is there anyway to make Synapse shorter??????

[TECHWON]

I know it'll prolly never happened but Yin and Posi (1+2) are good examples making them shorter faster to run and more enjoyable while keep good content.  I think really what slows i the arc down are all the "defeat alls". I love all the new content we've been getting and i think maybe making this shorter and have happen more in skyway city  would be a cool experience. just a suggestion

[Snarky]

My regular suggestion everytime this comes up….

 

Default all Kill Alls to smallest maps.  That cuts a huge chunk of nothingness right off the TF.  The small maps are in there.  Getting them is a lucky shot

[Luminara]

Amputate his legs (3' shorter) or decapitate him (1' shorter).

[Herotu]

6 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Amputate his legs (3' shorter) or decapitate him (1' shorter).

We don't need to go to such extreme measures (hur hur) when we have a Shrink Ray in the garage ...

[Scarlet Shocker]

9 minutes ago, Herotu said:

We don't need to go to such extreme measures (hur hur) when we have a Shrink Ray in the garage ...

 

Yes, but sadly now Ray is nowhere to be seen!

[Scarlet Shocker]

2 hours ago, TECHWON said:

I know it'll prolly never happened but Yin and Posi (1+2) are good examples making them shorter faster to run and more enjoyable while keep good content.  I think really what slows i the arc down are all the "defeat alls". I love all the new content we've been getting and i think maybe making this shorter and have happen more in skyway city  would be a cool experience. just a suggestion

 

The issue with long TFs is usually not their length per se but their lack of engagement. They were created to be a much longer experience which is generally a good thing, but at a time when there was way less content in the game than there is now.

 

So there was a formula:

1) Make the players travel far to take time out of the game (and remember, there were no travel powers before lvl 14 in those days)

 

2) REALLY large maps and you had to Samuel L Jackson with an AK 47 in all of them.

 

3) Lack of variety. Some of the early TFs were built to a formula (when XP was far less available - even discounting boosters.) Thus the TFs themselves became boring and dull and frankly if it were not for Weakly Strike Targets that give bonuses for them to be played, some would simply not be done.

 

4) Lack of empathic significance: Synapse has the potential to be one of the more interesting signature heroes, but has been so poorly crafted and presented he comes across as a whiny snivelling self-pitying shite, who's never stood up to the challenge he's been confronted with and faced it down. Had he been shown differently it would give the player base a very different

 

5) Your character is locked into the TF for the duration. For me, this is the biggest drawback and can cause big scheduling issues (especially with global communities, times zones and the like) but is not insuperable with a bit of imagination.

 

A lot of the above points can be levelled at other early TFs - especially Shadow Shard.

 

But here's an alternate take: Most people who play the game in my experience spend a good few hours teaming with buddies, running content and generally enjoying the game until they get a) tired b) bored or c) have a reason to go to bed (there can be several) - they tend to play for an evening, time in which you could otherwise watch a couple of movies etc. Many will run a LOT of content in that time, and do other stuff, such as RP, base build, work on their character.

 

So putting those two points together we know that:

 

Players are willing to play the game for an extended period but they are discerning and won't play crap content unless coerced (usually by reward.) I've played for hours on teams where tips or radio missions are run rinse and repeat. It's not about the length. Honest.

 

So the trick is to make the existing content better. Nobody wants it to be shorter - and if you don't believe me ask your wife - they want to be entertained, engaged, excited and given a reason to play the TFs.

 

Paragon on live made a mistake with Posi and Sister Psyche too. Both were basic but ok TFs. Their replacements are ok, but I wouldn't say they were massively better in themselves. But they are shorter. Posi has no real reason to have his TF split in two. Put the two halves together you have something interesting and actually pretty good - a lot better and still shorter than his original TF. I find the fact that his TF is chopped in half to be a hindrance more than a bonus.

 

Similarly Penny Yin's TF is also interesting and valid, it stands its own ground and gives Penny herself an interesting backstory but there was no reason to kill off Sister P's TF (or indeed the character) other than the Devs wanted us to get a shock. They could have handled it very differently and rewritten parts of Sister P's TF to include much more of Aurora's story - which in Primal Earth is sadly lacking in Lore AND content (but bonus time we get Mother Mayhem and her massive mammaries of masturbatory magnificence in her very own ITrial... so that's a bonus for those young enough to remember how such things work I suppose)

 

Ok, this has turned into a bit of a wall of text so congratulations if you made it this far but the

 

tl;dr version: People play for a long time - so long as the content is engaging and they can pick it up as and when they need, it needn't be a short arc. It just needs to be interesting

[Frozen Burn]

Synapse isn't long... 1-1.5 hrs is fine.... it's just the TF is TEDIOUS to no end.  You face 1 enemy type, and then the majority of it is defeat all missions.  That is what makes that 1-1.5 hrs seem like 10 hours.

