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

[BurtHutt]

On 3/28/2023 at 10:54 PM, 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.

I couldn't agree more. It is an old design that wanted players to stay logged on and playing. The Shard TFs are hell on earth too. 

[Snarky]

Mort Kal gets forgotten a lot.  We need more content like this.  Short, story driven. Tangible Rewards.  Fun.

 

SF Oper Renault is neat as well. Although the feeling "this is a travel power test" is all over it.  Still, great tour of the isles and taking advantage of the terrain by Devs.  The eyeball fight?  Both good and kind of goofy...giant eye in a wall?  Classic MMORPG stuff.

[Scarlet Shocker]

My personal favourites are Lady Grey TF and Kahn... I like LGTF because it takes on one of the signature enemies of the game, arguably THE signature enemy, and sticks it to them. We learn a lot about them too and it also gives us insight into The Clockwork, and to an extent redeems Hero 1 and some other heroes believed to have been MIA since the original invasion.

 

I like Kahn for similar reasons - who doesn't love giving the beatdown to fascists? It's also relatively quick and it's great to have a boss fight at the end that remains a challenge, where the TF can be lost - something I believe is genuinely important.

 

I loathe Imperious TF for a couple of reasons - one is its ubiquity; I find it tiresome to run frequently but more unforgivable than that is appearance of Daedalus (and to a lesser extent Imperious - he gets a bit of a pass because... well the TF is actually his ) although I quite enjoy some of the mechanics of the TF but they aren't enough to compensate for the groan.

 

I am also a big fan of the LRSF and MLTF - but the LRSF is flawed by Recluse failing to back up his lieutenants until they are defeated. If he were to join them in battle (and with the flier present) it would make a far superior (and much tougher) boss fight.

[ivanhedgehog]

Dr Q is the best. I love the shadow shard.

[Mr. Vee]

Morty, Tin Mage and LRSF

[Perma-Newbie]

After running a 90 minute Synapse last night that felt like 3 hours...

 

Cut that TF into 2 parts:  Base/Base/Base/Bertha, Base/Longtom/Base/Babbage/CWK

[SeraphimKensai]

Being a parent, I've learned that time is a much more precious commodity than I thought.

 

That said I usually can't plan 2+ hour gaming sessions.

 

I do like a 1 hour tin/pex/ITF/yin from time to time though as that gives a decent amount of merits and some incarnate salvage. And yes it can be done within an hour.

[Taxes]

For me, my favourites are Mortimer Kal, Penny Yin, and ITF. I like the ones that have meaningful rewards for the time invested, and have a decent variety of mission types and enemies. Posi 1 & 2 are pretty good too. Generally I also want a TF/SF to be less than 1 hour (for casual play-through/kill most) so it doesn't feel like I have to carve time out of my schedule to plan around it, and it doesn't encourage people to feel speed strats are required b/c of how boring it is. Synapse is probably the exact opposite of what I enjoy, b/c it has lots of 'defeat all' missions and basically one enemy group that gets very boring and repetitive (though I'm willing to do it when it's on rotation for the copious merits, I guess).

[Jiro Ito]

 I don't feel like there's just one right answer, because the variety in the ones I enjoy is what makes them enjoyable.

 

Love

Aeon

LRSF (personal preference is to run the original version with Malaise and Statesman through Ouro)

MsLTF

Eden

ITF

Tempe of the Waters

Market Crash

CoP

Drowning in Blood

Summer Blockbuster

 

Like

TinPex

Sutter (the bugs on the last fight that have caused my teams to have to abandon this from time to time drop it down here)

KHTF (give us a Red Cap AV to fight at the end!)

Yin

Kahn

Lady Grey

 

Do not enjoy, only did them once to get the badge

Poor Synapse

Poor Citadel

The Shadow Shard TFs.  I really want to love the Shadow Shard (even wrote an AE arc about the challenges they're facing there) but the TFs are just too long

 

We've gotten so much content since some of these older ones were written, I feel like they could be updated for today's game, with the original versions available in Ouro.

 

[DoctorDitko]

SBB, no question!
Good rewards and you get to make Hollywood jokes!