Opinion piece; the worst TF/SF and why

[Ura Hero 205]

I intensely  dislike the Shadow Shard in it's entirety.  I avoid the Task Forces there like the plague.  Only time I am even tempted is when they are the Bonus Merit TF's and even then I look for a speed run.

 

For "normal" Task Forces, Synapse, Citadel and Numina are the ones that are just too long.  Each of these could be shortened by a lot and still retain the flavor.  Too many kill alls, street hunts, etc.  Just not fun to spend over an hour slogging through content with no real story to be told.

[UltraAlt 226]

The hunts in TF are almost always the grindy part.

Run here arrest # y. Run here arrest # z. and possibly repeat.

 

Some of the TF handle this better than others.

THere are some "arrest # y" TF missions that  you don't even have to go anywhere to complete, because, if you stand where you are, there is an ambush of # y on the way to attack you.

 

And I would say that the worst part of the TF hunt missions that I have run into is that all the mobs I'm supposed to fight are grey. One character can get the needed # in a minute or two. So it is pretty much "busy work".

 

Back-in-the-day, a TF was like a tour of the City. TF teams raced across the City to the next mission. You could be standing around and 6-8 heroes go zooming by to save the world and that was kind of cool. Racing to missions was kind of cool as well.

Most TF I'm on now, it's like you finish a mission and someone yells "tt" and it's Team Teleport to the next mission, so that flying around the City is pretty much lost. (I'm guilty of this as my characters are pretty much always going to have tt if I'm joining a TF ... even if they are level 8 and joining a Posi 1 TF)

 

So, yeah, I would get rid of the hunts or turn them all into level relevant ambushes. Waves of foes attacking that chase you down until defeated.

[srmalloy 681]

On 2/13/2021 at 1:04 PM, KaizenSoze said:

Citadel is also boring, but at better level range. Even if you are punching Nazi faces, it's still a slog.

What makes Citadel such an annoying slog is the endless "Clear out this base in IP. Now clear out this base in Talos Island. Now clear out this base in IP." back and forth over and over again. If you were clearing Council bases in IP, then moved to Talos to clear more, it would be less oppressive.

[Rejolt 96]

1. Shard TFs need a rework. I'd start by making it a 50+ zone and rethinking how you travel in it.

 

There needs to be a reason to fly from place to place other than "Wow, this place looks neat!" A large flying monster or Rikti War Ship to fight... something out there. After 20 minutes of trying to find 50 of some mob that barely exists and will give no rewards to most players isn't great design.

 

2. Katie Hannon TF. A Great TF. But the second mission was changed to stop speed runners. It's the worst map to lead an NPC out and there are stacked anti-target, anti-teleport measures on her. Three of the last 5 times I've run it she's on her own jumped into the ceiling and stuck there forever.

 

3. Woodsman - better now with the HO/titan change but it still feels unfairly punished (Cavern trial gives more merits and you can solo it!) for being able to run fast. It also has numerous potential (they don't always happen) glitches such as mobs that can spawn at level 54 regardless of setting, ambrosia not dropping and Titans that drop at -2 to your level. It's still likely has the most striking maps of any content here.

Edited February 16 by Rejolt

[Haijinx 2200]

On 2/13/2021 at 10:26 AM, Dr Sausage Jr said:

Synapse just called in.....

Realistically this one is probably just easier to solo for many ATs.  The CW King is a pushover.

 

But you can get a team for it usually.  

[Rejolt 96]

10 hours ago, Haijinx said:

Realistically this one is probably just easier to solo for many ATs.  The CW King is a pushover.

 

But you can get a team for it usually.  

If you time your mission teleports for early in the TF so you have them again later for Boomtown and Steel then you can solo in under an hour. The more annoying parts for it are usually the hunt 30 clocks and patrols.

[Haijinx 2200]

11 hours ago, srmalloy said:

What makes Citadel such an annoying slog is the endless "Clear out this base in IP. Now clear out this base in Talos Island. Now clear out this base in IP." back and forth over and over again. If you were clearing Council bases in IP, then moved to Talos to clear more, it would be less oppressive.

There's even those two missions where you clear out the SAME mission door twice in a row.  Which seems dumb.

[The_Warpact 315]

11 hours ago, Rejolt said:

1. Shard TFs need a rework. I'd start by making it a 50+ CO-OP zone and rethinking how you travel in it.

 

Fixed

[srmalloy 681]

3 hours ago, Haijinx said:

There's even those two missions where you clear out the SAME mission door twice in a row.  Which seems dumb.

Ahh, but it lets you joke about the stage ninjas who sweep in behind you as you leave and change the entry chamber so it points to the other Council base that was built there.

[Haijinx 2200]

15 hours ago, Rejolt said:

1. Shard TFs need a rework. I'd start by NUKING THE WHOLE PLACE FROM ORBIT

Alternate fix

[Coyotedancer 1459]

I'm one of the weirdos who actually LIKES the Shard. The TFs aren't the most thrilling, but the place itself is gorgeous and the goons are interesting. 

 

As for the other TF/SFs... I can't stand Synapse's or Numina's... They're both just way-too-long snore-fests. The Shard TFs may drag, but at least they have the advantage of interesting scenery! Synapse? Not so much. 🤣

[The_Warpact 315]

31 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

I'm one of the weirdos who actually LIKES the Shard. The TFs aren't the most thrilling, but the place itself is gorgeous and the goons are interesting. 

 

As for the other TF/SFs... I can't stand Synapse's or Numina's... They're both just way-too-long snore-fests. The Shard TFs may drag, but at least they have the advantage of interesting scenery! Synapse? Not so much. 🤣

Something I've noticed about the old devs is that they made these huge zones and then had a smattering of content for them.

Rather wasteful and thats why they are so dead, it doesn't help it when they have crappy TFs on top of it.

Having some contacts and maybe some repeatable content would help.

[Coyotedancer 1459]

2 hours ago, The_Warpact said:

Something I've noticed about the old devs is that they made these huge zones and then had a smattering of content for them.

Rather wasteful and thats why they are so dead, it doesn't help it when they have crappy TFs on top of it.

Having some contacts and maybe some repeatable content would help.

The Shard actually does have a repeatables contact... That's Hammond. He's right across from the entry portal in Zulu.

[The_Warpact 315]

3 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

The Shard actually does have a repeatables contact... That's Hammond. He's right across from the entry portal in Zulu.

Goes to show you how much I know about blueside lol.

[CursedSorcerer 111]

It sounds to me that the Synapse, Manticore, Citadel and Numina TF's need a Positron/Sister Psyche-esque overhaul.

[Doomguide2005 475]

     No one has even mentioned a particular annoyance with Numina's TF. 

 

     You're one Rikti World Invasion away from putting the TF on hold as all the hunt targets vanish from the zone being invaded.  

[Rejolt 96]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

     No one has even mentioned a particular annoyance with Numina's TF. 

 

     You're one Rikti World Invasion away from putting the TF on hold as all the hunt targets vanish from the zone being invaded.  

Siri. Make a Note. Start speed run Lady Gray TF the next time Doomguide2005 advertises a Numina.

 

[Coyotedancer 1459]

I thought the live devs had fixed that issue somewhere along the line... leaving the street spawns alone when invasions were in-progress?

[Doomguide2005 475]

1 hour ago, Coyotedancer said:

I thought the live devs had fixed that issue somewhere along the line... leaving the street spawns alone when invasions were in-progress?

Might have.  Half wondered if that's why no one was mentioning it.

 

@Rejolt ah the memories ...

Having actually had that happen once on Live in Talos.