If we start with no user data

[Kaderie]

Well, maybe we should just charge 200 dollars and let someone make an immediate level 50, with all badges and any I/O's they want. I don't like grinding so let's throw in incaranate powers as well with enough to salvage to pick whatever you like as well being inf capped. This is a logical extension if you want to make the game as easy and as pointless as possible.

I have no idea what would left for you to do, but there you go. Can't even hunt Giant monsters because already got the badges for it.

Wut

A global unlock =/= getting it handed to you for nothing. You still have to actually do it.

You know, I had almost all these things you describe there. Inf cap, accolades, incarnate powers, all the IOs. And yet, magically, I still played the game, and cared not one bit for badging. I made my own fun and challenges. Why, I even ran the ITF when I already had the badge for it! It's almost like CoH supports many different playstyles and goals!

Tell me, where is the "sense of accomplishment" of grinding out 200 Fake Nemesis? it's certainly not challenging to twoshot bosses several levels below you, only to wait for them to respawn. Over and over again. On dozens of toons.

Getting HP/End accolades was not playing the game. It was pointless busywork that, in the case of PvPers, prevented them from playing the game as they wanted to because it was the cost of entry for participation.

The only thing grinding out these accolades compares to in your poor slippery slope argument is the incarnate grind. And guess what? Lots of people complained about only being able to get incarnate powers via trials, so devs added the solo incarnate content. There is no alternate way to earn accolade powers, and once you've earned them a few times, it gets stale and boring as sin.

[energizingion]

Wut

A global unlock =/= getting it handed to you for nothing. You still have to actually do it.

You know, I had almost all these things you describe there. Inf cap, accolades, incarnate powers, all the IOs. And yet, magically, I still played the game, and cared not one bit for badging. I made my own fun and challenges. Why, I even ran the ITF when I already had the badge for it! It's almost like CoH supports many different playstyles and goals!

Tell me, where is the "sense of accomplishment" of grinding out 200 Fake Nemesis? it's certainly not challenging to twoshot bosses several levels below you, only to wait for them to respawn. Over and over again. On dozens of toons.

Getting HP/End accolades was not playing the game. It was pointless busywork that, in the case of PvPers, prevented them from playing the game as they wanted to because it was the cost of entry for participation.

The only thing grinding out these accolades compares to in your poor slippery slope argument is the incarnate grind. And guess what? Lots of people complained about only being able to get incarnate powers via trials, so devs added the solo incarnate content. There is no alternate way to earn accolade powers, and once you've earned them a few times, it gets stale and boring as sin.

I haven't read all the posts but was going to say something about having a way to pay (or show from City Info Tracker) for all the badges/accolades on a certain character.  I had two "mains" getting all the badges that I could get with them.  Granted I really stopped doing it with my "main" villain but my "main" (Energizing Ion) had all the badges you get (with a char. that started as a hero and not a praetorian).  I would really not want to do the badge hunting thing again for all of those. :| 

Other thoughts:

*  Double or triple XP weeks (not just weekends :p)
*  Definitely some sort of 'pack' that you buy that can allow certain things (like access to everything (itrials, etc...) with different "levels" of what you get).

[Serpine]

Did any badge ever have money associated with it? Other than buying the collector's edition?

Mostly just boxed edition based stuff if I recall: Pocket D VIP (GVE Edition), V.I.P / Destined One (COH Collectors Edition). And the Veteran badges of course but those are kind of a special case.

[MWRuger]

Wut

A global unlock =/= getting it handed to you for nothing. You still have to actually do it.

You know, I had almost all these things you describe there. Inf cap, accolades, incarnate powers, all the IOs. And yet, magically, I still played the game, and cared not one bit for badging. I made my own fun and challenges. Why, I even ran the ITF when I already had the badge for it! It's almost like CoH supports many different playstyles and goals!

Tell me, where is the "sense of accomplishment" of grinding out 200 Fake Nemesis? it's certainly not challenging to twoshot bosses several levels below you, only to wait for them to respawn. Over and over again. On dozens of toons.

Getting HP/End accolades was not playing the game. It was pointless busywork that, in the case of PvPers, prevented them from playing the game as they wanted to because it was the cost of entry for participation.

The only thing grinding out these accolades compares to in your poor slippery slope argument is the incarnate grind. And guess what? Lots of people complained about only being able to get incarnate powers via trials, so devs added the solo incarnate content. There is no alternate way to earn accolade powers, and once you've earned them a few times, it gets stale and boring as sin.

