Friggin_Taser

We were just giving an issue with a feature that has been asked for since closed beta, QoL changes that make the game even easier to play, the ability to fight for up to 8 people solo to make the game more difficult for the hardcore players, the end of bridging as we know it, and earth dominators.

When the doomsayers have no real bones to pick at, they flail about and just attack previous issues worth of nerfs to try to cause a ruckus.

There must always be a ruckus. If the ruckus dies, then the game is truly dead.

Obviously my experiences are favored more towards the redside, my signature badge count will attest for that. But here's how I figure out:

On Taser, I got Overseer by just happening to walk into the Shard one afternoon when a larger SG was hunting for them and they had a spot open. If I didn't get it there, I would have got it during a Lanaruu TF.

On Plot, I got Overseer by constantly resetting and farming a portal mission with 4 other people. It was not fun and it did not come naturally (though it is nowhere near as bad as early day Banished Masks farming redside was). I had to go out of my way to get it by resetting a mission, which I believe is a game mechanic the devs are trying to keep us from having to do to earn badges.

Yes, that was before flashback. But even still, it does take more than one pass through the portal to get said badge.

X, I've been badgehunting for 5 years now, since day one of issue 2, and I'm just now getting some of the epic badges like medicine man or empath. There is no "challenge" to these epic badges if you are playing a character that's a dedicated healer, like my main badge hunter is, and even he can't get the epic heal badges through normal play.

The old epic requirements were constantly dangling carrots, meant to be earned through years of play. Fast forward issues and issues and years and years later and the only way to earn them is through damage farming or exploiting gladiators. I think Posi revisiting these limits and realizing that they just aren't being earned through normal play even years later is a good thing.

If they came in tomorrow and replaced all the kill X badges with kill 1 of each villain type, I'd be angry. There is no challenge to just beating one Freak Tank. But those badges are still a challenge to be earned. And most people will earn them through normal play if they are on full teams, which is where the challenge will come from.

The future of badges should be rewarding people for doing various things in new ways. I'm not 100% behind the "Master of X" badges since it relies on others for you to earn them, but perhaps if they change it to being awarded to people who don't themselves use temp powers or die during a SF/TF. That I can live with. Or giving out badges for killing certain ATs in PvP for the first time or completing a certain amount of story arcs in a given part of the game.

It's a bit like the problem some games have with achievements on the Xbox. You can go the easy way and give out achievements like candy, like Avatar the Last Airbender. Or you can give people a game where 1000 gamerpoints is possible with a little bit of work, like Fable 2 or Fallout 3, and feature a mixture of achievements that are challenging or simple but fun. I'd hope we get a bit more of the simple but fun to mix in there.

Edit: And just for the record -- even with the new limits, there's still badges I need to work towards and will be a challenge for me. I didn't get Disruptor back when CoV launched and it was being given out by completing a PvP zone mission. So getting 400 rep is going to take time and be a challenge for me, just like planting 10 bombs on the Rikti Drop Ship will be for new badge hunters or overtaking 100 pillboxes. Those are still challenges even at the lower levels.