What do you consider the "Gold Standard" for TFs/SFs?

[biostem]

Excepting special difficulty or other such settings, what would you consider the best example of how a Task Force/Strike Force should be?  If we consider the length of the Task Force, its difficulty, maps, enemy types/diversity, environmental effects or other features, which ones are the most fun for you to play, (also take into account the level they are played at)?

[twozerofoxtrot]

1. TinPex
2. Mortimer Kal SF
3. Dr. Aeon SF

[TheZag]

Dr Q,  no temps, no travel powers.

[Mjolnerd]

As... basic as this might make me, I'm going with the ITF. It's short enough that you don't have to block out a whole day for it (Faathim, the original Posi), but not so short that it feels like it's the same length as an average contact mission (Penny Yin). It's challenging enough that everybody needs to pay attention because some teamwork and communication is required, but even the boss fights aren't so hard that every single thing the team does has to be perfect and error-free. There are multiple paths to victory, both literally and tactically, depending on team composition and just general preference. It's mostly fighting Roman centurions, but you've also got dark-energy space squids and cosmic shadow lobsters and paramilitary fascists and vampires and werewolves and robots, and oh yeah also here's a minotaur and a cyclops too. It's a ridiculous silly mix of disparate enemy types that also somehow make sense together in the context of that particular story.

 

It's easy to forget when you're on your six-thousandth speedrun of the week, but that moment when I ran my first ITF and came around that bend at the top of the hill after fighting hundreds of Bronze-Age soldiers with swords and the occasional Warcraft monster, and suddenly BOOM "surprise, there's a pair of hundred-foot robots and an army of Nazis here!" might be the most comic book-y thing CoH ever did. And that dramatic reveal was accomplished without a hamfisted cutscene or anything, just a clever layout of the level map.

 

I know it's not an especially deep cut, but sometimes the obvious choice is obvious for a reason.

[cranebump]

I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s the opposite of Synapse.

[Greycat]

Hmmm.

 

ITF, eh, sure.  Yin, when I want something short.

I'd put Katie on the list, as 10 times the victor *could* be interesting, but it's also what makes it not, as you just sort of stay in about the same spot and punch things in that same mission, which makes it drag.

Pretty much anything that's not a speedrun, though that's more a team than TF thing.

Honorable mention to Eden for the gorgeous and criminally underused environment.

[BurtHutt]

ITF 

 

Then maybe Yin...TinPex is solid...

 

Some iTrials are fun (a couple).

[Snarky]

Things I will run anytime they are advertised is the gold standard.  In no particular order:

ITF

Virgil Tarikoss

Market Crash

TinPex

 

Silver, they are good.  But I need to be in the mood:

LGTF, LRSF, Ms Lib, Speed Aeon, any Inc Trial

 

Bronze; I will jump on one if the server seems light in jumping on and I am bored;

Barracuda or Khan, Yin, Katie or Moonpiefire

 

Toilet bowl ring; Synapse, any Shadow Shard.  

 

[Mjolnerd]

3 hours ago, cranebump said:

I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s the opposite of Synapse.

 

17 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Toilet bowl ring; Synapse, any Shadow Shard.  

 

Synapse gets a lot of hate, and it deserves most of it, but I maintain that any problems it has, Citadel has too but worse. It's just the exact same mission over and over. Synapse at least has the decency to ask you to do the same thing over and over again on slightly different maps.

Citadel is just defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in an identical base, defeat all Council in another identical base, defeat all Council in literally the same base you just left, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, somebody asks how many more times we have to defeat all Council in base and nobody is sure because the whole TF has blurred together into a single monotonous megamission, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base plus a bland uninteresting boss fight.

[BazookaTwo]

11 minutes ago, Mjolnerd said:

 

 

Synapse gets a lot of hate, and it deserves most of it, but I maintain that any problems it has, Citadel has too but worse. It's just the exact same mission over and over. Synapse at least has the decency to ask you to do the same thing over and over again on slightly different maps.

Citadel is just defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in an identical base, defeat all Council in another identical base, defeat all Council in literally the same base you just left, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, somebody asks how many more times we have to defeat all Council in base and nobody is sure because the whole TF has blurred together into a single monotonous megamission, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base plus a bland uninteresting boss fight.

 

Is there a better way to farm wolfshifters for that badge though? Hmm? 😂

[MoonSheep]

Posi 1 and 2 are the perfect TFs in my view - teamplay required, different ATs matter, can quickly be challenging if people are messing around

[Xiddo]

Positron(s), Silver Mantis SF (that final mission is chaos and I love it), ITF, Trading Places, and - because it should count - Pandora's box Part 5 with the big monster Nemesis.

[Shred Monkey]

Yin TF I think should get honorable mention for being just the right difficulty and length for it's level.  

