Adeon Hawkwood

Yeah, it always amuses me when I see people complaining about Farmers or speed runners. From a practical point of view those are the people that have the highest stuff:inf earning ratio which, in the long term, helps drive market prices down (since there is more stuff for every inf). People (like me) who play on teams and do more than the minimum mission objective are the ones hurting the market *maniacal laughter*.

It works in powers that take Universal Travel enhancements. In addition to the four main Travel powers you can also slot it in Hover, Combat Jumping, Recall Friend, Group Fly and Team Teleport (there are also a few powerset specific powers like Inertial Reduction, I'm just listing the pool powers). You cannot, however, slot it in Sprint. This is a balance issue to prevent people with the veteran sprint powers from being able to slot 4 of them for free (something that would provide a substantial benefit in PvP).

My general advice is to go for either 4 or 12. A single IO (4 points) protects from most knockback in the game. There aren't many enemies with more than 4 and most of those seem to have more than 8.

The three you listed are the main ones. There are however a few other options:
1. Acrobatics (in the Leaping Pool) gives Kb Protection
2. Two sets (Kinetic Crash and Fury of the Gladiator) give knockback protection as a set bonus.

That being said the three you listed are generally the options that have the least impact on the build.

This is dependent on two factors: how much you want to spend and where you have a spare slot.

BotZ is generally the most expensive on the market (especially if you go for a level 10 version, see below) but has the advantage of going in a travel power which if you slot it in a travel power you weren't planning to slot anyway can save you a slot.

Steadfast Protection and Karma are normally about the same price on the market (I think karma is a little bit cheaper on average but it's been a while since I checked). A character with Fire Armor or Dark Armor could easily use either of them. Both sets have resistance powers that allow you to slot a Steadfast Protection (at the cost of a slot) or can fit Karma in a pool power (CJ and Hover being obvious choices) or Cloak of Darkness for Dark Armor.

If you're planning to take Hover or Combat Jumping for your build anyway then a Karma in that is probably the best option. If not then either spend an extra slot to add a Steadfast to one of your shields or save up for a BotZ in your travel power.

They are global IOs. What that means is that they work even if the power is turned off but stop working if you exemplar more than 3 levels below the level of the IO.

What that means is that if you get a level 50 BotZ IO you will lose knockback protection whenever you exemplar down. Therefore most people try to get level 10 knockback protection IOs so that they are always on. Level 10s are, consequently, more expensive on the market since the majority of the stock are purchased with merits.

Also all characters (50 or not) get bonus merits the first time they do the WST in a given week.

The value of oranges depends a lot on your character. Purples provide more damage reduction on a per-inspiration basis (and are excellent for preventing a cascading defense failure) but for a character who lacks resistances oranges are pretty handy. Layered defenses are always useful and inspirations are one of the best sources of resistance.

The value of yellows is definitely more variable. I tend to take Tactics (or an equivalent self only power) on most of my characters but for those who lack it yellows are useful against enemies with to hit/perception debuffs (like Arachnos with smoke grenades).

Honestly I'd say it's up to you. I have it and find it very useful but there are compelling arguments in favor or either not bothering with a heal at all or taking Heal Other instead. At the end of the day it cones down to what works best for you.

Not really, most of it's easy enough to pick up as you go.

The wiki is an excellent resource though:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Main_Page

Hmmm... good point. I don't see a goatee but I have so little facial hair that I suspect that even the dramatic necessities of a mirror universe would prevent Evil-Me from growing a goatee.

Fair enough. I checked in Mids' sometime back and it said that Centriole Enhancements boost the range of melee powers but I'll admit it's not something I've ever bothered to check in game.

Actually the vines do respawn on the STF. A lot of teams take them down fast enough for it not to be an issue but I've seen them regrow on slightly slower teams.

The problem is that the endurance drained is based on targets hit. All active pets would be hit by the upgrade even if they didn't get upgraded. Additionally it would make the endurance cost impossible to reduce with enhancements.

Well a taunt effect in the secondary would be ok, but a taunt effect in the primary attacks would be a lot nicer (and give more of a reason to take them). The thing is not everyone wants to draw aggro onto the MM himself. Some MM's prefer to tank by directing the damage onto their pets instead.