Task Force Progression

[cgilm2526]

Hi Everyone, 

I have been playing WoW for many years and CoH off and on. I am now back to playing CoH and have my first 50. I was wondering if there is any sort of TF progression in CoH for level 50's. In Wow, there is a distinct order in which Raid's are completed. Is there anything like that in CoH or are all TF's treated the same once you hit 50?

Thank you

[Peacemoon]

Well all the TFs are technically treated as the same once you hit 50 (for merits), but the incarnate trials do have a loose order, but can still be done in any order. In terms of start I’m not sure where the start is for incarnate stuff and the correct ‘path’. I did a lot of my incarnate stuff with veteran levels and did the trials much later. As with much of CoH, there are many routes you can progress your incarnates by.
 

The Shadow Shard TFs have an order, available from the wiki.  They also have some of the longest TFs, where the challenge is trying to stick with it!

[cgilm2526]

13 minutes ago, Peacemoon said:

Well all the TFs are technically treated as the same once you hit 50 (for merits), but the incarnate trials do have a loose order, but can still be done in any order. In terms of start I’m not sure where the start is for incarnate stuff and the correct ‘path’. I did a lot of my incarnate stuff with veteran levels and did the trials much later. As with much of CoH, there are many routes you can progress your incarnates by.
 

The Shadow Shard TFs have an order, available from the wiki.  They also have some of the longest TFs, where the challenge is trying to stick with it!

I didnt even think about Incarnate Trials being different than TF's. And yeah, some of the TF';s are so damm long. A few hours I can handle. When we get into 8 hours, it gets old. LOL

[Psyonico]

2 minutes ago, cgilm2526 said:

I didnt even think about Incarnate Trials being different than TF's. And yeah, some of the TF';s are so damm long. A few hours I can handle. When we get into 8 hours, it gets old. LOL

The longest TF (Dr. Quaterfield) can be completed in 3ish hours with a good team that knows what they are doing and has Team Transport, Mission Transpoter, Assemble the Team, etc.

 

It can also be solo'd (there are no AVs and the EBs turn into bosses) so you can run it over the course of as many play sessions as you'd like.

[golstat2003]

2 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

The longest TF (Dr. Quaterfield) can be completed in 3ish hours with a good team that knows what they are doing and has Team Transport, Mission Transpoter, Assemble the Team, etc.

 

It can also be solo'd (there are no AVs and the EBs turn into bosses) so you can run it over the course of as many play sessions as you'd like.

Even 3 hours for me gets old. Especially in the dreary Shadow Shard. But glad folks are able to solo it.

[Peacemoon]

Some of those TFs are best played in a group with people you know, so you can stop for drinks/dinner and agree a time to come back.

 

Heck you can even decide to carry on the next evening if you wanted (have done that too). As long as you don’t mind your character being locked in the TF, but if you’re all offline it’s not an issue, or can play an alt in the meantime.

 

Sometimes we’ll duo a TF if we want to go at a leisurely pace. I wouldn’t expect randoms to agree to that (sand nor should they). But it is a nice experience so would recommend it for those that can. Just make sure you’re capable of taking on an AV between you.
 

[cgilm2526]

I know this is a little off topic but I am having trouble farming Empyrean Merit. I know I get some every 3 levels after 50, but that seems to be the main source. I did find an Aspect of the Pillar TF(Burden of the Past) that only takes 20 minutes to complete and awards 2 Empyrean Merit. But doing it over and over is getting old. Is there a more efficient way to farm Empyrean Merit?

[ZekeStenzland]

26 minutes ago, cgilm2526 said:

I know this is a little off topic but I am having trouble farming Empyrean Merit. I know I get some every 3 levels after 50, but that seems to be the main source. I did find an Aspect of the Pillar TF(Burden of the Past) that only takes 20 minutes to complete and awards 2 Empyrean Merit. But doing it over and over is getting old. Is there a more efficient way to farm Empyrean Merit?

I find that picking the random incarnate salvage to be the better reward option for Burden of the Past. You may not get the tier of salvage you want, but you get to hand-pick the salvage itself. 

[cgilm2526]

2 minutes ago, ZekeStenzland said:

I find that picking the random incarnate salvage to be the better reward option for Burden of the Past. You may not get the tier of salvage you want, but you get to hand-pick the salvage itself. 

Thanks. I wondered about that option. Tried it once but only got to pick common salvage. 

[ZekeStenzland]

The tiers aren’t all equally likely, but I think it’s 8 EM for one rare salvage. If you ran the arc 4 times, not only are you likely to hit rare once, but you’d get 3 other pieces of salvage as well.

 

[ShardWarrior]

4 hours ago, cgilm2526 said:

I have been playing WoW for many years

😁My condolences.    CoH does not require any kind of progression with regard to Task Forces.  You can run them so long as you are within the appropriate level range.  iTrials I believe may require that certain incarnate slots are unlocked in order to run.

[Call Me Awesome]

While the Incarnate Trials don't technically have an order requirement I'd highly recommend not running Underground or higher until you've gotten at least one level shift, and preferably two.  The final trial, Magisterium, should wait until you have three level shifts.  You'll find that the BAF and Lambda are run quite often while the others are more rare, I don't think I've been on a Magisterium since shutdown.  The later trials get considerably more difficult, the AV's will start being level 56 - 59 so you don't really want to face that until you can do so as a 53 (50 +3).  Even at max the Magisterium is tough, facing a +6 AV.

 

The rough order of them is:

Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial

Lambda Sector Trial

Keyes Island Reactor Trial

TPN Campus Trial

The Underground Trial

Minds of Mayhem Trial

Dilemma Diabolique Trial

Magisterium Trial

 

As far as the standard level 50 TF's go the popular ones are the ITF, Dr, Kahn, Lady Gray and the STF (MLTF).  They're all challenging but a good team will make them look easy and they're a lot of fun.

 

[EmmySky]

As for order, I think you cannot start a Posi 2 if you havent run Posi 1, although you can join if someone else starts.  Also some trials, like Cavern of Transendence still require you open the contact before you can start it, although you can join someone else's.

[Ironblade]

On 5/2/2020 at 12:18 AM, Call Me Awesome said:

You'll find that the BAF and Lambda are run quite often while the others are more rare, I don't think I've been on a Magisterium since shutdown.

They're definitely being run.  I've been on every iTrial except Lambda on Homecoming.  And I saw at least one successful run to get the 'Really Hard Way' badge, but I was not on that one.

[Ironblade]

On 5/2/2020 at 11:22 AM, EmmySky said:

Also some trials, like Cavern of Transendence still require you open the contact before you can start it, although you can join someone else's.

Same with the Hess and Katie Hannon task forces.

[Ukase]

On 4/30/2020 at 8:31 AM, Psyonico said:

The longest TF (Dr. Quaterfield) can be completed in 3ish hours with a good team that knows what they are doing and has Team Transport, Mission Transpoter, Assemble the Team, etc.

 

It can also be solo'd (there are no AVs and the EBs turn into bosses) so you can run it over the course of as many play sessions as you'd like.

You mean 90 minutes or so. Nobody who calls themselves a speed run player would take over 2 hours for Dr. Q, assuming all are level 50 with the TP tools. The fine folks in Veracity SG on Torch did it in less than 75 minutes. 74:33 to be exact. 

The 3 hour timer would be for folks who are casual and going afk a lot.