I do not know if there was a badge update that discusses this, but it was very frustrating badge hunting in City of Heroes. Time exclusive badges, like anniversary or veterans, would contribute to the total badge count, so it wasn't possible to start a new character and badge hunt on that. Unfortunately, City of Heroes did not have a "Feats of Strength" section like in many other games, where it was an achievement, but it didn't count towards the total achievement points. Another games that does this is World of Warcraft, so anniversary badges count as feats of strength and do not count as achievement points. I am aware that to most players, this does not matter, but it would be much appreciated if badge hunting is a thing, that we can have time exclusive badges separate from badges everyone can get, or at the very least make it so every character will get time exclusive badges.
Wed, 08/29/2018 - 09:07
#1
Badges in CoT
What about having time limited content not be entirely removed from the game after events? Sure, have holiday stuff and events tied to a story and whatnot, but leave some tidbits in the world.
Using holidays as an example you could have a holiday vendor (there are specialized holiday shops for Halloween and Xmas in the real world). You could have something like a skating rink or ice cream vendor as well that sold winter stuff. It could thematically be explained as time travel. There are many options. These small locations or NPCs could allow players to access things from holiday events (snowballs, candy, whatever) and so they could still have a chance to get some access to those things. It could cost IGC while the timed events was free and easy to access. It could even be limited to specific instances entirely removed from the open world so you don't see snow monsters in july unless you are in a group that specifically wants to do that.
The basic point is that putting in effort to create content and then deleting it or only using it once a year is really inefficient. Steps can be taken to make it still feel a bit more exclusive to encourage participation in the original event such as increased rewards during the original time period. Ease and cost of access can also be factors. Finally, event content can be delayed before it is added back into the game by a month (or whatever is appropriate) as another means of encouraging event excitement.
The idea here is only taking content off the main stage and away from the public eye, not removing it entirely. This allows people to experience it when they like if they have the motivation to do so without constantly having holiday or other events running around in public all the time. By reducing the rewards people get outside the main event (and/or other options previously mentioned) it removes incentive for people to simply farm event X forever while at the same time ensuring that people that missed an event can still see it themselves and get those badges and fancy titles and hats and stuff if they really want them.
I was a huge badge hunter in CoX myself. I more than sympathize. Content probably won't actually be "deleted", just disabled. I personally think anniversary badges should be automatic, etc. Of course nothing I say here is official. I'll try to check on our badge plans when I'm able and check for previous announcements. This is a matter probably best for the PR team though.
-----------
[color=#FF0000]Senior Developer/Project Manager/Co-Founder... and then some.[/color]
While I would like to see time-exclusive badges kept to a minimum in this game, I disagree with the sentiment that they should be automatically given to everyone. If you didn't log in during the month of the 4th anniversary - then too bad, you missed it. Or if you didn't join the game until it's 3rd year, then why in the world would you get the 1st anniversary badge? I was a badger too - at least on a few of my alts, but I see no reason why the devs should grant participation badges to people who didn't actually participate in said events.
Now, it's been mentioned that anniversary badges will probably be account-level badges, meaning that you only have to log into one of your characters to get it; basically you won't have to churn through all your alts to make sure they all pick it up and characters created after said anniversary will have it as well, because it's supposed to measure how long you (the player) have been playing the game.
Also, many events will probably be repeated annualy - i.e. Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, or maybe even several times a year - i.e. Friday the 13th, so it might be possible to pick up some of these badges even years after the event first drops, depending on how they are implemented. These should probably be character-level badges though, so as to encourage participation in the events with various alts year after year.
[I]*edited for clarity[/I]
The topic of "time/event limited" badges has been a huge topic of discussion for badge-folk since the early days of CoH. I will say right from the start that I'm a HUGE critic AGAINST having any kind of badge in the game that can only be earned during one single period of time and never again. I had fellow badge hunting friends in CoH who literally decided to quit playing the game for (among other reasons) their inability to ever get the earliest Anniversary badges. It's a very serious issue to some people.
So there have been several ideas to mitigate this problem over the years. I'll try to summarize them as follows:
A) The first "solution" to this is the easiest - make sure the game has NO badges like that at all. It's at least a fairly straightforward idea. Turns out of the literally thousands of badges CoH offered only around 10 of them (specifically the Anniversary badges) worked like that. If these badges were removed from CoT you'd likely be affecting less than 1% of the total badges ever offered by the game so it's no great loss.
B) Let the game have time-limited "event badges" but only as long as they are ALL periodic in nature. For example having Halloween event badges in CoH was fine because at least they were re-offered every year.
