Adeon Hawkwood

Agreed. I have a few characters with heavy purple usage (notably a Traps/AR defender and a Crab Spider) but they are all characters where having lots of recharge is useful.

I did 6-slot Apocalypse on my Traps/AR Defender since doing so soft-capped him to Psionic Defense but I agree that in general it's rarely worth it.

One thing to keep in mind is that, as Tenzhi mentioned the XP per level has been reduced since then which makes the situation worse. Additionally completing story arcs and task forces used to award an SO which made getting them easier but since the introduction of merit rewards this is no longer the case. For VIPs this isn't an issue since they can, if they desire, spend the merits on SOs which will generally give them at least one SO per arc but this is not an option for free players. So overall Free players have even less ability to earn enhancements than a pre-market subscriber.

I'll also add that the "needlessly difficult" comment was about playing with sub-powered enhancements, not getting influence.

Why not? This is a game which has always prided itself on the fact that it isn't a gear chase. You only need basic vendor gear and such gear is readily available. To be honest I'd have absolutely no problem if the game started giving out free basic enhancements on demand for all characters (except for the possible inflationary effects of doing so) although I can see arguments against it from a player attitudes point of view.

To me what it really comes down to is that a person playing the game relatively normally should be able to afford basic gear without to much difficulty.

I know the feeling, almost all of my characters have Combat Jumping simply because I've come to rely on it for in-mission movement (I dislike having to worry about full 3D movement during combat so I can't stand hover).

Basic answer: Power Creep. Giving all characters an inherent travel power means they now have an extra power choice to spend on something else that will make them more powerful in another way, hence power creep.

Now I don't think having an Inherent travel power is a bad idea, to be honest I kind of think the game should have done it that way from the start. However, if the game had done that then it's a good bet we would only have 23 power choices, not 24. Given that changing it now would probably not be the best option.

Ok, where does it say that the new mid-level content is team focused? The contacts for the missions I've done sure as heck don't say "by the way, you may want a team for this" and none of them require a team (like the true team-required content).

In fact I would go so far as to say that most of the new story arcs are designed for soloing, not teams. The various Atlas and Mercy revamp arcs as well as the Praetorian arcs all seem to me to be written primarily for a soloist (I realize they are low level, not mid level but they are a good example).

The new 20-29 arcs are another good example. While they can be played by teams the stories are really single-character oriented. Dean McArthur and Leonard are particularly good examples, the stories in their arcs are written assuming a solo character.

The other side of it is arc quality. The newer arcs are better than the older stuff (at least mechanically, the quality of the story is more variable) so encouraging new players to run it seems like a good idea.

I didn't say that finding teams was difficult, I said that some players like to solo (which I think is demonstrated in this very thread) and that given the restrictions on free players they are more likely to solo.

Do free players have fewer options for finding teams than premium/VIP players? Yes.
Does having fewer options make it harder for them to get teams doing content they want to do? Yes (network effect, they are in contact with fewer players which decreases the chance of finding someone who is doing what they want)
If it is harder for them to get teams are they more likely to solo said content? Yes.

This is fine if you want to run those missions. However, I feel that it's not the best suggestion to give to a new player.

One thing I've seen people complain about in other MMOs is feeling that in order to be able to continue leveling they have to stop leveling and spend time "grinding" lower level content for the cash to get the gear they need to continue leveling. Turning off XP to get inf for enhancements is essentially the equivalent of that in CoH. While it isn't a problem for an experienced player who wants to do it in order to experience more content it is the sort of thing that could potentially turn off a new player.

This is a good point. I'm not sure what the answer is although as a data point the last time that prices were adjusted on the Wiki was June 2007.
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Enhancement_Prices

Except that the bonus accuracy from SOs also kicks in around the the time the to hit bonus drops off. I find that my average chance to hit from 1 DO at level 12-16ish is similar to my to hit chance at level 22 with one SO. The 16-22 part is the tough one.