Then don't do them. No gun to your head saying you have to. Just get all your fellow PvP'ers to agree to not get them. Better yet, since we are wishing for stuff we didn't have at close, just have none of the accolade powers work in PvP. Now you don't have to grind to get them.

But I didn't realize this was a PvP thing. No point in continuing it PvPer's and PvE'er's seldom see eye to eye.

Example: Badging in a PvP zone. PvE'er - just wants to badge and says so after being killed. PvP'er - You're in the Zone, fair game! They will not agree. I don't see the sense of accomplishment in killing the same schmo over and over again in a PvP zone, but I presume you do. Different strokes.

By the way, the devs added the solo incarnate route because not everybody could get on a team or played when it possible. Some people just like to solo. But it's a bad point to raise since the Devs also said that it would take far longer to get the shinies doing it solo. It was actually more of a grind, not less.

They also reduced the requirements for a lot of the accolade badges, but it's true they never made them free.

But again, the part you didn't address: We didn't have this when the game closed. This is about getting us where we were, It's not making about it easier for PvPer's, all 10 of them.

[MWRuger]

The one thing I would hope that everyone has learned by now is that there is not one way to play the game. There were lots of ways and everyone enjoyed they way they played it. As long as you aren't ruining someone else's fun, play however you like, whenever you like with whoever you like.

The minute you say something like "That's not playing the game" you are automatically incorrect.

[Fridgy Daiere]

Just a suggestion:  a cold drink, a couple of hours and 7 friends helps make those grind-y badges a lot more fun, not to mention faster!   

[MWRuger]

Just a suggestion:  a cold drink, a couple of hours and 7 friends helps make those grind-y badges a lot more fun, not to mention faster!   

Yeah, about a 3 man team can burn through those defeat badges pretty quick. I was killing Tsoo solo and broadcast if anyone wanted to join and 2 people did. I had to kill a few more to make sure they got it, but we chatted whilst taking down those pesky Tsoo sorcerers. Great fun

[Brightfires]

Just a suggestion:  a cold drink, a couple of hours and 7 friends helps make those grind-y badges a lot more fun, not to mention faster!   

Heck, even a duo can make plowing through some of them a whole lot more tolerable... That's how FlyingCodeMonkey and I used to do things like the Fake Nem and Overseer hunts.

The only one that really remained a massive pain in the rear, even with a few friends coming along for the ride, was getting the carnie Master Illusionists and their pets. THAT was still obnoxious, no matter how you sliced it.

[MWRuger]

Heck, even a duo can make plowing through some of them a whole lot more tolerable... That's how FlyingCodeMonkey and I used to do things like the Fake Nem and Overseer hunts.

The only one that really remained a massive pain in the rear, even with a few friends coming along for the ride, was getting the carnie Master Illusionists and their pets. THAT was still obnoxious, no matter how you sliced it.

Mainly because they just don't spawn anywhere near enough. I usually just ran the Carny mission in Oro if I missed them leveling. Also, there was an alignement mission that had them so you could get them there while earning alignment merist. I also hated Capo badge for the same reason, but at least you could hunt in two places for those guys.

[MWRuger]

I haven't read all the posts but was going to say something about having a way to pay (or show from City Info Tracker) for all the badges/accolades on a certain character.  I had two "mains" getting all the badges that I could get with them.  Granted I really stopped doing it with my "main" villain but my "main" (Energizing Ion) had all the badges you get (with a char. that started as a hero and not a praetorian).  I would really not want to do the badge hunting thing again for all of those. :| 

Other thoughts:

*  Double or triple XP weeks (not just weekends :p)
*  Definitely some sort of 'pack' that you buy that can allow certain things (like access to everything (itrials, etc...) with different "levels" of what you get).

I wouldn't like to, but I would rather do that then make them all global unlocks. Worse, making them purchasable.

[Felderburg]

But I didn't realize this was a PvP thing. No point in continuing it PvPer's and PvE'er's seldom see eye to eye.

It's not just a PvP thing - it's plenty annoying / boring for anyone who doesn't like high amounts of repetition to grind defeat badges on multiple characters. That's why I only had the one main badge character.

Example: Badging in a PvP zone. PvE'er - just wants to badge and says so after being killed. PvP'er - You're in the Zone, fair game! They will not agree. I don't see the sense of accomplishment in killing the same schmo over and over again in a PvP zone, but I presume you do. Different strokes.

