Winter Has Arrived!
By
albrasia,
Posted on: 2007-12-17 11:49 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Post deleted by Lighthouse
I got gold on my stone while in granite with just IR so anything can be done i really did not care about gettin the badge on that toon i just think it looks funny going skiing in granite
Yes it is rather frustrating but it is not impossible. Running sprint only I can get down to 37 second runs, with flight as a 50 got down to 33 seconds. The fastest runs were with sprint, speed boost, and inertia reduction thanks to my wife who stayed on the hill spamming it for everyone, got down to 23 seconds after several attempts on my 24 tank, my 50 peacbringer, and 8 brute. It can be done just takes practice once you have everything else to know where to take the turns, where to jump, etc. Keep trying, don't give up, and that feeling of accomplishment you get from attaining those badges will be gotten, since you will get a badge that some think is impossible.
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Yes it is rather frustrating but it is not impossible. Running sprint only I can get down to 37 second runs, with flight as a 50 got down to 33 seconds. The fastest runs were with sprint, speed boost, and inertia reduction thanks to my wife who stayed on the hill spamming it for everyone, got down to 23 seconds after several attempts on my 24 tank, my 50 peacbringer, and 8 brute. It can be done just takes practice once you have everything else to know where to take the turns, where to jump, etc. Keep trying, don't give up, and that feeling of accomplishment you get from attaining those badges will be gotten, since you will get a badge that some think is impossible.
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Not necessarily, if you routinely lag badly it can be completely impossible, and it's the only badge in the game with the possible exception of master of the STF for which that's true.
I'm just too inept to get it, my connection is fine (and fortunately I gave up serious badge collecting a while back), but I think any badge which a poor connection/old computer can make impossible is a poorly designed badge.
It's true. This game is NOT rocket surgery. - BillZBubba
The gold medal badges are the second most frustrating badge I've ever earned or tried to earn in this game. It takes practise, sj/ir, and maybe even speed boost.
I tried it over and over on monday night with IR and sometimes IR/SB but it was frustrating as all get out and I ended up turning off the game in disgust. Yesterday I went back with my zero g pack on and got hit with SB and was still frustrated like nothing else because I kept coming in .5 to 2.7 seconds shy of the 25 second mark. Eventually, after dogged persistance, I managed to get 23 seconds. I then turned around and did it on 4 more toons quite quickly.
The focus of this argument are in two different places for the different parties.
Party A: It's not so hard, just keep at it and you'll get it. It's fun, you'll see.
Party B: It's hard as sin and it's not fun because it's frustrating and makes you want to punch your LCD (bit of ad libbing on my part)
I'm here in the middle of those two.
Yes, it can be done if you keep at it, but for some of us, it is the most frustrating thing we have encountered in this game and our growing disgust with the seeming impossibility of achieving the goal makes us want to break something or cancel the game. This is an immediate feeling that we experience as we are having the problem. Some of us end up cooling off.
Some, however, are not cooling off. They may even feel like the devs/community are acting negatively and they are staying angry because of it. After a while, the feeling ferments; soon, smaller things that would not normally bother them suddenly become maddening because they are already bottling up disgust and discontent. Unhappiness is viral, sometimes, and unhappy people can create other unhappy people by ruining their gameplay.
Isolated incidents are negligable, I suppose, and that is an extreme response there; but... even with the lighter response of just creating many unhappy players who are lagging, dropping frames, lack visual acuity or coordination, or whatever, that... that is something that the people who are responsible for making the game fun should find unacceptable.
Make it easier, for everyone's sake; those who can and those who can't do it. Even knocking 3 seconds off would probably soothe some savagery and offer salve for those who feel they have been hurt.
Christmas is stressful enough in the real world, let's make it happy and easy in the artificial one.
<3 I love you all, be happy and be safe this holiday season.
i was able to do it without superjump and with only one speed increase. 24.62 seconds!
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To the CoH/CoV staff:
I've been playing MMORPG's for close to 10 years now, and this Winter Event is the most fun I've ever had in a game. I loved it last year, and it's still loads of fun this year. The atmosphere puts a big smile on my face every time that I log in (especially hearing the polka music & yodeling), and there's a nice number of options to enjoy gifts and prizes all around. Thank you for a job well done.
To everyone else:
I know some badge hunters are going to be frustrated about the lack of instant gratification from the ski run, but some of the rest of us appreciate the challenge. Don't fret, folks -- the advice on the forums here does the job handily. I got all 3 badges just using sprint and the zero-G pack that anyone can get doing the King's Row safeguard/mayhem, if you don't have jump powers available otherwise. The jingle-jet is a LOT easier to get this year, and all the badges & powers of winters past are accessible. That's not a bad deal.
Happy holidays to all!
