they are very cool looking and and they are free, but you know they are the exact replicas of the caliburs and that seems very redundant. i would not agree to replace the calibur ones becase the scissor blade is a copy of the leviathan but most people accept it. so i would instead like if they had recipes so i could inprove the current shield and sword that we have. seems weird to just give u the 4 star and not let u be able to craft it up.

No. They're just fashion weapons. That's like asking armours that people use as fashions to be improved because they could be used as gear too, and the fashion should be better?

Makes no sense, no. Why are so many people getting their free stuff and wanting more? FFS, people need to learn some gratitude.

I'd also wish i could get the 5* shield nad sword since it looks awesome. Right now i only have the tempered sword and great shield. :(

SUGGESTION
The honor sword and shield could be upgraded with rank, without the need of recipes - it upgrades automatically.

If the suggestion i stated is too much to ask then maybe just the recipies for the higher tier honor equips would be nice.
I wouldn't like to be a high rank knight and still have that 3* honor gear while other people have 5* honor gear.

Good point. Although I envy vanguards with the cool looking sword, I accept that it's my fault that I didn't bother with the final few missions, and there's no-one else I can blame but myself, because other people actually put in a lot of effort to complete the missions, and were rewarded because of such.

"Ah, this thread's not as on fire as the rest."

That can be remedied...

Sorry, on a night chill-high. It's a cool, non-chemically induced state of hyperactivity.

"I still feel that the lack of warning was deliberate,"

Shards.

I believe he means the free UV tickets for each shard bomb in your inventory.

Oh; I never got such compensation. Ty, OOO.

But aye, s'my point; announcing it beforehand would only have had people rush the missions and everyone would have the same tokens and it'd result in the same thing as allowing upgrades on them; completely invalidating and devaluing the entire point of a rank-based reward, they'd might as well just give everyone the 5* version irrespective of rank/progress. And if they're doing that, then they're ignoring the token reward and focussing on the weapon, in which case they might as well just give us reskinned Brandishes instead, since Levi is basically unused as a weapon.

@Darkbrady As I previously stated, I understand where you're coming from. I wouldn't be upset if they didn't give us another chance to get the 5 star version, since it was our fault for not reaching Vanguard sooner, like Hex stated.
I won't lie though, I am dissapointed though, since the last mission I had was Vanadukes, and for the past while I had been trying to solo it, and even upgraded different gear to help me solo it. I only ever got as far as vanadukes last form, before running out of energy/revives, but just ended up finishing the mission yesterday with strangers just so I'd be vanguard rank.

So is it our fault for not taking more effort or time to finish our missions?: Yes.
Should we be given another chance at getting a higher version of the sword?: Depends on your view of the situation.

Is a shame, and is a loss, but free gear is free gear. Too bad I can't use it as a costume piece for my actual 5 star sword tho.

I didn't WANT Groundbreaker. That's reserved to show everyone how awesome beta players are. I just hope we can upgrade the HBlades we get.

Finally someone making the same point as me. Not just asking for upgradable Honor, but being reasonable about it too. Thank you. Maybe they'll listen to you.

I said upgradable. That means you can't get the 2* via these means. Possibly some other one-I don't want newbies to miss out on this sword.

I mean alchemy. He may mean something else. Go to my thread at http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/68411 if you want ALL my ideas. (not a shameless plug, it really contains most of my ideas. Also I feel shame)

Umm.......how can you "devalue" something that's permanently bound to you (I know that this basically answers my own question, but still......)? o.0

@Shadowracer: Yes, I was talking about people (eventually) being able to get the 5* items through alchemical crafting. Sacrifices have to be made, after all. :P

It'll be devalued in terms of it's novelty value. Also, if it's sellable on Featured, demand would slowly drop as everyone got one.

What I think anyway.

Still want. Going for Alchemy crafting version of the possible 'upgrade way'.

It's really not rare since literally everyone has one right now. If you're making the change now's the time.

@Psycho:
It is a pretty unused weapon in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I love my CiV, but fact is that 75% of players still don't even bother crafting Calibur lines.

@Corin:
No one cares whether or not you upgrade for free or at a cost or at a premium; that's got nothing to do with it. It's about defeating the purpose of giving rank-based rewards if people can willingly upgrade them. Stop thinking of it as a weapon to be used and start thinking of it as a gift, a token reward for your rank.
Also, when I say "devalue" I don't mean fiscally, I mean in terms of its sentimental and gift-giving value. OOO gave Vanguards a "vanguard" reward, and gave Apprentices an "apprentice" reward. But then Apprentices can take five mins and just get the same reward as the Vanguards? Defeats the point entirely.
To give an entirely appropriate example, it'd be like making Groundbreaker craftable. It's an armour that can be used, sure, but no one treats Groundbreak as armour, because it's not meant to be. Maybe the point would be clearer if all the weapons were 1* and juts had different appearances. I wonder if people would still care about upgrading them, then.

@Shadow:
If "everyone had one" we wouldn't have threads like this, would we? The very fact that people are trying to change the system means that there are plenty of people who don't have it, which means that each and every one of them retains their value. And yes, including the 2* ones. They all have their own value because they can't be crafted or changed. For instance, I can never get the 2* one.
As soon as they become craftable, absolutely all of them immediately lose value as a token gift and become meaningless. They might as well have justs given up regular skinned Levis, or might as well just gave everyone reskinned Brandishes, so that at least everyone could use them...y'know, since everyone has them anyways.

That's kind of the point of making the reward exclusive, yes

If everyone has the ability to get it, it's not special anymore, simple as that

The Honor Blades will probably show up on the featured auctions at some point, and then they'll all eventually lose their value because EVERYONE wil be able to get them. We don't want that.