The original content maybe but not so much the newer stuff. Mid-level content has gotten noticeably harder over the years. A dramatic increase in the use of ambushes has been combined with foes that are, on average, more powerful than the older ones. The combination

Again, I have to wonder where you are coming from with this? Given the number of threads on this forum regarding the teaming in Incarnate content I think it's reasonable to assume that we have a significant number of players who do prefer to solo. I'll also add that given the restrictions on free players it's not unreasonable to assume that an even higher percentage of them spend most of their time solo. I know when I started I didn't really team at all until I was past level 45.

I'll also add that one of the big advantages of CoX compared to other MMOs is that it is very solo friendly. We can debate whether it's worth playing an MMO solo but that doesn't change the fact that for CoX soloing is a valid playstyle.

Agreed, that is an AWESOME drawing.

Seriously? I can agree with the first point, I rarely bother to use TOs myself but not using DOs until level 22 or SOs until the 30s sounds like a horribly painful way to play, especially if you solo.

Yes, maybe this is how it worked when the game was new but given the way that the game has changed over the years I think it's unreasonable to expect a new player to function that way. Additionally, it does not present the best impression for the game, playing with underpowered enhancements creates the impression that the game is a lot harder than it is which will turn off some potential players.

I think this is a very valid concern with making Travel powers inherent. All build rely on having a few powers that only need 1 or 2 slots to make up for the powers that need 5 or 6. Technically making the travel powers inherent doesn't make this impossible but it does reduce the choices players have to make in builds which makes builds more generic since more people will take the same one-slot-wonder powers (i.e. powers like CJ, Hover, Stealth and Haste become more common).

As long as the choice is changeable during a respec I'd have no objection to the introduction of a single travel Power Only power choice being added to characters. I don't feel that it is necessary but it would be a nice little bonus.

Honestly, I doubt we'll ever see something like that. I do agree that it would be nice to have wider options in pool powers and the introduction of some non-generic ones but it's the sort of thing that ends up being a game balance nightmare (for the same reason that pure free-form powers are problematic). The compromise solution I would like to see is adding even more variety to Epic pools with things like a Dual Pistols epic pool for melee characters

It's easy to miss for veteran players (since most of us got it free a while back) but the Vanguard costume is in the market and earnable in game.

Actually they can. You can use Astral merits to unlock capes and auras on a single character of any level (you need a level 50 to get the merits but the unlock token can be used by any character on your account).

This isn't entirely true. It is definitely very tight up until about level 30 though. Once you get there it gets easier (especially if you make sure to sell the SO drops to the right stores).

That being said I think you do have a point. Reducing the cost of TOs/DOs/SOs particuarly in the level 1-35 range might not be a bad idea at this point in the game's life cycle. I'm not normally in favor of reducing inf sinks but the total cost of SOs (5.6 million at level 50 IIRC) is a trivial amount to get for anyone who has market access but I can definitely see it being an issue for free players.

The other option is to have her run Death From Below a lot, you get several even level SOs from that IIRC.

The other advantage is people buying up the ladder. I'm currently on a monthly plan but if they gave tokens up front I would almost certainly get a year long sub to get to T9, I would probably then spend even more money on Paragon Points to get the Celestial Armor.

My Bots/Traps MM is built to tank and does so quite effectively (at least I think so). He can't generally pull aggro off a melee character with a taunt aura but he can pull aggro off most other characters.

My Demons/Thermal isn't a tank in the traditional sense (no Provoke and I rarely use bodyguard mode) but even he does ok. The Demon Prince makes a tough meat shield and even though he lacks a traditional means of aggro management tools simply moving him into the middle of the spawn and letting him lose with his aura and AoE sleep can provide enough aggro management for a lot of teams.

I don't know what power you're using but Earthquake is a knockdown power, not knockback. Are you using it on Clockwork or enemies much lower level than you? In both cases knockdown will get converted to knockback but agaisnt most even level enemies Earthquake knocks them down, not back.

Also for Masterminds who want to tank.