View source for Introduction to Adventurer's Guild Badges

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== What Are Adventurer's Guild Badges ==

:Adventurer’s Guild badges are awarded to anyone that has completed a task for the Adventurer’s Guild.

:You can ASK the Treasure Master of your local branch FOR NEW BADGE to get one. You can also replace an existing or lost badge by asking for a new badge. If you haven’t received a badge in some time, then the replacement is free. However, if your badge keeps getting misplaced then you will have to pay a 10,000 bounty point fee for one. In this situation you’ll need to confirm your decision for a new badge by ASKing the Treasure Master FOR NEW BADGE CONFIRM.

:Aside from being status symbols that you wear proudly, or keep COVERed by your clothing, your badge can also provide you with certain enhancements. You can view a list of these enhancements by ASKing the Treasure Master FOR BOOST LIST. There are many skills and abilities that the badge can enhance!

== How do I Add Enhancements ==

:The first thing to do is to view the list and give thought to the things you would like to enhance.

:Next, you need to see how much of a particular enhancement your badge can hold. To do this you ASK the Treasure Master FOR BOOST and then the number of the enhancement on the list.

:For example, the WISDOM BONUS enhancement is 19 on the list. If I wanted to find out more details about how much of it my badge could hold, I would ASK the Treasure Master FOR BOOST 19.

:The Treasure Master will tell you the maximum amount of that enhancement that your badge can currently hold, and if you wanted to proceed, you would then ASK the Treasure Master FOR BOOST, then the number of the enhancement on the list, and then the amount.

:Again, in example, if I wanted to add 5 points of enhancement to my Wisdom bonus, I would ASK the Treasure Master FOR BOOST 19 5.

:To “change” an existing enhancement, you would treat it as if it didn’t exist and proceed normally, asking for a boost of the amount you desire. To “remove” an existing enhancement, you would set it to a power level of 0.

:Be aware that changing enhancements, whether making them weaker or stronger, or removing them completely, requires that the badge be drained of all charges. There will be a tip about this later.

:It takes a little practice at first, and if you forget, the bottom of the BOOST LIST has instructions on how to proceed.

== The Beginnings of Badge Upgrading ==

:So, here’s where it gets tricky, and here’s the part most everyone is waiting for: badge upgrades.

:A badge fresh from the Treasure Master cannot hold any enhancements. To change this, you need to upgrade the badge.

:There are 5 components of a badge that can be upgraded: the motif, device, gem, binding, and material. These components are also responsible for the appearance of the badge, and the higher the level of a component, the more options you have for the appearance of that part. You can ASK the Treasure Master TO CHANGE or TO UPGRADE to find out more information about these tasks.

:If I wanted to upgrade the binding, I would ASK the Treasure Master TO UPGRADE BINDING. Be aware that the Treasure Master is not going to wait around and will do the upgrade immediately, so be sure about the upgrade you’re wanting to do!

:The purpose of these upgrades is to make the badge stronger both in the number of enhancements it can hold and in the strength of the enhancements themselves.

:The maximum number of enhancements is 3, and the maximum strength of an enhancement is 5 for a stat bonus or skill rank, and 10 for a stat base or skill bonus. There are a couple of things that deviate from this, but for the most part 5 and 10 are good indications of the maximum power level of a badge.

:Lastly, upgrades cost lifetime bounty points, although you don’t lose the points when you use them. The number of points invested into badge upgrades is reset when you get a new badge, as the new badge starts in a base state.

=== Let the Upgrades Commence: Tracking ===

:As I mentioned there are 5 components of a badge that can be upgraded. All components are equal in importance and so it does not matter which order they are upgraded in.

:What does matter, though, is to write down and keep track of your upgrades! If you forget what you are upgrading, or at what levels the components are at, you risk spending more bounty points than necessary to achieve your goals. A way to tell the levels of your components is by ASKing the Treasure Master TO CHANGE that component and seeing how many options you have access to. Components start with 3 options at level 0, have 10 upgrades, and receive 3 options per upgrade. Thus, there are 33 options for a level 10 component.

:Write down your upgrades!

:If things get off track you can always abandon the badge somewhere and get a new one to start over with.

