I get like 95%of the time thrown into another faction, and there's 0 balance whatsoever. The faction that i get thrown into loses ridiculously and here is the thing : I don't have pvp gear or arena points. So why the hell now throw someone who will make a huge difference into the losing faction? FFS just getting '' well we have 16 allys and 10 hordes lets throw 3 random allys there'' is not balance. At least look at GS and pvp before throwing someone into another side.
Under OPT IN FEATURES (bottom left panel) you will see the checkbox for Mercenary mode. There you can disable it.
PS: You can get free starting gear in Blackrock realm if you think farming to start is too painful.
PS2: Get a pvp guild to do premades or make a group yoursel (its allways a good option).