The vast majority of random battlegrounds are a stomp on one side or the other. It is not enjoyable to play in such one-sided battlegrounds, yet it is the most accessible content for the (majority) casual player base. In my view, steps need to be taken to help battlegrounds be more balanced environments.
Make mercenary mode more clearly visible in the BG interface & clearly display queue timers before signing up - I am amazed at the amount of people who do not know about this feature.
If a team has less healers than the other team, allow them to switch to healer spec before or during the BG.
Try to balance item levels between the two teams. Itâs fine to have a mix of low-geared and high-geared people in each team, but the system should try to balance the two teams as best as possible.
Try to balance premades on either team. If one team has a 5 man premade, ideally, the other team should also have a premade.
Why - because of people trying to sabotage the opposite faction?
No self-respecting person would do this, why would you waste your time doing that? As someone who plays mercenary mostly & tries to win every BG, the majority of AFKers I see are alliance. The mercenaries seem to put in more effort.
Ideally the match-maker would just draw from a single pool of players. It would then be easier to balance teams by item level.