BlueRaptor

Neat idea. Perhaps then more people see how ridiculously perma-present some of the normal GMs are.

(and while at it, said map could used a less totally washed out look with higher resolution too)

And mind you CoX flopped as much and utterly as it did in Europe because it came out the same time as WoW there and while WoW was advertised for all over the place Cryptic or NCSoft Europe thought that CoX didnt need any advertisement at all because people would learn of it on there own, somehow. If I recall correctly.

(I DO recall that ads for WoW were all over the place yet cant recall ever having seen a CoX one, and that WoW was quite popular here form the start. Plus that I thought it was the only game of its kind, where thousands of players play together online back then.
I only learned of CoX at all when friends form the US told me about it, and when I tried to get it it wasnt sold anymore around here in Europe, because it was such a flop.
I learned then that I needed the US version anyway to play with my friends as the Europe version is its totally separate own game, with different client, but I took a trial on the Europe version and it had a whole four whopping servers, one in German, one in French, and two in English. Mind you, Europe has WAY more citizens than northern America. But CoX was a flop here from the start. And likely so because hardly anyone ever found out about it.)

Well, on hero side its still much easier than on villain side.
Plus villains need the badge for an unlockable easily outlevelled contact.
And the lowered the requirement for the badge from 200 to a mere 50.

And I would high-five him for it, honestly, were it not for said hit points bonus bug.
(given that the victim is farming afk, but otherwise such a 'rude' kill cant happen anyway)

Yes, I have /Will characters too, some have about 50% additional hit points with accolades and boni, and it is really a pain in my scaly butt to get any progress towards said badges. That could use dev love.

YET what annoys me much more is why the devs still allow badge progress while afk. That is stupid and pretty much defies the purpose of any badge attained in that way.

I admit I pondered lower priced models too to attract more players, and more to keep old players at it for its so nice but the imcome that needs to keep flowing and reputation are problems of course.

Now what I COULD see is lowering it for veterans, and a higher amount of people making up for the lower costs, like,

You brought one paying new player to the game: Pay only 14$ per month.
After two years of paying: Pay one dollar less or get special non-character-related non-ingame-mechanics-related goodness when you pay full (lots of extra slots, stats of your characters, homepage for your char or SG, no market purges, ...) (that you might otherwise have to pay extra for).

Or a discount price for "Basic" account that does not include AE (can join AE missions on a team but not select nor create them) and Going Rogue if its fully optional content as I understand it, but I also understood the latter wont be for free either way.
So I guess they better stick with what they planned, they're likely experienced enough in it.

Especially since there is not even a way it can go wrong.
You co-op with someone or yourself on another account, happily defeating each other for merits with varying characters, and if some real PvPers in the now fuller zone come by? All they can do is defeat you, and that's what you wanted anyway!
I can also see people running around hoping to be defeated then, with all toggles off, as its just so much faster an easier to faceplant twice than to win once.

Now one goodie drop chance with every win and with every x minutes spent in a PvP zone NOT in hospital NOT dead NOT hidden NOT afk NOT whatever I forgot? Sure, why not.

The latter would be like a "reward for not being defeated" then, better than a reward for being defeated I think. And less farmable.

Its good to see people still would like that.
And yes je_saist, I can imagine that. I clicked them all the time when I was new, as they say they got the latest scoop. But they dont. I recall there is something like a monthly "City Scoop", but like so many other things about the game its something that you have to dig for outside of the game. (Very bad design that imo. When its official info to some events or story background, it should be accessible inside the game.)

On the other side I always wished (and asked) for more NPC interaction.
Why doesnt the newsie have the news?
Why cant the security chief tell me about the zone without me having the mission?
Why cant I give the panhandler a dime?
Why cant a cop give me some info on the local gangs and their whereabouts in a list menu?
Why cant a pedestrian give me directions to a neighborhood or brief story of the zone I'm in?*
Why cant I take a pamphlet, especially from miners and Ludites on villain side? Maybe I DO want to find out about the PTS or Cage Corporation. Why am I immediately attacked, and not just when I attack them or stand there without taking one for too long?
Why cant I buy something at a street vendor and end up with a snack in my hand that I can pull out again with '/e lastbought' e.g.?

*They might have a random list of things they know about, and conversation options for inquiring about this zone, this neighborhood, adjacent neighborhoods, villain groups you need to hunt for (click"Ask about Circle of Thorns activity". - "Seen any strange green glows or people in robes around lately?"), ask if they saw anything strange or dangerous around lately, ask for the time.

There could even be (gasp!) little side missions that some pedestrians or cops have randomly available.

No can haz.
When we cant have "laser" rifles unless you take a robotic mastermind and leave away the robots, you cant have laser pistols either.

No, seriously. "Laser" rifles and pistols as their own sets would make sense for the different damage type label I guess, but I would be fine already with an option for it in the power customizations for the existing rifle and pistol sets.

Yep.
But whenever the devs lend you a little finger, there are always some who demand the entire arm.

No, they say when I ask them why they dont just suggest no limitations at all, as that is where it will lead to if the devs give in each time such a request is made. Would be even more convenient, not?
"No, you are totally overreacting! We only want THIS little bit more after they gave us that other little bit."
Request granted -> rinse and repeat.

*sighs*

Yes, PvP is pretty much dead.
It hasnt been vividly alive before the changes though, but yes, after the changes it didnt get better.

Yes, merging all PvP zones to one instance would help.
Keep in mind naming issues and total inability to avoid any given person in PvP then though.

No, everyone moving their character to one server is not a solution, its a surrender. And makes it ever more dead for those who want to keep playing with their friend that all play (PvE only maybe) on a given server, and will have everyone on those other servers ask why the stupid PvP zones are around at all then.

I agree with that the best way to learn PvP is not to walk into a zone alone and wait to be hit, but to go with someone who has been to that zone before.

Sadly, the PvP population is very low, so it often hard to find anybody in a PvP zone AT ALL. (and which leads to a viscous circle: low pop -> hard to find a team -> hard for newcomers -> low pop)

And that also makes the original idea even more difficult. There is nothing there you could split in half or thrids and have anything left at all. At least not on the server I am on, but I hear it's a general problem.
(And PvP post I13 now being TOTALLY different from PvE doesnt help newcomers to PvP either)

I actually prefer one big zone to two small ones I must say, especially to two war-walled boxes, and especially if the one big zone doesnt look all the same. (St. Martial is pretty neat at that, though the forest and the underground bits could be much larger.) But:

Not saying people are not rude/inconsiderate at times, but

I tried saving and loading my keymappings with the buttons under the keymapping just yesterday and it didnt work.
Is there a trick for it?
(I'd appreciate if I didnt have to do console command hacks for things there are supposedly buttons for, that somehow got old somewhere in Counsterstrike 1.6 ...)

The most recent infamy = money = lets make a bank for it discussion can be found here think: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=194074

And even though inf works a quite like money now that still isnt an argument for having different kinds of reward medals freely convertible into each other or (more than teh OP suggested) inf.

Plus I am not a fan of the self fulfillig prophecy of making inf more like money by claiming it already is like it. If the devs wanted inf to be money, rest assured you wouldnt have to wonder if it is.