Thanks for your reply! I have an Alcatel Fierce 4. I would be willing to try an alternate launcher if it gave me those badge notifications I want but is otherwise "minimally invasive," if you will.
You could try Nova free version for a while and then decide if you like it or not. The badge notifications, using the Tesla Unread plugin, only works with the paid app, though. In my experience, Nova Prime is the best app I ever paid in the Play Store