I think it's unfair to compare ANY MMO's character creation system, or ability for uniqueness to COH. No one else is ever going to touch it - not even another super-hero MMO like CO or DCO, because COH wasn't just a superhero game. It let you be anything, almost. That sort of freedom is, I honestly believe, a huge part of what made the game great, and made repeating the same basic content over and over so much fun - because a different character was like a whole new game, especially if you're an RPer.
That being said, I can't agree with your assesment that "all Norns look alike," or that character customization is lacking in GW2. For the genre it belongs to, GW2 is really above and beyond in terms of what we're allowed to do with our looks. In WoW or SWTOR or LOTRO, yes, all "Elf/unicorn/Twi'leks" look alike, because there's only a small, set number of templates to choose from, and gear is attached to looks.
I could make you some screenshots (maybe I will when my new HD gets here and I can play again!) of a lineup of Norns, all of the same class, and none of them looking much like each other. My first COH character, Trillium, is actually an old Amber Diceless Tabletop character that I've ported into every MMO I've played at one point or another. Nowhere except GW2 was I able to mold her facial features to really make her look like herself. I sure do miss her horse legs (and I never got my horsey tail! *cries*) but facially, there is not another Norn that looks like her, and she's excessively short. Add the transmutation stone factor (I can choose exactly what armor, of any level, that I want to wear, obtain that armor from a vendor or the Trading Post, and put it on my character at any level, then use dye to change the colors) and there are very few characters wearing my armor, either.
Gameplay is also very different depending on the weapons you choose. I've got two rangers - one uses cats and a longbow/greatsword, and has gone full beastmastery with lots of "buff my pet" skills - the other uses axe and warhorn and uses lots of traps, getting right in combat alongside her dogs. They play COMPLETELY differently. They're honestly like 2 different classes. My best friend and I each play every class, and we don't play anything alike when playing the same class. It's pretty nifty.
Well I only have one character so far and yes she's unlocked all of the various weapon skills on all usable mesmer weapons.
And yes, it does have an impressive face editor and if I want to play Barbie makeup studio/plastic surgery, or have any skill other than making one of the dozen plus premade faces uglier, I'm sure I would love it.
But armor is armor. Now I'm only level 25 and maybe the higher level armors have more variations but since I can't try them on to see what each look like when I do have a choice it's a blind pick solely by stats and not by looks.
The game only has body types to choose from and not body sliders. I can understand why technically (fewer clipping issues for outfits) and visually (it's covered in armor most of the time (except for a group of players that appear to play without armor as a challenge).
Height ranges are limited by race. I can't have a tiny Norn for instance. If I want tiny I must play either a Cabbage Patch kid (Sylvari for those who don't play) or Experiment 626 (well I think the Asura look like Stitch).
So to me, due to the lack of variations other than the head on Norns, I do think they all (race+class+weapon wielded) look alike.
But my original point, which obviously I didn't make clear enough in response to VV's warning about becoming too attach is that all the inherent limitations in both character creation, clothing choices, origins, powers/skills of other MMOs including GW2, makes it unlikely that I would grow attach to my characters the way I did with CoH. So the "sudden but inevitable betrayal" won't feel like a friend taken away in the prime of their life.