 

We start out defeating all, then hunt and talk to a guy who suggests defeating all in a substation, then defeat all in the next station, and then just to be sure, go to a 3rd and defeat all of them there too.  Do a small patrol (which is annoying) and then defeat all in the HQ.  Do a larger patrol (which is a larger waste of time), but then you can go all the way to the back end of Boomtown for the shortest map on the TF and ONLY defeat the final boss and their room (yay!).  You get another defeat boss only mission (yippee!).  You get another defeat boss, but you also have to rescue a bunch of hostages, so it's basically a defeat all anyway.  And then finally, another kill final boss - but watch out for the GM ambush, and then after running to another zone just to double back to where you were to get a temp power that is largely not needed anymore, we get to race to the end to defeat the King.

 

We also talk to and deal with Posi more than we do Synapse!  This should be named Posi 3!  Especially since the majority of it occurs in Steel Canyon.  How about maybe doing that, and then create a whole new TF for Synapse that takes place mostly in Skyway?  (Wishful thinking, I know.)

 

Chop out 2 of the defeat all in substations, remove 1 or both patrols, and either get rid of the clock immobilizer altogether or have it auto drop on leader to eliminate the need to go back to Posi - any and all would make the TF shorter and tolerable, but still have some meat on it.  

 

 

[Herotu]

3 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:

Synapse isn't long... 1-1.5 hrs is fine.... it's just the TF is TEDIOUS to no end.  You face 1 enemy type, and then the majority of it is defeat all missions.  That is what makes that 1-1.5 hrs seem like 10 hours.

You think Synapse is tedious? I've got an old memory of Rularuu ... hours and hours of tedium.

[Water]

Yes there is. one sure way to make it shorter is to play with full IO'd team mates. Another is to play with people familiar with the TF. If you find that you don't have time to game, do the thing that you have the time for.

[tidge]

54 minutes ago, Water said:

Yes there is. one sure way to make it shorter is to play with full IO'd team mates. Another is to play with people familiar with the TF. If you find that you don't have time to game, do the thing that you have the time for.

 /agree. Two ways to make Synapse faster:

 

1) Play with some teammates who have good slotting, AoE (including temp) attacks, and split up on the "defeat alls"

2) Tackle it solo. Low-DPS characters can take the final fight with just the temp power and a temp summons (Shivans work fine)

 

In the case of (1), I don't mind playing Synapse with+N if the team has decent Accuracy/ToHit slotting. More than any other effect, I find that it is low ToHit chances that teams struggle with on lower level TFs.

[Frozen Burn]

2 hours ago, Herotu said:

You think Synapse is tedious? I've got an old memory of Rularuu ... hours and hours of tedium.

 

Yes, it' FAR more tedious than the Shard TFs.  I run the shard TFs a lot and they are some of my favorites, even though DR Q is long.  I actually solo that one in the same time it takes to do a Synapse and it has more varying missions and varying types of foes to face.  Justin Augustine is fairly tedious because of all the hunts, but there are different mob types and it goes quick - unlike Synapse.  

 

And if you say your memory of shard TFs is old... you should run some now.  With travel as easy as it is now, these TFs can be done in 30-90 mins.  The days of 8+ hours of a single shard TF have been long gone.  🙂  

 

So to me, Synapse is THE most tedious and worst TF in the game.  😛  (But still worth the occasional run for the low level xp, merits, and a badge!)

[PartyKake]

I'll be honest, when I saw this thread I thought you were talking about his height.

[BrandX]

A good team.  First you're going to want some AOE.  You stick with a team of ST melee, you're going to be at it a long time.

 

Stealther with TP is good too, doesn't help on the kill alls, but for 4 missions, you can run to boss and teleort.

Strong Melee who can solo the maps, this isn't really needed for any map, except the rescue 6 hostages map.  If he can survive the barrage of clockwork and just jump to each rescue, this will make things go faster.

Don't go in with unslotted heroes.  No ACC or DMG?  Going to take awhile.

 

Lastly.  Don't forget the AOE.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

[Rudra]

8 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:

Synapse isn't long... 1-1.5 hrs is fine.... it's just the TF is TEDIOUS to no end.  You face 1 enemy type, and then the majority of it is defeat all missions.  That is what makes that 1-1.5 hrs seem like 10 hours.

