Rudra

No the first post did not call for that. And that's where this discussion got de-railed and you have a bunch of people give "likes" and responses in a way that show they didn't even read the initial post. No one suggestion to have items locked behind badges, instead it was stated to have that left alone. So when the comments aren't even comments addressing the OP but some fiction fabricated by the forum militia springing to action against any perceived threat whether real or not, it eliminates any chance for an honest discussion. Yes, you called for base items to be locked behind your badges. And like @Skyhawke said, that was a major red flag.

I normally agree with more options are better, but not when it comes to no weapons for weapon sets.

I believe one of the last 3 bosses can fly. So yeah, finding him if he flies away can be problematic. What usually happens that 'breaks' the event is one of the stage enemies runs off and finds a good place to not leave. The Freakshow stage I believe can break by having a Freakshow run far enough away that he just despawns. (Edit: Usually though, it just seems that a mob runs off and hides somewhere with no trigger to return. Or maybe they are trying to return, but to their initial spawn point which can't really be accessed?)

Sorry. However, if you want a better example of how the alignment system works and why things work the way they do, we can delve into the mess that is Praetorian alignments and why they can't go red side or blue side until they do the mission that makes them no longer Praetorians. The game engine is ancient and has lots of limitations baked in that the Live devs were and the current devs are saddled with trying to make work despite how much the game tells them "No". (Edit: What makes the Praetorian alignments such a mess compared to blue/red side? The game can only track/process two alignments. That's it. Just two.)

If I remember correctly what the devs were saying, not really. The whole alignment system was a mess from the get go. They couldn't get it to work except by maintaining the original 2 alignments. So regardless of whether your character is a hero or a vigilante, the game can only see you as a hero. And regardless of if your character is a villain or rogue, the game can only see you as a villain. What differentiates vigilantes from the base hero alignment and rogues from the base villain alignment is a flag that allows them to move between the sides. And only by being red side as a vigilante or blue side as a rogue can the game look past your hero/villain alignment and let you on a hero/villain team. It is the zone and your character being in that zone that allows your vigilante to run around on a red side team or your rogue to run around on a blue side team. Take away the zone? And all you have left is hero or villain. And heroes cannot be red side or do red side content, and villains cannot be blue side or do blue side content. So without the zone to maintain your character's validity for the team, your character ceases to be valid for the team and is dumped. Vigilante flag and rogue flag are basically just zone access, and blue/red side content is only accessible from that side. That is also why if your rogue character walks up to a hero contact, the contact tells you to step off, and why the same happens to vigilante character red side. Because your character's alignment is not rogue or vigilante, but hero or villain on the other side's territory.

The game play reason is how the game tracks characters and zones. You cannot invite an enemy from the enemy zone. (Edit: Even if they are valid participants for whatever you are going to do.) When you go into your SG base, or Ouroboros, or other co-op area, your character is not in a red side zone, a blue side zone, or a gold side zone. So as far as I can tell, the game tracks you by your alignment. And since you are the wrong alignment to be on that team, because mechanically vigilantes are still just heroes, except with a flag that lets them go to red side zones, and heroes cannot be on a red side team, you get dumped. Because non-factional zones seem to have no means of tracking you otherwise. You can do co-op content because co-op content isn't flagged for red side or blue side, it is all sides. Side specific content however? Avoid the co-op zones because the game's engine apparently cannot handle tracking your character other than how it does. (This was a discussion from a long time ago.)

No, the team running out of the mission if a GM should appear. Every team I'm on puts whatever we are doing on hold to take down whatever GM appears, no matter how small our team is. (Edit: Not because I stop them, but because they immediately run off to kill the GM.) And if talking about the ITF, then players will have full access to their incarnate powers (if run at level 45+) and will most likely be quite eager to put the GM in its place.

In the tailor, go to the Pool/Epic tab for character customization. Under Hover, you can choose "No Pose" which sets your character to using the Fly animation. Or under the group options for the Flight pool, you can choose any of the 3 alternates and it does the same. Though you will lose the Hover animation at all times while those are active. If that is unacceptable? Then adding the option to change flight pose priorities is fine, as long as that is all it is, an option, and not a mandatory change imposed on everyone.

Apologies but, since when?

It isn't a thematics thing. It is a mechanics thing. You see the same thing happen if you cross through say, Ouroboros. (Edit: That is why it is typically advised for rogues on blue side teams and vigilantes on red side teams to stay in the respective side's zones while teamed with the other side.)

I don't know about PvP players and their SGs, but I would personally be fine with that.