I wouldn't presume such things - not every PvPer did that.

[Brightfires]

I wouldn't presume such things - not every PvPer did that.

If playing Aion regularly has taught me one thing, it's that PvPers who love an "easy kill" (And let's be honest here, PvE-types do tend to be easier marks than other PvPers-) far, far outnumber the ones who honestly are looking for a fair fight.

I know you guys all protest when people say that, but what tends to happen on a regular basis in PvP games/zones sort-of makes all the arguments about how most of you AREN'T like that awfully difficult to believe. 

[Brightfires]

I too believe in double posts? 

[Harpospoke]

It would also make bases ridiculously easy to outfit as you would have all the the explore badges that grant the teleport beacons OR or impossible because you weren't in SG mode when you received them.

I remember having an issue with that.   I went around and got a bunch of exploration badges but had forgotten to turn on SG mode.   I just went back and stood on them again in SG and it worked.

[CrimsonCapacitor]

Point of order: Guy Perfect wrote Sentinel+.  I've done some research into going the opposite direction.

So you're writing Sentinel-?

[MWRuger]

It's not just a PvP thing - it's plenty annoying / boring for anyone who doesn't like high amounts of repetition to grind defeat badges on multiple characters. That's why I only had the one main badge character.

I wouldn't presume such things - not every PvPer did that.

Probably not, but the ones I met in PvP zones did.

(Not to mention the trash talk. Can't even post it here without it pancaking every other word. Let's say there was a lot of talk about same sex sexual preference, poultry excrement, how you were a British slang word for a cigarette or how everyone was actually a bundle of sticks used for fire starting. Also perhaps some question about how you preferred sexual relations with your mother.) Most of that seems endemic to online gaming, but especially PvP. So many examples on every gaming platform

Like you I didn't do defeats except on my main or if I wanted a particular accolade. 1000 rikiti monkies! Ugh.

 But why should that unlock it on every single guy? It's not required to play the game. I had plenty of guys who never got the Atlas Medallion. They played just fine without it It's convenient, but not necessary.

But I'll go this far: Assuming we don't get our data back and if you have the sentinel+ files and they haven't had the checksum jacked with, (or maybe Badgehunter) we could use those to import badges and accolades on a character of the same name. Pay a small processing fee and you are good to go. Right back where you were when the game closed. That seems fair to me rather than global unlocks for everything.

[MWRuger]

I remember having an issue with that.   I went around and got a bunch of exploration badges but had forgotten to turn on SG mode.   I just went back and stood on them again in SG and it worked.

I actually didn't know that. I just used a different character in the same SG to unlock them if I already had them. Mainly, because it was easier to track them as they would appear as you got them and there was less searching for the one you missed because you just didn't have it yet.

[Harpospoke]

The minute you say something like "That's not playing the game" you are automatically incorrect.

*applause*

[Harpospoke]

Yeah, about a 3 man team can burn through those defeat badges pretty quick. I was killing Tsoo solo and broadcast if anyone wanted to join and 2 people did. I had to kill a few more to make sure they got it, but we chatted whilst taking down those pesky Tsoo sorcerers. Great fun

That was always the way I did the Fake badge.   Otherwise you are probably going to be competing with 3 other people/teams for the same spawns. 

[hejtmane]

Probably not, but the ones I met in PvP zones did.

(Not to mention the trash talk. Can't even post it here without it pancaking every other word. Let's say there was a lot of talk about same sex sexual preference, poultry excrement, how you were a British slang word for a cigarette or how everyone was actually a bundle of sticks used for fire starting. Also perhaps some question about how you preferred sexual relations with your mother.) Most of that seems endemic to online gaming, but especially PvP. So many examples on every gaming platform

Like you I didn't do defeats except on my main or if I wanted a particular accolade. 1000 rikiti monkies! Ugh.

 But why should that unlock it on every single guy? It's not required to play the game. I had plenty of guys who never got the Atlas Medallion. They played just fine without it It's convenient, but not necessary.

But I'll go this far: Assuming we don't get our data back and if you have the sentinel+ files and they haven't had the checksum jacked with, (or maybe Badgehunter) we could use those to import badges and accolades on a character of the same name. Pay a small processing fee and you are good to go. Right back where you were when the game closed. That seems fair to me rather than global unlocks for everything.

It was better at 1000 when it first came out it was 10k talk about ugh