Wow, I never realized my post would explode into this! Who knew one little badge would cause such a heated debate?
I do understand those of you that replied stating there are other more important things than this and I agree, however my idea is for one simple mission to be added. In my suggestion, there is no new art to design, no new villains to develop, and no new content. It's just one mission put into place to give a second method to get the badge for those that missed it. Seems simple to me and it gives level 50s something new to do! I don't understand why anyone would be against adding it even if they have the badge.
I do hope the devs eventually give us some way to get this elusive badge! Especially for Pre-Issue 2 Heroes!
Thanks for all the support from the Pro-Isolators! I guess I should thank the Anti-Isolators as well for making it such a big issue, and keeping the thread alive so more Pro-Isolators post!
GO PRO-ISOLATORS! 
Fusion Force
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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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Exactly.
I was talking about badges with a friend of mine who also likes to collect them.
The difference between him and I is that my Hero was made the week CoH came out, his was made right after Issue 2 when badges came out. I will always be one badge behind him through no fault of mine, or lack of want.
Then we had both agreed that pre-Issue 2 Heros should get a badge something along the lines of, "Golden Age Hero" or something that indicated you were a Hero that has been in the game since "the olden days".
Thus both groups of Heroes, new and old alike, would have one unique badge that neither can get, and thus keep the maximun number of badges attainable equal, and more importantly equal and fair.
This preserves the thought of those opposed to going back and earning the Isolator badge "just because". But it also preserves the equality that those who missed the Isolator badge want.
Anyhow, short version for me: I would like to be able to earn the same maximum number of badges as anyone created after Issue 2, for the most simplest of reasons is that some badges are determined by how many badges you have, like Trailblazer for example.
Here's something to think about: Imagine you are a Hero created long ago when CoH just came out. Also you happen to be a slow leveling player, and just recently you finally hit level 41, and to your amazement when you go to choose an Epic power, a popup states, "This Hero was created before the epic powers were added thus you do not have access to them".
Example 2: You reach level 50 with your first main Hero and when you go to create a Kheldian you read: "We are sorry but the Kheldian option wasn't available when you created this Hero, you will have to create a new Hero and attain level 50 in order to unlock the Kheldian Archetype".
Example 3: (In the near future hopefully) The university finally opens it's doors, but only Heroes created on that day forward are allowed to learn skills . . .
Same exact scenareo, but I bet alot more people wouldn't want a way to "earn" them.
My point is, that so far every time NEW content is added to the game, it has always been available to ALL characters, no matter when they were created. The only exception to this is this one Isolator badge. So I am of the same opinion as all of the other folks who have stated that this makes this badge very different than the other seasonal event badges, like the Holloween and Xmas badges.
No one was denied a holloween/xmas/valentines/etc. badge because their character was created before then, they were denied the badge because either they were subscribed to CoH and didnt bother to want to get them, or they hadn't yet started playing the game, or missed it due to real life obligations preventing them from logging on for the duration of the event, but NOT because they were in game ready willing and able, but their Heroes were created before XYZ date.
If you show up late to a broadway play, expect to be turned away and not seated, and you have to live with the fact that you were late. But show up to that same play a little early and then to be told that because you are too early you aren't allowed to enter once the rest of the audience shows up seems . . . comical.
I think for the most part, folks, even if they aren't aware of why exactly, they get it. We understand the concept of "if you come late to the party you don't get beer because the beer is all gone." And we can live with that, and move on. What this specific badge represents though is not that philosophy, which is why you see so many posts on, "please add a way to earn the Isolator badge", and why you hardly ever see posts on, "please add a way to earn missed seasonal badges". It's inherently understood that the seasonal/special event badges once missed are gone for good, where as the Isolator badge is unique for the reasons so many others have already stated.
On a final note, I am not for or against Devs spending time to add a way to earn the Isolator badge, that's up to the Devs to decided if they want to or not. But I am for symmetry within the game.
Thanks for reading my post, it got kind of longer than I had planned.
"All that crap is grey to me, no XP." - Positron 5/15/05 8:36am . . . The world stopped and silence ensued except for the sound of a crying infant off in the distance.
