El_Condor

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oh ha ha, silly me. I thought they had one yesterday.

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They did. This happens frequently every week as a part of regular maintenance, as well as when they have a special prep to do for things such as new issues or Double-XP.

Um, has everyone forgotten already that the main point of this thread is that server performance is expected to be improved over previous 2X-XPs? That along with a reminder that any server has a limit (which, really, need not be said)?

The devs did the right thing by telling us that things should go better but are not infinitely perfect. It's a shame that some here don't want to be told about reality or haven't got past "I want everything to go MY way, and I want it NOW!" I myself am happily looking forward to improved server performance this weekend.

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Yes indeedy!

You can easily burn a respec and throw your character concept out the window just to enable you to have a decent chance (not a guarantee, just a chance) at a single badge.

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I was with you until the guarantee part. I wholeheartedly agree if you say that all players should have a chance at any badge. Once you expect a guarantee of an award that is meant to be earned (and at no inconvenience), however, you are then acting entitled. It is my sincere hope that anyone who has a 9-year old daughter has preached against entitled behavior, and would not intentionally practice it in, of all things, a videogame.

Although syberghost's tone has been a little heavy-handed for my taste, I agree with his fundamental point that a badger must decide if a badge that is a pain to earn is worth the trouble, then live with the decision. I acknowledge and respect that badge-hunters get a major chunk of their fun in this game from collecting as many shinies as possible. But even a badge-hunter must know that he or she may not end up with every single badge there is, even if it is possible to collect them all.

EC

I love the skiing! My computer is 3.5 years old with very average specs, and CoX is usually fairly laggy for me. It took me 3 days to get to gold on my three top toons: a 50 running Sprint, Quickness, Hurdle, SJ and Elude; a 39 running Sprint, Hurdle, and SJ; and a 36 with only Sprint, Hurdle, Lightning Reflexes, and IR from a kin who was hanging out at the hilltop (said toon was able to get to Silver w/o IR).

Throughout, I've noticed that most of the people skiing around me were having a blast. The festiveness of the setting seemed to have most people in a chipper state. It took me a while to "get it" with the skiing, but I worked on it while watching others, reading all the great tips from the forums, and just learning the slope and trying to have fun in the process. The first gold was the hardest to get, but the other two came pretty quickly after that because I pretty much knew what I needed to do with only one race course to learn.

I wanted to emphasize this because I really had a great time playing this "game within a game", and applaud the devs for thinking of a good challenge that's so different from the usual stuff we do in-game. It does bum me out a little that a few people are getting so angry about not being able to earn the skiing badges so quickly after their release, but I think this part of Evilanna's latest post says it better than I can:

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The good news is, I finally got the badge. I managed to get someone to bring me along for the Kings Row Safeguard mission (thank you very, very, very much Stone Palace,) where I got the Zero-G Pack (and the exploration badge in the mission, yay, bonus!) After about 5 practise runs, I got the Speed Demon badge with 23 seconds.

I don't think I ever want to see those ski slopes again now. It really wasn't fun for me to get that badge...

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Despite all the angst and agony she has shared with a few frustrated posters in the four days of this badge's existence, she did what a dedicated badger needs to do to get a tough shiney and now possesses it (gratz! ). I will not feel sad for someone who simply pouts and gives up long before giving up is called for, but I am delighted for Evilanna and anyone who would follow her example.

EC