Post Deadly Halloween event badge thoughts!

Hi,

posted the following as a reply in the dedicated Event thread but thought as it was about "badges" that it might be more relevent here.

"Hi,

First up, I am a badge rat and was waiting, salivating,with my badge toon for the first event after it went live. We failed, a. because it was in the Hollows which meant long travelling distances, b. only two of us had done the event on test, and c. we were not enough to damage the Banners after we made thenm vulnerable.

By the second time we were mob handed, and had organised a strategy just as you posted Ayarel, and I think everybody that was there got all six badges in that one run.

My thoughts are that this new "Wham Bam, thank you Mam" approach to the badges, particularly with this event, spoils it.

After that one run, there was little if no incentive for me to run it again. I would have prefered a situation where a player could only get one banner badge per event meaning I would have had to do four runs and perhaps five if the GM badge was also limited by a one badge per event award sysytem.

And yes, I also think that keeping the Zombie raids for the Halloween event is better than an all year round system.

Happy Trick or Treating"


Thoughts and suggestions for next year?
Cheers

There is also a temporary buff you get for defeating the GM, but I'd also agree it should last longer than just an hour, or get a couple extra merits for the banners. We spend longer than that waiting for the next event sometimes anyway.. however, they did say they are adding a patch this week to increase how often it occurs.

Anyway, I do agree that badging is kinda spoiled these days, with all the lower requirements and how quick and easy everything is now.. but that's also partly because we are experienced and figure things out quickly. The Devs seem to want to make each badge available to anybody, in which case, those 6 new badges wouldn't be so easy for some people to get.

The incentive is.. many people have been getting them on multiple toons, or helping friends get the badges, or simply doing it cause it's fun.

I would have liked to have seen badges for 20 kills for each new spawn type. It would make the event go longer for people who'd have to do it 2-3 times to get their badges squared away.

I'll agree on MB's assessment on the "ease" of badging having spoiled it for me, but it's also the circumstances on how this badge acquisition was built: It requires a solid number of players in multiple locations, and as usual, the higher-pop servers lose out on these scenarios to where zones crash. (Heck, lag was so bad that I couldn't even see the banners when they'd spawned the first time, just target their reticle and fire, fire, fire).

Sad to say, badging's become less of a focus for me. I'll still do it on my main hero/villain I guess, but swiftly not caring for my alts. The Halloween event this year is really nasty for higher populations.

@TURGENEV - Freedom Server / IRON / B.A.N.E / HORDE

Turg Fiction: Ghost in the Machine Acts III & IV coming 2012!
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While the event was fun and I was able to get all the new badges on one run the day that the event started (it was in IP and was lucky enough to get on a team of 8 that had 2 people at each banner). It seemed like it was easier to do during the early afternoon, than later in the evening. The one time I attempted to do it it was in Talos the lag was horrendus and just about everyone crashed out and some of us then could not log the toon we had just been on back in. After a few minutes of waiting I was able to get back in and crashed again.

I can understand why the zombies run year 'round....logically someone is going to hand in the costume salvage (and I believe that is what spawns the zombie attack throughout the year other than the Halloween event).

Would have been nice if there was just a bit more to the event this year? I think so...I'm not so worried about getting the badges on all my other alts as my main toon is my main badger.

With regards to the new banner events for Halloween 2009, I've enjoyed it overall but your mileage may vary. A lot of it may have to do with the overall tendencies of your particular server. Some may have a higher percentage of 'me first' and may be difficult for the soloers or casual gamers to get all the badges on one go-round.

I've been fortunate enough to get a few alts of mine all 6 of the banner badges and it does take coordination and a willingness by those in the zone to cooperate. I think when the Halloween event first started, you saw a lot of one and done especially the hardcore badgers not wanting to take a chance of losing out on the badge on their mains. However, I'm guessing that once people start getting these badges on alts there will hopefully be 'more a spirit of helping others get them'. Course I could be delusional.

To provide a different contrast to those offered in the thread, I think the banner event is a nice addition to what the devs have going. There are defeat x (such as zombies, witches) badges available, as well as for attaining costumes, hunt Unseelies, Jack in Chains (Iron Warrior) and when you take them all into consideration, there's a lot to do either solo or teamed for those new to CoX.

Old timers on average have the benefit of already seeing the earlier stuff and gotten them done on their mains. This may give the taste of the simple addition of the banner event to be less than satisfying. Again, your mileage may vary.