Lothic

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I think words like insulting and sadistic are a bit overmuch, if this is gonna remain a levelheaded discussion.

The only thing that really bothers me about this method for getting Isolator, is that it flies in the face of one of the main design principles of the game. It's now gonna be a camped spawn from here until the nth of never, and that's something I hoped never to see in this game. Even if it is 'just for a badge'

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This could very well be the slippery slope that this game is heading for, and it saddens me to think that cries for Isolator might have started it.

As far as my use of 'overmuch' terminology, if this otherwise wonderful game descends into the mire of those things that bother you like spawn camping, then my choice of words will be the least of anyone's concern. If it takes colorful language to warn people to be careful what they wish for then so be it...

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And I still disagree with this belief by various people in the Pro-Isolator crowd that everything has been one big screwjob, slap in the face, or whatever for us Pre-I2 players.

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Not everything, just Isolator. I'll put it to you in a set of related questions...

Up until RV Isolator was introduced, what possible logical reason would the Devs have to place any one single badge in the game that a subset of its in-game player population could never earn?

What possible game mechanic purpose was served that doesn't appear for all intents and purposes to be completely arbitrary and easily avoidable?

Was Isolator limited by location the way it was in Outbreak by accident or by design?

The fact that the Devs have finally done something now to address Isolator is a tacit admission by them that there was -something- wrong with it. Why did it take well over a year to get the 'solution' we got - not a sophisticated, fair to all, reasonable redesign but a near pathetic afterthought band aid hack that a 3rd grader probably could have come up with in 5 minutes?

In summary Pro-Isolators only have themselves to blame for pissing Positron off enough to get RV Isolator instead of something more reasonable. Sadly I'm worldly enough to realize the RV Isolator opportunity is going to be 'as good as it gets'. After the stupidity of the original way Isolator worked I suppose it was a pipe dream to think that the fix for it was going to be any less idiotic.

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Perhaps, but it’s quite telling that Positron chose to respond to my rather serious accusations over Isolator’s overall shortcomings by addressing the most minor, trivial aspect of it. The fact that, gods forbid, a few villains might get Isolator in RV was more important to the Devs’ thinking on this implementation than all the other ramifications merely adds to my misgivings about this. Opening Pandora’s Box comes to mind...

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It always astonishes me that devs still post here knowing the likleyhood that whatever they say (or don't say) will get analyzed, dissected, torn apart and put back together again.

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I have voted with my time and effort in this game.
I have played CoH/CoV for literally thousands of hours.
I have enjoyed the vast majority of my experience with a generally outstanding product.

But it always appalls me that any of us players should accept being treated in an insulting, sadistic manner by the Devs for any reason and then roll over to say “thank you sir may I have another...” The Devs are big boys and girls so I think they can take it. It would be a disservice to them and the player community in general not to react appropriately and provide constructive criticism when clearly called for.

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Does this mean that villains can get isolator too, if thats the case, then heroes should get jail bird too.

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Now we begin to see the continued shortsightedness of the Devs' handling of Isolator.

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Wow, ye of little faith.

Isolator is marked as "Hero Only". Villains can kill the contaminated for 100 years, and never get the badge.

Only Heroes can get the badge.

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And this is the seldom heard, but much dreaded, Positron Burn.

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Positron clarifying a minor detail that will not stop people from whining regardless does not a burn make...

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Yeah, but I just like quoting That 70's Show.

...Besides, it's 100% impossible to stop people from whining.

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Perhaps, but it’s quite telling that Positron chose to respond to my rather serious accusations over Isolator’s overall shortcomings by addressing the most minor, trivial aspect of it. The fact that, gods forbid, a few villains might get Isolator in RV was more important to the Devs’ thinking on this implementation than all the other ramifications merely adds to my misgivings about this. Opening Pandora’s Box comes to mind...

Pro-Isolators get their precious badge they shouldn't have had to fight for in the first place. Anti-Isolators (and Positron) get to laugh at their efforts to beat their heads against the wall to earn it. I guess somebody likes this sad state of affairs, but frankly I think we all lost out on this one.

*puts on her tin-foil hat to keep out the new wave of Jailbird / event badge whining on its way*

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You realize that this is the first badge that I know of to have this functionality (Hero only)?

There will be Villains camping with and competing with Heroes for a badge they can never earn? That sucks for both sides.

How will this work when side switching is enabled. Will a Villain-turned-Hero be able to earn Isolater? Will a Hero lose his Isolater if they 'go rogue?'

