By Voltage
If i cross class a mercenary to a specialist, Will i have the ability to :

1. Craft?
2. Assuming i can craft, craft intense?
3. level all pts?
4. Still have any expert or elite melee skills?
5. have any class skills? (Pretty sure i cant, but just checking)

Which is advised, dodge or defence?

I have tried Spec>Merc as my alt (and there is someone on my server who has done Warrior>Spec) and it works just fine. It's a difference play style from using ranged instead of melee but it's by no means bad.

Yes you can craft.
No you cannot craft intense/purple.
Yes you can GM all pts.
Yes you can have Tier 2/3 Melee skills.
No you cannot have class skills.

This combo really doesn't shine until lvl 40 where it explodes into something beastly and at 50 it becomes downright brutal. Since you base is warrior you will want to go defense, had your base been ranger I would say go dodge but either works really - they just involve different play styles. Make sure to keep your pts high (defense and shield especially). Remember that as soon as everyone figures out that you are a debuffer they will go for you first, so have heavy melee armor, shield, and counter attack all at the ready. If you really want to annoy them also get some defense chargers ( 50% defense for 5 minutes). Your survivability like this is actually vastly better than a dodger as all those nasty little things that ruin dodge players (like Isis and 48 BMAU's) have a much harder time killing defense players.

Keep in mind that you will be a cross class - so you will never be as good of a tank as a Merc or hit as hard as an Assualter, or be able to speed/rez people as a pure spec would. But that doesn't mean it's bad at all. Since you would have tier 2/3 skills you can actually deal some damage (and at 50 you will be able to solo many people) where a pure spec would be locked in to lousy tier 1 skills and honestly would have no business ever attacking. It's a hybrid class and so you have to make up for your lack of focus with ingenuity and resourcefulness. I love my Striker, but my Spec/Merc alt is a blast to play and is by no means bad. Not to mention people get extremely confused when they see my use a Tier 3 skill and follow it up with a web grenade