C) Replace any badge like the game Anniversary badges (which are completely based on an annual date that occurs OUTSIDE of the game and has nothing to do with any character in question) with something like "Character Birthday" badges (which track how old a character is). In this way a character created years after the game starts can always [b]eventually[/b] rack up a bunch of Character Birthday badges without having to worry that they missed out on any game-based Anniversary badges.
D) Create a strict difference between "Account/Player" badges and "Character" badges. Under this scheme "Character" badges would work pretty much like most badges did in CoH (i.e. Character X finishes a trial and gets a trial badge for that). But "Account/Player" badges would be strictly limited to things that really only affect the player directly (like Anniversary badges or weird ones like [url=https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Passport_Badge]Passport[/url], [url=https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Bug_Hunter_Badge]Bug Hunter[/url] or forum-based badges). Any badge lists maintained by the game would keep these two types of badges strictly separated so that you can see what an individual character has earned versus the common account badges that would be associated with the player alone.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
I am fine with time exclusive content, I am not saying I am not, and I am also not implying giving time-exclusive badges to everyone I am just saying that it should not count as a badge (that contributes to the total badge completion). Like anniversary badges, I am sure most badge hunters remember how villain side couldn't get all the badges because they were missing the first anniversary badge.
I wasn't a badge hunter in CoX and I probably wont be one in CoT. I only did those badges I needed to get things that actually effected my character's abilities e.g. the Accolades which got you more HP or whatever, and then also those badges that I felt my character would actually want to "wear" per the character design. My "space guy" HAD to have "Rocketman", for example, which at that time meant having to log on and sneak around Warburg at like 8am on a Saturday morning while it was empty to solo spider people and launch rockets.
That said, I think badges, since they're going to be tracked and possibly competed for, should have a strict "must be earned by actually doing something that anyone else could also do" type of definition, and I think stuff like anniversaries etc should have some OTHER form of remembrance/observation. I remember CoX used to give out little "mementos" from completing missions, maybe something like that.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
The reason I brought up alternative solutions is because a recent game, sea of thieves, is struggling with this exact issue. While their issue is not directly related to badges, but rather timed content in general, the points still apply. Due to constraints on the game they have been focusing on time limited events as core game features in a game that was widely considered bare at launch. This lead to the appearance that the dev team was hard at work, but was actively shooting themselves in the foot by removing content as fast as they added it.
Having content that was created for a time limited event still be available (via time travel, magic, or whatever other handwave you want) means that issue is entirely avoided forever. Badges, cosmetics, and the simple joy of experiencing new stuff are all available. Have it be instanced and apply some of the tweaks mentioned previously and you also avoid any issues related to having that content become "normalized" if there is concern that players might unleash giant santa monsters every day or farm particular content because it gives better rewards.
Timed content has a purpose and used sparingly it can add some spice to a game, but games such as wow have proven that strategies described previously (such as simply delaying timed content for general access rather than removing it after the end of an event) still provides all the urgency and excitement without slamming the door shut in the faces of players that don't have the time at that very moment to experience it.
Even I would disagree with providing a way for a player who missed a badge only offered based on a real world (outside of the game) timeframe another alternate way of getting it AFTER the fact.
But my clear point is this: If the game NEVER allows for a badge like that in the first place then we'll never have a case were a player "missed" it. In other words it would far easier to solve the problem BEFORE the problem actually "becomes" a problem.
My two main badge characters (who each ended the game with 1390+ badges) were both originally blue-siders. ;)
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Strictly separating "account" based badges from "character" based badges is roughly the same idea here.
The strict demarcation is clear: account based badges are ones that are typically player-oriented or are based on "real world" things that have nothing to do with individual characters (i.e. Anniversary badges) whereas character based badges are obviously oriented towards the things individual characters achieve.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Indeed I remember that. I would also run into that when creating a brand new character after said anniversaries - really bugged me that even though I was playing since almost-day-1 that it wasn't reflected in my new alts. That's why those Anniversary Badges should have been account-level.
I can’t promise anything on this and only provide what my input to the team has been.
First make a distinction between account badges and haracter badges.
Anniversary badges, Veteran rewards, and store-related badges would be for your account and display on your account.
Holiday, special event, and game play achievements are character based. These would be repeatable and earned through playing during the events / times / doing the thing.
[hr]I don't use a nerf bat, I have a magic crowbar!
- Combat Mechanic -
[color=#ff0000]Tech Team. [/color]
This would be welcome news if CoT implements its badges along these lines.
I would still suggest keeping "one-time only" and/or "real world/player" type badges (i.e. Anniversary badges) to an absolute minimum and otherwise strictly "quarantine" them in the account-based group area.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]