I really wanted to enjoy Synapes WSTs this week

[Without_Pause]

I'm still surprised that TF hasn't been reworked. 

[Luminara]

Synapés, the fastest hors d'oeuvres in Paragon City!  One bite and they're gone!

[kelika2]

1 hour ago, Without_Pause said:

I'm still surprised that TF hasn't been reworked. 

I think thats because Citadel and Numina need it more.

Citadels biggest drawback for me are those ant colony tier maps, between getting caught on everything traveling through them only to fight 2-3 groups on a multi tiered areas

 

Numina's crystal charging thing still makes no sense and without.. exp/rewards for that whole part stops the game dead

[Sovera]

3 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

I think thats because Citadel and Numina need it more.

Citadels biggest drawback for me are those ant colony tier maps, between getting caught on everything traveling through them only to fight 2-3 groups on a multi tiered areas

 

Numina's crystal charging thing still makes no sense and without.. exp/rewards for that whole part stops the game dead

 

Though I'd disagree on the principle Synapse needs it the most I wouldn't say no to those two. Heck, years later and I remember my surprise at running Numina under double XP and my leveling character not getting a single level out of it.

[High_Beam]

Numina doesn't need rework beyond the "remember when these guys were a threat" street hunts after every weak mo-fo in every zone.  Numina is a slideshow from your vacation.  Synapse needs it followed by Citadel because again, I think even the devs were like fuck it, the first two missions will be at the same door cause we are gonna make then run between Talos and IP the rest of the time.

 

Maybe it was all a plot to sell Team Transporters.

[tidge]

RE: Potential Synapse rework... some of my rando thoughts:

 

The early "defeat all" could still have lots of spawns to fight, but there really should be fewer of the first four? five? and there should be some other objectives like glowies or hostages.

 

The zone clickies should just be an instanced map of Steel Canyon, with additional team objectives.

 

The Bertha/Long Tom/hostages/Clockwork Lord missions should have them combined, and include ambushes.

 

Babbage spawn is fine. The immobilizer is a sort of relic... probably keep it for the way it helps under-powered teams.

 

The final mission should have Clockwork bosses that better show that these are a boy's toys.... like DnD figures or Chess Pieces. Players should have to engage them on the way to the Clockword Lord.

[Without_Pause]

34 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

I think thats because Citadel and Numina need it more.

Citadels biggest drawback for me are those ant colony tier maps, between getting caught on everything traveling through them only to fight 2-3 groups on a multi tiered areas

 

Numina's crystal charging thing still makes no sense and without.. exp/rewards for that whole part stops the game dead

I do concede Citadel would be #2 for getting fixed. My issue with Synapse is the fact that it is a Level 16-20 TF that's just inexcusably long for the sake of it and one geared for newer players. 

[TheMoneyMaker]

42 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

I do concede Citadel would be #2 for getting fixed. My issue with Synapse is the fact that it is a Level 16-20 TF that's just inexcusably long for the sake of it and one geared for newer players. 

I'm fine with Numina and Citadel. In fact, each of the big 6 after Positron's are fine.....even Citadel.

[lemming]

Synapse is pretty repetitive with some pointless running around between Steel & Skyway. 

 

Citadel has the same repetitive with having to swap zones every mission.   Heck, I could stomach Citadel with just have the first 1/2 in IP, Second in Talos.  Would still be a pain, just less.  For some reason, Synapse still annoys me more.

 

Numina, meh, for some reason it doesn't bother me.

[Skyhawke]

The TFs were designed in the dark ages (of Camelot..tee hee) and meant to keep people on as much as possible to wring that sweet sweet subscription fee from them each month. Some got better but Synapse, Citadel and Numina definitely show their age. IF I do a Synapse, it's when I'm bored, need/want the badge, have time to kill and am in the mood. Lots of qualifiers that really only Citadel also comes with. (A decent Numina team can wipe those street sweeps fast by splitting up)

[Frunobulax]

17 hours ago, kelika2 said:

the mindless dregs who frontload their respecs/builds with power pools who complain about being bored with one or two attacks

 

I prefer that to the mindless dregs whining about how things don't go perfectly in a low lvl tf that's possibly full of new players. Try getting over yourself a bit, and and you may find that your ability to enjoy yourself will improve.

