Focused Feedback: Badges

[Piecemeal]

8 hours ago, Giovanni Valia said:

I'm thrilled we're getting more badges added. 1,000 seems a bit steep for the jaegers, but it's not a required badge for powers/ abilities, so why rush it? Heck, if previous defeats counted for the badge I'd think many would have it already through normal game-play.

At the 35+ level range, there should be enough easily accessible and spawn-dense opportunities to get this (At the least, most of the way) organically.

[VileTerror]

"Organically" by which metric and methodology?

Making it to 50 without Double XP?   Disabling Experience and doing every contacts' missions?

Considering how varied players' playstyles are, I think that's the sort of statement which needs some more qualifiers attached to it.

[Piecemeal]

18 minutes ago, VileTerror said:

"Organically" by which metric and methodology?

Making it to 50 without Double XP?   Disabling Experience and doing every contacts' missions?

Considering how varied players' playstyles are, I think that's the sort of statement which needs some more qualifiers attached to it.

My qualifier is *should*, but there's no one metric that can be applied. But when you encounter jaegers, you should encounter a mess of 'em by natural spawn definitions.

[Bionic_Flea]

One or two runs through the last Signature Story Arc (Pandora's Box, Episode 5: Brass Tuesday) at x8 should get you the badge after a couple of kill all runs.  It's a super fun arc too, in a team or if you can solo that many Nemeses.

[CrudeVileTerror]

Regrettably that arc is level-gated.

[Grouchybeast]

Just now, CrudeVileTerror said:

Regrettably that arc is level-gated.

As are plenty of other badges.

[Mystic Fortune]

Let's not forget there's always the Nemesis Event. Plenty of Jaegers, Warhulks and Fake Nemesis to be had.

[Yuro]

Paragon did make several passes in issue 5?, issue 14, issue 16 to reduce the number of things needed for a large number of badges, to make them less grindy to obtain.  Just something to keep in mind when adding these badges with high counters.

[Piecemeal]

2 hours ago, Yuro said:

Paragon did make several passes in issue 5?, issue 14, issue 16 to reduce the number of things needed for a large number of badges, to make them less grindy to obtain.  Just something to keep in mind when adding these badges with high counters.

Okay, fair point.

 

While this particular badge may not change by my own hand, going forward I will consider that and not set the bar so high.

 

If I might, let me just say 1000 Jaegers for the Jaegermeister badge seemed acceptable, but I had to squash that idea for the sake of Legal's blood pressure medication. So the badge name got put through the Safetymatic Copyright Obfuscatormotron 5000.

[Kistulot]

11 hours ago, Mystic Fortune said:

Let's not forget there's always the Nemesis Event. Plenty of Jaegers, Warhulks and Fake Nemesis to be had.

All I'd need is the one SSA.

 

Finding them isn't hard.

 

it's that it's the very definition of gratuitous. The sappers is MUCH worse, but 1,000 of anything is a pretty tall order. it's not interesting gameplay to punk a bunch of minions. yes, you can get it naturally, but look to the newer badges, IE the ones for Nightward.

 

Did you need to kill 1,000 of any of the new enemy groups? No.

Doing this feels like "going back to basics" in the worst way possible, to me anyway. That isn't to say it's the worst thing that could be done in the game, but it's a design philosophy that the game had clearly moved beyond.

[Mystic Fortune]

Getting all of these new defeat badges won't take more than a dedicated afternoon and that's if you actively seek them out. I imagine obtaining them naturally through regular game play would take a lot longer, but badges are designed to be obtained naturally through many hours of game play, the intent is not for us to actively grind them. The playerbase chose that shortcut.

 

I would also like to point out that there are a few badges that already exist with a 1000 kill count. Reformed which is from live and Terminator which is new, but even more of a grind because killable Citizens only show up in Mayhem missions.

[Placta]

On 11/9/2020 at 6:51 AM, Mystic Fortune said:

I would also like to point out that there are a few badges that already exist with a 1000 kill count. Reformed which is from live and Terminator which is new, but even more of a grind because killable Citizens only show up in Mayhem missions.

Reformed/Villain is for an entire enemy group, and one that's absolutely everywhere in the Isles. In the before times, I had the badge on a character who started as a villain but became a mostly blue-exclusive rogue around level 35 and a hero after doing Efficiency Expert. Heroes have a tougher time, but given the names it's clearly supposed to be a villain badge (it's a little weird to call someone who's always been a hero "reformed" just because they've fought a bunch of rogue Longbow agents).

 

As for Terminator (and Outlaw, for that matter, which takes 1000 PPD), the Mayhem badges are a package deal. It shouldn't take much more than being diligent as you work toward Invader and Firebug to get the rest. (I could be wrong on Terminator. I refuse to do it.)

Edited November 12, 2020 by Placta
Finally realized what my point re: Terminator/Mayhems was and reworded accordingly. Last time, I hope.

