Worst TF/SF in the game

[Heraclea]

My unfavorites are:

 

* Admiral Sutter TF - Unhelpful maps (where do I go next? What am I supposed to do when I find it?) and presence of overused IDF mobs at low levels.  Duray is perhaps tied with Nosferatu as being the game's most annoyingly overpowered AV. (At least the game gives you tools to handle Reichsman.)

 

* Apex TF - Again, unhelpful maps.  Extremely annoying generic MMO crap in the Battle Maiden fight. 

 

Tin Mage also has useless maps, but the combats are a bit more fun.  The Shadow Shard TFs are run so seldom, usually only when they are up as a weekly, and people know what they are getting into and prepare themselves with team teleport and flight powers; I don't mind them all that much.  Then again Admiral Sutter does not seem to be a favorite either.   Not much more rewarding than Penny Yin, longer, harder, and more confusing. 

 

 

[DR_Mechano]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Synapse.

So Jimmy when are the plans to revamp the Synapse Taskforce? 😄

 

(I am joking of course, I imagine you guys are busy with everything else).

[Call Me Awesome]

34 minutes ago, DR_Mechano said:

So Jimmy when are the plans to revamp the Synapse Taskforce? 😄

 

(I am joking of course, I imagine you guys are busy with everything else).

Synapse needs to loose about 1/3 of it's missions, and Numina desperately needs to loose all the pointless hunt missions.  Heck, Numina would be trivial to fix, just delete all the hunt missions except possibly the Eden one for flavor, and the mobs are actually level appropriate.

[Sakai]

2 hours ago, RCU7115 said:

My picks are

1. Posi 1. I only do it once per toon Ever.  45+ minutes for 11 or 15 merits not worth it. It gives me as much enjoyment as the guy from Casino with his head in the vice/clamp.

2. Posi 2. See choice #1.

3. Any tf in the Shadow Shard. Traveling in those zones just puts me to zzzzzzzzzz.

lol. What kind of casino are you going to?

 

Ahh Now I get it.  Nothing to see now...move along. 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Sakai
Momentary bit of dumbness.

[Shred Monkey]

Funny thing.. I built an elec/DB tank and started into the TF/level up phase this weekend.  Ran synapse when I was level 25, and WOW, elec/ tanks are AWESOME in this TF.  Even at level 25 my energy resists were capped.  These little robots couldn't scratch me.  I finally felt like a tank.  It was great!

 

But, the TF still sucks.

 

 

[tidge]

On 2/20/2020 at 5:10 PM, Cutter said:

Piling on Synapse, and adding a slightly different piece to the "why". In addition to the issues of TF length and uninspired kill-alls, I'd add the absurd end drain that comes from 100% clockwork 100% of the time, at levels when few ATs have ways to combat it.

In case it hasn't been mentioned: the protection from Endurance Drain buff can be built at a SG base with salvage.

[0th Power]

4 hours ago, tidge said:

In case it hasn't been mentioned: the protection from Endurance Drain buff can be built at a SG base with salvage.

I make sure to do that for synapse and yin

[Heraclea]

13 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

Funny thing.. I built an elec/DB tank and started into the TF/level up phase this weekend.  Ran synapse when I was level 25, and WOW, elec/ tanks are AWESOME in this TF.  Even at level 25 my energy resists were capped.  These little robots couldn't scratch me.  I finally felt like a tank.  It was great!

 

But, the TF still sucks.

This is why I don't mind Synapse terribly.  It is a bit long, but it's usually over in around two hours.  It can take a raw level 15 character and boost them to where they're ready to slot level 25s in a single afternoon.  It's a good way to get over that hump and kit a character with XP and merits.  A long TF with a lot of defeat alls serves a purpose if you are running it at level. 