 

We start out defeating all, then hunt and talk to a guy who suggests defeating all in a substation, then defeat all in the next station, and then just to be sure, go to a 3rd and defeat all of them there too.  Do a small patrol (which is annoying) and then defeat all in the HQ.  Do a larger patrol (which is a larger waste of time), but then you can go all the way to the back end of Boomtown for the shortest map on the TF and ONLY defeat the final boss and their room (yay!).  You get another defeat boss only mission (yippee!).  You get another defeat boss, but you also have to rescue a bunch of hostages, so it's basically a defeat all anyway.  And then finally, another kill final boss - but watch out for the GM ambush, and then after running to another zone just to double back to where you were to get a temp power that is largely not needed anymore, we get to race to the end to defeat the King.

 

We also talk to and deal with Posi more than we do Synapse!  This should be named Posi 3!  Especially since the majority of it occurs in Steel Canyon.  How about maybe doing that, and then create a whole new TF for Synapse that takes place mostly in Skyway?  (Wishful thinking, I know.)

 

Chop out 2 of the defeat all in substations, remove 1 or both patrols, and either get rid of the clock immobilizer altogether or have it auto drop on leader to eliminate the need to go back to Posi - any and all would make the TF shorter and tolerable, but still have some meat on it.  

 

 

If this is the all Clockwork TF, be glad it's the TF and not the story arc. They are the exact same in every way except that the story arc has more missions in it. I think 3 more missions than the TF has. I can't remember what contact gave the story arc, but basically, I avoid any contact that deals with Clockwork to make sure I never go through that story arc again.

[Snarky]

Now moved to suggestions. Where all requests about shortening Synapse go.

 

 

 

[Frozen Burn]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

If this is the all Clockwork TF, be glad it's the TF and not the story arc. They are the exact same in every way except that the story arc has more missions in it. I think 3 more missions than the TF has. I can't remember what contact gave the story arc, but basically, I avoid any contact that deals with Clockwork to make sure I never go through that story arc again.

 

Agreed.  There are story arcs that are very long and nothing but clock.  I avoid all clockwork story arcs too.  But with the story arcs, you can take other missions from other contacts to break up the monotony - a Task Force, you cannot.  

[Rudra]

51 minutes ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

Agreed.  There are story arcs that are very long and nothing but clock.  I avoid all clockwork story arcs too.  But with the story arcs, you can take other missions from other contacts to break up the monotony - a Task Force, you cannot.  

The thing I don't get, is that Synapse's TF is that story arc, minus 2 or 3 missions. The full exact same thing down to boss names and mission locations. Oh, and the TF awards a badge for completing it whereas the story arc's reward is the relief that it is finally over.

[MonteCarla]

Things you can do as players today at the start of the task force:

- Hop into the Supergroup Base Portal next to Synapse (use TAXI-4000) and buy the End Drain Resistance buff from the Empowerment machine.

- Visit the P2W Vendor in Atlas and everyone stock up on Plasmatic Taser and Hand Grenades if you don't have a good source of AoE damage already.

This will all take 5 minutes while recruiting, and make it go a lot smoother. The worse Synapses I've had have been where we had a lot of single target specialists.

 

(And I kind of like having a long-ish task force without unskippable cutscenes as an opportunity to chat with other players, in or out of character)

[lemming]

9 hours ago, MonteCarla said:

Things you can do as players today at the start of the task force:

- Hop into the Supergroup Base Portal next to Synapse (use TAXI-4000) and buy the End Drain Resistance buff from the Empowerment machine.

- Visit the P2W Vendor in Atlas and everyone stock up on Plasmatic Taser and Hand Grenades if you don't have a good source of AoE damage already.

This will all take 5 minutes while recruiting, and make it go a lot smoother. The worse Synapses I've had have been where we had a lot of single target specialists.

 

(And I kind of like having a long-ish task force without unskippable cutscenes as an opportunity to chat with other players, in or out of character)

And if they don't visit the p2w before the start of the TF, the p2w in Trident and Pocket D can sell to you.

[TECHWON]

On 12/28/2023 at 4:35 AM, Frozen Burn said:

i do agree with you there and maybe im kinda jaded cuz been playing this game since live so maybe its that i dunno but all those are good points made

 

 

[Major_Decoy]

On 12/28/2023 at 8:37 AM, PartyKake said:

I'll be honest, when I saw this thread I thought you were talking about his height.

That's what I'd assumed too. I thought there was going to be a discussion about "Well, you can modify some things for your game personally, but it won't make Synapse shorter for anyone else"