On Live, when you joined a SG, if they had any SG badges, those badges were loaded to your character. If anyone checked your character's information, they would see your character's personal badges and the SG's badges too. If you left the SG, those badges were no longer loaded against the character, because they belong to the SG. So if anyone checked your character's information after you left the SG, those badges were no longer there because you no longer had access to them. (Edit: A quick way to check that back on Live was to check the character's badge count while in and out of the SG. Even if you weren't a member of said SG, you could do that check with a willing member of a SG. The badge count would go up or down depending on whether they were showing as part of the SG or not, provided the SG had unlocked any of the SG badges.) (Edit again: So to answer your questions in the order asked: Yes. No. Yes or no depending on whether the SG has the badge or not.)

Being allowed to exist is not an advantage. The advantage of a solo SG? You have an entire base to yourself. I'm not talking about solo SGs though. I'm talking about small SGs. Small SGs have shared storage just like large SGs. Small SGs typically have an interest in doing the same things the large SGs do. Whether it be running TFs/SFs together, doing iTrials together, forming or leading raids, RP (or non-RP) social events, and anything else pretty much any SG can do. And now you want to add something that the large SGs would be able to do with ridiculous ease, get SG badges, but that small SGs would not be able to do because they will not be able to recruit the people they need to accomplish it. (Or if they are badges they can get on their own? Will take them years to do so. If they have enough members to keep it at just years of effort instead of not at all.) And no, badges are not something the SG only would be able to see. They get loaded to the SG members as well. So everyone can see them if they choose to check the character's information. Yes, we are being serious. However, your stance is obviously that small SGs are solo SGs and so should not even be a consideration. And it was that elitism that upset players like me about SGs and prestige back on Live. 'Your SG can't recruit new members? Tough, you should have joined a proper SG.' 'Your SG can't do X? Tough, you should have joined a proper SG.' 'Your SG is trying to be a "proper SG"? Tough, you should have joined a proper SG in the 1st place.' (Edit: You want SG badges? Fine. Let's add some. However, you want prestige badges or other badges with requirements that only the larger SGs can accomplish? No, I'm against that.) (Edit again: You want to lock anything behind those only large SGs can get badges? Hells no.)

Your argument again fails and for the same reason. Let's break it down. A PvP'er will earn PvP badges. A PvE'er will not unless they opt to go do some PvP. In this case, it is someone choosing to not partake of something, the PvE'er not doing PvP means the PvE'er will not get any PvP badges. A villain that chooses to stay red side will not get blue side badges and a hero that chooses to stay blue side will not get red side badges. Again, the player is opting to not participate, so they will not get. A player that does not check the badge tabs to see what badges still need what to be completed is most likely not a badger. The badger will pursue the badges whereas the non-badger will not. (Edit: So the non-badger is opting to not participate in getting badges, so they will most likely not get them.) A player that joins a SG is still joining a SG, regardless of whether it is a large group or a small group. Those players are choosing to participate in a SG. They are not opting to not participate else they would not be in a SG. As opposed to the player that does not join a SG, and so is opting to not participate in such. This is a completely different phenomenon than the examples you are citing. Your argument is that if they want the SG badges, then obviously they need to join the large SGs. Which not only punishes smaller SGs, not even looking at solo SGs, just small ones, it also drives those players looking for SGs away from the smaller ones and to the larger ones. Which even further reinforces the smaller SGs' inability to get those SG badges. This is the same thing that happened back on Live. Where only the large SGs would be able to recruit and the smaller ones would try over and over and over to get new recruits, only for the ones they finally get to join to realize they joined a small SG and don't have access to all the perks, badges, and improved base items the large SGs have, then immediately quit the small SG to try again for a large SG. And your comments are leading me to believe that is exactly what you want, for only the large SGs to enjoy recruitment opportunities and base item access and SG badges.

If we're expanding the boombox play list, can we also get them without the dancing NPC? I'd like to hide one in a jukebox in my base so I can have different music in each room without having to figure out which wall can I stick the NPC in to make him disappear. (Edit: It would be a lot easier to hide a boombox in the middle of the room so its music doesn't carry over to other rooms than it is to hide an NPC.) (Edit again; Why not just incorporate the NPC? Because his dancing never matches the music.)

They can also put on their SG outfit and go out in the community to do things that earns them actual prestige instead of game prestige number. Anyone remember the Taxibots back on Live? You want to talk about a well received and well recognized SG? They had real prestige. I never met a player that didn't like or appreciate them. And it had nothing to do with the currency prestige.