 

On the other hand, both Manticore and Sutter are weekly targets today.  I saw at least ten Manticores being formed, filling, and successfully run.  I saw maybe one Sutter and it took more than half an hour to fill on Torchbearer.  All of the TFs of its era -- Sutter, Apex, Tin Mage -- have a single and horrible flaw that severely detracts from their playability.  If you die or otherwise get separated from the team, they strand you without a clue where to go to rejoin them.  Inadequate maps are a serious problem.  Hospital jails, where you have to time your death properly so you don't have to wait for open doors, are also just stupid annoyances. 

[Techwright]

On 2/20/2020 at 12:59 PM, skoryy said:

I've been through a pair of pretty fast Citadels. It goes easier if the party's beefy enough to split up on their own.

Just finished a blaster-heavy Citadel TF, with 2 team spots empty, and we did move pretty quickly.    My beef with Citadel is both the repetition (shoot, the first two cave missions are always at the same door!) and the seesaw back and forth between IP and Talos, always at distant corners of the maps.

 

Quarterfield is, so far, the worst for me.  I ran one last night for the first time in ages, and it seems to be a torture made for Tantalus: basically the same scenario over and over and over...for 3 hours (and change).  The last hour, the team had basically shut up, no joking, nothing.  That's not what gaming should be about.

 

I'm in the minority, it seems because I actually like Numina's TF.  That "go there kill that" stuff, each time I've run it, has been a race of sorts, to see who can snag what assignment first, and how fast can they clear the board.  Guess I just was lucky to have some fun teams.

 

Synapse would be "fine" if they'd have carved it in two, like they did Posi's.

 

I personally hate the 10x attack start of the Katie Hannon TF.

 

[DSorrow]

Worst TFs are definitely the ones that feel like I'm repeating the same mission over and over (e.g. Synapse) and those that are padded with pretty pointless busywork or travel time often resulting in an unnecessarily long duration (Shadow Shard TFs, Numina). I wouldn't mind a two-hour action-filled TF, but spending a big part of those two hours just zipping from point A to point B or nuking gray mobs for no XP isn't rewarding. Same with the TFs like Synapse, I don't run farms or papers because they are completely uninspiring to me as content so I don't want to run a TF that's essentially just a string of bland missions.

 

Some TFs are great, though. For example:

• ITF: there's something distinct about each mission, the two final maps are great and the length is really good
• STF/LRSF: a good bunch of AV fights, some unique missions, basically no busywork and good length
• Apex/Tin Mage: maybe slightly too short, but I like the unique missions and mechanics 
• Posi1/2: really good length and difficulty considering the level of the TFs, distinct missions that create a constant feeling of progress

I guess ideally I'd like a TF to take around 45 mins, consist of missions different enough that you're clearly in a different part of the TF every time you start a new mission and never employ hunts or kill-all type missions unless it's critical for the plot.

[Zeraphia]

Numina I don't find bad at all, if you're on a well-prepared team (and either assign zones or tell people 1 zone per person), the chances are it's not going to be that bad, now a Rikti invasion can happen in Faultline... well that sucks but overall it's not TOO arduous. Honestly, I find this TF to be quite fun.

 

Posi 1 and 2 can honestly be such pains. I'm genuinely surprised no one mentions them. The Force Field Ruin Mage bosses with those damned -tohit ghosts can make a cascading failure almost as bad as the Cimmies do. They can make themselves neigh-unkillable. I've been on probably 3 Posi 1's where there were tons of Ruin Mages came out from the hall all at once and ruined the team and people gave up hunting for them and the TF was failed. Not to mention you get probably 20-30% of your total powers in this.

 

Synapse is just boring and long, I dread it each time and it is unfortunately a strict requirement for the accolade. Because of this, I hate it dearly. I rank this #1 solely due to the fact it is so long, boring and *required*.

 

Augustine is another extremely boring weird one that unless you have explored all the Shadow Shard (takes around an hour or more) you won't know which points the Islands are. It takes legitimately forever to finish this TF. It is by far the worst Shadow Shard one. This is the longest and most boring and would be #1, however, it isn't required so I rank it less than Synapse. #2.

 

Citadel isn't so bad to me, good exp, not too long, you get your nukes and good AOEs, I actually kinda love it, probably best exp or inf/hour out of all of the required accolade ones.

