Accolade for playing the game.

[lemming]

The four Stat Accolades, IMO, two are easier to earn via Blue side, and two are easier via Red Side.

 

On OT; it's a very advantageous accolade for what it is.  Though as people pointed out, it's got a bunch of non-tracked variables, and a different way of getting it depending on when you created the character.  (Unless you've backtracked that people that don't do the challenge, can do the alternative method)

 

And there are plenty of ways to sidestep your requirements.  (Just teaming in a PI mission for instance)  And too many ways for someone to accidentally drop the requirements.

 

Badges tend to be for doing stuff, not for avoiding stuff.

[Stormwalker]

20 hours ago, branefabricator said:

Accolade Name: True Grit
 

Description: Awarded to those who rise through the ranks with nothing but their own strength and determination. This accolade is granted only to heroes and villains who have never taken shortcuts—no AE missions entered before L50, no P2W XP boosts, no enhancement trades, and no outside financial assistance beyond a modest 10 million influence. True perseverance earns true power.

Effect: Unenchantable 3% +Res and +Def upon obtaining Level 50

 

Reward: One full set of choice in UNTRADEABLE Superior AT enhancements upon obtaining Level 50

 

Here are the problems I see:

1. The effect is very overpowered (3% def OR 3% res would be too much.  Both is vastly too much).
2. The reward is also far too much.  No accolade in the game offers anything remotely like this.
3. The requirements to earn it are extremely problematic:
   1. First, it's pretty much designed to punish players who have already done all the hard work on previous characters and want to have a bit easier experience playing through the game.  Note that I am saying this as someone who does not PL.  But I do send my new characters some seed money when I create them, and they of course have access to my enhancement storage.  That's the privilege I've earned by having already gotten characters to 50 the old-fashioned way.  Trying to deny players this privilege by stacking extremely overpowered rewards on a condition of not exercising this privilege is just punishing players who don't play your way.
   2. The game does not have any way to track these conditions.  It would require an immense amount of new code to implement.
   3. As @Rudra has already covered, this creates significant problems with existing characters not being able to get it (and your suggested solution for this creates fairness issues).

I'm not opposed to badges for "doing it the hard way".   That's fine.  I'm not that much of a badger to begin with.

 

I am opposed to extremely powerful abilities being attached to those badges.  And I'm opposed to spending enormous amounts of developer time and effort on something that is targeted at only a small portion of the player base with a very specific playstyle.

[PoptartsNinja]

1 minute ago, Stormwalker said:

First, it's pretty much designed to punish players who have already done all the hard work on previous characters and want to have a bit easier experience playing through the game.

It also punishes creators who use the AE to make hard story content for their SG to run through, like I do.

 

A lot of the final bosses in my AE arcs already generate no XP because they've got edited powersets so that I can sneak in a fun surprise or two like a super strength baddy with a blaster nuke, or Liquify, or whatever else I think might shake up the experience in a way my friends will find fun.

[Stormwalker]

15 minutes ago, lemming said:

Badges tend to be for doing stuff, not for avoiding stuff.

 

This is also a very good point.

[branefabricator]

For effects or rewards, can be reduced greatly for all I care. The reward of AT enhancements was meant as a nod for not loading your fresh character with influence and IOs. 

Accolade Name: True Grit
 

Description: Awarded to those who rise through the ranks with nothing but their own strength, determination, or teamwork. This accolade is granted to heroes and villains who have never taken shortcuts—no non-Developers Choice AE missions entered before L50, no P2W XP boosts, no traded/emailed enhancements slotted, and no outside financial assistance beyond a modest 10 million influence. True perseverance earns true power.

All characters who reached Level 50 have the opportunity to prove their grit through completion of all 4-star TF and SFs.

Effect: Unenchantable 0.5% +Res and +Def upon obtaining Level 50

 

Reward: One full set of choice in UNTRADEABLE Non-Superior AT enhancements upon obtaining Level 50

[Rudra]

33 minutes ago, branefabricator said:

All characters who reached Level 50 have the opportunity to prove their grit through completion of all 4-star TF and SFs.

Thank you, but I really think you should just drop the "play my way to get this accolade" and just stick to completing all current Advanced Mode TFs and SFs.

