Hmm. a list of likes. I'll start with the OP's.
CoH was the primary MMO I played until it was closed down. I started playing in beta and continued all through its life cycle. I tried other games like CO and DCUO but they just didn't spark as well with me. Why did I find CoH superior? Let me count the ways:
I started about i6 time.
1. CoH had more powers than any other superhero MMO.
Dunno. Haven't played CO in free-to-play mode enough to find out.
2. Villains. You could play an actual villain in CoH. Where else can you actually do that? Not only could you play a villain but you could reform to a hero or have a hero go bad.
Except for a couple arcs and mayhems, the villainy felt hollow; it was more like you were a bully for the establishment than a real villain. You didn't have any personal goals, except to toady up to Arachnos. I wanted to acquire wealth (virtual represented by briefcases full of cash, art works, supercars, precious gems) as one goal of a villain; they could have used the under-used souvenir system for that.
4. Incarnate trials. I played them so much with my level 50 characters. They were like raids in Everquest (which was my main game before CoH) only not so long and tedious.
I hate raids, no matter the game.
5. Enhancements. I miss all those special enhancements you could get to give your character additional abilities like defense, recharge time reduction or health and endurance increases. They really helped you make your high level characters feel more powerful.
I like the IO system, but it didn't do all that was promised. For example, I was looking forward to having a hold on my blaster based on a hold IO, and the procs weren't what I was looking for.
Perhaps having procs that added together in one power, say 1 = 20% (or whatever percentage it was), and slotting additional ones increased the percentage, say: 2x = 50%, 3x = 80%. This might have made those minor damage attacks worth slotting for them, effectively changing the power from an attack power to an attack & hold power.
6. The music. I miss zipping around Paragon city with my own personal sound track. It resonated with me more than any other game currently available.
I quickly turned off the repetitive noise.
7. New content. Since Freedom there was so much more content released. I didn't even mind paying for the costumes and powers I didn't get as a subscriber.
It didn't seem that that much more was added than before. And, they REMOVED content: the starting arcs and their original maps for the last mission. Yeah, not the most excting arcs, but I rather do them again then repeat that new first one again and again and again. Instead, I started street sweeping the first 3-4 levels with every new character, then maybe join DFB (or vice-versa).
9. The community. Never before and never since have I played a game that had so many great people in it always willing to help each other out. I still play MMO's but there are just so many games where the jerks outnumber the good folks.
Ah yes, the touted community. It really wasn't all that. It is probably better than other games, but COH's community had its share of jerks, elite cliques, and SGs ruled by control freaks.
Now, for a few of my own.
As a ranged attacker, I never liked having two powers that did the same thing, except for difference in damage level. I have no problem spamming the main attack power. The other one was a waste of a power slot. If it did something different, say the range was longer for the less damaging attack, or took a LOT less END, than it would be fine. Or, as I mentioned with IOs, it could be made to BE different.
As for CO, I hate the Endurance building game mechanic. Is this some standard way of doing things in other MMOs?
(sigh.. age.. after writing the above I forgot what else I was going to say.. guess will add later. .. there's no "old" emoticon? about time one was made? old man face:
)