And I'm sure everyone is aware that the text on Isolater doesn't make even the slightest bit of sense if it's earned in Recluse's Victory.

Also, what about villains that didn't earn 'Jail Bird?' Will there be a spot in RV for them to go to get that?

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There are other badges like that. There are also Villain only badges. Kinda frustrated some folks in Siren's Call that .

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The fact that any badge is now flagged 'hero only' or 'villain only' only adds frustration to the game and not much else. While there may be good game mechanic reasons for having flags like that, there are no game immersion reasons for it, especially if the hero/villain crossover concept ever happens.

Heroes and villains do 'questionable' things all the time in the comics...

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See? If you would have re-rolled after I-2 came out, none of you would have to go through with this. :P

I personally think re-rolling a lvl 30 toon for the badge was soooooo worth the effort! I got a brand new toon 9since I didn't delete the old one) and got the badge I so wanted. I won't have to put up with PvPers griefing the badge hunters.

So to all ye who mocked me for re-rolling :P~~~~~~~

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I have never once mocked anyone for choosing to reroll for a badge.
I have only mocked the reason why you had to make that choice in the first place.

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Does this mean that villains can get isolator too, if thats the case, then heroes should get jail bird too.

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Now we begin to see the continued shortsightedness of the Devs' handling of Isolator.

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Wow, ye of little faith.

Isolator is marked as "Hero Only". Villains can kill the contaminated for 100 years, and never get the badge.

Only Heroes can get the badge.

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And this is the seldom heard, but much dreaded, Positron Burn.

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Positron clarifying a minor detail that will not stop people from whining regardless does not a burn make...

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Does this mean that villains can get isolator too, if thats the case, then heroes should get jail bird too.

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Now we begin to see the continued shortsightedness of the Devs' handling of Isolator.

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Wow, ye of little faith.

Isolator is marked as "Hero Only". Villains can kill the contaminated for 100 years, and never get the badge.

Only Heroes can get the badge.

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I will graciously stand corrected over the "both Hero and Villain" assumption of the RV Isolator. But I continue to believe the overall handling of the Isolator situation for pre-I2 characters is one of the few everlasting blemishes on an otherwise wonderful game which I have spent literally thousands of hours playing since CoH Beta. I calls them how I sees them...

While Isolator would be nice to have, I have never directly asked in these Forums or PMs to anyone for a means to get Isolator for my pre-I2 hero. It's clear to me that based on how long it took to do -anything- about Isolator then seeing the nature of the 'solution' that's been arranged for it in RV that the Devs never had any real intention to ever offer Isolator outside of Outbreak and honestly that was perfectly fine for me. All things considered I think the Devs should have stuck to your guns and not done anything about it at all if this RV thing was all that could be offered in the way of appeasement. Frankly it's borderline insulting to people who have been playing heroes from the beginning.

Ironically had this been a completely new 'Easter egg' badge in RV to earn I would've been all for it. Do not mistake this post as a 'please make the RV Isolator thing easier' whine. I have no problem with having very difficult badges to earn in principle, only with associating the ongoing problem with Isolator to something like this.

I'm sorry that I am forced to be critical on a subject that I'm sure all involved would simply like to go away, but I feel it would be a disservice to you and myself if I didn't express my true thoughts on the matter. I have yet to decide if I'm even going to try for the RV Isolator at this point but I am leaning against it - I have better top level epic achievement badges to work on instead.

I can appreciate the significance that any effort was made on this at all, but as I'm sure you are well aware almost anything would have been better than this.

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Does this mean that villains can get isolator too, if thats the case, then heroes should get jail bird too.

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Now we begin to see the continued shortsightedness of the Devs' handling of Isolator. The RV Isolator 'solution' has now opened up the real possibility that villains -will- be able get Isolator as well, begging the eventual whine of heroes wanting to get Jailbird.

Back when people figured out that heroes could get Reformed by getting confused and defeating Longbow in the PvP zones, a Dev (might have even been Positron) responded to it by saying that there is nothing intrinsically built into any badge that limits them to only be gotten by heroes or only by villains. Thus there is no reason to think that villains won't start showing up with Isolator eventually.

As a hero badge hunter I can honestly say that I don't have much desire to get Jailbird myself. But I can almost guarantee there will come a time when people will actively pester the Devs for this. And we all know what this kind of pestering got us...

