Depends on the context for me. Some charactes I have are squishy and I will never start combat. My brutes? I'll defer to the tank until it's obvious they're hesitating then it's Leeroy Jenkins time. Same with my pistols/time blaster. If my brute is our tank? I like to wait til all zone in before starting, out of courtesy. Soon as all pop in, though, hang on cause it's go time.
Not a Praetorian counterpart (although now I'm debating doing one), but I did make a villain "from another universe" version of my main. Sky-Hawke the hero and Skye-Hawke the villain. Hero version is a Rad/Will Brute while the villain version is a Rad/Energy Tank.
**Edit: Ok, made one. Elysium Hawke (in keeping with a Praetorian themed name) is an Elec/Rad Sentinel.**
Gotta give the team credit for sticking it out, at least. Yeah, things got whacky at the end, but that's where people usually drop if they're going to. I've seen people drop out in the first mission of a TF if it's not 100% perfect for them, a lot lately.
Go through the portal to Recluse's Victory in City Hall (Tech wing downstairs) and it'll give you the Oro portal. Way easier than bumming one off someone or keeping an eye out for one.
General gets taken off when a character pops out of the creator. It's just part of my new character setup. I'm sure there's some fun and frivolity there, but I've only seen it as a cesspool of garbage thoughts, both political and otherwise.