This argument fails on this thread. Why? Because if you make a character without heals, of course you don't have access to heal badges. However, we are talking about SGs here. How is being part of a small SG as compared to a large SG the same as making a non-healing character versus a healing character? They aren't even remotely similar. Using the healer example, it is the difference of a character with just one single target heal that grants light healing compared to a character with several heals including AoE ones. Not the difference of making a character without heals compared to one with heals. (Edit: Also, note that in my post you are quoting, I said small SGs, not solo SGs. My "Especially solo SGs" comment was a highlight for reference.)

Then we experienced vastly different prestige back on Live. Because back on Live, a SG's prestige went up and down regularly until their base was fully built up. Only after there was nothing left for the SG to buy with prestige did they just accumulate prestige without it dropping. Which again, is something only the large SGs got to experience. (Edit: And even then, prestige still went down monthly to pay base rent.) I do not recall that tab, but yes, there were multiple base items that were only available to buy with prestige once you unlocked them. Teleporter beacons for one. Someone in the SG had to go through the zones and grab all the explore badges while in SG mode in order to get access to that zone's teleport beacon for their base. The rez items also had their add on items that were not available until the SG, in SG mode, achieved some milestone to unlock them. Which again worked fine for large SGs, but small ones had to live without. Especially solo ones. Because again, large SGs will get the required prestige really quickly while the smaller ones will be stuck without. Unless you make the milestones to achieve those badges so low that they don't really matter.

Here's the thing: Prestige is a currency in the game. And there is no point to that currency if it does not buy anything. And if it is needed to buy things, then smaller SGs are not going to be able to afford those things. At least not for quite a while. As for other uses for prestige? There have been other threads made for bringing it back. And those threads, just like this one, will penalize smaller SGs just like prestige did back on Live. (I had multiple personal SGs with active bases even back on Live. I hate prestige in this game. Just getting that out of the way now.) There have been calls for the SG roster at the registrars to list SGs based on their prestige. Which is fine for large SGs, but penalizes smaller ones looking for members as the only thing players looking for SGs will see then are the ones with lots of prestige. There was a call to just bring back prestige for the sake of there being prestige, but again, prestige is a currency, so what point does it serve if it has no actual purpose? SG rewards for accomplishing achievements such as wiping out 200,000 faction members? Yeah, small/solo SGs won't be getting that done. So you are rewarding large SGs only. Base items that must be purchased with prestige that base builders have been clamoring for all this time? Well, large SGs will have no problems, but small ones are SoL. What good does bringing back prestige do? I can definitely see the harm of it. I was part of a few SGs back on Live that if you didn't earn a set amount of presitge per week, you were out. You were sick or out of town for a while? Too bad, you're out. And no, you can't re-join because you couldn't uphold the SG's prestige requirements. It's things like everything I've mentioned in this post that I am leery of coming back if prestige comes back in any way.

Then I sit corrected. However, he does show up as a popup introduced contact periodically on my characters, and I'm not aware of most of them having that badge.

No, I personally would not. GMs are rather boring as new additions. Personally, I think new zone events are much better because they require more interaction than just standing there solo or in a team and pounding a very large mob into the ground. The problem with events though, is I don't see them being used. (Praetoria has a zone event in all 3 surface zones, but they rarely get done from what I see. I'm not counting First Ward or Night Ward. St. Martial also has a zone event that I pretty much see being skipped by players frequently.) However, a zone event that includes a GM could be interesting depending on how it is done.

Mr. Bocor already requires no introduction. Just walk up to him during his active level range and he gives you missions. I do this frequently on red side. I even re-verified just now with a brand new level 5 character. (Edit: Also, other contacts that don't require introduction do get their own little pop ups red side when you reach a high enough level to do their content. The Slot Machine in St. Martial is one that does that. Just not all of them.)

@Cozybread, when someone affects you with one of those stated buffs, you can right click the buff and choose Cancel. It goes away. I'm not arguing against the OP, I'm just telling you that you do not have to wait for it to time out. And if the player that buffed you is still present and buffs you again? Ask them to stop and then make the buffs go away again. And if they persist? Report them for harassment.

Players in a SG can already do things in SG mode as a SG. They don't need prestige to do that. If you want to ask for badges that the SG can earn? Fine. Make some badges that are earned by the SG, just bear in mind that those badges will automatically go to any new player/character that joins the SG after the badges have been earned. (Why? Because they are the SG's badges, not the character's badges, so just being in that SG will automatically award them.) Any base items of any kind being locked away? No.

If you have to earn and use prestige to buy base items again, even if it doesn't affect current base items, yes, you are saying base building should be restricted. Especially since moving NPCs are one of many things that are being asked for by base builders.