*ponders the virtual insanity of the RV Isolator 'opportunity'*

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Why do you think it would damage the "intrinsic value" of the Halloween badges if the devs were to make it available in future Halloweens? Why would it lessen the meaning of Winter Lord if it is made available in Winters? Does it mean that the devs had defaced the value of Cold Warriors already?

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Let me clarify what I mean by the "intrinsic value" of the badges in this game. The Devs established the game mechanics and requirements needed to earn the various badges. It is the system that is in place. Now established, there's a reasonable expectation that we can rely on that the requirements for these will remain constant and stay consistent to the system as much as reasonably possible. All players should be allowed a fair and reasonable opportunity to satisfy any requirements, no matter how hard or restrictive. The level of effort to gain said badges is fixed by design - the 'value' of a badge is fundamentally linked to what it takes to earn them and little else.

Now I think we are agreed that the specifics of Isolator are grossly flawed. It's the only badge in the game that truly merits some corrective action because it was uniquely allowed to be unfairly unobtainable by an arbitrary subset of active players. This is clearly a problem - the solution to it, as we've seen by the length of this thread, is debatable.

I believe the core of your argument concerns itself with another segment of badges which the Devs, for good or bad, have decided to incorporate as part of their requirements to be earned a real world timeframe, thus limiting their availability based strictly on time. Now while I'll agree that the decision to do this may be shortsighted all things considered, it differs from the faults of Isolator because there was nothing, by design, that kept -any- player from earning them when they met the established requirements. Nothing 'failed' to keep anyone from earning them so there is nothing 'broken' to be fixed. They were implemented fairly because no player was shut out from the possibility to earn them as established.

One slight quibble with your Olympic event analogy that is pertinent to our discussion is what are the two medals called? My point is that the first medal could easily be named 'Gold Medal of Event X of the year Y' whereas the second medal could be 'Gold Medal of Event X of the year Y+10'. Same event, same requirements, different medal (even if time earned is the only difference). Or what if the first athelete competed in the second event and earned the Gold Medal again? Would the Olympic committee not give him a second medal because he already had that exact one from before? A distinction is this case would almost be required. World War I was called The Great War before World War II happened to make it the 'first' one. Any repeated event badges would almost certainly have to be (or at least easily could be) renamed by the Devs to distinguish them - not exactly what you had in mind I'm sure.

Cold Warrior was probably repeated because as a fairly straight-forward defeat critter badge there's nothing really unique about it unlike Celebrant or Toy Collector for instance. I wouldn't be surprised to see Frostlings become a permanent enemy type in the game eventually - the fact that it -was- repeated may be a spoiler for that plan.

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For those of us who have EARNED a badge, we already know that its instrinsic value can never be changed by the someone else's action. But if the issue is that it makes those who already have the badges feel more special when others do not have them, then isn't it fair to say the problem lies in those people instead?

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While I sympathize with you or others who weren't around when some of these time-limited badges were offered, I can't see the need to change them 'just because' you failed/weren't around to meet the establish requirements, irksome as that may be to you. It’s not about the haves vs. the have nots, it’s about meeting established requirements that we all live by, period. Remember this affects me too because I'm effectively arguing against my own ability to pick up the Halloween 2004 badges that I missed. I’m not arguing this position because -I- want to keep -you- from having badges. I take this position because I've seen too many disasters in game systems when the various Devs involved began to slide down the slippery slope of revisionism. What happens next if the Devs essentially give up on their 'one-time' badge concept? Someone else will then argue that PvP badges are unfair to PvEers and then we'll lose those. Then another person will push the idea that defeat badges take too many defeats to be earned and the numbers will be slashed - thus diminishing their 'intrinsic value' further (like they already unfortunately did with Zookeeper). Do you understand the concept now? No one’s actions -in game- can adversely affect others, but appealing to the Devs to change the system may have far reaching implications that could ripple back to cheapen other player’s badging efforts or narrow the diversity of options available. Even my 'solution' for Isolator involves no actual changes to it directly, thus mitigating risks caused by unnecessary tinkering...

This issue really has very little to do with players affecting each other, but more in maintaining the overall value of the time and effort all players put into their badge earning. Limited timeframes may be a questionable mechanic for the awarding of badges, but there is nothing flawed or wrong with their use per se from a game design point of view. Having said that, I'm not hypocritical enough to tell you I would deny myself the Halloween 2004 badges if they were offered again. The ball's in the Devs' court on this and they could certainly decide to backslide on their original intent to keep their one-time event badges. I'm not necessarily against the Devs trying to add or improve things - if they handled the change well enough, such as renaming badges to distinguish between separate events, I could even learn to accept it. Unfortunately that's a big 'if'...

