I have a problem with Inspirations (City of Heroes)

This was originally posted on the CoH forums a long time ago and has been lost to the depths of the archives. I still think it's a particularly entertaining read, so I'm preserving it here. 

My problem is I never use them.

Well, that's not entirely true. I make a conscious effort to burn through the small and useless ones. I'll even delete some because I don't want to waste time activating a bunch of insights. I can't stand having an inspiration tray full of garbage. That garbage prevents me from getting the really useful huge inspirations. I hoard huge inspirations. My standard setup is two full columns of huge purple inspirations, one full column of huge greens, and a "rez column" (wakey, break free, blue and green, all huge, of course). Characters without mez protection have a column of break frees, characters with have huge reds. That leaves one column which I keep routinely empty for collecting more huge inspirations.

Despite the inventory, I still never use them.

I can't.

There's this nagging voice in the back of my head. Every time my mouse goes to the tray, I hear it. "But what if you really need them later?"

Take this situation for an example. I'm playing my AR/EM/Munitions blaster on a team with no aggro control, no hard control, and no (de)buffs to speak of. It's just me, two scrappers and two other blasters with the difficulty set way too high. Right after the scrappers jump in, I boost range+build up full auto into the group and hit some of the second group behind it.

At that very instant in time, I can see my fate. It's glaring at me, reflected in the eyes of the aggro cap's worth of enemies turning their heads to me. At that very fleeting moment, I know I'm doomed unless I do something. I could pop one of my huge purple inspirations and continue like nothing was wrong.

But no. I decide to ride it out. What if the scrappers generate enough aggro? What if we kill them fast enough anyway? Then I'll have wasted that huge, valuable inspiration for nothing. No, I can handle this.

Buckshot the group back. Beanbag the peskiest LT. Power Push that boss. Ignite near my feet to keep them off me. None of it matters. My health is crashing fast and nothing I do can save me. Nothing, except of course, inspirations. I still have time. I could gobble a huge green and a pair of purples and turn this into a trivial encounter.

But no. Now we're talking three huge inspirations to save myself, and no situation is so dire to warrant that kind of excess. Besides, things are starting to look better. Except now there's an ambush. Or a patrol. Or someone else aggro'd a third group.

Or all three.

Now the fecal matter has hit the fan in copious amounts. One blaster and I are already eating dirt; the other one's hanging on for dear life. Scrapper health is even dwindling. But there's a still a chance. Build up and full auto are ready to roll. This is what I have the rez column for. All I need to do is swallow one column of inspirations for a no downtime revival, throwing out that built up full auto to mow down our remaining opposition and prevent the inevitable teamwipe. I could even add a purple or two to make sure I survive.

But no. Do you realize how long it took me to collect that perfect rez column? That's four inspirations we're talking about, and the huge wakey alone is super rare, likely made from combining three other huge inspirations. That's like wasting seven inspirations. No way. Instead, I look at my tray to find that in all the excitement, I have two insights that were dropped into my empty column.

"Anyone got a small yellow?"