[kelika2]

54 minutes ago, tidge said:

RE: Potential Synapse rework... some of my rando thoughts:

The early "defeat all" could still have lots of spawns to fight, but there really should be fewer of the first four? five? and there should be some other objectives like glowies or hostages.

The zone clickies should just be an instanced map of Steel Canyon, with additional team objectives.

The Bertha/Long Tom/hostages/Clockwork Lord missions should have them combined, and include ambushes.

Babbage spawn is fine. The immobilizer is a sort of relic... probably keep it for the way it helps under-powered teams.

The final mission should have Clockwork bosses that better show that these are a boy's toys.... like DnD figures or Chess Pieces. Players should have to engage them on the way to the Clockword Lord.

keep the killalls

use smaller maps

remove the last few missions (skyway) and first patrol map

merge the objectives from the skyway maps into the killalls.  meaning bertha, tom, hostages, etc can be in the first 4 missions

last mission can be in boomtown using the special clockwork king map.  babbage can be added as a "monster" class enemy in that large 4 way room

 

So, first mission (anomaly)

3 killalls.  maybe change up the named bosses and bump them up to elite bosses with new powers.

steel canyon patrol+boomtown last mission.  babbage can block off the two entrances to the king until he dies.  and the king can be surrounded with psychic clockworks since hes just getting started

[kelika2]

4 minutes ago, Frunobulax said:

I prefer that to the mindless dregs whining about how things don't go perfectly in a low lvl tf that's possibly full of new players. Try getting over yourself a bit, and and you may find that your ability to enjoy yourself will improve.

facebook tier reply aside its not brand new players.  its mostly people with a couple of level 50s already and just kinda blew through their respec without much thought.

i cant see why a new player would take multiple travel powers unless they were instructed otherwise

[Seed22]

7 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

facebook tier reply aside its not brand new players.  its mostly people with a couple of level 50s already and just kinda blew through their respec without much thought.

i cant see why a new player would take multiple travel powers unless they were instructed otherwise

My Cold/Ice, my pride n joy build since I’ve been reworking some of my 50s(getting better at the game does that) has 2 travel powers. Teleport and Super Speed, along with fold space by ehhh I dunno 25+?  He also puts out Corr without scourge damage and is HM 4 viable and easily steamrolls on his own. 
 

Having multiple travel powers early isn’t always bad. It really depends on the set.  What IS bad is having terribad power picks(like dual wield on Dual Pistols or no hasten), but even then? Not really. 
 

Seems you just had some bad experiences with Synapse, which really sucks. 
 

Edited Tuesday at 11:31 PM by Seed22

[Skyhawke]

6 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

facebook tier reply aside its not brand new players.  its mostly people with a couple of level 50s already and just kinda blew through their respec without much thought.

i cant see why a new player would take multiple travel powers unless they were instructed otherwise

 

Or it sounds cool to them. I remember taking hover, air superiority and fly on my MA/Invul Scrapper back in beta and thinking it was awesome and fit my character idea. Forehead slappingly bad now but to a newcomer it might not click. As others have said, most people playing don't visit the site or discord and know nada about builds beyond what sounds cool. 

[Frunobulax]

20 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

facebook tier reply aside its not brand new players.  its mostly people with a couple of level 50s already and just kinda blew through their respec without much thought.

i cant see why a new player would take multiple travel powers unless they were instructed otherwise

By power pools I was thinking leadership/fighting etc for newbies/fresh 50's trying to squeeze out survival because they don't have io's/don't know about vendor buffs yet and such.

 

Sorry I misunderstood, I get agro when I think I see people attacking newbies, to me it's like punching puppies especially in this era of extreme powercreep where people sometimes forget that not everybody's there yet, and how ridiculously wide the gulf is between a player has modern knowledge and resources and one that doesn't.

 

Obviously multiple travel powers is silly if there's no plan for dealing with mobs when arriving at whatever destination and if it's a vet who spec'd without low level's in mind they could at least spam temps, which is more then good enough for getting through a synapse, and a saving grace for some combos that wish their low level blahs were their own fault and thus preventable.

[SeraphimKensai]

4 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

I'm still surprised that TF hasn't been reworked. 

The best solution for reworking it, cut the first few missions and start with the 2nd patrol before Bertha then proceed as normal.

[BurtHutt]

Many of the older TFs are terrible. Synapse and Citadel are a couple of the worst.