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Lothic,

Your post was concise, logical, compelling, and covered all the basic points of this debate. You supported your position very well. And you did it without being rude, insulting, petty, or childish.

As such, it has NO PLACE in this thread! Shame on you!

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Forgive my ignorance of proper forum etiquette - I'm still relatively new to this.
I will endeavor to become jaded, vague and abrasive to others soon as possible...

P.S. Thanks

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I agree that the Isolator badge should be made available to those who missed it. It doesn't harm anything, nor does it "unbalance" the game in any way, and it would certainly make a large number of original customers happy. That alone should be reason enough to give this serious consideration. However, I am posting about something else.

I notice that some of the Isolator-advocates take a double standard when it comes to other badges, namely the Halloween and Winter Lord badges. I have seen the reasons why they thought those badges are "different", so Isolator should receive special treatment. Sorry, that is illogical. All those badges, including Isolator, are badges that people cannot get because there is no POSSIBLE way for their characters to get them regardless of how much they are willing to work for it. If you are willing to state that Isolator should be made available to all, then at least be consistent and supportive to those who wish to get badges that are impossible for them to get. The only reason why someone takes a double standard is because they are competitive and want to have more than the others.

I once read an email from a GM stating : "Not all players are meant to receive all badges in the game." It begs the question : "WHY NOT?" This is as ridiculous as them saying "Not all players are meant to achieve level 50", or "Not all players are meant to be able to fight fire in Steel Canyon." It is arbitrary, illogical and petty.

People, especially completionists, like collecting things in a game. As I said above, badges like Isolator and Halloween do not hurt anything or unbalance anything. Devs, it is in YOUR best interests to pay heed.

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As a quick summary to my position on this...

I consider myself an avid badge collector using a character that's been around since CoH Headstart. I favor the idea that any existing character should have a reasonable chance to earn all badges they are eligible to earn. Once established, badges (and the means to earn them) should remain as unmolested as possible to maintain their core 'value'. I consider the by-design impossibility of pre-I2 characters to have had the chance to earn Isolator to be a gross oversight. I believe that -something- should be done by the Devs to address this shortsighted design mistake of Isolator. I have proposed a workable retroactive compromise for Isolator several times in this and other threads...

Supporting as you say a 'double standard' for Isolator is in fact perfectly logical and reasonable because the circumstances surrounding it are completely unique in the history of CoH. Now whether or not you support a new means to get Isolator -and- other past event badges that your character was not around to get is immaterial. The fact that your character (or you as a player) may not have been around to get past event badges is not anyone's 'fault' per se and was not a problem with the design of the game system itself. This is how Isolator is unique. In its case players were effectively punished -for- being in the game before Issue 2 and badges existed at all. This is why a supposed double standard for it is practically called for, because addressing a correction or reparation for an obvious design flaw/oversight is the only justifiable action the Devs should take in the matter.

I feel for your point of view, I really do - I missed out on the 2004 Halloween badges because I was overseas on a business trip at the time. Of course I would jump at the opportunity to earn these badges if they were offered up again, but to be honest I really don't feel entitled to them and won't actively ask the Devs to provide them.

Why you ask? Because I firmly believe in maintaining the intrinsic value of badges. Right or wrong, agree or not, event badges have had short windows of opportunity to earn them. If you missed them you missed them. It's the only fair way to accept it - if the Devs start allowing currently ungettable badges to be earned again where would the backtracking and revisionism end? What would be the point to spending time earning badges when you could just wait a few months for the requirements to become simpler or the 'one time' badges to return? Thanks but no thanks...

That's why my compromise for Isolator doesn't in fact involve any change to it or the means to get it at all. Post-I2 people spent the time to earn it properly, and people who didn't know about it can't really complain. I kinda think it's stupid that the Devs basically force people to seek 3rd party info online to learn about badges, but these things are as they are. Introducing and applying a new, retroactive accolade to all pre-I2 characters as a replacement for isolator is really the cleanest, simplest solution the Devs have at their disposal. The Devs are already introducing 'seniority' event badges such as Celebrant and the announced 2nd year anniversary badge, even going as far as to be granting a gladiator to people who have both anniversary badges. One could easily consider my accolade idea to be a 'zeroth year anniversary' badge (like an Issue #0 of a comic book) to recognize those people who have been here since the beginning. If all pre and post Issue 2 characters could at least potentially have an equal number of badges, then I think most could accept the shortsighted mistake the Devs made with implementing Isolator and move on.