[Derek Icelord]

Tossing my 2¢ in for 250 Sappers seeming unreasonably high. The (understandable) limit of 1 Sapper spawn per group and Malta having limited street spawns means you'll have to do a lot of missions against a very tough faction.

 

 

Unrelated: do self rezzing enemies like Super Stunners count twice for badge credit if you get a kill -> rez -> kill cycle?

Edited November 12, 2020 by Derek Icelord

[Mystic Fortune]

10 hours ago, Derek Icelord said:

Unrelated: do self rezzing enemies like Super Stunners count twice for badge credit if you get a kill -> rez -> kill cycle?

Can confirm, yes. They do count twice. Just like Freakshow Tanks have always counted twice if they rez.

[Jimmy]

Release Candidate 1 - November 13th, 2020

 

Badges

Several new badges have been added to the game!

New Defeat Badges

•  Brass Hunter
  • Defeat 1000 Nemesis Jaegers
•  Green Machine
  • Defeat 100 Nemesis Warhulks
•  Brute Forced
  • Defeat 500 points worth of Rularuu Brutes
    • Bosses are worth 5 points, all others are worth 1, like the Praetoria and Dark Astoria defeat badges
•  Winged Nuisance
  • Defeat 500 Rularuu Natterlings of any rank
•  Running on Empty
  • Defeat 200 Malta Sappers
    • Reduced from 250 to 200 - matches similar difficult defeat badges, like Tracer (for defeating 200 Tsoo Sorcerers)
•  Womp Womp
  • Defeat 100 Immature Paragon Protectors
•  Assault and Battery
  • Defeat 50 Freakshow Super Stunners

New Story Arc Badges

Spoilers in the box below

Spoiler

•  The Uncivil War
  • Complete Agent Watkins' arc
•  Patient Zero
  • Complete Doc Buzzsaw's arc
•  Containment Specialist
  • Earned in Agent Watkins' arc (Spoilers in the box below)
  • Spoiler

    Turn off the sprinklers before the timer runs out during The Graveyard Shift story arc

     

•  Went Off Script
  • Earned in Agent Watkins' arc (Spoilers in the box below)
  • Spoiler

    Refuse to quarantine during The Graveyard Shift story arc (mission owner only)

     

•  The Greater Good
  • Earned in Agent Watkins' arc (Spoilers in the box below)
  • Spoiler

    Quarantine during The Graveyard Shift story arc (mission owner only)

     

•  Tarnished Star
  • Earned in Doc Buzzsaw's arc (Spoilers in the box below)
  • Spoiler

    Fill every jail cell in The Zig during your life as a hero, before becoming a villain and releasing Bile during "The Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok" story arc

     

Other New Badges

•  On the Shoulders of Giants
  • Located in Kallisti Wharf
•  Behind Enemy Lines
  • Complete at least one door mission in Bloody Bay, Siren's Call and Warburg (one mission per zone)

Existing Badges

•  Passport
  • Moved from Events to Accolades, and no longer awarded automatically on character creation
  • Now unlocked by earning either:
    • An exploration accolade in any zone with a Base Portal (see the above list for reference), or
    • The Pocket D VIP Gold Club Member badge (for spending 1 hour in Pocket D)
  • Grants the  Long Range Teleporter accolade power
  • Hint text has been updated to explain exactly how you earn Long Range Teleporter
•  Pocket D VIP Gold Club Member
  • No longer unlocks the Pocket D VIP Pass power
  • Now unlocks Pocket D as a Long Range Teleporter destination (and unlocks Long Range Teleporter if you don't already have it)
•  Loyal Customer
  • This badge now has new artwork (previously it was using the same artwork as the Air Pirate badge)
•  Unabashed
  • Can now be acquired in the instanced Rikti Mothership Raid instead of just in the zone version
•  Visionary
  • Changed from defeating 100 Rularuu Overseers bosses to 500 points worth of Rularuu eyes (Watchers, Observers and Overseers)
    • Bosses are worth 5 points, all others are worth 1, like the Praetoria and Dark Astoria defeat badges
    • Existing badge progress will be transferred (1 boss on the old tracker = 5 points on the new tracker)
•  Power Liberator / Master Thief
  • Moved from PvP to Accomplishment as the Cathedral of Pain Trial has no relation to PvP
•  Monitor Duty
  • No longer increases the rate at which you earn the Monitor Duty (Brain Storm Idea boost) day job power
  • Now increases the rate at which you earn the Monitor Duty Teleporter day job power
•  Day Trader / Marketeer
  • No longer increases the rate at which you earn Day Trader Teleporter / Marketeer's Teleporter day job power
  • Now increases the rate at which you earn the Marketeer (Brain Storm Idea boost) day job power
• Rapid Response Member / Trouble Maker
  • No longer unlocks the Base Teleporter day job power (this power no longer requires unlocking)
  • Now unlocks the Rapid Response Portal day job power
•  Entrusted with the Secret
  • Moved to the top of the Flashback badge list
  • Ouroboros Portals can now be summoned and entered by characters of any level
  • The requirements to earn this badge have been cleaned up:
    • Completing any Flashback story arc using the Pillar of Ice and Flame will award the badge
    • Completing any story arc given directly by a Mender will award the badge
    • Completing any of the following missions will award the badge:
      • Follow up on Holsten Armitage's claim that Senator Dybalski has been kidnapped by Rikti
      • Defeat Ubelmann the Unknown in Ashwin Lannister or Laurie Pennington's story arc
      • Recover the PsychoChronoMetron or Destroy the PsychoChronoMetron from Agent G
      • Find "The Magic Man" and recover the Devil's Timepiece in Mercedes Shelton's story arc
      • Meet with Botis during Vincent Ross' story arc
      • Any mission with Professor Echo from Marshall Brass
      • Defeat Professor Echo when you encounter him during Pandora's Box story arc
      • Confront Mender Silos in the final mission of the Pandora's Box story arc
      • Travel to the ruined Cap Au Diable from the future in any Patron arc
      • Travel to the ruined Atlas Park from the Future in any Patron arc or the Lord Recluse Strike Force
      • Travel to the Dark Victory version of Atlas Park in Statesman's Task Force
    • Entering any of the following zones will award the badge:
      • Cimerora
      • Ouroboros
      • Recluse's Victory
      • Echo: Atlas Park
      • Echo: Galaxy City
      • Echo: Faultline
      • Echo: Dark Astoria
      • Echo: Rikti Crash Site
    • Entering one of these zones will also award the Ouroboros Portal power if you have somehow managed to lose it

