biostem

A few recent ones: "Voltsting", "The Fallow Shepherd", and "Voltaura":

Yeah - the AI needs work. The KB - well, the "official" stance seems to be, if you don't like KB, slot a KB->KD IO, (not that I agree with this sentiment, mind you, but it's there).

This is kind of a "Rule Zero" when it comes to creating your own characters. The inverse of this, which you touched upon, is that no game, (at least none created by someone else), can really capture or account for everything you want to see realized, so you are going to have to make some concessions - whether you are willing or able to accept that is, once again, up to you...

IIRC, the natural SOs are all about training. The word "enhancement" is just a naming convention - it's not like your character is actively utilizing a dozen cybernetic eyes simultaneously or anything...

On builds where the extra recharge really helps, I'll slot a few of the LotG uniques, but I rarely go out of my way to get the 5 +def powers to maximize the benefit. I do have 1 dominator w/ perma-dom, and, frankly, I find it a chore to maintain, but to each their own. That being said, I sure would like it, (since the bonuses don't stack beyond 5), if we had some other alternatives to get that particular +global recharge bonus, besides looking to +def powers...

Ceiling cat approves!

While not perfect, I think this summarizes things pretty nicely. In short, (and especially for an older game), the way things work narratively or for the genre in general, should not or cannot be translated into actual gameplay in a feasible way. As to the specific topic, the issue is that if the soldiers were translated into CoH, then, yes, that higher rank person would probably now be an LT or a boss, with all the extra tohit, dmg, res, etc, that entails...

Oh no doubt - but there's no camo pattern IIRC, and you can't change the color of those yellow bands. Plus, the bosses have those cool missile/rocket packs!

I don't recall, but are any of the DUST agents in that desert camo available as PAP costumes? If not, those would also be very cool to have!

The one I seem to keep running up against is where someone starts a team on one of their 50s, then after a few missions, if there's other 50s present, they declare that they're going to switch to a non-50 alt, meaning that someone else will have to do the mission getting...

Welcome aboard! Perhaps I missed it, but would you be willing to disclose what hours/time zone you typically play during? I'd be happy to team, time & schedule permitting...

It's interesting because some games implement a sort of "damage reduction" or threshold mechanic, to simulate how attacks below a certain amount of damage are ignored, (a la Superman and regular bullets). The issue with those, though, is that such games tend to then bake such mechanics into enemy damage numbers, so that a high level enemy, who may still be using a regular gun, now deals enough damage to overcome that threshold. I guess what I'm getting at is it isn't feasible to try and truly capture how things behave in comic books, (which, when we come right down to it, is simply writer's fiat), so things like levels, hit checks, and aggro mechanics, are acceptable breaks from "reality"...

So is the entire game, but the point is they represent a measure of power or threat. Yes, a random punk could get a shot off and kill Batman, but the difference is that level 1 punk probably has bad aim, doesn't maintain their equipment, and/or otherwise isn't very capable or not much of a threat. It's not about "Level 1 Hellion vs Level 50 Scrapper. Fight!" It's about that level 1 punk being too busy wetting themselves to even bother trying to take a potshot at that 50...

Heck, you can use the AH before entering a mission and either list them there or just store them until you have time to collect and sell them normally...

I like it with combos you can't generally get elsewhere - like war mace, titan weapons, or battle axe...