 

Also, while not being exactly the answer to the question, I would prefer to see more content like DFB and DIB added but for higher levels, as opposed to more TFs.  Imagine a level 50 contact that gives your team one of 10 trials like this at random.  Perhaps it's Maria Jenkins but done right.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Shred Monkey

[Gerswin]

Aeon is the best tf in the game for me. It helps that my kids love playing it too.  The maps don't introduce claustrophobia, there are lots of unique/memorable enemies and interesting mechanics, the length is perfect as it doesn't take longer to form than to run, and even the cutscenes aren't too long. I also like the thrill of the random dsync roll at the end. Goldbrickers are a well balanced enemy group, particularly at higher difficulty levels, there are a variety of other enemy groups as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[ZemX]

These all have unique maps or situations AND are accessible to many, so I like them.
 

Sutter

Mantis

Ice Mistral

Tarikoss

ITF

 

[DougGraves]

Sutter is my favorite design.  Every mission is interesting and different.

[Uun]

In no particular order: Penny Yin, Sutter, ITF, Tin Mage, Apex, Mort Kal, LRSF, Market Crash.

 

[Mopery]

I kind of miss the old days when a TF or Trial would break a team, like the Rollister mission in the old Posi TF, or the old Respec Trials when the team would all be dead watching Sky Raiders or Freaks or Rikti blow up the Reactor, dooming Paragon City and denying you all a Respec yet again... memories and nostalgia, I know.

 

Back then completing the TF actually felt like an accomplishment requiring communication, teamwork, and a little forethought to achieve. These days I just try to stay awake through the whole thing most of the time.

[KaizenSoze]

I love Yin, right length, you can raise the difficultly to make it a challenge, and fun.

 

 

[Xiddo]

1 hour ago, Mopery said:

I kind of miss the old days when a TF or Trial would break a team, like the Rollister mission in the old Posi TF, or the old Respec Trials when the team would all be dead watching Sky Raiders or Freaks or Rikti blow up the Reactor, dooming Paragon City and denying you all a Respec yet again... memories and nostalgia, I know.

 

Back then completing the TF actually felt like an accomplishment requiring communication, teamwork, and a little forethought to achieve. These days I just try to stay awake through the whole thing most of the time.

 

I'm sure you've done it before but can I recommend doing Piecemeal's arcs if you want that feeling? I did them a couple of nights ago with a team of lvl 5-26s (with a couple of exempers) and the mission in the rave room can go really, really badly if people aren't paying attention. We only won cos we had two storm toons without IOs so the KB really helped with the bombs. We had a few faceplants too - nostalgic in its own way ❤️ 

 

 

 

 

 

[cranebump]

9 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

Posi 1 and 2 are the perfect TFs in my view - teamplay required, different ATs matter, can quickly be challenging if people are messing around

The fact that you can kick your own ass (or the other way around) in Pos1 make this one of my favorites.

[SmokinIndo]

Lady Grey TF. I like the difficulty, the length, and the story. A lot of fun characters pop up (CW King, Hamidon.), and the Hero 1 reveal at the end was one of the most memorable moments  in the game.

[Techwright]

18 hours ago, biostem said:

Excepting special difficulty or other such settings, what would you consider the best example of how a Task Force/Strike Force should be?  If we consider the length of the Task Force, its difficulty, maps, enemy types/diversity, environmental effects or other features, which ones are the most fun for you to play, (also take into account the level they are played at)?

 

Are you asking for a specific TF/SF, or are you asking for a design plan?  Because I'm not sure any TF is a model example, each adding something or lacking something.  I'd have to give it some thought, but a pattern or design layout might get closer to what I'd consider ideal.

[biostem]

27 minutes ago, Techwright said:

Are you asking for a specific TF/SF, or are you asking for a design plan?  Because I'm not sure any TF is a model example, each adding something or lacking something.  I'd have to give it some thought, but a pattern or design layout might get closer to what I'd consider ideal.

Well, I think stating which TF(s) or SF(s) you think are the most fun to play or have the best flow/pacing, would give a good baseline.  Beyond that, while a general framework of what makes a good TF would be good in theory, I wouldn't want them to become homogenized either.

[SteelRat70]

On 3/29/2023 at 6:54 AM, Mjolnerd said:

 

 

Synapse gets a lot of hate, and it deserves most of it, but I maintain that any problems it has, Citadel has too but worse. It's just the exact same mission over and over. Synapse at least has the decency to ask you to do the same thing over and over again on slightly different maps.

Citadel is just defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in an identical base, defeat all Council in another identical base, defeat all Council in literally the same base you just left, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, somebody asks how many more times we have to defeat all Council in base and nobody is sure because the whole TF has blurred together into a single monotonous megamission, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base, defeat all Council in base plus a bland uninteresting boss fight.

 

Defeat all in a council base.. which is also a cave.  Double.  Whammy.