Hitokiri_Ben

Okay, I tried running the Abandoned Sewer Trial last night. Twice. It's impossible, or so nearly impossible that it's no fun at all for the vast majority of people. And really, with all the massive problems I have with it, one thing alone would at least make it doable: remove the time limit. At least increase it to two hours or more.

My first team was all level 38 and 39 heroes, and I, the mission owner, was set to Heroic. We entered, and the Rikti were 42s with 43 Monsters. The lack of sense to these levels was horrifying. The Eden Spire Trial is operated as a Task Force, with autoexemping and such, yet still designed the same (huge hunt followed by one huge mission), so can this TF style not be applied to the Sewers Trial?

The second time, I made a team of 42s and we were a few minutes away from completing it when the timer ran out.

The map is a mess, as you need a full team of 8 heroes to do it, yet the scrawny ramps leading down are too narrow for anything more than walking single-file, and heroes fall over the sides constantly, scattering and killing everyone because there's no map. Then just to be cruel, the ramps are broken in places, forcing you to jump, greatly increasing your odds of splitting up and dying.

Redesigning the map would be best, but if that is too extensive, the time limit being pushed to two hours or more, or being removed completely would be a huge improvement. Lastly, the force field generators respawning is just cruel. At least, respawning after 30 seconds is cruel. If they could at least respawn much less frequently it would not be nearly as frustrating.

Putting that much time and effort into anything, only to result in failure (as only timed missions can) is the most frustrating experience I have found.

Playing since beta, the only thing that’s still a challenge is putting together a Task Force. I’ve run every Task Force multiple times, and while some could be shortened, several need A.V.s or G.M.s and unique mission maps, I had an entirely different suggestion. I just want more TFs, but in a way that will solve two different problems.

Once you got into the 20s and 30s, you’ll be lucky to level once in a Task Force. This is understandable and I’m not asking for huge XP bonuses or longer TFs, but if I can run several TFs within certain level ranges, that would get me through.

Then there is my other long-standing gripe about the majority of villain groups having little or no backgrounds. I was reminded of this with the recent Warriors background, which I was very interested in, and I’d like to see something like that for every group. But rather than just a text report, wouldn’t it be better to play through the origin of the villain group you’ve been fighting for the last 5 levels?

Each level range has a zone, and each zone has (most likely) two rival villain groups fighting for dominance. Each group has enemies and allies to enrich their position in the area, and while you fight them for many levels, you hardly ever find out where they came from, why they formed, who’s in charge and you never fight that leader. So, I recommend we solve the lack of background and TFs with a general policy of each villain group having their own Task Force at the maximum range in which that villain group exists.

So, the Warriors TF or Tsoo TF would exist at 25-30, probably in Talos. Now, I would be fine if both groups had a Task Force, and you could fight their enemies and allies throughout the chain of missions to prevent it from getting boring, but it would be understandable if you had to merge them into one large TF. Even the Banished Pantheon, another great villain group I think is neglected, falls into this 25-30 range I think. So maybe all three. Vahzilok 15-20, and so on.

Anyway, you would start by investigating some kind of conflict revolving around these rivalries, and you would end up discovering the origins of the villain groups, who is in charge of each, and get a nice unique map with several E.B.s and an A.V. at the end. Like with the Warriors, the background mentions “Heracles, Alexander, Aeneas, and Patrochus” as the big bosses.

So, how about you reach the big fancy door to the inner lair of Odysseus, and guarding that door are the 4 E.Bs Heracles, Alexander, Aeneas, and Patrochus. Defeating them, you enter the lair and there is A.V. Odysseus, all alone, when suddenly a dozen pop-up gun turrets pop out of the walls and start firing. Not nearly as many evil traps in the game as you find in comics.

A similar scenario for Tub Ci at the end of the Tsoo side, with several E.B.s protecting him, and maybe, just maybe, you could take out the whole Pantheon in a chain of G.M. battles against Lughebu and the others? Maybe you run missions to weaken them first, or get special temp powers to weaken them.

Lastly, I saw mention of tangible souvenirs, and it got me thinking, how about little things like permanent temp powers or unique costume parts as Task Force souvenirs? Just to really show off your accomplishment? Each costume part would have to be on a different part of the body though, so you could make some ridiculous Task Force costume, like the full Vanguard armor. Maybe the Freedom Phalanx TFs would each give a costume part, whereas all the non-Phalanx TFs would give a permanent temp power instead.

Sorry for rambling on as I do, but I really, really love Task Forces and this is how I would like them to be. As climactic and glorious as possible.