"Everyone needs to chill the hell out." - BackAlleyBrawler 11/13/08 3:26pm . . . Geeks around the world stopped and blinked.
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As far as I know - the devs have no plans for including an alternate method to get isolator if you did not get it in outbreak.
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Or "you could not get it in Outbreak" or "you completed the requirements in Outbreak, because the datamining would have been too much work, so no, you don't get it anyway."
For completeness' sake. 
Why are people so into badges? I think they are neat and all, and it's cool to see the BADGE popup.
Some badges give a bump or bonus, I understand not wanting to miss that, but Isolator? I mean, after a while you forget you even have it.
I'd much rather they spend the time on things like... making sure spawns don't get caught in mission walls... and making Archery a little more player-friendly... you know things that effect the PLAYING of the game itself.
Not every hero can experiance all the content. Ulysses will never experience Portal Farming, Herding, and other first year things. I can't say I've been active since Beta, the list goes on and on and I accept that. Why should badges be any different, espically when I can make like sixty alts on so many different servers.
And lastly, who pays attention to others badge lists? Honestly.
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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.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
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And lastly, who pays attention to others badge lists? Honestly.
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There's a whole culture to badge-itis in CoH/V. Vidiot and Paragon Information Center both have websites dedicated to nothing but badge totals, badge hunting, badge status, etc. It's important to some people, especially level 50s with nothing else to do but run around killing 100 of this, 333 of that, or hunting down the last monster they need to complete a set.
Not saying you need to understand WHY it's important to them, but you should understand that it IS important to them. And it is a decent sized demographic as evidenced by the two sites above.
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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...
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
Wow. what an aggressive thread aobut somthing simple. SOme people need to chill.
Anyway, I like this idea. In fact, I would expand the time travel aspect to indeed include the halloween event, the WL event, and several other key historic points in COH/V. Why not have a Rikti War mission where you are sent back to try to prevent the destruction of Crey's Folley, or the death of some famous hero, say like Galaxy Girl? Maybe they should be impossible...maybe not. it's a comic book, who's to say you cant save creys in this instance only to have the Rikti Blow it up 2 weeks later?
this would be a delightful form of lvl 50 content. Mkae rewards for completion SO's like the OP said, maybe add a whole boatload of sg prestige onto mission complete for these too. Allow teams for some, but not others (hard to kill a WL by yourself) a lot of the issues in the past, like PL off of winter lords is a non factor at 50.
Oh but i wouldnt use ms lib or brawler, Positron the "nerd" of the group would be a better pick i think(no offense posi )
Anyway, this is a fine idea, and could be expanded very easily to be more then a "badge time machine". Good idea OP.
Liberty server
Eldagore lvl 50 Inv/ss, co-founder of The Legion of Smash
3.5 servers of alts....I need help.
May the rawk be with you.
Arc #'s
107020 Uberbots!
93496 A Pawn in Time
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And lastly, who pays attention to others badge lists? Honestly.
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ahem. *raises hand sheepishly* That would be me. Yeah, I have no life, but I like clicking on toons and reading bios and checking the badges.
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Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
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Dev Quote 1: Positron has said that, whatever badge-related niceties go into the game from this point onward, Isolator will _never_ be a requirement for _any_ of them, aside from the little green text under your name that says "Isolator".
And if you think a little line of green text is an equal or greater game benefit than an entire subsystem that takes months to code and balance, you're off your rocker.
--GF
That said, when April 1 rolls around some year, I wouldn't mind getting caught in a Gamester smoke bomb and waking up in that parking lot on the east side of Paragon, with a friendly police officer standing over me saying "The multiverse is in danger? Statesman got kidnapped? Whoa there, newbie. Let's start you off with something simple." (Coyote realizes what's really going on, of course.)
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
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Your ignoring the part about the pre-I2 heroes that DID take out 100 contaminated ... how is it fair on those characters that put in the effort and have received no reward ? A redname (can't remember who ...) has said that it can't be datamined ... I would love for you to explain why these heroes should not get another oppertunity ...
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Okay, lets put it this way. Lets say one year you decide to enter a contest for 12-18 year olds. Say, a Marathon. You participate, and win, and get a nice Trophy.
