Thematically - what villains should be with each Heroes TF and what heroes should get a TF or story arc that don't have one?

[DougGraves]

Yin has a Freakshow TF.  Synapse has a clockwork TF where you talk to Positron half the time.  Someone suggested that Yin get the clockwork TF because she is involved with clockwork, not freakshow.

 

So if you could assign the villains to the various heroes' TF's what villains would you assign?  Who would Manticore send you after?  And it could be the reverse as well - who would be a better hero for the TF's that exists?

 

Azuria for the Positron 1 task force?  Jim Tremblor for the Positron 2 task force?

 

And who else should get a TF and what would it be?  A Flower Knight TF?

[CursedSorcerer]

Positron: Crey

Synapse: Crey? (Maybe make them into a two-part TF?)

Yin; Clockwork

Manticore: 5th Column (Maybe with Protean as the AV?)

Numina: Uncertain

Ms. Liberty: Arachnos is fine for Ms. Liberty's TF.

 

Note: Character's TF's  Order obviously will need to be switched around.

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by CursedSorcerer

[Take One]

I'd put up Numina against the Circle of Thorns, but throw in enemies from Night Ward in the mix too, to tie her TF together with the Night Ward story and perhaps make that part of the game seem more like an actual part of the game and not some weird what-if adventure in an else-world. I'd also throw in War Witch in the mix, as well as the Midnighters. I consider the Surviving 8 the "core" of the original game, and their TFs are or were what the game was about. Now the game has moved on and those old TFs feel terribly dull by comparison. Numina's TF furthermore feels like half a TF. It ends with her telling us that she will devote her time to find a body for Woodsman's spirit, but obviously this went nowhere. At the very least we could have "Numina 2: Spiritual Boogaloo" which would be about her fulfilling the vow she made, and recruiting us to go to Night Ward and other magical locations to try to get Woodsman's spirit a body again. This could then lead to a new Woodsman contact added to the game, and an updated Eden trial, or Eden Trial 2: This Time It's Personal, or whatever.

[Take One]

7 hours ago, CursedSorcerer said:

Positron: Crey

 

I think the updated Positron TFs are great, but you're right, there's no reason for Positron to be the one handing them out. If anything, with Positron taking over the leadership of the Phalanx, and being the one kidnapped by the Praetorians in the endgame arcs, if anything he should be leading the fight against Praetoria in an entirely new TF. I don't know if there's anything left to do with the Praetorians but there could be some story left to tell in a task force format, which Positron should host from Peregrine Island, near Portal Corp, so he can send us to Praetoria to take out tactical targets in preparation for the trials perhaps. In fact, the TF could be a "practice run" of each trial, taking place on the trial maps but without incarnate level enemies of course. Playing the TF would let people know the maps and their components, so when they play the incarnate trials they have a better idea of what they have to do.

 

Who would take over the original Positron TFs then? Maybe BAB? Or a new contact entirely?

[DougGraves]

6 hours ago, Take One said:

Who would take over the original Positron TFs then? Maybe BAB? Or a new contact entirely?

 

I would like the Faultline heroes linked to the Positron TF to make that Faultline connection stronger.

[Take One]

2 hours ago, DougGraves said:

 

I would like the Faultline heroes linked to the Positron TF to make that Faultline connection stronger.

Good call, but Fusionette is inexplicably positioned in Kallisti Wharf now. I guess she can be moved back... No, I have it! Doc Delilah, of course! She would be perfect!

Edited January 11, 2021 by Take One

[srmalloy]

20 hours ago, CursedSorcerer said:

Yin; Clockwork

I think this is entirely wrong; Penny is friends with the Clockwork, and with the Clockwork King (from what I can tell); it would take a really big betrayal on the King's part for her to be rounding up heroes to quash him and his minions.

[DougGraves]

25 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

I think this is entirely wrong; Penny is friends with the Clockwork, and with the Clockwork King (from what I can tell); it would take a really big betrayal on the King's part for her to be rounding up heroes to quash him and his minions.

 

Okay - Yin's dad for the TF.  He is sending the heroes to protect his daughter

[CursedSorcerer]

5 hours ago, Take One said:

Good call, but Fusionette is inexplicably positioned in Kallisti Wharf now. I guess she can be moved back... No, I have it! Doc Delilah, of course! She would be perfect!

Fusionette can be moved. Maybe Castle can take her place?

