biostem

Maybe I've been playing too long, but with the ability to see how your core powers animate in the tailor, I can get a fairly accurate picture of how the character will play. The hard part is when I want to create a support character, as some powers, (like how you mentioned 'enforced morale'), don't have quite the obvious and immediate impact...

I created a sun-themed rad/rad sentinel on Torchbearer, wanted something short and concise, and was surprised that "Bask" wasn't taken...

The original image from which my forum avatar is derived is my namesake character with rest activated, back from i0/beta, where I, too, did not know how to rotate the camera, but activating rest locked your character's facing, so I could rotate around them that way...

Gotcha. I think a "no fade" option would be the best option, accessible from within the tailor...

From what I've gathered, Null only applies things on a per-power basis, (with the exception of the travel power popup tray, which is a singular entity unto itself), and the devs are loathe to add more to it...

Alt+tab or Win+D is just as quick, and once you have the wiki open you can just leave it there, ready to be accessed again as needed. No need to divert developer resources at all.

CoH is lightweight enough that you can Win+D or alt+tab to an open Wiki window. I would rather the game NOT link to external resources, especially since, AFAIK, the Wiki is NOT maintained by the HC devs. If a player can be bothered to learn a slash command, they can be bothered to click the link to the Wiki and/or bookmark it.

I certainly respect your zeal for and value you place on your characters - you won't get any disagreement from me in that regard. That being said, asking someone to log into them once every 90-180 days to retain their name isn't, IMHO, too much to ask, especially since, (again IMO), for every one of you, there's probably many more that simply PL or otherwise got to 50, then for all intents and purposes, abandoned said characters. Personally, I use thesaurus.com, rhymezone.com, or other such resources to avoid the situation entirely, but others may want something more straightforward, so some sort of middle-ground, where characters that aren't actively being played, (including 50s), should be subject to having their names freed up...

Yeah... maybe we need a hard 3-6 month limit on unplayed characters' names being freed up, regardless of level...

One thing that really gets under my skin is when a team leader invites you to their team then decides to run YOUR missions without asking...

I would rather we be able to have a 2nd or 3rd special character.

I think a big part the issue is that people chase 50 to the detriment of their journey to get there, so they "accept" an underperforming or otherwise gimped build because they're following some guide to have an uber build once they do get to the level cap and are fully IO'd out. Similarly, there is this "go go go" mentality, so many players will select powers that deal better DPS/DPA in lieu of one that may provide better utility. Finally, (and possibly the most damning), is this notion of "soloing while teamed" - People want to play, not have to learn battle tactics or follow commands. Even things like expecting players to follow the team leader or enter missions in a timely manner can lead to much frustration...

There is a tech knight belt that has an option for a "butt cape" - maybe that's what you saw? There's also a cosmic corsair belt that has an option for a piece of cloth hanging down in the front. Lastly, they recently added the Sibil robes that have front and back cloth pieces... Some examples:

Are you referring to click or toggle powers that produce an aura on/around your character? If so, then yes, I agree there should be a "no FX" option.

I've made a variation of what is quite possibly my favorite character, on Torchbearer, now known as "The Luminous Spectre":

If you are going to use it on other willing players, just make an announcement to get close. If you're talking about MMs, then I agree that there should be a pet command to make them close in on you or to set their follow distance as a sort of "hard leash".

I'm just imaging some up-and-coming mutant in the marvel Universe, whose mutation is actually to have 1 eye in the middle of their head, being pissed that "Cyclops" is already taken...

The set as suggested would basically be for tankers, brutes & scrappers. I'm not sure how much it'd need to be rearranged for stalkers...

I think player expectation needs to be tempered; While there are ways to accumulate the funds necessary to fully slot your character, even at lower levels, it must be stressed that it is ok to not be fully slotted at all times. Further, things like DFB and the early buff to help low level characters hit more, not to mention how lower level enemies are easier in general, are there to make said early levels a smoother experience.

This is actually a fun combo. I rolled a war mace/ninjitsu scrapper because I wanted a "better" stealthed mace user than Banes, (this was before the update). Titan weapons also makes for a fun pairing with ninjitsu.

I think part of the problem also is this sense that you *must* be, or strive to be, fully slotted all the time; It's ok to not have all your slots filled, and instead focus on those areas that are critical...

Those things are not new player/beginner friendly, and do not take into account all the other benefits I brought up in radiation armor, (additional +recovery, absorption, a self heal that is more readily available, etc).

See, I've had the opposite experience; Defense based sets, IMHO, only come into their own later on. Don't get me wrong, I love me some defense-based armor sets, but not for a beginner.

I'll try to be as charitable as I can, here, but the way the current costume system works, pieces must fall into one of the existing categories, with all the requirements and limitations that entails. For instance, there is no ankle slot/section; There are legs and boots. Same for monstrous hands - they are their own category that basically consists of the regular ones with extended fingers with more pronounced claws - they simply may not be able to include any overly bulky pieces there. As for the Sibil outfit - it seems they had to shoehorn it in by taking up the belt and cape slots, so they may have to manually add other options in manually, and there may not be adequate geometry to substitute any other belts, (at least not terribly thin ones).

To be honest, I think the best starter armor set for tankers is radiation armor; You get 2 additional sources of end recovery, (gamma boost & particle shielding), solid resists, a self heal, and a debuffing taunt aura. You don't need any special slotting, (other than throwing 3 recharges in the aforementioned particle shielding to make it perma and setting it to autofire). Treat ground zero as a click PBAoE damage power and don't worry about its ally heal effect at first, and either ignore meltdown or only treat it as an "oh sh!t" power and not as a standard part of your kit. For melee sets, I'd ignore any with special mechanics for now, and probably recommend battle axe or war mace since they are hard hitting and straightforward to use.