So, I played the Engineer to 12 and the Sorc (Destruction side) to 18. Here is the Sorcerer story:

Most of the attacks are pretty much what you would expect of a nuking class. I don't want to say overpowered, but boy, some public quests are just set up for a sorcerer to own the chart.

In the public quests where mobs rush one area, the Sorcerer has a nice PbAOE that is instant. You can spam this for damage, unload your buildup on one, then go again. In the flurry of the battle, you won't get all aggro and during public quests the normal mobs die so fast who cares. One shaman in your party and you'll end up #1 or near so in sheer damage (leading to a nice roll for loot at the end).

In RvR the sorcerer is a bit more fragile. Players can take them down fast enough as they are glass. Yet, if you can get off your main blast, dot, and instant on a target, they are going to be close to finished. This chain takes about 10 seconds to finish up, and in RvR that is plenty of time before your target realizes what is happening. If a couple of sorcerer's team up and target focus, that would be carnage.

As for PvE. Well, the Engineer is a bit easier. Like any mage class the sorcerer requires you to time your bolts and manage your enemy. If you can group with a tank, you both will be golden. Not nessary though. WAR is VERY solo friendly.