 

 

[catsi563]

21 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

I'm still surprised that TF hasn't been reworked. 

it has been reworked a bit the first three kill alls the maps are shorter on average and i think a couple of kill alls were removed reducing it down a few missions

[srmalloy]

On 1/7/2025 at 10:37 AM, Jacke said:

Way back in the day, pre-Shutdown, in 2007 during Issue 9, I think, I was on a Positron Task Force on my main AR/Devices Blaster.  Can't remember how many we started with, but by the last mission had gotten down to 3 Players including me.  However, the other 2 decided to give up on the Task Force.

I had a similar incident back on Live, when I was running my Bots/Dark MM on a Manticore, and we'd finished the defeat-all missions when the rest of the team -- apparently a group of friends -- had to quit, leaving me solo. I figured 'WTH', and continued the TF, and was surprised as hell that I was able to complete the mission (this being the earlier version of the TF, that just had Hopkins, not Hopkins, his rez, and Countess Crey).

[Without_Pause]

2 hours ago, catsi563 said:

it has been reworked a bit the first three kill alls the maps are shorter on average and i think a couple of kill alls were removed reducing it down a few missions

It's still not great. Either Posi TF or Yin can be done in the area of 30 minutes. I've done at least one Yin in 18. 

[Teklord]

I do find Synapse more dreary than a Citadel. Part of that is how Oro portals recharge quickly and have both IP and Talos in the menu. Given this is a <level 20 TF I find that people use the prestige attacks (wand, nem staff, sands of mu, undead slaying axe) quite a bit to fill out their chains, I have yet to have anyone complain about incomplete attack chains on a synapse. Now I run a lot of corruptors and defenders, one blaster, one scrapper, one peacebringer and a tank. This means that my regular played toons generally have greater impact per player in the TF. I also run with the temp for +end rec which I buy all that I can to make leveling easier. I also slot attuned IOs early.

 

All in all this means that I often can offset the end drain of clocks AND can make them easier to hit or increase the damage of my cohorts in the TF. I run this TF basically on every toon I level as soon as I see the opportunity.  It does go long, it can be a drag, it is definitely the longest of the major TFs (shadowshards are not major TFs in this case).

 

I will also say that steamrolling is the best way to move forward with a PUG on Synapse and tbf any TF. Stealthing, etc is in general more trouble to coordinate than just steamrolling toward the objective. But as a buffing and debuffing character I tend to make that part pretty easy.

 

In the end Synapse is a drag but I do see many people advertising it outside of WST week. I myself advertise it too. It could use a rework.

 

And I too experienced the TF losing members as it dragged on during live.

[ivanhedgehog]

22 hours ago, kelika2 said:

keep the killalls

use smaller maps

remove the last few missions (skyway) and first patrol map

merge the objectives from the skyway maps into the killalls.  meaning bertha, tom, hostages, etc can be in the first 4 missions

last mission can be in boomtown using the special clockwork king map.  babbage can be added as a "monster" class enemy in that large 4 way room

 

So, first mission (anomaly)

3 killalls.  maybe change up the named bosses and bump them up to elite bosses with new powers.

steel canyon patrol+boomtown last mission.  babbage can block off the two entrances to the king until he dies.  and the king can be surrounded with psychic clockworks since hes just getting started

Do NOT increase difficulty in low level TFs. not all ats/power sets can even begin to handle that. That is what I fear about the trend to increase difficulty for everyone, whether they like it or not. We have a difficulty slider, use it if you are decked out in full IO sets.

[kelika2]

44 minutes ago, ivanhedgehog said:

Do NOT increase difficulty in low level TFs. not all ats/power sets can even begin to handle that. That is what I fear about the trend to increase difficulty for everyone, whether they like it or not. We have a difficulty slider, use it if you are decked out in full IO sets.

I was thinking of a chain lightning or summoning 5-10 minions at once or the ability to resurrect on a mass scale once for the first 4 or so missions and maybe, just maybe having an inner working of psychic clockwork just starting out and hes maybe able to pass on minor darts and such.

 

hell, those synapes temp powers that hold clockwork can be brought into play here that can stop said abilities from working and maybe end up being an AoE hold(s)

[ivanhedgehog]

Its a low level tf. It shouldnt have this kind of thing. Characters dont have their tool sets at level 17 and most decent IOs cant be slotted. Challenging 50's exemplared down to do synapse is not a priority.