biostem

It's so disheartening because I want to see more superhero MMOs with a high degree of customization and engaging content & animations...

Derives pleasure from what, exactly? Deleting their characters? That is what I was arguing against - not transferring their inf or items, not renaming them to free up the name, not changing their costume or anything like that - I argued strictly against deleting them; Especially if you don't actually need that character slot freed...

I'm not sure what exploit you are referring to, but I never used any such thing AFAIK. You still seem to be making this about you - I see you haven't acknowledged any consideration for the time of your teammates. If you join a "speed TF", and decide to impede things, then that's on you, no different than joining a "KM TF" and deciding to speed it on your own. I also didn't see you mention how you were willing to step up and lead teams "the correct way", (or at least your interpretation of that). For my part, I saw how others were running teams/TFs/farms, made mental notes, and have taken to running that content how I want to, being very clear about what I expect and what others should expect from me. You think you've identified a problem, so take steps to remedy it!

The moment you join someone else's team, it is indeed no longer just about your enjoyment in isolation, and respecting other's time is not nonsense. If you were an OG player some 20-odd years ago, chances are your responsibilities were far fewer, and so spending multiple hours on a TF was no big deal, but nowadays, most folks will either figure out ways to speed them or just ignore them entirely. You talk about others being "forced" to take the shorter path, but that only applies when you are teaming with others and not leading the team yourself, in which case, things come full circle back to it not being just about you and your individual wants anymore...

Welcome aboard!

Oh absolutely... while actively wielding them. Just like how you stow your weapons on your back or at your side when not...

Well, if you chose to disable all your toggles, then that's on you. If you're traveling in a dangerous area, logic would dictate you turn said powers on...

1. I can't recall if I saw it on a website or in some video game magazine, but it was one of the two. A friend may have also mentioned it coming out soon, (at the time), to me. 2. Hands down the character customization, (including AT and powerset choice).

Move BABs there and add a generic Arbiter that was similarly "caught in the time stream" or something...

Aren't the rewards scaled, (or at least allegedly scaled), based upon the number of missions or such? Not only would the rewards have to be adjusted, but all the TFs would have to get these "alternate versions". I'm not against the idea, but maybe look at and adjust all the filler missions in the current ones instead?

Great design! Makes me really wish we could get that black knight belt in matte & leather versions...

In a sense, it wouldn't even be that difficult - if you toggle a shield power on, it's on your arm, and if you turn off all your toggles, it's on your back - so it wouldn't really conflict with combat. I can't remember; if you had all the toggles turned off, but clicked active defense, does that place the shield on your arm? If so, then that would have to apply as well...

All ATs that currently have access to shields have APPs/PPPs with blasts in them, not to mention the origin ranged attacks, sorcery's, experimentation's, and force of will, and that's not even counting the various ranged prestige or other such temp powers, so the precedent is there - just exclude the ones that might be too kludgy to work well, like archery and possibly dual pistols. AFAIK, AR & BR would have the shield on the off-hand, so shouldn't conflict too badly... But, yeah! Would definitely love shield defense for Sentinels! Just taking a quick look - All 5 powers from Dark Mastery for Scrappers & Stalkers are ranged attacks - If we then take the snipe & hold from Soul Mastery to keep with the dark theme, that's 7 distinct dark ranged attacks that already work with shield-users. If you tallied up all the others from the various epic sets, it's pretty much already done...

Superpowered roulette? "You got plants in my machines! You got machines in my plants!"

Oh no doubt, but IMO you need to consider the competition you're up against. If they had gone a "freemium" model, since having a solid playerbase is so important, and assuming they had a superior product, they would probably make more money overall...

What is the impetus for this? Those badges cause no harm and don't impose any difficulty in playing any of your characters. You don't have to apply them, and they're basically invisible unless you seek them out in the lists...

Sounds to me like you are in denial that you are, in fact, causing yourself added burden for no logical reason. You can handwave it however you want, but the fact remains that it is taking more time and effort to delete the character than to leave them be. You are "harming" yourself in order to abide by some ideal "I'll never play that character again" than if you just didn't delete the character...

It is fair in as far as it is an available alternative. Even discounting HC, there's also Champions Online AND DCUO....

Unless you don't value your time, then yes, you are "harming yourself" in order to delete the character... it may not be a literal wound, but you are devoting more effort toward destroying the character than to just leave them be...

A full subscription game nowadays and a full box price? Yikes!

Because you are destroying something you've devoted time into. Not only that, but it actually takes even more time to go ahead and delete them, than had you just let them be...

But you haven't answered the question - why delete them. Why destroy something you've devoted time into? You're cutting off your nose to spite your face...

With 1000 slots per server, and unless you're actually at that limit, why delete any character, much less suggest that others should do so?

Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but they didn't show or tout anything about being able to actually make your own character or pick their powers, which leads me to believe there may be some limited character customization, but the powers would be preset, (looks like some basic ss/invuln type stuff and perhaps super speed or parkour)...

A sort of "Dr. Doom meets the Cult Mechanicus" - "Specialist Ruin":