Now lets say its a year later, and your 19 now and uneligible to enter. Well, it just so happens that THIS year, they have a new sponsor who offers up a nice million dollar prize. Does that mean that just because you put up the effort in last years race, when there WAS no prize, that you should be retroactively awarded a million dollars?
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Please, if you disagree with someone - state your opinion and leave it at that. No need to bash people for their thoughts/ideas. Some people want X - others don't. Agree to disagree. Thanks.
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It always surprises me that whenever Cuppa (or some other redname mod) posts something like this, not one page later, the flaming and insulting starts up again.
Always.
I refuse to have my faith in the innate decency of human nature shattered, but it is sometimes so very, very trying.
Current main:
Schrodinger's Gun, Dual Pistols/Mental Blaster, Virtue
Avatar: Becky Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash. Roulette roulette~
Good analogy, LiquidX.
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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Should your previous heroes be allowed a chance to get the badge? Well look at it this way: I play a male hero during the Valentine's event and get the Handsome badge. A female companion gets the Beautiful badge. Does that mean we should get the chance to get each other's badges too? Hardly... and the same logic applies here, whether you believe that or not.
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See this makes no sense to me, because the Handsome and Beautiful badge if one in the same badge with a different title to the badge reflecting the gender of the Hero.
There is no isolator equivalent, so there is no comparison as to what you just tried to explain.
[B]Leading Badge Holder in the City of Community[/B]
Owner & Operator of...
[URL="http://www.vidiotmaps.com/"]Vidiotmaps.com[/URL] & [URL="http://www.badge-hunter.com/"]Badge-Hunter.com[/URL]
[URL="http://net-warrior.mybrute.com/"][B][SIZE=3][COLOR=darkorange]Challenge My Brute[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B][/URL]
How 'bout a hazard zone entrance to outbreak gated at level 45 off of PI.
It's not like you can get XP in the zone after all. 
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Okay, lets put it this way. Lets say one year you decide to enter a contest for 12-18 year olds. Say, a Marathon. You participate, and win, and get a nice Trophy.
Now lets say its a year later, and your 19 now and uneligible to enter. Well, it just so happens that THIS year, they have a new sponsor who offers up a nice million dollar prize. Does that mean that just because you put up the effort in last years race, when there WAS no prize, that you should be retroactively awarded a million dollars?
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A million dollars?? That is going to the extreme. I think that your example would be more accurate if you used a pretty blue ribbon to all the participants instead.
Even if the new prize was all of fifty dollars, or heck five dollars - prior winners wouldhave NO right to insist on having a payment made to THEM, too.
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Okay, lets put it this way. Lets say one year you decide to enter a contest for 12-18 year olds. Say, a Marathon. You participate, and win, and get a nice Trophy.
Now lets say its a year later, and your 19 now and uneligible to enter. Well, it just so happens that THIS year, they have a new sponsor who offers up a nice million dollar prize. Does that mean that just because you put up the effort in last years race, when there WAS no prize, that you should be retroactively awarded a million dollars?
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Comparisons are all well and good in this case - although I've seen some flawed and drastically exaggerated comparisons on both sides of the argument.
At this point, I think it boils down to one side that wants it, and one side that doesn't. Neither side is willing to give in, because to them the other side's arguments are invalid. The argument of, "I want it because my toon was around before it existed, and thus could never get it is," is purely opinion; the argument, "It would take away dev resources from more important things," is a slippery slope, because by that argument, no suggestion on the forum should ever be followed because the only ones who can determine an idea to be "important" are the devs - and they already know what hey're working on.
So why not just boil this down to a simple yes-and-no debate? Because it seems evident (at least to me) that neither side is going to sway the other by repetition of the same arguments over and over again.
And then we can move onto something important systems-wise - like getting Tanks an Inherent that works in PvP.
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Okay, lets put it this way. Lets say one year you decide to enter a contest for 12-18 year olds. Say, a Marathon. You participate, and win, and get a nice Trophy.
Now lets say its a year later, and your 19 now and uneligible to enter. Well, it just so happens that THIS year, they have a new sponsor who offers up a nice million dollar prize. Does that mean that just because you put up the effort in last years race, when there WAS no prize, that you should be retroactively awarded a million dollars?