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I have to take issue with the phrase "instant gratification" in relation to this badge - nobody is asking to be handed these badges. The people who are reporting frustration have tried repeatedly and have failed due to many reasons outside of their own control. Leave the "instant gratification" phrase in the threads where people whine because they have to do anything to get a reward - don't apply it to people who have spent literally hours trying to what they are supposed to do to receive these badges.
I'm not even skiing this year. The fun has been taken out of it for me - there are griefers all over the slopes, and the lag for me is terrible - even when there were only 17 characters showing in a search of the zone. I thought that the racing would be fun but it's not fun for me because I simply cannot do it. <shrug> Talking about frustration and lag isn't the same as asking for instant gratification.
Storm
Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...
I've been trying on my level 50 ma/sr scrapper, with no luck for the gold. Got gold on the first try with my 32 superjumper. The amount of control you get with superjump makes it simple.
Unfortunately the darn villains hold Siren's Call, so I can't get a low-g pack. *shakes fist at villains*
See I have a problem with the arguement that a bad computer that makes it difficult to play makes the badge poorly disigned. My wifes computer was so out of date that she could not play any task forces at all, the graphics involved with having more then 2 or 3 players on the team caused her system come to a standstill, it was completely unplayable. Is that the devs fault, is the teaming, graphics, or game engine poorly designed because she was unable to do them? No just means that my wife in all her glory was to hard headed when i said, "hey their adding things to the game and it's going to be hell on your system, let's upgrade." to believe me and told me no. She finally has the upgrades and has a ball.
The speed demon badge is frustrating as hell to get. No joke, no denieing it. I am a badge [censored] (441 on my peacebringer at last count), and I am hard headed enough to sit there till I am ready to throw the monitor through the window or stomp through the house yelling my frustrations and irritating myself further by back alley brawlers claim of a 16 second run. But it isn't impossible to attain. YOUR system may make it so, your connection may make it so, but those are user side issues and not game issues. I but made a suggestion on what powers to use to help, if the lag is to bad, try doing it at a time when the slopes are clearer, lower your settings, etc.
Well, it doesn't help that the hit boxes for the gates are not uniformly high. There are several that are, I assume, partially embedded in the ground. This is easy to tell: fly at the same height above all the gates (about half again or a tiny bit higher above the top of the poles), and you will miss some. This is especially true of the hairpin gate after the cliff where a small jump will bypass the waypoint.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
wow. my 3rd run ever was last night at 19s w/1-slotted sj. i forgot i had left it on (i was still sliding 90+% of the way), so i wondered what i was doing right when i read yall's responses. so i just tried w/out sj on (only sprint and hurdle 1-slotted). it went up to 31. big difference, now i know what you mean. i finally got it down to 29 w/practice, but i wonder if sprint+swift would eek out as much room for a gold too. i'll say this--running fly the whole way is definitely *not* going to do it. i'd try sprint and let the snow give you speed. if that doesn't work then i'd say we've got problems.
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My apologies that you took my communication to mean "you don't deserve it"
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I took it wrong too. My current in-game teaming search comment is "Lighthouse == Grinch".
I got it just using Superspeed/Sprint/Swift/Quickness, on my third run the other morning. First run is 25.13, second I missed a gate, third I got 22.25! It's definitely doable without IR or any of that stuff.
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I'm so frustrated right now, I'm seriously getting to the point where I'll cancel my account. I HATE games that frustrate me and present an impossible goal! I usually end up putting those games down and never playing them again. 
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It sounds like it's making you very unhappy. So why are you still trying to do it? This is a game; it's supposed to be fun. Go do the fun parts.
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It is making me incredibly unhappy, but I've set a goal for myself to get as many badges as possible in this game. Earning new badges does make me happy, and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.
I know there are some badges I'll never get, but that was just because I wasn't playing during those CoH anniversaries, I can't go back in time to get those badges. I also can't get the V.I.P. badge because I never bought the DVD edition.
But, this badge is here and it should be feasible for me to get! This is just ruining a part of the game that has, in the past, been great fun for me.
Lighthouse saying I don't deserve the badge because I'm "interested in working at it" is what REALLY makes me unhappy! I have been working to get this badge and I can't. I've spent a lot of my time and effort trying to get this badge and it's just not happening, and the official attitude is that I shouldn't get it? That's unacceptable.
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Hi Evilanna,
My apologies that you took my communication to mean "you don't deserve it" Please take it as "not every badge is going to be available or obtainable by everyone." There are some good suggestions by other players in this thread. Hopefully those will be helpful for you.
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Hello Lighthouse,
I fully understand that not all badges will be able to be earned by everyone. I just don't think it's fair to have badges that rely on certain powers to get. I think that my level 39 should be able to get the badge with her Fly ability just as much as a level 14 with a temp power.