[Sakura Tenshi]

1 hour ago, srmalloy said:

I think this is entirely wrong; Penny is friends with the Clockwork, and with the Clockwork King (from what I can tell); it would take a really big betrayal on the King's part for her to be rounding up heroes to quash him and his minions.

Could come with a storyline change where the clockwork king is getting his control usurped by something else and is getting driven nuts by the same thing.

[Coyote]

2 hours ago, Sakura Tenshi said:

Could come with a storyline change where the clockwork king is getting his control usurped by something else and is getting driven nuts by the same thing.

 

The Clockwork Rebellion.

Or, A Game of (Clockwork) Thrones.

 

Wherein an alliance of upgraded Barons and Dukes rebel against their rightful ruler, the Clockwork King. And to prevent a Clockwork War (and her friend from going insane), Penny forms a TF to defeat the Rebellion. Babbage is the "end AV", controlled by a cabal of Elite Boss - level Clockwork Princes.

[Take One]

5 hours ago, Coyote said:

 

The Clockwork Rebellion.

Or, A Game of (Clockwork) Thrones.

 

Wherein an alliance of upgraded Barons and Dukes rebel against their rightful ruler, the Clockwork King. And to prevent a Clockwork War (and her friend from going insane), Penny forms a TF to defeat the Rebellion. Babbage is the "end AV", controlled by a cabal of Elite Boss - level Clockwork Princes.

Brilliant, and since the Clockwork King is already insane, it makes perfect sense that he's fighting himself.

[Player2]

Why are all these lazy heroes handing out TFs that they should really be doing themselves?

 

Task Forces should be assigned to players by city officials... police chiefs and captains, maybe a mayor and other representatives...  you know, people with authority but no real power to do things themselves.  As long as those heroes stand static doing nothing, I have zero respect for the non-trainers.  At least they help players by letting them level up.  Positron, Synapse, Yin, and others...  wastes of space.

[Take One]

10 hours ago, Player2 said:

Why are all these lazy heroes handing out TFs that they should really be doing themselves?

 

Task Forces should be assigned to players by city officials... police chiefs and captains, maybe a mayor and other representatives...  you know, people with authority but no real power to do things themselves.  As long as those heroes stand static doing nothing, I have zero respect for the non-trainers.  At least they help players by letting them level up.  Positron, Synapse, Yin, and others...  wastes of space.

This makes a lot of sense too. I can only assume that the Surviving 8 are giving lesser heroes jobs that are "beneath" them, as they are busy doing more important things. It would feel less insulting to be given tasks by a more grateful city official, than the scraps off the table of a distracted superior.

[Player2]

Give me an Azuria task force, and I'm there for it.  But for Ms. Liberty or Bastion?  Bitch, please...

 

I'd be more inclined to help the TF heroes if they were actually part of at least the final mission of the task forces they  assign.  Instead of "I'm too busy to do this myself, you do it," it could be "I need you to handle these things for me while I do other stuff and we'll meet up at the end for the big fight."

[Take One]

1 minute ago, Player2 said:

Give me an Azuria task force, and I'm there for it.  But for Ms. Liberty or Bastion?  Bitch, please...

 

I'd be more inclined to help the TF heroes if they were actually part of at least the final mission of the task forces they  assign.  Instead of "I'm too busy to do this myself, you do it," it could be "I need you to handle these things for me while I do other stuff and we'll meet up at the end for the big fight."

If Synapse zipped through the first four or five missions of his own TF and quickly gathered the information we needed, he can get out of the way while we deal with the actual threat. I don't need a babysitter messing up the final fight of a TF. However... what if the quest-giver "lends" us some of his power, in order for us to overcome the threat?

 

Positron could give us a radiation emitter of some sort, to debuff Dr. Vahzilok. Synapse could grant us superspeed and a recharge bonus to out-think the Clockwork King. Yin gives us all psionic blasts to bypass Clamor's armor. Etc. Some signature powers as temp powers granted from the questgivers, to help us out in the final fight would be more fun than having another pet Hero running around knocking everything back with abandon (looking at you, Imperious!).

 

If we abandon the Surviving 8 as TF hosts they can still give us their powers as part of each TF, we'd just have to go talk to them separately. But if we keep them, they can at least put a personal touch to each task force by letting us play with their signature moves for a bit. Even better if we get to keep the temp power for some time after the task force, too, and if it gets refilled after each run. That would be a more fun reward than merits in my opinion.