[Vanden]

1 minute ago, Jimmy said:

•  Passport
  • Moved from Events to Accolades, and no longer awarded automatically on character creation
  • Now unlocked by earning either:
    • An exploration accolade in any zone with a Base Portal (see the above list for reference), or
    • The Pocket D VIP Gold Club Member badge (for spending 1 hour in Pocket D)
  • Grants the  Long Range Teleporter accolade power
  • Hint text has been updated to explain exactly how you earn Long Range Teleporter

So this means every single existing character on Homecoming will immediately unlock LRTP when i27p1 goes live, right?

[Jimmy]

Just now, Vanden said:

So this means every single existing character on Homecoming will immediately unlock LRTP when i27p1 goes live, right?

Nope, it'll be removed. You'll immediately reacquire it if you meet either of the unlock requirements.

[Vanden]

Just now, Jimmy said:

Nope, it'll be removed. You'll immediately reacquire it if you meet either of the unlock requirements.

Wow, curveball. Good to know.

[Jimmy]

Just now, Vanden said:

Wow, curveball. Good to know.

Yeah - it's a bit odd, but this badge hasn't ever been earned by anyone, it was just given at character creation because it had no purpose. Now it does 🙂

[Faultline]

To clarify, the reason the visible accolade badge was put there at all was in response to requests for an in-game hint on how you earn LRT. If your character doesn't have LRT, this will be at the top of the Accolades list:

 

 

Rather than creating a new Accolade badge for this purpose, we repurposed Passport, since it makes thematic sense.

[Greycat]

Can I nitpick a patch note? 🙂

"Moved from PvP to Accomplishment as the Cathedral of Pain Trial has no relation to PvP"

Perhaps "no longer has any relation," since IIRC it was the way to get objects of power, which were part of the point of the long defunct base raids...

 

(I know, I know. I did say it was a nitpick.)

[Wavicle]

2 hours ago, Faultline said:

To clarify, the reason the visible accolade badge was put there at all was in response to requests for an in-game hint on how you earn LRT. If your character doesn't have LRT, this will be at the top of the Accolades list:

 

 

Rather than creating a new Accolade badge for this purpose, we repurposed Passport, since it makes thematic sense.

8? Huh, I thought for some reason it varied by zone, but maybe I just haven't been paying attention.

[Ironblade]

5 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

8? Huh, I thought for some reason it varied by zone, but maybe I just haven't been paying attention.

It used to.  It was standardized. . .  I dunno.  A while ago.

[Placta]

1 hour ago, Ironblade said:

It used to.  It was standardized. . .  I dunno.  A while ago.

Issues 17-19, except for the Rikti War Zone that already had fourteen (now split between RWZ and Echo: RCS) and PVP zones which were brought up to eight... since Homecoming,

 

(Imperial City has nine, but Going Rouge doesn't count.)

[Derek Icelord]

7 hours ago, Jimmy said:

•  Behind Enemy Lines
  • Complete at least one door mission in Bloody Bay, Siren's Call and Warburg (one mission per zone)

Does this mean outleveling PvP zone contacts is no longer a thing? If not, this badge will be unobtainable by a lot of characters.

 

Edit: I missed that being in the patch notes. I can read, I swear!

Edited November 14, 2020 by Derek Icelord
reeding iz hurd!