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A million dollars?? That is going to the extreme. I think that your example would be more accurate if you used a pretty blue ribbon to all the participants instead.
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Substitute whatever prize you want. 10 bucks. A lifetime supply of Rice-a-Roni. A fancier trophy. It all works out the same.
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Okay, lets put it this way. Lets say one year you decide to enter a contest for 12-18 year olds. Say, a Marathon. You participate, and win, and get a nice Trophy.
Now lets say its a year later, and your 19 now and uneligible to enter. Well, it just so happens that THIS year, they have a new sponsor who offers up a nice million dollar prize. Does that mean that just because you put up the effort in last years race, when there WAS no prize, that you should be retroactively awarded a million dollars?
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A million dollars?? That is going to the extreme. I think that your example would be more accurate if you used a pretty blue ribbon to all the participants instead.
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Substitute whatever prize you want. 10 bucks. A lifetime supply of Rice-a-Roni. A fancier trophy. It all works out the same.
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True, but work is boring.
If I could, I would give you my badge.
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If I could, I would give you my badge.
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Now there's an IDEA! BADGE TRADING!!! Woo! Hoo!
Bloody Axe Inv/Axe - Champion
Dying Cooper Spi/Reg - Champion
Power Rock Stone/EM - Justice
Mistress Magma Fire/Kin - Freedom
Note to self: When replying, keep power cord *in* computer.
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Pax_Arcana waded in:
Okay, I'll take you up on this one. First point:
I am a badge-[censored]. I'm addicted, top to bottom, front to back, left to right, inside and out, to getting more badges. I'll have at LEAT one of my excessively-numerous alts cross sides, to collect as many badges from "the other side of the fence" as possible.
So. Why should I be unable to get the Halloween badges ...? Or the badge for killing a Winterlord (or fifty) ...?
If you're going to say "devoted badge-hunters should always have a chance at every badge", well, it cuts both ways. Late joiners should have every bit of a chance at earlier badges, as early-joiners should have at LATER badges.
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I wholeheartedly agree! The crux of my point is this: there is a very devoted community of badge collectors, and it would appear that these people (myself included) take the perfection of their collection very seriously. It very much *is* like Pokemon; chances are, if you are part of that demographic, then you will most likely want every badge going.
As for the event-related badges; they are somewhat more finickity to deal with, that's for sure. But I said as much before, and continue to think that there are viable solutions. There is no reason we cannot have an alternate dimension ruled with the deathly-cold fist of the Winter Lord, or enduring the playful machinations of the Gamester. Similarly, as these characters appeared for an *annual* event, there is no obvious reason as to why they cannot return annually.
(We saw a certain degree of this premise in the re-emergence of the Winter Lord's minature minions this Xmas.)
My thinking here amounts to this: the badge system is, cynically speaking, a time sink intended to capture the interest of a certain type of obsessive compulsive player with completist tendancies. I mean, let's be honest - it takes a certain kind of player to bag 10,000 Rikti monkeys with no obvious reward bar a pin emblazoned with the words "I killed 10,000 Rikti Monkeys and all I got was this pin".
I do not know what percentage of the playerbase is obsessed with badges. Certainly, from the aforementioned websites supporting the badge habit, there appears to be at least a good number. Maybe five percent of all Heroes desperately want another shot at the Isolator badge. Maybe it's ten percent. Who knows?
Nonetheless, it is not a neglible minority. And an important point to impart here; many of these players really do adopt a mentality of completeness. To tell such players, early on, that they have already missed an important item and have no ability to go back and retrive it - this will sap their interest in attaining the rest of the badges, because in their mind they equate completion with success - and the inability to complete their collection with predetermined failure.
And to be clear; though I share this mentality, I do not espouse it. I do not want everyone to become as obsessed as I with collection every last badge, completing every given mission, befriending each and every contact. Statistically speaking however, there are like-minded people; and if that number is a large number, then their demands take on greater import.
