Velvet Violet

I never explained to anyone how to get it. I gave hints, but never told anyone the solution. Regardless, I understand it was too convoluted.

Sorry about getting back to this so late, but I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback. Just providing a look at my thought process: I had hoped players would be able to piece together the following bits of information: 1) I need to talk to some other contacts 2) I am currently playing a rogue, so I likely need to talk mainly to characters I can access on red side 3) The information is about stuff that happened inside of Crey itself, so I need to talk to someone who works for Crey or otherwise would have insider knowledge. Tavish Bell, Kelly Uqua, and Number 6 were the three obvious choices (to me) who met that bolded criteria (to me). I know not everyone would run that content, but that's what Ouro is for. The badge was intended to appeal to people who like to read the stories in the game and completionists, people who probably already would have run all of the arcs for those contacts as well. I also didn't mind people having to work or do some guesswork to get it. The comment about me writing arcs that give more agency like a CRPG was spot on; that's the kind of stuff I am typically interested in writing, stuff that players can't just ignore or skip through like so much of CoH's mission text (see the comment about not knowing there was a Clues tab), so I like to make big dialog trees. One of these days I'll probably make an arc that is only dialog, no actual gameplay, and make everyone except for me really mad. I did give some hints to players in early testing phases how to get it, because I needed to actually test the badge out (it required so. much. testing.) Regardless, it seems I did not properly estimate the amount of mental effort it'd take to piece bits together for people who just want to collect badges, especially when getting the badge requires a type of gameplay that's not really found in CoH (running back and forth between multiple people and talking to them). I likely won't be implementing another badge like this any time soon and will make sure that the next time I do that it's less convoluted to get to. I'll leave the convoluted stuff to things without real rewards (like the Ravenstorm easter egg). Thanks guys!

Curious to know what it was about the badge implementation you dislike so strongly.

It's fine, we all have the dumbs from time to time. I believe the first mob you kill will drop the tip mission if you are a Vigilante over level 40.

Dammit I can't believe there's a guide to this already. I'll give a small hint: learn how he was ahead of you in West's list of choices in the first discussion with her, then never let go of that rage

If you talk to Kogan and do not meet one or more of the requirements to talk to him, it says "Hello, {HeroName}! Got a hot tip for me? No? Well, have a good day then. You must be a Vigilante of at least Security Level 40 and have completed the Skulls vs Family? tip mission to talk to this contact."

This is an annoyingly recurring bug. I've rewritten some stuff to hopefully solve it permanently in the next release.

Bug should be fixed with the latest patch. Unless you specifically ask to take Binding Blade with you, they are not SUPPOSED to follow you (the dialog tells you who is supposed to be with you and who goes on the other team). If they keep following after this patch, please inform.

It's possible to get them both in one run. Getting Uncomfortable Truths might possibly have a minor negative impact on meeting the relationship requirements with West required to kick off the Truth Seeker sidequest, but it's only 1 of 4 dialog choices that does so.

When you say "replaced everyone", do you mean after the mutiny? From what you're saying, Binding Blade and Sacred Stone (BiB staying with you is a bug that I am trying to work out) should have been sent away and then been both lost, leaving Blazing Blade and Shadow Dragon on your team. Then you'd have had Moon Fang, White Haze, and Slaughterscape on your team in the next door mission with BlB and SD. Did that happen? If not, who was it? Did you acquiesce and leave or force the mutiny? If they mutinied, who turned on you? And did you then tell West that you wanted all of the mutineers removed from the team? If you did, do you remember who spawned in the "Deal with Alpha Team" mission? In case no one could tell, this arc has a lot of moving parts

Here are a couple of hints about the bonus badges: 1) Uncomfortable Truths - You might be able to break Ken's brain if you confront him about his deeply held beliefs, but he'll only listen if he believes you're speaking in good faith. 2) Truth Seeker - A current tragedy might cause West to tell you about a past tragedy, assuming she likes you enough to open up.

If you get rid of either Shadow Dragon or Radiant Dawn prior to this mission, then split the team 2 and 2, there will be no one left there. In that event, it activates and is what allows you to complete the mission.

Yeah, you're only supposed to get 2 people to go with you ever. Binding Blade is funky and occasionally sticks with the team. What AT is the character that played the mission?

Nice catch.

This is a rare bug that happens, I cannot get it to replicate. If you can get it to happen again, please let me know your character AT, if all of the Alphas were in the mission or not, and what dialog selections you made for splitting the team.