I remember Achievements and Accolades and such well from CoX. I spent more than a little time collecting all those location badges, etc.

One thing that always bugged me was there weren't more things opened up by getting them.

Cryptic in CO and STO, etc have the Accolades and such but they apply a point system to them to give you this pool of points you have nothing to do with. Some do offer things like minor damage or defense boosts or damage vs certain enemy groups etc. In CO some even offer costume parts native to the NPCs.

I'd like to see something along these lines in VO but with some additions. Perhaps you get a speed boost of a couple percent once you get all the exploration accolades in a certain area of the city. You know Hell's Kitchen inside & out so you can navigate it faster. I'd say avoid a point value on these and just have everything unlock something.

I stopped trying to get the various accolades after a while in every game I've played because most of them didn't unlock anything. Maybe even allow the use of a special area of some crime unit at the SCPD building if we have all the accolades from the various gangs in SC...things like that. Perhaps if Supergroup bases or hideouts have a variety of entrances accolades could unlock special entrance usage.

Or the ability to purchase a device or temporary power item from a certain vendor.

I agree. Also I would add that whenever this does go out to Steam... USE that darn Steam rewards system to its potential. There are some games that do it, but not enough of them.
Make the icons match up between Steam, the game, and the website.

I think one thing you could do that would not impact 'performance' would be Personal / Supergroup Base items and/or upgrade stuff. Not just an item frame on the wall with a graphic of the badge you just won either, but say you got all the badges for a certain sector of the city... hey you unlocked teleportation from your base to that sector... something that feels like an accomplishment.