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Just spent 2+ hours of my life reading this thread and I didn't see the following solution:

REMOVE Isolator from the game completely...anyone...anyone?

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Finally another brave soul willing to think outside the box on this one.

My own compromise solution that I proposed on this thread involved leaving Isolator and the means to get it alone but instead retroactively adding a new accolade badge for all (and only) pre-I2 types to achieve the badge numbers balance since they had no fair chance to get Isolator.

While I think both of our ideas would address the problem very simply and cleanly, I think more people would be in favor of a few old timers getting a brand new badge rather than a larger group of players losing an already earned badge they spent real time getting.

Besides, the Devs currently have a fairly strong anti badge removal mindset. Up until now they have only chosen to remove an odd badge or two from a select few people for extraordinary circumstances. I kinda like that and I'd rather not give them any excuse to remove the entire existence of given badges from everyone. Who knows where that could lead?... *as she ponders a few nice costume options that have disappeared from the game without replacement for apparently little more than arbitrary reasons*

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If the badge is that important to you as it appears to be (to some of you), then re-roll and get it and go from the start.

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That's not really much of a option anymore. It was after I2, or when ever badges came out, up to the point of the halloween event. But after that, deleting and/or recreating the character means losing out on a number of badges, that they can't get again.

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There will always be badges that people don't have the opportunity to get.

By asking for this one to be given to you, the result is that the badge is cheapened for all those that did delete/recreate a hero in order to get it.

People can get all the badges that are currently available in-game, they just have to make a choice of where their priorities are.

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These points would all be addressed by my compromise proposal (that I made a few posts ago) of a new badge to act as a 'replacement' for Isolator for Pre-I2 characters.

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Maybe you shouldnt be fighting so hard for the Isolator badge perhaps what you should be looking for is a badge that says i have been here longer then badges have been around so stating that you infact are in and among the Elite group of individuals that have been with CoH for such a long time and having this badge could even Equal and or Surpass the having of the Isolator badge because having it in itself says that you did not get the option too achive this badge but yet it replaces this badge(isolator) with an even greater achivement do you know what i mean?

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In past versions of this thread (just how many times has this one risen from the dead?) I have proposed a similar compromise.

It's safe to say whether you think Isolator should be available outside Outbreak or by pre-Issue 2 characters or not, the fact that the Devs chose to make a badge impossible to get by people who were around before they existed was an obviously poor, shortsighted design decision at best. At worst it was a ploy to get some people to 'start over' to earn Isolator, keeping people in the game longer working to get back to where they were before they restarted - a totally underhanded and outright rude maneuver for the Devs to pull.

Ultimately the reasons the Devs did this don't really matter. The reality is they established Isolator as is, period. As much as I'd love to get Isolator on my CoH headstart badge-hunter, I must reluctantly agree and accept that there shouldn't be a change to Isolator to allow it and I won't ask for one. Badge hunting means a lot to me, and for them to maintain any shred of value the requirements and/or methods to earn them should not be tinkered with trivially. Case in point, I'm still actually semi-irked that they lowered the requirements for Zookeeper - the original number needed for it was arguably stupid-too-high, but lowering it cheapened the effort I and others put into it.

As both a compromise for lacking Isolator and a means to make amends for the oversight, I believe the Devs could easily add a new badge to fill the Isolator void for all pre-Issue 2 characters. This 'Alpha Legion' badge (or whatever the Devs would call it) could be done up like the event accolades have been done. The datamining for it would be relatively simple - any character created before the release date of Issue 2 would get it.

With this new badge there would be balance in fairness and overall badge numbers. All pre-Issue 2 characters would be recognized and awarded for their longevity in the game and be given a badge to take the place of another, Isolator, which they can never have by design. All post-Issue 2 characters would then have their opportunity to have Isolator as always with no changes needed to its details at all.

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I realize that my post from before sounded... offending to thoes who collect badges and that it is important to them.

Sorry if I offended. Didn't mean to.
To thoes who read peoples info... even the badges... thank you for taking to time to get to know my character. Hopefully we'll play some day and the Roll-play will be fun.

