Hi all,
I'm ANT and I make a living as a designer and CM.
I used to play EvE, but space was too slow.
PO however hit right home for me.
As I love and play the game I also can't help but be bothered by those pesky things my profession makes me notice and be aware of the implications...

Avatars:
This is the single biggest issue PO has at the moment.
No I'm not kidding. Bugs, design, pop, all less important.
See the key to selling a product is the sell the package instead.
People would buy turds if it came in gold wrapping.
Avatars in PO are.. Well it's horrid, we all know it.
And should you log *where* most new accounts log out never to return, I can assure you it's in that part of the creation.
I sincerely hope this is THE biggest priority to fix right now. As a rough estimate says you're losing 10-25% of new players because of it.

Mechs:
PO will Never get rid of the 'EvE copy' label, we all know that.
Not a bad thing, it doesn't hurt the brand.
However, when people compare, they compare what they see.
And it was the first thing after the avatars that struck me too.
I don't see it when playing now, it doesn't bother me, but new players do:
Mechs are Very low res. And compared to EvE? Well it's not even a discussion.

The rest:
While the UI is doable, the tutorials aren't horrid, the stats are...
When creating your char, when adding extensions, when looking at it.
There's far too little info and far too much data, causing far too much "???" among new players (Hell you're implementing a EP reset....)
This together with the in-game HELP search needs some urgent attention as well,
as the information a game gives a user defines what the user thinks is the DEVs interest in the user.
Simply put: Haphazard information says haphazard job done and haphazard developers.
True or not, that IS the message it sends.
Further the crash in the launcher (C++) goes to set up a picture for the new user.

Having played PO for a while now, these things are really bothering me.
Because they give a false impression of PO.
That it's ugly. Low budget. And not very thought through.
I just hope these details will be sorted very soon, as it is now a month after launch and your main priority should be growth. Money makes the world go round.
And I want PO to be great. Which is why I bothered to make this post,
because small holes can sink ships, and I really like this boat. Please keep it afloat?