 

Quarterfield is long, you know that going into it, but you get your powers in it. The merits are actually decent. Experience is decent. It really isn't too bad if you go in with that mindset.

[starro]

i look forward to an updated synapse tf.  I just get tired of the clockwork and hope they can mix in some other villains / break it into 2 part.... ANYTHING to make it so less boring at such an early level 20.

[gamingglen]

On 2/21/2020 at 7:27 PM, RCU7115 said:

My picks are

1. Posi 1. I only do it once per toon Ever.  45+ minutes for 11 or 15 merits not worth it. It gives me as much enjoyment as the guy from Casino with his head in the vice/clamp.

I'm not a min/max player yet I've solo'd Posi 1 with 3 different level 30+ ATs (blaster, stalker, MM) under 40 minutes each. Set all the difficulty settings to minimum, stealth when you can (the first 2 especially).

 

For me the EB(sometimes)/AV/monsters in others is the difficulty I've had with others.  At the end of Numina Jurasik is still a monster. I was whittling down Dr. Vahz until a bunch of bomb zombies rushed me (on my stalker, a ranged AT could have stayed away from them). 

 

As for the OP's question: Synapse.

Edited February 29, 2020 by gamingglen

[Heraclea]

On 2/26/2020 at 12:27 PM, 33053222 said:

Posi 1 and 2 can honestly be such pains. I'm genuinely surprised no one mentions them. The Force Field Ruin Mage bosses with those damned -tohit ghosts can make a cascading failure almost as bad as the Cimmies do.

For Posi 1 there is a simple trick.  You can run it early as level 8.  If you do have a level 8 character on the team, pass them the star and have them start the TF.  Ruin Mages will not appear, and ghosts will be much fewer in number.

[Zeraphia]

33 minutes ago, Heraclea said:

For Posi 1 there is a simple trick.  You can run it early as level 8.  If you do have a level 8 character on the team, pass them the star and have them start the TF.  Ruin Mages will not appear, and ghosts will be much fewer in number.

I'm aware of this trick, and fixed the issue with it but it is very much so worth mentioning that before the EB would spawn as a level 15 despite your team being level 8-11, this means the EB was effectively +7 levels or higher (some from just how much higher level she spawned, some from being +3 as an EB) than your team. Incarnate trials and upper level content, because of incarnates and all the powers, this is fine, but for a low level tf with not the greatest IO's or levels, there were several hospital trips doing this tactic.

[oedipus_tex]

Dr Q, hands down. It's literally the same mission multiple times over. Like, they literally just copied that one mission 10 times and (sort of) added some flavor text, then spaced the mission doors out as annoyingly far as possible.

[Haijinx]

On 2/21/2020 at 6:18 PM, Hedgefund said:

My ranking 

 

1) Dr. Q

When it was last wst I was soloing it and quit about 3/4 through because I was SOOOO bored.

 

 

Back in the old days I was on a DR Q for 8 hours .. then we dropped down to 3 players.  And at the time it took 4 to operate the clickies .. so .. 

 

 

[Gulbasaur]

On 2/22/2020 at 1:43 AM, Call Me Awesome said:

Numina desperately needs to loose all the pointless hunt missions.

I did that a couple of days ago and I actually enjoyed that part.

 

It's memorable and you just need to glance at the wiki and send your team out to various zones. Took about ten minutes, tops.

[Gulbasaur]

15 minutes ago, oedipus_tex said:

Dr Q, hands down. It's literally the same mission multiple times over. Like, they literally just copied that one mission 10 times and (sort of) added some flavor text, then spaced the mission doors out as annoyingly far as possible

 

The Shadow Shard task forces generally have some issues in pacing but Dr Q is easily the worst offender. The design goal must just have been "make it take a really long time".

 

Repetitive maps. Repetitive tasks. Long travel. Blah.

 

Any fun to be had is down to teammates rather than content.

