(Please note that I wrote World Wrestling Federation and not World Wrestling Entertainment. This is also a little history lesson that, I believe, the folks at Paragon need to be wary of.)
From the early 80's till about 2004, I was a hardcore fan of the WWF. I don't know if it was because watching wrestling with my Uncle was the only form of bonding we had before he died or if I just got too wrapped up in their storytelling, but I felt obligated to devote all of my time to their product.
(I slowly lost interest in wrestling when CoH came into my life 
)
Over the course of 10 years, the WWF destroyed the competition. Other wrestling companies crumbled and the talent at those companies slowly moved to the employment of the World Wrestling Federation. Sure, Vince McMahon poached the talent, but he got the job done and set his company up for global domination.
There was one reason, above all others, that the WWF succeeded where the other companies could not: they turned everything into a gimmick. Hulk Hogan was an unearthly popular gimmick
(the character, not the person.) They began to have gimmick matches at almost every Pay Per View event. The brought in more gimmick wrestlers that would test the resolve of older gimmick wrestlers. By 1997, everyone in the company was a gimmick Superstar... including the owner of the company and his family.
When their gimmicks tired out, they brought in gimmicks from outside of the wrestling industry: Mike Tyson, James "Buster" Douglas, Pete Rose, Aretha Franklin, Lawrence Taylor, and so on.
Those outside gimmicks were usually used to drive in new viewers because little by little, the fans that they catered to slowly faded away. At this point in WWF history, their weekly shows consisted of 4 actual wrestling matches that took place within a 40 minute frame and the last hour and 20 minutes was gimmick interviews, destroying vehicles that "belonged" to other wrestlers, and even backstage tours while one gimmick wrestler would be searching for another gimmick wrestler that did him wrong.
But where did their fans go? On the horizon, a longtime established company and largest rival to the WWF, called World Championship Wrestling (WCW) decided they would fight fire with fire. The created the "mother" of all gimmicks that stole the fans away from the WWF. The created a gimmick organization called the nWo (New World Order) that was comprised of former WWF talent. They played this group off as a bunch of irritated wrestlers that were sick of all the gimmicks they were given and now they were staging a coup to take their industry back.
Guess what? It worked. Longtime fans of the WWF jumped at the opportunity to get away from the "gimmicks" but little did they know this was the biggest gimmick of all.
WCW began to beat the WWF in ratings week after week. After a year, WCW was the top company in the business. But, WCW made a huge mistake... they let the fans in on the gimmick. After a year of the nWo running rampant, most of the wrestlers from the WCW parent company were all part of the nWo. They ran out of opponents for themselves. So they broke up the nWo into two factions, red and black, and had them fight each other. This was about the point when the WWF decided, "Hey, the fans want less gimmicks? Well, let's give it to them" and the WWF Attitude era was born.
All of the WWF talent that had played the part of a gimmick almost immediately dropped those gimmicks and took on slightly altered versions of their real life persona. Well, that drew the fans back like a moth to a flame. Sure, the WWF still had gimmicks but they didn't rely on them anywhere as much. WCW tried to fight back but they couldn't win back the fans trust. In 2001, the WWF bought out the failed WCW and closed down the competitor while absorbing many of the WCW talent.
The WWF was forced to change it's name to WWE in 2002 due to a court ruling against them by the World Wildlife Fund. But the new WWE decided they were going to change things with the company since they closed down the competition. They started relying on gimmicks once again to draw the attention of new fans. Slowly gimmick wrestlers returned and week after week more gimmick matches were added.
Then in 2006/2007 a company began to spring up that was based with the motto "Less gimmick, more action." That company was called TNA (Total Non-Stop Action) and in short time they began to steal away the fans of the WWE.
(See a pattern here?)
The WWE and TNA are still battling it out in 2011. Both companies have put more action and less gimmick into their products but there is a small bit of gimmick that occasionally gives one company the edge over another.
Now, this is where I ask you all
(those of you that were brave enough to read this) if you see anything here that Paragon Studios could use in City of Heroes?
City of Heroes beat the competition? check
City of Heroes has been dominating other games of the same genre of MMO? check
City of Heroes opened their doors to new players with a new, free gimmick? check
City of Heroes is relying less on gimmicks to be sure that players don't get burnt out? ... ... ...
Sadly, the last part is no. Every new update to the game has a new gimmick. Some gimmicks pile on older gimmicks and tie them in with new gimmicks to create a hybrid gimmick. Then those hybrids are broken down, converted, upgraded, sidegraded, deslotted, and enhanced to the point of the game itself BEING the gimmick.
So I ask the Developers, what brought players into City of Heroes in 2004? A new gimmick or giving people the ability to become, in digital form, the hero or villain they wish they could be in real life? Was it a gimmick that kept people here or a story that made them feel like they WERE that hero/villain they wished they could be.
I believe it's time for an "Attitude Era" of City of Heroes. I believe it's time they stop focusing on gimmicks to pacify people and strip it all down to what people love about this game. I'd even to go out on a limb and say that I'm not the only one that feels this way.
Just had this exact problem. I've changed a lot of costumes today and his was the first that wouldn't change (no charge, no error, no change). He has mace mastery and a weapon. I wonder if that has to do with it.