Ichorspring

I haven't completed any healing badges yet so I must be on my first one. But it reads "Earn this badge by healing your teammates", has no meter, and shows ???, which is how the second and third are described.

I guess I'm a little dazed and confused but is it for the first or the second? I'm certain I haven't received one yet.

Sorry to harp on it but if I knew one way or the other that its a bug, or if I'm doing something wrong I'd stop worrying about it. I've been coming across more problems lately that I'm pretty sure are bugs, but I can't find properly documented anywhere. It's just a little frustrating is all...

I just wanted to get clarification on healing badges. Is it true that healing badges have a placeholder in Achievements labelled as Unknown, but the meter is broken and does not count the number of healing points you administer?

If true, are you still earning points towards it even though it is not registering?

Finally, does this apply to all levels of healing badges, or just the initial one?

Thx.

Great!

Thanks for all the useful info.

Thank you for all the excellent information. I have in fact made it to Port Oakes and have started going through those missions. The background info on badges and reputation helps to clarify a great deal. It also explains why it felt that the first character I played with had a much tougher time of things than the last since I had inadvertantly ramped up the difficulty. It's also more interesting to have some context added to the game.

A final question on reputation though. When I went to see the person who changed it for me last time, I think there were five options: Villainous, Malicious, Relentless, and two others. They weren't numbered however (unless I just fail to recall it) so I was wondering if picking one of these other than the starting Villainous, will that increase the difficulty? Would the furthest down the list then be considered number 5? And do these monikers change as my characters reach higher levels?

I appreciate all the help!

Been playing for about three days now and have never played CoH. So...

First question:
Why do I want a badge anyways? What is it supposed to do for me? After a fruitless attempt at a google and forum search (and getting the phonebook I might add) I know where to find them, what their called, and who offers the missions for them, but not a peep about why the heck I should bother with them in the first place or what effect, if any, they have on gameplay. If it's just for RPing, no problem. But does that badge title actually display anywhere for other PCs or is it something that only NPCs recognize.

Second question:
I found someone who can change my title/label/appelation/whatever from villainous to ... well something else. Why would I want to change my title and what effect does it have? Do the other titles that were listed for selection do different things or again, is it just for RPing? If so, no problem, but what RP effect does it have? I think I changed mine to malicious, but I can't be sure since I don't see it anywhere associated with my character.

Last question:
With my first character I decided to follow the Burke path at the beginning...not realizing that newbs should be following the other path. I guess there's a bit more handholding the other way in terms of a tutorial. SO... I finshed all the Burke missions (come back at lvl20 if you please) and have now been cut loose with no further contacts. But don't worry, I have been doing my homework. I know that I have to travel to Port Oakes next to find a broker for newspaper missions. Great! Now, how the hell do you get to Port Oakes? I assume that it is on another island since I've roamed far and wide on the starter isle. Is there a ferry somewhere? Do you need to talk to someone first? Do I need to whip out my water wings and flippers? What's the deal?

Last question (no really!):
Some out-of-context message threads that I've come across have lead me to believe that it's possible to "out-level" the missions given by some contacts, and no longer have access to them. Is that the case? Have my futile attempts to get off the starter island (Mercy is it?) jeopardized my ability to access mission content elsewhere. I've been levelling up along the way and am somewhere around 8 or 9 now. Should I avoid the random mobs and stick primarily to what's offered through contacts, etc.

I'm enjoying the game, but I find that there is a lot of really elementary questions that never get addressed. There seems to be an assumption that the player already has some familiarity with the gameplay (and I don't) which makes getting started a little frustrating. This isn't really a complaint, but more of an observation. Perhaps I'm just too thick to get it...

Thanks for any help offered...

*** Whoops...I am thick. I wanted to post this under player questions. Apologies. ***