=== Let the Upgrades Commence: Upgrade Levels ===

:One more time, there are 5 components that you can upgrade, and 10 levels for each component. The components are equal in importance and so it does not matter which order they are upgraded in. I will be using 0/0/0/0/0 to denote the components and their levels. For example, 8/6/3/2/0 would mean that you have a component at level 8, a component at level 6, a component at level 3, a component at level 2, and the final component has not been upgraded yet and so is still at level 0.

:Before we dive in, let me explain four pieces of information. Don’t worry about remembering these details right now…

::•	To unlock a 2nd enhancive your badge needs to have a total of 10 upgrades in 2 or less components. 10/0/0/0/0 or 7/3/0/0/0 in example. The cheapest route to unlock a 2nd enhancive is 5/5/0/0/0 which costs 300,000 lifetime bounty points.
::•	To unlock a 3rd enhancive your badge needs to have a total of 20 upgrades in 3 or less components. 10/10/0/0/0 or 8/7/5/0/0 in example. The cheapest route to unlock a 3rd enhancive is 7/7/6/0/0 which costs 770,000 lifetime bounty points.
::•	To max your badge costs 2,750,000 lifetime bounty points. Congrats! You don’t ever have to worry about the badge anymore!
::•	The power of the enhancements is based on the number of total upgrades the badge has. 3/3/3/3/3 will be more powerful than 5/5/0/0/0 even though you spent the same amount of lifetime bounty points.

:One thing to note is that even though your badge is unlocked for a 2nd or 3rd enhancement, it will not have the power needed, right away, to have those extra enhancements.

=== Let the Upgrades Commence: What are Your Goals ===

:The difficulty with upgrading badges comes down to several things: confusion on how the badges work, not keeping track of what’s been upgraded and what the goal is, and the “best path” is subjective to each adventurer.

:I have spent some time mulling over how to explain this process without going deep into it, and here’s what I have come up with…

:First, I believe there are three main upgrade styles that are dependent on your goals for the badge. To determine the best style for you I recommend creating a list of 3 enhancements, that are important to you, that can be added to the badge. Order these 3 enhancements from most important to least important. Lastly, assign metric to them to identify how important they are to each other.

:In example, for my badge, I want to enhance my Wisdom, my Spell Aiming, and then my Strength. There isn’t anything else that I particularly care about above those three. Further, I would say Wisdom is the most important to me, Spell Aiming is almost as important, but Strength is just to have a third enhancement and isn’t that critical. I am setting my badge up to primarily be a hunting booster.

:Having a list like this will help you as we transition into the next part, upgrading the badge.

=== Let the Upgrades Commence: Let's Do This ===

:What the list will help you determine is how strongly you care about 1 enhancement, 2 enhancements, or 3 enhancements.

:I know there is a lot of information being thrown about right now, and it is very easy to glaze over, but this is the critical piece that I want to share. This is the best I can come up with to simply explain how you want to upgrade your badge.

::•	If you only care about 1 enhancement, then you want to upgrade the lowest level component each time you upgrade. You want to spread your upgrades throughout all components.
::•	If you care about 2 enhancements, then you want to focus on getting to 5/5/0/0/0 and then upgrade the lowest level component each time you upgrade. You want to unlock the 2nd enhancement as soon as possible and then spread your upgrades throughout all components.
::•	If you care about 3 enhancements, then you want to focus on getting to 7/7/6/0/0 and then upgrade the lowest level component each time you upgrade. You want to unlock the 3rd enhancement as soon as possible and then spread your upgrades throughout all components.

:The biggest takeaway from this is the statement I’m about to make…

:I feel that the 5/5/0/0/0 method of upgrading is the best overall method, for simplicity’s sake, and balances enhancement power with efficient use of bounty points.

:There is some extra information about this, though. If you recall I stated that the maximum enhancements are 5 and 10, for the most part. Spirit Recovery maxes at 2, Health/Mana/Stamina recovery max at 10 while their boosts max at 20. Lastly, Multi-Opponent Combat maxes at 4 ranks though it still has a 10 bonus.

:If your enhancement reaches the maximum, then you need to switch to the next style of upgrading.

:In example, it requires a 4/4/4/3/3 badge to maximize the Wisdom bonus at 5. At this point I am not benefiting by upgrading the level 3 components as I am already at the maximum Wisdom bonus.

