heh, if you think it's this hard today, you should have seen it before they lowered the difficulty. quite frankly i think you're having a run of bad luck. a good balanced team of gimps can finish this if they work together and take their time. i know, i've done it many times. it's a great mission and a lot of fun, if you don't try to overdo it. find a team that works well together. that's the best advice i can give you. if you've got a bunch of hotheads running in and agroing everything and getting everyone killed, quit the team and move on.
remember - teamwork is ESSENTIAL to finish this mission. the first door mission you get is the make or break mission. if your team sucks, you'll know it on this mission. you can then try to get them to straighten up, or quit and find another group. that's the best advice i can give.
i seem to be quite redundant this evening. cold medication will do that 
I would suggest a balanced team, even a team of gimps. However certain things will help...
A provoke tank, a damage dealer, and a defender with some kind of healing capabilities are really all you need...the rest is window dressing. I was in a team that finished the pre-weakened TF with a gimp team - if THAT was doable, I know this is. Seek a more balanced team, as opposed to just a team of good players.
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Hard?? LOL the other poster is right. I tried over 15 times when it first hit test server and only passed it once. Then we passed it the day it hit on LIVE servers and it was still incrediblly hard. I have no idea how we did it.
Now its soo easy. The trick is to have the whole team about the same level. The only ones who can afford to be lower lvl (like if your 40 lowest can be lvl 38 on team) is the defenders/controllers.
I mean before the last few waves were all the same lvl as they are in first 2 missins of respec. Were talking wave after wave of +3 +4 bosses. Now they are barely +1 (to highest on team)
IM sure your problem is going in with too varying of lvls of player. Keep everyone within 1 lvl and you will do fine.
We did it with 3 people the other night. 2 guys left half way thru but we stuck with it and completed with no prob.
Also helps to have the team count LOW like around 4/5
Honestly i dont see how people are complaining. The respec should be hard and IMHO its just too easy now.
BTW its not even close to the hardest mission. Try sewer trial or hamidon....
A team of four all similar level or sidekicked or exempered down to similar level is better then an eight person team on the respect trial.
Only trials you would want eight are Hollows which is coop for eight, Sewer trial never noticed a change in the number of the mob spawns with one or eight people, and the funniest trial which is Eden since it is neither really hard and you have to be level restricted so no level 50s blowing things away for you
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Does it seem odd to anyone else that the trial necessary to fix a GIMPED character is the hardest [censored] mission in the game?
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You obviously have not experienced alot of the game. The sewer trial is much more difficult then the TV trial.
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Yes, I'm pissed, and I'm going to add my name to the list of others who agree with me on this in the hopes that the devs will actually listen to our complaint for once.
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They have listened, and lower its difficulty. Multiple times if I recall. It certainly is easier now then when I first did it. And the devs listened and changed the trick or treat evenet. It seems to me they listen quite a bit.
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A mission being difficult is all well and good, but this mission is damn near unbeatable unless you have a team of very well-built characters who all know exactly what they're doing--in which point it's pretty well self defeating to call it a respec mission as the only ones who can complete it DON'T NEED TO!
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Last time i tried it, it was a cake walk for my team. We had a tank with no provoke, a spines/dark armor scrapper, a regen scrapper, and I was the empath. And let me tell you, with extra slots in things like recall friend, resurrect, and mental blast and subdue(which is a terrible power anway), my build was far from optimal. Besides, no one NEEDS to do respec? And some people actually appreciate the different and challenging content and like doing the TV trial multiple times.
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If this is how you intended the respec trial to be and to stay, have the balls to just come out and say that you're dooming anyone unfortunate enough not to be a min-maxer to an end-game at the halfway point.
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If your not a min-maxer, why do you need to change your powers? why does the game stop if you don't complete the respec trial? Do your contacts stop giving you missions? Do mobs on the street stop giving you xp? Stop being overdramatic. The game goes on.
The respec trial is not particularly hard, and the reward is not particularly necessary. DEAL.
At level 25 this thing is harder than at 35.
The trial is doable at any level, but it helps if your team can work together and communicate. Doesn't matter if you have the perfect team, a perfect team can't save the reactor if they don't help each other.
My suggestion? Find an open Teamspeak or Ventrilo server, and ask all those who will be joining the respec get on it. Really helps when the leader can speak orders, instead of typing them.
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If this is how you intended the respec trial to be and to stay, have the balls to just come out and say that you're dooming anyone unfortunate enough not to be a min-maxer to an end-game at the halfway point.
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Not even.
I mean, I am in no way contradicting that the respec trial is extremely difficult. But since the trial is an optional extra, there is nothing there to get in the way of advancement.