[Player2]

Bah, I don't want their powers.  I have my own.  And it wouldn't work for me on red side if villains were sharing their power to get things done.

 

But yeah, it doesn't have to be the final fight.  It could be an appearance anywhere through the missions... let us know the hero isn't just standing around like some self-important jerk telling others what to do.  Or maybe the temp power given is the ability to summon the TF giver for the final fight.  If you can handle it on your own, you get an XP bonus for not summoning the signature hero.... or you can call the hero in for backup if the fight starts going poorly.

[Take One]

1 minute ago, Player2 said:

Or maybe the temp power given is the ability to summon the TF giver for the final fight.  If you can handle it on your own, you get an XP bonus for not summoning the signature hero.... or you can call the hero in for backup if the fight starts going poorly.

That would be cool, if I could save the power and call them in "as a favor" anytime I want later on.

[Player2]

We have other signature hero summons that we can buy...  seems like being able to earn calling in a favor would be nice.  Of course, that could also look silly if 8 people on a team call Ms. Liberty and 8 Ms. Libertys show up to help fight a giant monster somewhere.  I don't know.  I like the idea of seeing more of the hero in the missions pertaining to them.  Doesn't need to be a power useable anytime after outside that TF.

[Hew]

2 hours ago, Player2 said:

We have other signature hero summons that we can buy...  seems like being able to earn calling in a favor would be nice.  Of course, that could also look silly if 8 people on a team call Ms. Liberty and 8 Ms. Libertys show up to help fight a giant monster somewhere.  I don't know.  I like the idea of seeing more of the hero in the missions pertaining to them.  Doesn't need to be a power useable anytime after outside that TF.

I wouldnt mind getting a signature summon out of a TF. THat would get the heros in better circulation. 

[DougGraves]

2 hours ago, Hew said:

I wouldnt mind getting a signature summon out of a TF.

 

Sure, if you need to aggro a whole room just summon Fusionette

[srmalloy]

On 1/11/2021 at 4:32 PM, Sakura Tenshi said:

Could come with a storyline change where the clockwork king is getting his control usurped by something else and is getting driven nuts by the same thing.

If you're going to create completely revamped TFs, that's perfectly valid, but it's outside the scope of the original question, which was "which hero would be more appropriate for each of the existing 'basic' TFs than the ones we have?"

[Drakwatch]

I've said it in a few threads now, but now is the perfect opportunity for a Back Alley Brawler TF. I think a few people touched on it in the last General Topic of the Week.

Quote

I think this would be the perfect opportunity for a Back Alley Brawler TF. He's still in recovery and can't go after Deadlock himself, so he starts up Task Force Regulators to combat the remaining Skull leadership who have now teamed up with the Trolls. It would be a nice finish to the story threads, BABs would get his revenge on Deadlock, and we could have a sweet AV battle with him at the end.

 

On the flipside, it would also be a good opportunity for a new redside TF. The Trolls and Skulls start hiring Rogue Isle villains as shock troops in Paragon? They need some muscle to keep the 'Dyne flowing, and they need Back Alley Brawler off their back. 

 

Any new TFs for under lvl 20 would be awesome and give some much needed team content variety for lower level characters. The Kings Row story arcs are wide open and well written enough to make them a good jumping off point for new content.

As for heroes who could be used as TF contacts, a redeemed Frostfire comes to mind. We also haven't seen Malaise in a while - maybe he could be slipping back to his villainous side and organizing Rogue Isles metahumans for an attack on the Vindicators. Lots of different threads in the game to pull from.

[Hew]

20 minutes ago, Drakwatch said:

We also haven't seen Malaise in a while

Spoiler

Malaise was killed. Permadeath.

 

 

 

Recommend you run the who will die signature story arc, in addition to pandora's box ssa.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Hew

[Heraclea]

On 1/10/2021 at 1:17 PM, DougGraves said:

And who else should get a TF and what would it be?  A Flower Knight TF?

Flower Knight would also be good for Posi 2; she has no current connection to Faultline per se, but a good many Asian themed characters seem to have ties there (the Yins, Mirror Spirit), and thematically Vahzilok relate well to the sorts of things she seems to get involved in (Contaminated).  I agree, more should be done with and for her, especially since it's possible for new characters who run a tutorial to skip Outbreak entirely.