XP Bars

[KidKourage]

For this year's anniversary, I feel the need to share the last of my thoughts and ideas about City of Heroes. 
XP Bars
So what if each of those tiny little purple experience bars were an actual spendable units of character construction?
You begin the game (in the tutorial or the city) at level 1, with 2 starting powers and 10 XP bars to spend.  And for the next 49 levels, you will gain 490 more XP bars.  When levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, and 50 (not 49) are achieved, you earn a power slot, but you do not have to use it immediately (or at all).  When powers are initially purchased (aside from your two starters), they come with zero enhancement slots.  Inherent and temporary powers have no cost and become available as soon as they are earned (achieve the required security level or complete the story arc) but cannot be enhanced.  Enhancement slots are no longer earned with levels, you can have as many as your XP bars can buy you.
The beauty of this system is that you can advance your character the way you want to.  If you are low level and prefer to enhance the powers you have rather than add another, you could.  You are comfortable running with a few less total powers in order to better enhance what you have, do it.  You want to save a few XP so when you buy that next power you can immediately enhance it, have at.  You never want to spend any XP and run around at level 50 with only 2 unenhanced powers; um, enjoy that you knucklehead...
Powers without costs
Level 1: Initial Primary, Initial Secondary, Sprint, Brawl, Inherent Origin
Level 2: Rest
Level 4:  Expanded Fitness and Archetype Pools
Level 6:  Basic Fitness and Archetype Pools
Using XP bars
•   Adding an enhancement slot to any power costs 3 XP bars.
•   Adding a new power (with zero enhancement slots) costs depending on the type:
     o   set powers, pool, ancillary and patron powers cost 9 XP bars
     o   subset powers cost nothing (they come free when you buy the enabling power).
•   Adding a new skill* (with zero enhancement slots) costs 1 XP bar
* Assuming skills were ever added to the game.
Incarnate
From my viewpoint, players could continue to gain XP bars after level 50, which could be used to continue expanding their existing powers or used towards Incarnate powers and slots.  I leave it as an exercise for those more experienced with Incarnate abilities.
Subset Powers
When you buy a power such as Bright Nova, you unlock the 'squid' subset powers.  These powers also start with zero enhancements.  When you buy the enabling power, you begin earning special XP bars along with you normal ones, to a maximum of 15.  These special XP bars can only be used on subset powers.  Obviously this would just be 5 enhancements slots; but if the devs ever added optional powers to the subset, they could be used for them as well.
So...
If you play the tutorial and enter Paragon City, Mercy Island, or Nova Pretoria at level 2, you will have your Initial Primary, Initial Secondary, Sprint, Brawl, Rest, 20 XP bars and 1 power slot available to spend.  You can either buy 6 enhancement slots for these five powers, or you buy another set power and have enough to buy 3 enhancements.
At level 50, if for some reason you have added 6 enhancements to every power you have (though I have to question why anyone would six-slot Hurdle), you will only be able to buy 12 additional powers.