Your post really did look like you were saying that some people don't deserve the badge despite how many hours they put into trying to get it. But, if I was to try for 5 minutes to earn the Speed Demon badge, then I gave up and complained here, I would fully agree that I then don't deserve that badge at all. However, I put hours into trying to get that badge. I never gave up, and I tried everything I could to try to get it. In that case, wouldn't I deserve that badge just because of the effort I put into it?
I'm generally a patient and obsessive badge hunter. I've spent hours in Kings Row for the chance that I might get the Knight Errant badge (haven't got it yet, but I know I will one day,) so I'm willing to put in the effort...
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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To the CoH/CoV staff:
I've been playing MMORPG's for close to 10 years now, and this Winter Event is the most fun I've ever had in a game. I loved it last year, and it's still loads of fun this year. The atmosphere puts a big smile on my face every time that I log in (especially hearing the polka music & yodeling), and there's a nice number of options to enjoy gifts and prizes all around. Thank you for a job well done.
To everyone else:
I know some badge hunters are going to be frustrated about the lack of instant gratification from the ski run, but some of the rest of us appreciate the challenge. Don't fret, folks -- the advice on the forums here does the job handily. I got all 3 badges just using sprint and the zero-G pack that anyone can get doing the King's Row safeguard/mayhem, if you don't have jump powers available otherwise. The jingle-jet is a LOT easier to get this year, and all the badges & powers of winters past are accessible. That's not a bad deal.
Happy holidays to all!
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I have to take issue with the phrase "instant gratification" in relation to this badge - nobody is asking to be handed these badges. The people who are reporting frustration have tried repeatedly and have failed due to many reasons outside of their own control. Leave the "instant gratification" phrase in the threads where people whine because they have to do anything to get a reward - don't apply it to people who have spent literally hours trying to what they are supposed to do to receive these badges.
I'm not even skiing this year. The fun has been taken out of it for me - there are griefers all over the slopes, and the lag for me is terrible - even when there were only 17 characters showing in a search of the zone. I thought that the racing would be fun but it's not fun for me because I simply cannot do it. <shrug> Talking about frustration and lag isn't the same as asking for instant gratification.
Storm
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Sorry, but I have to call it as I see it. I don't think the venting I've seen in this thread and others is fair to the Devs, and I think that some people are getting unduly bent out of shape. I think a bit of patience will get anyone the badges here, barring lag issues that are not the fault of the Devs. I'm no twitcher demon when it comes to games, but I've had a few different characters, at different levels and with different travel builds, each get the gold.
This event has only been Live for a few days, and there's several reasonable and easy strategies in the forums for getting the gold. I believe that over the next couple of weeks, there will be plenty of opportunities to get free aid from fellow players or temp powers to do the job without a respec or anything extreme being necessary. If you simply **must** have these badges, patience over a few days, not over a few hours, will win the day.
Griefers are a different story, but Lighthouse has indicated that they are on notice that this behavior won't be tolerated.
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I just don't think it's fair to have badges that rely on certain powers to get.
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So do you lie awake nights fretting the various healing badges?
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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.
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No, it's IMPOSSIBLE, remember?
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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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And yet you did it anyway, KNOWING it wasn't fun, complaining you weren't having fun the whole way, and now you're complaining that you didn't have fun before.
See, it's a GAME. It's supposed to be fun. There are a lot of people who enjoyed this part of the game; this part of the game was therefore meant for them. What you're supposed to do with the parts that aren't fun for you is "stay away from them".
I am honestly baffled why you can't get this; it was fun for some people. You want it changed, which is bound to make it less fun for SOMEBODY who was already enjoying it.
And I'd be careful what you wish for, those of you who are claiming this part of the game ruined your lives; the easiest way for NCSoft to fix that would be to just not ever offer it again. Boom, problem solved; and you got nothing, and other people got their fun ruined.
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
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So do you lie awake nights fretting the various healing badges?
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Absolutely. Devs, please change the healing badges so that I can get them without relying on healing powers.
J
I always need more of the following things:
Candy Canes, Presents, Candy Canes, Christmas Badges, Candy Canes, Christmas Temporary Powers, And Candy Canes.
(Candy Canes are good.)
P.S.
On my level 50 Fire/Kin I have SS and SB and they are both fully IO'd. I run like mad and it made this ski slope a ton easier. Lolz - my first run took me over a minute because i was being a very n00bxx0rz, but i got the badges after a couple of know-what-I'm-doing runs.
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I just don't think it's fair to have badges that rely on certain powers to get.
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So do you lie awake nights fretting the various healing badges?
