biostem

Even with my non-optimized build, IIRC, I still have over 45% ranged defense, and high 30s in melee and nearly 40+ in AoE. Unlike SR, you always have the heal to fall back on, (and I believe I took a heal from the APP as well). Also note that I did NOT take blinding powder or the T9, in favor of maneuvers and tactics, and I think I also took CJ, (but not fighting).

I have a 50 dp/nin sentinel. It's very fun to play! I can't speak to your specific build, though, as I made mine more for "flavor" than absolute effectiveness. Still, it's an effective combo and has virtually no holes in its defenses. The only areas lacking are relatively weak KB protection and a need to be ready to use your self heal or end-recovery power at a moment's notice, if enough hits get through...

Dark blast has a lot more utility, and depending on the circumstance, that may be more valuable than the extra DoTs that fire has to offer. OTOH, the -res from tar patch and the other control effects dark miasma has to offer may enable you to really unleash the extra damage fire has to offer. That being said, I'm kind of partial to dark, in this specific case, (though ice blast may be another nice option to consider).

What I'd prefer would be a generic "elementalist" set, with minions that dealt fire, water, earth, and air-based attacks, (lightning would probably be the easiest for the latter). If pet customization ever became a thing, then, sure, make them witches, or wizards, or pure elementals to your heart's content...

You could just take the lionesses from beast mastery...

I'm curious how big of a part all the other heroes depicted in the trailer will play, and, frankly, am not sold on Luthor...

IMHO, it'll be very difficult to get "modern gamers" to play a game that requires as much reading as CoH does, if you want to learn the lore or anything. On top of that, things like cooldowns and the less than intuitive nature of the enhancement and even general leveling system can leave a lot to be desired, for anyone not willing to undertake such effort...

You're misunderstanding; To @Snarky, his teammates ARE the blood packs...

While I, too, would love some new MM primaries, my understanding is that they are some of, if not the, most complicated such set to create. As for your proposals, TBH, I'd prefer something a bit more generic, or barring that, for the devs to devote any time they'd put into this kind of set, to be put toward MM pet customization instead - since we could then change the necro set into something like "feral vampires" for the T1s, vampire warriors for the T2s, and an elder vampire for the T3...

That, or the Council/5th just makes a really good pitch, (not saying they don't use misleading or subversive tactics, mind you)...

TBH, as bad as the Council/5th are, don't they, technically, recruit people into their ranks? Sure, they experiment on many of them against their will, but it's much harder for me to feel bad for those who willingly join such detestable organizations of their own volition, vs those abducted off the streets or from their homes... As for other groups, like the Rikti, other than the conscripts, (which I'm assuming are there against their will), the others are basically "regular military", no?

I dunno... It's hard to think of anyone being more evil than those who literally harvest people's organs/bodies. I could be misremembering, but do the CoT use those with Oranbegan ancestry as vessels for possession by other CoT spirits? That's another kind of torture, especially if the original person still experiences said possession. Even the Hellions, presumably, use unwilling captives for their rituals...

When Ghost Rider meets Storm, you get "The Tide Rider":

Would it really be that OP if triage beacon either provided better regen, a HoT, or maybe some degree of absorption to friendly targets in range?

No, it's a website.

Radiant Valor:

Well, a good majority of powers with a sleep component can be made to keep reapplying it, but the tough part would be to find ones with no damage component that would break said sleep effect. IIRC, plant and mind control both have AoE sleeps with no damage component, and mind has a ST sleep to boot!

Not your grandad's superhero, he's "The Ion Prism" (Elec/Stone Sent):

TBH, while I do like to vary the height of my characters, I find that going to either extreme tends to mess with the perspective while playing. I did try my hand at creating a rather small character who would don a powersuit while fighting, so she went from a near minimum female model to a max height huge one...

I'm offended by your attempts to not offend anyone!

While not a perfect solution, selecting something like "crystal minimal", along with darker colors, is at least less obtrusive. That being said, I would like a truly minimal or "No FX" option as well...

"The Inhibitor" is an archetype focused on directing enemy aggro via control effects. Basically, think of them as a tank that generates and handles aggro through the use of control powers. Their primaries would draw from the existing armor sets, but their secondaries would consist of highly modified melee power sets with a focus on applying or taking advantage of various control effects. This archetype's special effect/ability would be "antagonize"; For the duration of any control effect (applied by the Inhibitor), that enemy is taunted toward the caster and suffers both a defense and resistance debuff, due to them not being able to pay as much attention to attacks directed at them from other sources. The duration of these control effects would be shorter than their similar control powers, but generally the recharge times on these powers would be shorter, (to encourage a more active playstyle instead of simply applying an AoE and just sitting back to allow the inherent do all the work). I imagine the armor values being lower than that of tankers, but higher than scrappers. Similarly, the control durations would be shorter than that of controllers, and their damage would be similar to that of tankers. Adapting sets that have both a control and melee set should be fairly easy, (like electric control and electric melee), with outliers requiring a bit more creativity, (like illusion or gravity control not having a 1:1 melee equivalent). Similarly, I'm on the fence about whether to carry over taunt, or to replace it with a ranged control power and adding in the -range component...

Sure, but the question is whether their blasts provide enough additional DPS or utility vs what a controller's primary set has to offer...

How about an event where some "bizarro" copy of a zone appeared, (optional to enter, of course), where player characters are basically turned into plain old civilians, and have to try to get the attention of passing heroes, to save their purses from mean old Hellions and Skulls? All your powers get replaced with "call for help" and "hold purse really really tightly"...

I would never want to force the loss of travel powers on anybody, at least not in the main game world. Rather, an instanced event, maybe something like a giant hedge maze, could work...