I have little experience with V4. I'm not a vendor, nor do I ever intend to become one. Now that's out of the way:

What I've posted here is a comparison of the default V4 (left) and a morph I worked on some weeks ago (right). I don't show this as an indication of the 'look' you should be aiming for, but more as an example of, at the very least, how far a unique character should deviate from the standard V4. This morph evolved as a result of other forum users offering their advice, and...here's the rub...me taking it.

This also serves as an illustration of the textures you are competing with (this is the Milan texture available in the Market Place). What's interesting about this texture is it avoids most of the advanced material options, instead baking the detail onto the texture. Not ideal by any measure, but the results are still quite lovely. Ultimately, if you're not going to take advantage of Poser's complex material room, you must at least ensure the detail is in the texture.

If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards...checkmate!