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Not at all, I can easily take a healing power, even if I'm a scrapper. Not only that, but that healing power will benefit me and my team by preventing us from dying and it will get put to good use.
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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.
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No, it's IMPOSSIBLE, remember?
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Yes, it IS impossible for some who only has Fly and doesn't have some bogus temporary power.
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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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And yet you did it anyway, KNOWING it wasn't fun, complaining you weren't having fun the whole way, and now you're complaining that you didn't have fun before.
See, it's a GAME. It's supposed to be fun. There are a lot of people who enjoyed this part of the game; this part of the game was therefore meant for them. What you're supposed to do with the parts that aren't fun for you is "stay away from them".
I am honestly baffled why you can't get this; it was fun for some people. You want it changed, which is bound to make it less fun for SOMEBODY who was already enjoying it.
And I'd be careful what you wish for, those of you who are claiming this part of the game ruined your lives; the easiest way for NCSoft to fix that would be to just not ever offer it again. Boom, problem solved; and you got nothing, and other people got their fun ruined.
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No one ever said this part of the game ruined their lives, and no one ever suggested that it be removed from the game. There were some constructive suggestions for improving it to make it even more fun and to ensure that everyone has a good time.
There has also been a lot of people saying that the ski runs were too difficult. Just because you had no problem with it doesn't mean everyone else should be ignored.
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I just don't think it's fair to have badges that rely on certain powers to get.
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So do you lie awake nights fretting the various healing badges?
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Not at all, I can easily take a healing power, even if I'm a scrapper. Not only that, but that healing power will benefit me and my team by preventing us from dying and it will get put to good use.
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You can easily take sj or ss.
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So do you lie awake nights fretting the various healing badges?
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Absolutely. Devs, please change the healing badges so that I can get them without relying on healing powers.
J
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New here? Healing badges are obtained by afk farming in the arena with gladiators. No healing powers are required.
Jeromus
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I just don't think it's fair to have badges that rely on certain powers to get.
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So do you lie awake nights fretting the various healing badges?
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Not at all, I can easily take a healing power, even if I'm a scrapper. Not only that, but that healing power will benefit me and my team by preventing us from dying and it will get put to good use.
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You can easily take sj or ss.
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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.
"OK, first of all... Shut Up." - My 13-Year-Old Daughter
29973 "The Running of the Bulls" [SFMA] - WINNER of the Mighty Big Story Arc Contest !
- The Stellar Wind Orbital Space Platform
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Yes, it IS impossible for some who only has Fly and doesn't have some bogus temporary power.
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ITYM "Yes, it IS impossible for someone who carefully chooses to place themselves into a box designed to make it impossible, and stubbornly refuses to step outside that box briefly to get a badge that isn't part of an accolade anyway."
HTH. HAND.
These badges reward people who want to work really hard at them and/or find innovative ways to achieve them. You're acting like every badge is some kind of birthright. They're not, and there are people out there who WANT badges that are hard to come by. They can't, and shouldn't, all be Exploration badges anybody can manage with a little patience; some of them are going to be HARD. Some rewards (not necessarily badges) are only going to be possible for certain archetypes. TOUGH. Some rewards (not necessarily badges) are going to require access to certain powers. TOUGH.
There are some Task Forces that probably can't be done by 8 human-form Peacebringers without using temp powers or dying. Then again, this is probably YOUR meaning of "impossible", which is "harder than I would personally like it to be, and screw everybody else".
I don't have the ski badges on my badge-hunter character. I will probably never have them. I don't care. If you care, you have to decide whether you care more about the badge than you do about avoiding the effort to achieve it. This is the calculation you have to do for EVERY badge, and the effort is going to vary from badge to badge and character to character. Deciding to get Heart of the Hamidon with a character who has never visited a trainer and without letting anybody else help you is probably futile, too, and that's just an Exploration badge; the medals are a reward for extra effort.
Plus you got the stupid thing anyway. So build a bridge and get over it.
To the CoH/CoV staff:
I've been playing MMORPG's for close to 10 years now, and this Winter Event is the most fun I've ever had in a game. I loved it last year, and it's still loads of fun this year. The atmosphere puts a big smile on my face every time that I log in (especially hearing the polka music & yodeling), and there's a nice number of options to enjoy gifts and prizes all around. Thank you for a job well done.
To everyone else:
I know some badge hunters are going to be frustrated about the lack of instant gratification from the ski run, but some of the rest of us appreciate the challenge. Don't fret, folks -- the advice on the forums here does the job handily. I got all 3 badges just using sprint and the zero-G pack that anyone can get doing the King's Row safeguard/mayhem, if you don't have jump powers available otherwise. The jingle-jet is a LOT easier to get this year, and all the badges & powers of winters past are accessible. That's not a bad deal.
Happy holidays to all!