:If you recall, the 2nd enhancement becomes unlocked when you achieve a total of 10 upgrades in 2 or less components. This means that your next goal is to upgrade two of the level 4 components to end up with a 5/5/4/3/3 badge, thereby unlocking a 2nd enhancement. You would then continue forward by upgrading the lowest level components.

=== Let the Upgrades Commence: Wrap-Up ===

:That was a lot to take in!

:Let’s take a moment to decompress while I’ll try and summarize…

::•	5/5/0/0/0 is my recommended upgrade style. Once achieving 5/5/0/0/0 you would then upgrade the lowest level components.
::•	7/7/6/0/0 is the cheapest way to unlock the 3rd enhancement, but your badge will have 3 weak enhancements compared to 2 strong enhancements. Focus on which enhancements, and thus which style, are important to you.
::•	You can reset your badge whenever you want.

:There are a few more things to talk about before I move into easier to explain topics.

== Upgrade Costs, Benefits, and Quirks ==

:The thing that makes this so difficult is that component upgrades have an increasing cost. 3/3/3/3/3, a total of 15 upgrades, costs the same as 5/5/0/0/0 which is a total of 10. Recall again that the power of the enhancements is based on the total number of upgrades. Therefore, it’s difficult to create a single “style” of upgrading the badge if your desire is to also be as efficient as possible with it.

:Upgrade costs are not extremely important to know for general upgrade purposes, as most of us just check upgrades from time to time as we remember them, but they are relatively well known and can be found with a little research.

:It is also important to be aware that much like holding various metals at low trainings, you are similarly limited in the power level of the enhancement. The Treasure Master will not let you make an enhancement stronger than what you can use.

== Post Upgrades ==

:One final piece of information is what to do once you have your badge upgraded and an enhancement put into it. Charge it!

:Hold the badge in hand, be in the presence of the Treasure Master, and ORDER 5. The Treasure Master will give you a cost to charge your badge and then you just ORDER 5 CONFIRM to lock in your decision. Charging the badge will use your actual bounty points so be mindful if you’re saving up your points for something else from the treasure list.

:This process can also be used to charge other items that are enhanced. It is not specific to just guild badges. Further, usually around Lornon’s Eve, this charging process can be paid with silvers instead of bounty points.

== Tips and Tricks ==

:Like any complicated system there are several tips and tricks that can make life easier.

:With all the numbers floating around, and motif this, device that, it can be easy to forget what enhancements are on the badge!

:The badge is a great lore unlocking project for young bards as it’s simple, and useful. Further, changing the badge will be reflected in the loresong. However, if you replace your badge the new one will need to be unlocked again.

:Regarding charging the badge…

:Each purchase of a charging session fills the badge to a quarter of max charges. This means you need to charge an empty badge 4 times to maximize the charges in it. However, what if you decide later to change the enhancements?

:Earlier I said that to change enhancements the badge needs to be drained of all charges. This means that if you fully charge the badge, and then halfway through using it decide to make changes, you’ve wasted the remaining charges, and the cost to acquire them. I have done this myself and it was awful, because the badge was still almost fully charged!

:Therefore, I recommend only charging your badge once. This will minimize the risk of wasting bounty points, especially because as you get more enhancements, and their power goes up, the cost of charging will increase as well.

:Another trick with managing badge charges is to use the yellow-green potions, that recharge enhancives, on them. Your badge can be at 0 charges, but still function because of the potion. Further, this will allow you to change the enhancements in the badge as much as you want without having to pay for charging sessions from the Treasure Master.

== Conclusion ==

:{{boldmono|ASK XXX FOR NEW BADGE}} and {{boldmono|ASK XXX FOR NEW BADGE CONFIRM}}

:{{boldmono|ASK XXX FOR BOOST LIST}} and {{boldmono|ASK XXX FOR BOOST 19}} and {{boldmono|ASK XXX FOR BOOST 19 5}}

:{{boldmono|ASK XXX TO CHANGE BINDING}} and {{boldmono|ASK XXX TO UPGRADE BINDING}}

:{{boldmono|ORDER 5}} and {{boldmono|ORDER 5 CONFIRM}}

[[Category:Order of Lorekeepers]]
[[Category:Guides]]