+2 narrows the window of group finding and makes it very slow and difficult to group
Static is ideal, but if you lack one, IMHO, it's just far FAR better to solo in HC, most especially if you're a trapper. There's always someone that doesn't listen and just blasts on through. Of my HC deaths that were not my own fault, all were due to rushing groupies while trapping.
For the char where I "finished" (reached favor goal) and then kept playing for fun and maybe more, I didn't stop dying until I started ignoring all pleas for help trapping and did it mostly solo; basically 1~20 solo/favor then 20~30 grouped doing whatever for minor rxp.
Bit of feedback on rewards: the cloaks are gorgeous. However, they're red. Red cloaks are common. Red anything is common. That means zero cosmetic motivation for me. White, OTH, is quite rare in cloaks and would have looked at least as nice. I might have done HC again for a white cloak just because of rarity even without any immediate desire to wear it.
Footprints are a good choice. I'd highly recommend getting footprints if you ever lead anything or even if you just know your way around. I get lots of comments about how nice the footprints are from newbies. I have bloody already and these aren't different enough to be a draw for me.
What would have been a sure draw: wings. Bat, dragon, bird, bee, dragonfly, .. even tiny lil' pigeon wings would have done it (for my bear). Wings for pets would also do it; eg. a feature that lets you add them cosmetically to a pet, hire, or companion.