 

[RCU7115]

3 hours ago, gamingglen said:

I'm not a min/max player yet I've solo'd Posi 1 with 3 different level 30+ ATs (blaster, stalker, MM) under 40 minutes each. Set all the difficulty settings to minimum, stealth when you can (the first 2 especially).

 

For me the EB(sometimes)/AV/monsters in others is the difficulty I've had with others.  At the end of Numina Jurasik is still a monster. I was whittling down Dr. Vahz until a bunch of bomb zombies rushed me (on my stalker, a ranged AT could have stayed away from them). 

 

As for the OP's question: Synapse.

Yes I've solo'd the Posi 1 & 2 a few times on a few toons but if I had a choice between running a posi 1 or 2 vs a Frostfire arc Frostfire would win everytime.

I will also say if you run the posi 1 at lvl 11 you seem to not spawn any of the CoT Specs which was a surprising change.

[BurtHutt]

The Shadow Shard ones are just painful. Citadel is awful. These are the ones I just don't do anymore...never say never but maybe one day. 

 

There are a few clunkers out there in addition to these but I do like the game a lot. I enjoy almost all of them with a good team who likes to communicate and have some laughs. 

 

I will say, I find most of the TF/SF etc a bit awkward and not so smooth. Fun to play but they could be so much better.

[Crysis]

Dr. Q will always be the crappiest TF in the whole game for me.  You have to have the right travel/temp powers to make the TF even remotely do-able, and as you’ve stated, it is an extremely BORING TF.  I’ve only done it maybe 3-4 times, but I remember the last time I was quite literally falling asleep at mission doors waiting for someone who missed the teleport to make it there so we could start.  Bad writing, bad design, crappy zone in general and repetitive missions.  Just stupid, like some summer intern was messing around with mission building in the Cryptic dev shop and then they said “screw it, just throw that one in there” on a whim.

 

 

[tidge]

What would be everyone's thoughts on splitting up the Synapse TF, a la Positron 1 and 2?

 

First Geographically: The simplest would be Part 1 in Steel Canyon/Boomtown and Part 2 in Skyway, but are there better options? See narrative below.

 

Next, what about villains? The Synapse TF is "all Clockwork, all the time"...so would a revamp work some other villains in for part of the TF? I actually like this being somewhat 'self contained' but it might be interesting to figure a way to loop in some other level-appropriate enemies into the arcs. I would veto either Circle of Thorns or Vahzilok because of Positron 1 & 2. Arachnos is always good for some side shenanigans, and it might be fun to stumble across Troll or Lost squatters in either Boomtown or Skyway.

 

Finally, the actual narrative: I've never really grokked how this TF fits into any version of the Clockwork King's story or motivations. It's obviously just a giant monster(TM) story with a LOT of defeat all filler. Would it be possible for Part 1 to be a "Lament for Penny" and Part 2 to be a "Revenge on Blue Steel?", and just give up the "electrical anomaly" angle altogether? Personally, I'd LOVE to have a redside arc where the Rogue Islanders are contacted by the Clockwork King to actually take revenge on Blue Steel. I know that the Clockwork King doesn't really run pure evil, but I think the potential for such a story is there.

[VileTerror]

But -would- the Clockwork King be the type to recruit villains for some scheme?  I mean, seeing as the King kind of has a reality filter up, and has delusions of nobility and righteousness, wouldn't it be against character for the King to essentially recruit mercenary soldiers from a distant land?  Particularly when he seems so self-assured of his own creations'/courts' strength and capabilities?

I think it might be more apt that Arachnos or some independent Rogues Gallery Villains come over to Paragon to take advantage of the rather predictable Clockwork King.  I mean, I know the writing implies that it's some "great mystery" that the Clockwork "bots" are psychic phenomena . . . but that doesn't mean there couldn't be NPCs who figured it out weeks or months before Positron started to piece it together.

[Snarky]

not exactly a TF but just finished SSD Who Will Die Redside.  7 arcs, all adding up to....a waste of time looking at horrid writing and (insert snarky comment here)

 

It was bad, and crap   and bad