It's actually worse with Alicia to be honest because she doesn't get single shot kills or even two shot kills. In fact, she's lucky if she can kill someone with several reloads while they're down... and hosing you with Iune that can kill you in two bullets (because instant kill headshots...) that is semi-auto. So you're dead and frustrated and then you notice... Sooma was popping shields on everyone making Alicia even more difficult to use than she already is. So you sigh and stop being evil for a bit to breeze through some missions on Raider before going back and trying again with Lycus! Simple solution, just kill Sooma first since it breaks all her shields and she's visible all the time.

These arguments always go sideways. Hive was extremely abusive in PVP. We're talking Konstanine Tolchok levels of abuse. She absolutely needed something to be done... long before it actually happened. It was incredibly toxic on a scale where you wouldn't see anyone run anything else much like the Sahdu with Shae. No one was using anything else claiming everything else is worthless while we all just shake our heads in disgust because somewhere deep down we hoped people would "try" a bit instead of claiming the old excuse "...but it is necessary. I cannot win without doing this thing!"

First, that's a defeatist attitude as you always have had and always will have options. You might not see them because you're focusing way too hard on the meta and what everyone else is doing instead of trying to find your own way. Second, actually learning something and improving with it isn't the end of the world even if it results in losses. This is how the original players actually got good at the game. Last, we don't even know how long they'll stick to their guns before they buff Hive through the roof like they "fixed" Ayana's hook so it's quite possible this wont last nearly as long as the Plague's meta.

Particular advice, the CQC system is not functioning properly so keep that in mind and put thine fists up and shoot with furious fervor at thine enemies!

Alicia's counter is aiming up. Done... Never seen even brand new players struggle with that. She's aerial and thus it makes sense anything with dispersal or suppression in mind is going to do guess what... It's going to suppress her... a lot. In my experience, Hans is a lot harder to hit and hits a lot harder than Alicia ever could. So she can down you... yet she has the worst potential to actually kill you before you kill her even if you're already downed. However, despite all that if someone wants a brief cooldown for her I wouldn't object because it means they'd have to balance other characters as well that more direly need it.

There's not a great amount of balance between characters as some get... extra abilities or perks. So Iune can come across as a tad confusing compared to someone simpler such as Konstantine. Keep in mind, certain Talents (formerly Cards) can change how a character behaves and should be browsed through to see the full breadth of what a character 'might' be able to do. In this way, even characters like Doldren, Hive and Valeria can become healers and normally that is not a role they would fill.

That would be great and no you cannot.

Supposedly, because Momo... You can get a 12 as a Raider and that can get you to that total. However, given there you've got a bit more Gold and some Purple stuff I am not sure I would endorse putting yourself through that sort of hell... Adding up your Gold, and other Rewards you should be well on your way to unlocking one if not more characters per month. Past a point, it's just bragging rights so try not to stress too much about this.