Appolaris

Ice Mistral SF as well. I've personally seen it with the Manticore TF and Ice Mistral SF.

My favorite TFs/SFs are the Admiral Sutter TF, Mortimer Kal SF, classic LRSF (via Ouroboros Flashback), and Ernesto Hess TF. Pretty much in that order. Admiral Sutter TF, Mortimer Kal SF, and Ernesto Hess TF are usually ran as a +2 kill through/steamroll. The classic LRSF is usually ran as a +3 speed run. Least favorite? Justin Augustine TF, Dr. Quaterfield TF, Barracuda SF, and Synapse TF. Pretty much in that order.

FWIW, you could go Rogue, do the fourth red side Who Will Die? story arc in St. Martial (contact is Tyrka), obtain the Hero Slayer badge, unlock Lord Schweinzer in Port Oakes, and run all nine Mayhem missions. Go in, get the exploration badge, get out, abandon the mission, grab the next Mayhem mission, rinse, repeat. Between the Tyrka story arc and grabbing all nine exploration badges, it takes about 45 minutes. Then go back to Hero or Vigilante. Beats the heck out of running six TFs for Task Force Commander, IMO.

This is one of the main reasons why I largely don't join PUG teams, but form my own instead. I just simply can't play at +0, even for speed runs. Too boring. Any TF/SF/Trial that caps at level 25 or below, I'll run at +1. Even Positron TF and Synapse TF. Any TF/SF/Trial that caps between levels 30 - 49, I'll run at +2. Any TF/SF/Trial that caps at level 50, I'll run at +2 minimum, although I prefer and usually run +3, and sometimes +4. Even speed runs. I just find playing at +0 (or +1 above level 25), to be a waste of time and too boring. YMMV.

It wasn't fixed entirely. It still occurs on several TFs/SFs/trials.

Rikti invade a random zone upon completion of the Lady Grey Task Force. Zombies invade a random blue side zone upon completion of the Katie Hannon Task Force, and a random red side zone upon completion of the Virgil Tarikoss Strike Force. Nemesis invades a random blue side zone upon completion of the fifth blue side Pandora's Box story arc, and a random red side zone upon completion of the fifth red side Pandora's Box story arc.

As another leader of mothership raids for years on both live and Homecoming, Electrical Affinity definitely beats out Force Field. Faraday Cage offers the same magnitude AoE mez protection as Dispersion Bubble on Controllers and Corruptors, and higher magnitude AoE mez protection on Defenders. In addition, Faraday Cage offers AoE sleep and knockback/knockup protection, both of which Dispersion Bubble lacks. It lets you anchor and protect the raid to a greater degree than Dispersion Bubble. It also offers resistance buffs, which is more rare than defense buffs. You can also do damage, buff, heal, or whatever with Electrical Affinity, and Electrical Affinity has better buffs which offer +recharge, +to-hit, and +damage, which will help increase Vanguard merit intake. Force Field is very good for what it does. As I said, I use a Water Blast/Force Field Corruptor to lead mothership raids. But I'd rate Force Field as the third best support set for mothership raids, behind Electrical Affinity and Sonic Resonance. You can't go wrong with any of the three though.

Exactly. I am definitely not in favor of anything that reduces people playing red side, whether that be patron arcs or the Frenzy alignment power.

Nope. I do three Cathedral of Pain Trials every Saturday, and you definitely need to still take down all of the resonators within a fairly small window, or they will respawn. Even with just twelve people, it can be risky as you may not have enough damage depending on league composition.

The "ultimate" Rikti mothership raid character isn't a Defender. It's a Controller. Specifically, a Gravity Control/Electrical Affinity Controller. Electrical Affinity is the best support set, bar none, for mothership raids between Energizing Circuit, Faraday Cage, Empowering Circuit, and Amp Up. Gravity Control for Wormhole and Singularity, both of which will help pull Rikti to the mothership's bowl. You can take Fold Space on top of that if you'd like for even more bringing Rikti to the bowl goodness, (but it's not necessary). That said, if you want to go Defender, Electrical Affinity/Electrical Blast is definitely a good way to go. Water Blast would be another. IMO, Water Blast is the best ranged damage set for mothership raids, between all of the ranged AoE and knockdowns. I like to lead Rikti mothership raids on a Water Blast/Force Field Corruptor. Force Field for all of the defense buffs and very good AoE mez protection. Corruptor because Dispersion Bubble actually gives better AoE mez protection on Corruptor than it does on Defender, and I personally find playing a Defender pretty boring. YMMV. Water Blast because I have to sit in the middle of the bowl for both Dispersion Bubble to be effective and to see what everyone is up to while I lead the raid, and Water Blast does a lot of ranged AoE damage. IMO, if you're going Electrical Affinity, then I'd go for Incandescence Destiny personally, as Faraday Cage is large enough to cover the entire mothership's bowl. Incandescence will allow you to teleport the league around... especially helpful when people start to stray to the wrong pylons.

Yes, it's still true. You need to take the resonators down fairly close together. It's generally recommended for a group of twelve or more people.

Splitting up to handle the Numina TF hunts is always optimal. One person to handle Perez Park, Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, Kings Row, Skyway, Terra Volta, and Boomtown. Two people to handle Faultline, Brickstown, Crey's Folly, Independence Port, and Talos Island. Then have everyone go to Founders' Falls and Eden. When I lead the Numina TF, I assign people to various zones by team order. One of the worst PUG experiences I've had in game was a PUG Numina TF about two and a half years ago, where the leader asked everyone to go to each hunt zone, one by one. The whole TF took about a hour and a half as a result. Never again. Also, if you think Numina TF is the worst TF in the game, you obviously haven't done the Justin Augustine TF.

You can definitely get the patron badge as a Praetorian. I've done it myself several times. However, there is a time limit to the patron badge mission. If your friend started the patron badge mission on his or her own, and you weren't on the map for the majority of the mission length, you won't get the badge. That's bit a few friends of mine before as well. You need to be on the mission map for most of the time it has been open before you complete it to obtain the badge.

That sounds like you did the second of Ghost Widow's patron arcs, Life and Death. Each patron has four story arcs. You only get the patron badge from completing the final mission in the first patron arc. For Ghost Widow's patron arc, you have to defeat Numina to get the patron badge, not Ghost Widow. So while you did a patron story arc, you didn't do one that awards a patron badge.