Or can I just ignore it and still survive?

It helps, especially when dealing with high radiation areas.

But you shouldn't have too much of a problem without it.

There is a specific part of the main quest where its helpful to have power armor, tho not essential.

That said, due to how fast fusion cores deplete, i never use them. hate to have to ride it around

only to have it stuck somewhere when i'm out of fusion cores.

So far have played entire game for 30+ hours without using power armor at all except the one scripted quest where you get it.

I prefer non PA play in all prev FO games and plan on doing all of FO4 w/o PA as well.

Well it certainly is helping me early on (currently level 6). I find myself dying quite often due to lack of ammo and just getting bum rushed by enemies and power armor lets me tank enemies quite well. I do hate leaving in the middle of nowhere though when the fusion core(s) run out so i fast travel back to red rocket to store it their while i find more power cores.

Spending action points causes you to burn through power cores. Also, as far as I know your power armor doesn't just shut down you just lose the carry weight bonus and can't use any action that requires action points

I never bothered with PA in prior FO games and I'm doing my best to avoid it now. The one mission where you get your first set is the only time I used it.

You only really need it in the glowing sea which you need to go to for the main quest, you can go there in a radiation suit too but the enemies are really powerful and having power armor is much better there.

After that you can stick it back in your house and keep it as a decoration

I used it to kill the deathclaw, then parked it. Probably won't ever touch it again. Never used it in FO3 or NV.

I didn't wear it again since the first quest.

Its still rusty also...

Depends on the difficulty level you're playing on, the type of playstyle (cheese) you're applying and the enemy you're fighting.

I can tank deathclaw attacks with the power armor on, which is definitely useful. Haven't tried going 1 on 1 with a deathclaw without it, unless I cheese things out with a mine-field I place in front of me, then aggro it with a long-distance silenced sniper rifle.

No. My current character is a sniper so PA is useless.

ive use sit once in the quest you first get it and I'm 30 hours in and never felt the need for it

The problem with power armor is that you don't even know when it will be useful, so combined with the fact it uses charges which doesn't likes VATS, I never use it.

I'll wait for the mod it seems.

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/225/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/325/?

you mean this?

i been using it only for walk around, but not inside building ( i think is to huge to function inside. it feel weird.) but i keep getting cores like crazy so isnt much of a problem.

I found a suit just sitting in a field and after inspecting it I just noted where it was so I could collect it later. Then about 60 seconds later I got one shotted by a raider sniper on top of a satellite dish.

I got the impression they put that armor there for a reason so in the future when I find power armor near a point of interest, I guess I'll put it on before exploring.

i would say yes in survival mode

I found out there is a stealth boy mod for PA, so that made me rethink not using power armor on my playthrough!

You got it, the armor certainly helps in combat, but it is also a burden if the core gets depleted. It would be useful if we could get a hint if we should bring it to a mission, like someone tipping us if the enemies will be strong or something like that.

u can play w/o it on Survival, is alot more fun ( till u die alot =P) I love survival.

there is nothing that inherently hinders that playstyle with power armor, there seems to be no negatives to stealthing in it.

Feels essential on Survival especially as melee. Hell even with PA you can get rekt.