 

34 minutes ago, branefabricator said:

Unenchantable 0.5% +Res and +Def upon obtaining Level 50

No one is going to care about this. It's a waste of everyone's time. Choose defense or resist, and maybe give a 2% boost.

 

35 minutes ago, branefabricator said:

 

Reward: One full set of choice in UNTRADEABLE Non-Superior AT enhancements upon obtaining Level 50

This is still 600 reward merits worth of reward. Just drop it.

[branefabricator]

Accolade Name: True Grit
 

Description: Awarded to those who rise through the ranks with nothing but their own strength, determination, and strength. This accolade is granted to heroes and villains who have never taken shortcuts—no non-Developers Choice AE missions entered before L50, no P2W XP boosts, no traded/emailed enhancements slotted, and no outside financial assistance beyond a modest 10 million influence. True perseverance earns true power.

Effect: Unenchantable 2% +Def upon obtaining Level 50

 

Existing characters cannot earn the badge, however, if the accolade is earned on a new character, it is applied account wide to all characters.

Edited Monday at 11:02 PM by branefabricator

[Rudra]

2 minutes ago, branefabricator said:

Existing characters cannot earn the badge

That's not acceptable in my book.

 

2 minutes ago, branefabricator said:

however, if the accolade is earned on a new character, it is applied account wide to all characters.

There are no account-wide accolades. And I'm willing to bet the devs aren't going to start making any either.

 

3 minutes ago, branefabricator said:

Description: Awarded to those who rise through the ranks with nothing but their own strength, determination, and strength. This accolade is granted to heroes and villains who have never taken shortcuts—no non-Developers Choice AE missions entered before L50, no P2W XP boosts, no traded/emailed enhancements slotted, and no outside financial assistance beyond a modest 10 million influence. True perseverance earns true power.

So you are back to insisting players play the way you want. Accolades don't restrict players from playing content. None of them do. They are all for playing the content, regardless of how players choose to do so. You are insisting on your suggestion never coming to life.

[branefabricator]

Based on the responses, NO suggestion that would direct a path of play would ever come to life. Not just mine; I don't take it personally.

A suggestion for a 4star accolade would be a different thread, and very possibly worthwhile on it's own.

[lemming]

9 minutes ago, Rudra said:

There are no account-wide accolades. And I'm willing to bet the devs aren't going to start making any either.

There are a few badges that are account wide, however the Devs have mentioned that they're painfully kludgy and that there wouldn't be more.  I think they're all AE badges

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, lemming said:

There are a few badges that are account wide, however the Devs have mentioned that they're painfully kludgy and that there wouldn't be more.  I think they're all AE badges

I said accolades.

[Stormwalker]

For the record, if there were account-wide Accolades, I could actually accept the idea, on the grounds that:

1. A player would only have to earn it once
2. It would solve the existing character problem.
3. You'd only be able to get the (way too good) reward once.

I still think it goes a bit against what badges are supposed to be, but I could live with it.

 

If the devs ever implement account-wide Accolades, then perhaps this idea could be revisited in that context.  Though, there is still the problem of the amount of code that would be needed in order to actually track all of those conditions.

 

However, I don't see that happening anytime soon based on other comments on that subject.

Edited yesterday at 12:52 AM by Stormwalker

[BassAckwards]

2 hours ago, branefabricator said:

A suggestion for a 4star accolade would be a different thread, and very possibly worthwhile on it's own.

Now this I could get behind, even if it were just a badge and no accolade power (Or maybe just an accolade power that is active during Advanced Mode TFs). However, the only possible problem is that we hope the devs have plans for more Advanced Mode TFs in the future, so it's kind of unfair to newcomers to have to do 8 TFs in the future rather than the 3 we have now to receive the badge. This was one of my biggest gripes with the changes to "Master of" badges was that the difficulty in attaining the badges significantly increased for those who did not already have them when they restricted incarnate powers.

 

I'm sure we could find an elegant way to add something like this while taking into consideration future plans though.

 

Side Note: I really want an Advanced Mode Ms. Lib and Lord Recluse

Edited yesterday at 01:31 AM by BassAckwards

[biostem]

Can we instead get an accolade for arguing on the forums?

[BassAckwards]

1 hour ago, biostem said:

Can we instead get an accolade for arguing on the forums?

 

[lemming]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

I said accolades.

Yes, and I was clarifying.  It's not like I said you were wrong.   And then I mentioned why the account wide badges aren't liked by the devs.

