Decorum

A healthy population is what we have. You see, that's not your call, that's NCSoft's, and they appear just fine with it.

I'm not sure about the live-action, but the diner in both the comic and animated TV series were homages to the classic Edward Hopper painting "Nighthawks" (an homage that would clearly have to be included if CoH went with this, IMHO).

This. I, too, was too intimidated at first to team much. But once you get into it, you'll find most people actually remember their newb days and are more than happy to help teach you (plus, that makes us "vets" feel smart ) or at least cut you a bunch of slack. I used to announce right away that I was fairly new and not used to teaming, and most of the responses were "Ha! Don't worry, we'll show you what to do if we need to. " After a few times, I realized I was a lot more adequate player than I thought.

As others have said, who said it was all about the market? It's more likely that they don't want you flip-flopping back and forth at will because they want what they built to actually mean something. You're changing how your character thinks and acts (or bringing them in line with it, depending on how they were originally envisioned). That's supposed to be a SLIGHTLY big deal at the very least.

You each lose one (1) internetz for using such a turgid and inappropriate phrase.

Well, yeah, I was referring specifically to the tutorial, but you make a good point. I think a lot of it will have to do with expectations. Anecdotal evidence, but I've found there's a pretty good split between gamers and super-hero fans that are drawn to this game. People like me, the latter that wouldn't touch WoW with a ten foot pole, are going to be thrilled to see anyone at all around at first. Someone trying this out from other MMOs is probably going to be disappointed in the lack of visible people. I personally have no preference in the order, myself. If they were trying to get people to fill up the lower populated servers...well...did it work? I don't know what their datamining says, but I doubt it.

No one at all? Even on Victory in the "middle of the night" (US) I still see people around. Not crowds, but there's always someone.

Hmmm...I see the problem but I don't really agree with the solution. First, the "forced" issue. I think "seeing people" is further down the list of why people will stay or not than you do. A wider variety of options is better here, IMHO. Second is that it's short term. Sure, Praetoria's gonna be hoppin' for those first couple of months, but then you're right back where you started (unless things skyrocket after QR, but I don't think anyone's expecting that kind of bump). Third there's the "this isn't a trial, I paid for the game...how come I can't do that other thing over there?" problem. An MMO with a probationary period? I don't think that would work at all.