not every class has the option to heal. Picking a healer combat style will mean I have the option of tanking as a Vanguard, healing as my second combat style, or playing DPS as either, giving me a full range of gameplay. Currently I'm playing Tactics Vanguard which is a damage specialization, so gearing from that to a healer is only a few pieces swapped out, which is makes gearing my new class easy peasy.

The Hard

This is where I get brought back to my original class idea. Do I want to try something new again? Out of the healer classes I have to choose from I have really only had experience with Mercenary, and technically Commando as they are mirrors. So I could jump back into something familiar, or continue down this route of trying new things and play the Operative or Scoundrel healer specializations. Really I'm picking between two playstyles, but cosmetics are a big thing for me, and deciding between, dual pistols, single pistol, big rotary cannon, or staying with my blaster rifle make a big difference.

The Options

Mercenary:

This class is like home to me. It was my first class I properly played, so it's the safe option. I did, however, play the Arsenal specialization which has pretty good off heals so I have dabbled a bit in how to play this healer spec. The other thing is the blasters. You can dual wield two blaster pistols and I love the idea of two SMG style blasters looking like Master Chief on the Halo 2 box art. The coolest way to get this effect is by using either the RK-6 or RK-7 Starforged Blasters. It just looks cool!

Commando:

Big ol' cannon! Pretty much the same comments as the Mercenary class, minus the blaster options. None of the canons really speak out to me? It seems odd that a healer or medic would have a big canon that would take up their hands in combat? I doubt I'll go with this option.

Scoundrel:

To me this class makes a lot of sense as a healer. Especially a scrappy, alleyway kind of doctor. There is the AD-11 pistol which literally looks like it'd be used as a needle and I like the vibe it gives off. But I don't think being a doctor in that way fits my character, no matter how much I like that blaster pistol.

Operative:

To be honest, this is really one of the contenders on what class I might pick, alongside Mercenary. Gearing is that little bit easier with already using a blaster rifle as a Vanguard, and it means I can keep the trooper look going. The option to stealth even though I don't 100% need it is also a nice addition for roaming places or skipping parts of flashpoints or dailies. Currently I'm using the Imperial E-1 Enforcer Blaster rifle with an old purple/black dye so that the sides are purple, and I used an Indigo Fog Weapon tuning so it looks like I dipped my rifle in some force stuff and I think that's cool. 

Random side note now that I've mentioned tunings and colour crystals. I have a handful of silver/black crystals from ranked PvP in season 7, and every time I make a new character I get a bunch of purple/black crystals and I'd prefer to use either of these two sets because they're not obtainable now to my knowledge. The Indigo Fog Weapon Tuning works so well with the purple/black crystals. I'd love to use the silver/black but the colour change on my blaster rifle is barely noticeable and tunings don't really match with it.

I guess the point of this post is I don't know what I'm doing? I can't decide, it happens a lot when in the end it doesn't make much difference. In this case I'll be healing any way I go, it just depends on aesthetics. With the points I've given, what do you think I should pick? Let me know in this strawpoll.