Yes, I'd loose all feeling for my Lionheart (even though I only have a Tempered Honor Blade) and my Exalted Honor Guard (Great Honor Guard) If they became available to everyone. The whole POINT of having them is that only a select few who were playing this weekend have them. And personally, I would like to get a chance to use my Honor Blade a year from now, when I am a Vanguard and everyone will say, "Ooh, what's that cool sword and shield you've got?" That's the only real purpose of this gear, and to have mine stuck at 3* forever seems kind of unfair.

As for an actual contribution, make the Honor Blade recipes purchasable in the HoH, but only people who have it would be able to use the recipes. (a.k.a you can't craft the 2*, and you can't use the rest of the recipes without it)

You clearly misunderstand what a "flame war" is, Shadow. Nowhere in this thread am I flaming nor starting anything akin to a "war". I'm debating a point using fact, logic and common sense, and am doing so on a few other threads in General. Go read Nemesis' thread and read his posts if you want to see what flaming really is.

Just because you don't like my point and/or disagree with them does not make them flaming or wrong.

Yes, I would care about my rank-based reward far less if everyone could just acquire it as they see fit. Even after this event I'd know that everyone that was online during it just picked one up.
My point is that if the weapons were all the same weapon quality, people would suddenly stop caring about wanting to upgrade it. Very few people have commented that they want the skin that the 5* has; everyone just wants the 5* sword, as a sword that is 5*. I'd be happy enough if all the swords were 5*, so long as the skins were still restricted to the rank.

For the record, if I wasn't Vanguard when I got my reward, my point about devaluing would still be valid, even when it affects me. That's not up for debate, that's just a fact, whether you like it or not.

Since I tire of repeating myself, I'll just link other posts I've made that speak to this debate:
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/68498?page=1#comment-568543
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/68520?page=2#comment-568721
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/68498?page=1#comment-568801

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Not my point... Before I was hacked, I had already done all the missions and I was around 40k prestige. After I was hacked, it seemed a shame to go through all the missions again, and so I never really bothered with them

Okay here is the deal...

I don't think it should be upgradeable.

You did have plenty of warning of notice for cool stuff based on ranks. It was announced back when missions where up that you would get ranked based free stuff.

Now... I do not in any way think that this will be the only time they give this stuff out. I think there will be featured auctions with it. It's not like the homecoming event is some monumental event. Guild halls are great but i mean it's not going to make anyone mad to see some of this stuff on at the auction house. I don't think it should be upgradeable based on the fact that these are event pieces, unique pieces. By upgrading them it ruins the value of them.

Edit:

I'm sorry I don't understand how someone gets hacked in this game. Out of all the years I have been playing online game i've NEVER been hacked. You getting hacked is your own fault. get a better password. Don't hand your account out. Be careful where you sign in at. Don't use the same passwords for everything you have online. I don't know how people are getting hacked so much... being careless, irresponsible, lazy or whatever with their account information on ANY site. I mean... i don't know. I'm sorry I don't get it.

Lol really. You think that invalidates any argument.

Yes is ruins the value of them. It has been said already.

I'm not for them being upgraded or sold on the auction house, but to be honest they will probably go up on the auction house. There are many other promotional items that do. Then again it might not. Either way... honestly I don't think too many people are going to be THAT upset about it going up on the auction house if it does. I wouldn't like it... but would I argue endlessly about it? no. It's just a reskinned leviathan. It isn't any more special as a weapon other than it looks a lot cooler. I don't even use my leviathan anymore.

It's a novelty weapon, it has no other special benefits. It just looks different. THAT'S IT.

So I don't know what people are putting up a huge stink about it not being upgradeable. Or is it they didn't get a free five star? I don't know.

All I can say is... get your booty in gear and rank up so then you can have the benefits of being a vanguard too.

Which still goes back to the...

we've known since before missions have come out that there are benefits to being a certain rank. Come to terms with it... suck it up... and rank up or... stop complaining.

And that's your entire argument invalidated. Next?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/invalidate

"it's not going to make anyone mad to see some of this stuff on at the auction house."

I think putting them on the AH will devalue them even more so than upgrading them, since people who weren't here for the event or characters that were made post-event could acquire them. What exactly makes you think that upgrading is bad, but giving them out to players (at a price, at a selected time) is good? It holds the exact same issues and problems, and that's only if they put them on the Featured tonight.

So I don't know what people are putting up a huge stink about it not being upgradeable. Or is it they didn't get a free five star? I don't know

It's the fact that it's 5*. I've asked on other threads, and people have admitted that they wouldn't care if all of the weapons were either 1* or 5*; it's got nothing to do with the fashion or prestige reward; it's the fact that they feel "stuck" with a 4* weapon when they could have a 5* weapon (even if they never use it anyway). I keep telling folk to stop thinking of it as a weapon and start thinking of it as a gift...that you can use, optionally, to stab a face with.

@Dia:
You raise some good points that I hadn't considered. That's not even to mention that with EPs, mission systems, HoH etc, new players advancing is much, much easier than it used to be. For old players like ourselves, a wee reward is nice. Not that it even specifically separates us from the rest, as a new character could have been made a week ago and reached Vanguard now, with the right effort and knowledge (and EP), but the principle remains.
And I agree; I've stated in other posts myself that people asking for upgradable Honour Blades is no different than people asking for craftable Groundbreaker. It's just not right or fair, especially since a chunk of people complaining have openly admitted that they chose to ignore the missions and simply didn't care about rank until now.

AAAAND out of interest, to lurkers and new players, just to specify on what Dia was meaning:
New players now get half a dozen helms, armours and colours, the ability to change eyes and height and accessorise your starting armour.
Old players got fewer colours, three helms/armours and...nothing else! Going back and editing that cost 50k per part, not inc. accessories and the fact that (at least) the Flak Jacket is virtually inaccessible outside of the Hallow version.