Now, a very good point was raised by both LiquidX and Celtic and a few others; that additional badge missions take away resources from other matters within the game that require adressing. Although they have created a diverse and interesting game world, Cryptic Studios are (a) only human and (b) certainly not as large as some of their competitors. There are technical issues plaguing Paragon now that were present in the beta; I mention this simply as an illustration of how the Developers have had to turn their attention to other matters because they simply do not have the time, effort or manpower.
Having said that, I feel that some of the proposed solutions are, in the grand scheme of things, simply quick and easy to implement. Much of the related content - the mobs, their behaviours - are already implemented. It is simply a case of dropping them into an appropriate setting. (Maybe a portal mission, maybe rolling them out once a year, who knows.)
We aren't talking about reinventing the wheel here. I think it is reasonable, with a well designed system, to be able to drop a hundred plus Contaminated into a force-field fenced-off King's Row map, and let the hero go to town with a cursory "This is an alternate dimension where the Outbreak was not contained now go. hunt. kill contaminated" backstory.
As a point of comparison; what percentage of the paying player population has made level 50? The last figure was something like eight percent. Aren't these the same people that (reasonably) want new end-game content with with to amuse themselves? I certainly don't blame them; when I make level 50, I hope there's more to do than poke Hami. But that sounds like an awful lot of work for a small percentage of the population... doesn't it?
Just so we are clear here; I am certainly not arguing that there should be no end-game content, or that it isn't important. But I am saying. that allowing players to collect on the badges they missed does not have to be a great resource drain. And at the same time, it will make a lot of people quite happy. (It gives the badge collectors something more to do, it removes what could be considered a major demotivational factor, and it provides some small but otherwise servicable new content that makes efficient use of otherwise little-used or dormant assets.)
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And Celebrant? What about that? Besides, I think that wuld seriously cheapen the badge for folks that DID earn them.
That goes for current stuff, too; I didn't feel up to getting the badge for killing Snaptooth five times (ugh, FIVE times on EACH character, BLECCH). But it's certainly a point of pride for those that DID stick it out and off him the requisite quintet of times.
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This is also a good point. And it is very much like the aforementioned issue with the Rikti monkeys; when the requirements were lowered, those that did collect the full quotant of 10,000 monkeys wanted a reward for their otherwise negated effort.
Personally, I feel that if the requirement was lowered, then it was done so with good reason and constituted a fix of what almost constituted a 'gameplay bug'. (In this particular instance, a requirement that far outstripped in effort the spirit of the majority.) Although this means a proportion of players are left having essentially done something for nothing, it is otherwise a minor crime. (All that has been lost is the effort of the player... and to that end, they can be recompensed - if not appropriately with a badge - then by other means, such as XP.)
As for the Celebrant badge? I don't know... it's a tricky one. Perhaps it should remain uniquely available for those present during the first anniversary of CoH? Perhaps it should be available to everyone, once a year, on the anniversary? Maybe it could even be made available in the online store for a small fee... (do not underestimate the power of micropayments in an MMORPG setting.) I certainly do not have a suitable answer; but I do think that we could have a polite dialogue on the matter.
Certainly, we find ourselves in the unique mire of those that care for the effort they put in, versus those that do not. I cannot speak for the former, as I am not party to their company. But personally, if tomorrow a new portal mission turns up - one filled with Snow Beasts and Ghosts and Contaminated and Vampires - I say, kudos to those that get the badges. I do not subscribe to a premise of exclusivity for the elite. Badges for all, I say. ^_^
This has been a big disscussion anywhere you go that has involved CoH and its badges. And I, personally, would like to see something happen for the Isolator badge being awarded somehow to pre-I-2 heroes. I made my main and got her up to level 32 before I even found out about the Isolator badge (no one spoke of it, I saw it beingtoted around on another hero).
Now, the Isolator one was, and still is "The White Whale" of alot of badge collectors out there. Unlike the holiday badges that I missed (which I said, "Damn, I wish I was here" and went on my merry way), I actually feel shortened a badge in a cheap way. I mean, I completed Tutorial, and Hell, even ran around getting used to controls and thinking I was gunna level by killing countless Contaminated.
Now, I would LOVE to see Isolator come about in means of being awarded for those with a pre-I-2 toon that finished the Tutorial like previously suggested, but if it ain't gunna happen there isn't much I can do past that in achieving the badge.