Does sound like a run of bad luck. As what was previously said...a small balanced team can whizz thru this TF in 90 mins or less with no deaths. No more than 5 members in the team...any more increases mob size. A good mix of ATs to speed thru this with min deaths would include;
A FF defender or a controller with FF as a secondary. (makes it a cake walk)
An Empath def or controller with emp secondary. (makes the cake walk that much easier)
A tank or scrap that can hold aggro...or a controller with good holds. (I've done this with and without a tank...nice to have but not totally necessary)
2 damage dealers...scrappers or blasters.
*important - everyone should be the same level or at min +/- 1 levels from each other
Also...having someone with stealth and recall friend helps in the first mission immensly.
I've done this TF with SG mates and pick-ups over a dozen times with no deaths...its good xp and always fun.
Just to give you a stat side...
The success rate on the respec is a tad over 75%.
Really? Wow.
Is that 75% of the respecs formed or 75% of not getting the reactor to blow.
If it's the second then 100% success for me, if it's the first, then I'd be surprised if I'm getting 10% success rate.
The respec difficulty is Broad Sword? 
I have done the respec around 16 times between various toons and will say in that time have only failed it twice. It is difficult, moreso depending on who is on your team, but far from impossible.
I've done it about 15+ times (7 chars with 2 to 3 times each) and have never failed. One time, we even did it with just a tank and a controller, using 2 accounts to get the mandatory 4 then dropping it.
From my experience, biggest failures are when there is such a wide range in the levels of the players. The lower levels being rather useless when the much higher level monsters can't be hit/affected.
I've been in a group where a tank was complaining about not being able to hold aggro, but was unwilling to be sidekicked because they would get less xp. Told them goodbye and left the TF because all it takes is just one player who is unwilling to act as a team player to cause problems in the future and it just wasn't worth it.
"tad"...that's a technical term isn't it.
done it a dozen time with various diffrent ATs and NEVER had a problem.
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Just to give you a stat side...
The success rate on the respec is a tad over 75%.
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Cool, you guys logging results now? TBH that's about the best way to get accurate figures.
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Just to give you a stat side...
The success rate on the respec is a tad over 75%.
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The success rate on the respec for those who can't find a team is 0%. Word.
They been logging them since the trial was on test. Why else do you think they adjusted the difficulty?
I've succeeded 7 times out of 8.. and the only time I failed was the first time because I hadn't learned the tactics. I'll give you a hint: 5 person well balanced teams where everyone is, or is SK'able, to around the same level.
I did the respec with a mixed team of 6, SL 27-29 (I think). We didn't have any problems, and the reactor didn't even get to 75% power loss. It's all about tactics. This is, thankfully, one of those things where you realize the need for a good defender and a good controller, as opposed to a gaggle of blasters 
agreed. this is about teamwork and good tactics and planning. by far one of the most fun task forces in the game too. i love the waves of baddies rushing the reactor and having to whack em as quickly as possible, going from one side of the room to the other. good insane fun. a good team really shines here. i've done it with groups of 4 and groups of 8. both ways are just as easy if you are working together. oh, and if you have a bubbler, you can pretty much go to town .
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oh, and if you have a bubbler, you can pretty much go to town .
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Yes...yes you can. 
Does it seem odd to anyone else that the trial necessary to fix a GIMPED character is the hardest [censored] mission in the game?
I've had my share of bad experiences here. My 25 DM/Regen got debt-capped after a respec attempt with a bunch of buffoons that couldn't even get to the reactor, much less try to save it.
On his successful one, there was a period of a few seconds on the last wave when he was the last one standing in the core. I was certain we'd had it, but miraculously the downed people hit Awakens and got back into the fight in time.
Frankly, the reactor portion is probably the easiest part, since the level of spawns was cut down. The earlier parts of the Trial still spawn at +2 or so from your highest level character and can be very formidable, especially if you don't have a tight level range. I'd agree that they could use some looking at -- though if the success rate is 75% there's really not much to complain about -- but the reactor portion of the Trial is just right, I'd say.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
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The success rate on the respec for those who can't find a team is 0%.
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Yep. It is also 0% for people who don't have two hours to do it.
Does it seem odd to anyone else that the trial necessary to fix a GIMPED character is the hardest [censored] mission in the game?
Yes, I'm pissed, and I'm going to add my name to the list of others who agree with me on this in the hopes that the devs will actually listen to our complaint for once.
I just lost the trial for the FIFTH TIME IN A ROW! Every time we've had a very efficient team, and every time we got our [censored] handed to us by the last wave or two of enemies.
A mission being difficult is all well and good, but this mission is damn near unbeatable unless you have a team of very well-built characters who all know exactly what they're doing--in which point it's pretty well self defeating to call it a respec mission as the only ones who can complete it DON'T NEED TO!
It was fun the first time or two, but after breaking 50K in debt at level 25 from ONE MISSION it immediately ceases to entertain.
If this is how you intended the respec trial to be and to stay, have the balls to just come out and say that you're dooming anyone unfortunate enough not to be a min-maxer to an end-game at the halfway point.