[Snarky]

On 3/23/2025 at 5:03 PM, branefabricator said:

Accolade Name: Original Grit
 

Description: You recall the times when every battle tested your resolve, when progress came from facing real challenges, not quick solutions. No endless simulations, no outside aid—only the trials of true heroes and villains. This accolade honors those who stand on their own, forging their path through sheer determination. True perseverance earns true power.

Requirement: No P2W XP boosts, no traded/emailed enhancements slotted, no outside financial assistance beyond a modest 10 million influence, Require that at least 60% of total XP gained must come from any source other than sidekicked play above +5(Excluding TFs).

Effect: Unenchantable 2% +Def upon obtaining Level 50

 

Existing characters cannot earn the badge, however, if the accolade is earned on a new character, it is applied account wide to all characters.

Previous proposal:

 

so i invest 40 hours (tops, could be 10-20) 50ing a willpower brute and ALL my toons gets +2% def?

 

no.  just no.

[Ghost]

10 hours ago, branefabricator said:

A suggestion for a 4star accolade would be a different thread, and very possibly worthwhile on it's own.

Only if to earn the accolade, you must complete the 4-star WITHOUT barrier

🤭

[Xenodi]

No thank you, next one.

[Akisan]

Funnily enough, despite my main qualifying for this proposed accolade - I don't want it, as the reward feels rather against the spirit of the challenge.

 

Also, you may want to pick a different alternate unlock for existing toons. Some of us aren't fans of the "advanced" content - myself included. (Specifically, I'm not a fan of the general culture around them.)

 

Forcing players to join content they really don't want to join is never a good plan. Likewise, self-imposed challenges like this are probably best left to the honor system and/or stay rewardless - the reward is your own pride at the accomplishment.

[arcane]

Two of three 4* TF’s already give accolades. I would be totally in favor of adding an accolade for 4* ITF, but I’m sure it would be like the other two - not designed to provide a combat advantage.

[battlewraith]

16 hours ago, branefabricator said:

Based on the responses, NO suggestion that would direct a path of play would ever come to life. Not just mine; I don't take it personally.

A suggestion for a 4star accolade would be a different thread, and very possibly worthwhile on it's own.

 

Badgers want every badge to be available on all of their characters with relatively minimal effort. So anything that requires a challenge or style of play that is out of the ordinary will get pushback. Let alone an accolade that actually grants some sort of combat advantage. Sad but true. 

[branefabricator]

7 hours ago, Snarky said:

so i invest 40 hours (tops, could be 10-20) 50ing a willpower brute and ALL my toons gets +2% def?

 

no.  just no.

Yeah I could AE farm like twenty L50s in that same time and never get the proposed accolade.

[BassAckwards]

46 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

 

Badgers want every badge to be available on all of their characters with relatively minimal effort. So anything that requires a challenge or style of play that is out of the ordinary will get pushback. Let alone an accolade that actually grants some sort of combat advantage. Sad but true. 

That is probably the most wrong take I have ever seen. There is absolutely nothing “minimal effort” about badging. It has taken me years to get to 1600+ badges on one toon, and I still don’t have them all! The most challenging content in the game awards badges. I still don’t have “Master of” for all of the iTrials, because they are difficult, require extreme teamwork, and a certain style of play. 
 

The pushback, is because OP’s first post described a badge that comes off as “Play my way! The right way!™ You naughty hooligans”

[battlewraith]

12 minutes ago, BassAckwards said:

That is probably the most wrong take I have ever seen. There is absolutely nothing “minimal effort” about badging. It has taken me years to get to 1600+ badges on one toon, and I still don’t have them all! The most challenging content in the game awards badges. I still don’t have “Master of” for all of the iTrials, because they are difficult, require extreme teamwork, and a certain style of play. 
 

The pushback, is because OP’s first post described a badge that comes off as “Play my way! The right way!™ You naughty hooligans”

 

It's an opinion based on my experience. I said "relatively" minimal effort. I don't give a crap about badges and still have some of those "Master of" badges. The only thing extreme about it is expecting players to read and follow instructions. Badging is time consuming, I'll give you that. So in terms of spending time doing it, yes it takes a lot of effort. But the majority are for things like exploration, killing certain numbers of enemies, doing game activities, etc.