Herotu

I don't want more difficult fights, I want more interesting fights. They can be easier, if that makes them more interesting! That's why I like runners so much - you don't see them in many (any?) other games. Difficult != Interesting

The ONLY album I ever bought immediately after hearing it played in the store. Fu Manchu - Urethane

Ride - Unfamiliar

You've got a point, there's some merit there. Perhaps we can read it as the buildings being reflective of the character-feel they're supposed to evoke; Sky-scrapers were seen as grand accomplishments, towering monuments to human progress and suchlike, super-human effigies, taking us beyond our normal physical forms. Like heroes. The more human-scale brick dwellings, on the other hand, remind us of something more functional and mundane, restricted by the simple building materials and limited by affordability. That grim backdrop could perhaps be seen as justification or cause for criminal activity.

Still not sold on this. They seem to be drab brick and Arachnos buildings instead of drab cityscape skyscrapers. This. I've said before that it should be a party atmosphere, at least in some areas - lots of neon, lots of chaotic party - it's what Freakshow and Skuls and Outcasts all do on Blue side when you're 'arresting' them. Aside from environment, I think the fundamental issue is the one which the OP puts their finger on, we all fundamentally see ourselves as good people, or at least doing bad things short term because it's necessary to achieve a good outcome long term. That is not what the text says when I'm doing red side missions, the story on red side is that of a villain seeking to become ever more powerful - that's a pre-scripted story that doesn't really work with most of the head-canon stuff people have going on when they create a character.

Reminds me of...

I love this! :)

I've tried to do a harlequin type character time and time again - This blows all my efforts away. Amazing.

Well, that's certainly one perspective. :)

I'm not saying it's broken, though.

That's all well and good, but what if you're doing story missions because the game actually exists before level 18? Like I said before, it is what it is/there's nothing you can do about it/that's CoH for you/etc. I'm not going to disagree, but I'll ask what does game-breaking mean in a game where being OPAF doesn't matter, and in fact happens naturally because some class/powerset combos are just plain better than others?

Can we have a flaming pitchfork reaction for when we want bloody revolt? In a sombre and respectful manner, of course.

Grinding to a specific level to get an ability your playstyle depends upon is tiresome. The most clear and obvious example here is Phantom Army. Insert thought-terminating cliché.

Wrong. You can't make Unwipedbuttfacegasattack.

Communication. You can chat to whole maps - you can't do that in pen and paper games. With VOIP you can talk to anybody on any map. That might not be a bad thing, but when you think about how cool it might be to have to send a message via a courier, then wait. It's like life before mobile phones!

It's got to be; Lightning Rod Nothing compares.

Shield/Elec - Teleport+PBAoE is just insanely fun.

I blame shareholders. Fkin idle leeches!

Conversely, I'd like to be able to wear the temp jetpack as a costume piece. There must be some technical limitation, I suppose, or it'd be one of the first things into the costume designer. Perhaps they can't get the jets to turn off when you aren't flying. Sorry - went off topic. Er, ye sure. Seems like a pretty simple-ish change? Invisible jetpack for sale?

Brilliant! Good job everybody!

You're talking about newbies who've just watched their favourite influencer. It's extremely likely that they're oblivious to the problem. They need to be made aware in a manner that isn't overly aggressive. This issue can be seen from both sides. It's on the publisher to realise that these ARE homages to the characters of their IP. It's not as if some kid playing Homecoming is going to become incredibly wealthy by playing out their fantasies in some sticky corner of the internet. These are the target audience of the publisher and they risk alienating them if the publisher attacks Homecoming. That's lifetime of buying tasteless plastic dolls of <Insertname>man down the pan. Not to mention that the quality of some of these rip-offs is sometimes really high. I've been quite impressed.

It's hard to understand where cast times end and lag begins (or vice versa).

Nah, it's always been a part of the game - it's not a Homecoming thing specifically It's not actual rubber-banding. It's a rubbery feel. Like there's a cast-time on all the powers - so there's a buffer or something - a lack of snappiness. You know, it's like when you run miles away and around a corner and then 10 seconds later some power hits you. Or when you shoot at a mob and your shot follows them around a corner. Or when you do a knockback on someone who's getting up off the floor and it doesn't knock them down again. But it's not rubber banding where people run forwards and then do the exact same movement over and over. That's not happening at all, the ping seems great, in fact! There's something there that I, evidently, haven't defined sufficiently in the OP. Something that always felt a bit... weird.

Is the mobility due to powercreep that's occurred since the game was new? I remember that many encounters had to be prepared for, with dedication to repeatedly buffing (boring!), herding (fun for tanks) and suchlike.

Or even said newbie's evil counterpart? Or alternate self from another dimension or timeline or ... both?