Last and not least...
Spawns still get stuck in walls.

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I'm sure you didn't mean to offend anyone, and didn't really. My original response to you was simply meant to point out the idea there are many ways to approach CoH/CoV. None of them right or wrong, good or bad. I'm sure there are as many people who'd think the way I play is silly as there are who'd think the way you do is. Pointing fingers never helps. Trying to label people by some facet of the way they play is equally unsound. For instance, I'd hazard to guess that most (not all mind you) hardcore badge collectors couldn't care less about roleplaying and vise-versa. Yes, I will read your info if I meet you in-game, but I do it as much to see if you have a build worth a damn for teaming as much as to see if you bothered to flesh out your toon with a bio.

BTW, "Roll-play" is what you do when you don't roleplay, but that's just minor phonetic quibble on my part. And whether or not I roleplay, PvP, Hami-raid, PL, farm non-timed Drecks, and/or badge collect in CoH/CoV is immaterial to this discussion. You know what they say about assumption...

As to your implication that the Devs are squandering precious bug fighting/content developing resources wasting time with a badge system you clearly don't care about, I can't really agree with that very much. Not only have the Devs allowed critical game mechanics problems go unfixed since day one (pre-badges) such as spawns getting stuck in walls, but they also let the wrong Shard TF badge pics (an arguably minor five minute fix) slip by for easily six months or more. It would seem the Devs' priorities lean more towards implementing things like ED and I5 nerfs rather than fixing any lingering bugs, whether they are badge related or not. Frankly I'd love to see more content/bug fixing going on myself, but I can assure you they aren't wasting -any- undo effort on badges judging by how many of them are becoming buggy now too.

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Why are people so into badges?

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Why are people so into having multiple level 50s in CoH and/or level 40s in CoV? I mean, after the first one why would anyone ever want to waste time getting another and then another?

The point of course is that while you may care little for badges, there are several different ways people can obsess and 'waste time' with CoH/CoV. None of them are any more or less valid than any other. It's easier in the long run to just accept that fact and enjoy your own addiction as you see fit.

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And lastly, who pays attention to others badge lists? Honestly.

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Well, other top badge holders do. There are several 3rd party badge tracking websites available now with thousands of people registered on them. Again, to each their own I suppose...

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I still think us pre Issue 2 Heroes should get our own special badge. Then we can all be special in a different way.

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Thanks for reading my post, it got kind of longer than I had planned.

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No problem with the length, especially since your post pretty much echoes mine from a few hours ago.

A pre-I2 'replacement' for Isolator would require very little effort on the Devs part (no new cookie-cutter mission loops to jump through) and would solve the 'parity' problem between pre and post I2 heroes.

Glad to see someone else can propose a compromise as easily as Agent 79 and I did.

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I still think us pre Issue 2 Heroes should get our own special badge. Then we can all be special in a different way.

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It always amazes me how much of a flame war this topic becomes every time it rises from the dead.

My main badge *bleep* is a lvl 50 I've had since CoH Headstart. Would I have liked the chance to get Isolator on this character? Of course, that's a given. Was the decision on the Devs part to introduce a badge in I2 that was unobtainable by any pre-I2 hero stupid, arbitrary and shortsighted? Obviously yes.

But as much as I'd like to have a way to earn Isolator for this hero, I can understand and even reluctantly agree to the reasons why it shouldn't be allowed. The 'time travel' or the 'monster' level contaminated ideas that have been suggested here are interesting, but basically what's done should be kept done so that the event badges maintain their value and significance.

Since I2 any new hero has had the opportunity to earn every badge in the game. All's fair from that point on - either you were here to get them or not. But for pre-I2 heroes, it boils down to an issue of fairness and equity. The Devs threw down the gauntlet, by design, that pre-I2 heroes could -never- have all the badges. I don't agree with that, but it is what it is. As a matter of fairness, knowing they were going to short pre-I2s a badge from the start, it would be a valid compromise to award all pre-I2 heroes a 'replacement' badge that would fill the void the lack of Isolator causes. It could be an Accolade named 'Alpha Corps' or some such. The details can be handled however the Devs want. But much like later event badges, you would've had to have been in the game at a certain point (pre-I2 in this case) to get it. This would go far in recognizing those who were dedicated/lucky enough to be around and active before the badge system even existed. Balance would be achieved - both pre and post I2 heroes would have a specific badge the other group could never get. Sound reasonable?