> An algorithm does not have a complexity class, rather it's decision problems that belong to a complexity class. 3SAT is a decision problem that belongs to the NP-complete complexity class regardless of any particular algorithm that implements a solution to it.
Both algorithms and problems have their own complexity. The complexity of an algorithm is the time it takes that algorithm to finish. For example, quicksort is an algorithm, and its average case complexity is in O(n log n). I called O(n log n) a complexity class, this was indeed sloppy on my part - I was just trying to find a name for this set.
> Secondly, it's a common misconception that O(f(n)) refers to worst case complexity.
I know, and my post was very explicitly avoiding this misconception. I explicitly gave the example that the average case complexity of quicksort is in O(n log n).
> Consequently the opposite can also happen, an operation might be implemented where the worst case scenario is o(N), note the use of little-o rather than big-o, and I will request a lower bound on the worst case scenario.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say in this part. o(n) is basically the set of all sublinear functions, e.g. log(n), but also 1. Any function in o(n) is also in O(n), though the converse doesn't hold. So, if you know an algorithm has worse complexity in o(n), you know more information about the algorithm than if I tell you it has worse case complexity in O(n). Knowing a lower bound is still useful in either case, of course, since a constant time algorithm and a logarithmic time algorithm are still both in both sets.