Consolidated list of TF/SF betterment suggestions
By
Agent White,
Posted on: 2007-08-28 09:27 in Suggestions and Ideas
I'd like to see a strike force for the 30-35 range, and one for the 40-45 range.
I'd also like to have different roles beyond class in a TF/SF. Such as a team intel/guru position, which links you to a mission wiki and fills in your map, and your's alone, for every mission (others fill in as they go). Or a team scout, which gives you stealth and teleport abilities.
Also, more temp powers offered upon TF/SF completion.
[ QUOTE ]
A Servant of Arachnos Accolade - a series of 7 SFs that you run where in addition to rewards you can pick up Arachnos costume pieces. Maybe have the accolade do something different - a 10% across the board movement increase for example. Maybe running them all gets you temp powers that will help out with the LRSF ( and maybe something similar blue side for the Stateman TF )
[/ QUOTE ]
This is something that is badly needed red-side, IMO. The SF/TF balance is seriously out of whack. Excluding the Lady Grey TF, which both sides have access to, we have this:
5 TFs for redside, 14 TFs for blueside
3 trails (all respec) for redside, 6 trails for blueside.
No SFs in the 10-15, 30-35, and 40-45 range redside. (They do have the respec trail from 24-33, 34-43, and 44-50 -- as well as the LGTF which is still bugged at 35-50 -- but that's it.)
There is at least two badge arts for the redside equilavent of the Freedom Phalanx TFs. We get the "III" badge when defeating the LRSF and at one time we got the bugged "V" badge when completing Black Scorpion's patron arc.
The solution is obvious. Give redside their own version of the Freedom Phalanx TFs, complete with the accompaying accolade and unlockable costume pieces. (To balance this out blueside, give heroes the same accolade -- let's say +5% HP and +5% End -- for getting Spider Smasher, Fire Marshal, Bomb Squad, PPD Deputy, Security Expert, Interceptor, and Villain Disruptor [the Safeguard badges plus the Arachnos hunt badge].)
I am unsure who the contacts for the CoV "Phalanx" SFs should be. One idea is to take the 4 AVs from the 2nd mission of STF (Viridian and the other 3), Dr. Aeon, and Arbritier Sands and make them into the 6 contacts.
My other suggestion is to mirror the Freedom Phalanx TFs with their evil counterpartners -- the Praetorians. We can make a issue dedicated to this and say that the Praetorians successfully entered the CoH-verse and have decided to ally with Lord Recluse (while plotting his overthrow, natch!) The Praetorians would mirror their Freedom Phalanx counterpart in the Rogue Islands. So we'd get the Anti-Matter SF from 10-15, the Neuron SF from 15-20, the Mother Mayhem SF from 20-25, the Seige SF from 25-30, the Chimera SF from 30-35, and the Diabolique SF from 35-40.
The badge art for those would be the I, II, III, IV, V, and VI artwork that we have already seen in use with the badge for completing LRSF. The LRSF itself would get a new badge art along the line of what we have from the 4 current non-LRSF SFs in CoV, obviously. Probably something with the arachnos symbol.
Whether we use the Praetorians or the 6 STF AVs, we still have a gap in the 40-45 range. I'd suggest using Barracuda in that spot, as she is the lone "Lt of LR's minions" to not have her own SF. Ice Mistrail and Silver Mantis both have their own SF. Wretch doesn't ... but it wouldn't make any sense for Wretch to have a SF for storyline purposes anyway. That leaves Barracuda.
That's what I'd suggest anyway. Redside really needs more SFs, and this would immediately give them 7 more SFs and help balance out the indifference a little bit. Of course they'd still need a couple of interesting trails as well, but baby steps.
Play my MA arcs!
Tracking Down Jack Ketch - ArcID #2701
Cat War! - ArcID #2788
I have a very specific suggestion.
In the Numina TF, you're asked to hunt 20 Vahzilok in Faultline. Once upon a time, this was not an issue, as they were everywhere. Now that Faultline has been revamped, Vahzilok only spawn at night (to my knowledge). I've been on several Numina TF's where 10-15 minutes could pass during that hunt with no Vahz spawning anywhere.
I suggest changing that mission to "Defeat 20 Lost".
Blues side, some of the TFs need some variety. Synapse's TF, for example, is basically the same mission over and over.
That combo is just seriously sick, and is a perversion of gameplay mechanics. - Excelsio
The Infernal Challenge
Building a WarTroller
Troller Damage
[ QUOTE ]
Playing since beta, the only thing thats still a challenge is putting together a Task Force. Ive 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, youll be lucky to level once in a Task Force. This is understandable and Im 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 Id like to see something like that for every group. But rather than just a text report, wouldnt it be better to play through the origin of the villain group youve 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, whos 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.
[/ QUOTE ]
/cosign
I really hope the Devs are reading this thread... This makes some much sense.
Here's a couple more.
Improve the TF pool drops and add purples to the list with a slightly higher than farming chance to acquire. Give people who DON'T farm for hours of end some reward for completing TFs, instead of getting a Sovereign Right: Chance to suck or a Pacing of the Turtle: Chance to sell for 1000 influence every time.
Get rid of some of the filler missions in heroside TFs. a million defeat alls aren't fun, are extremely repetitive and just make these longer than SFs. It would also encourage people to do more TFs than just katie hannon.
Suggestion to improve TFs: Cut scene love.
(this may not jive well with those who hate cut scenes, but I love 'em)
Beginning of every mission in the task force should start with a cutscene (preferably involving the AV/Hero or main story interest character that it is about), and at the end of every mission there is a end cutscene that tells a bit more of the story, and most likely has them making a get away that would logically lead to the start of the next mission. End of the TF should have a very climatic end scene that gives a very compelling finish to the story.
I would love this type of addition to all TFs and Trials as it would involve *EVERYONE* in the team in the story of the Strike/Task Force and/or Trial. SF/TF/Trial are special, and the story telling of these special events should be as compelling as possible. They help to define the story of the game.
I also agree to a number of points above. Especially the awarding of Soveigners again that also help to unlock both special costume chest details or other pieces *AND* allows an options to create special base items to decorate around the base with. (This would be even better if personal apartments somehow become a reality) So you can see it in the character info, perhaps as a costume part on the character themselves, and also in the SG base for the character. (Make it a free no prestige placeable item perhaps. Maybe a hologram type thing so people can walk thru it and it can't be abused in trap building in bases.)
I also suggest heavily that the devs begin to invest *ALOT* more time in revamping the various TFs one at a time, and for gods sake... start with the positron task force! In this they can add the cutscene options, and perhaps tailor the story more the hero/villain/etc that gives them to be more sensible. A revamp of some kinda is most certainly needed.
x Jeremy M. - I play it for the fun, but I also love it for the story...
Global Handle: @JeremyM
City of Heroes LiveJournal Community
Personally I like having the mob levels decided in a number, though I do not agree about them spawning at TF cap. (meaning I disagree with the current level-basing, and one of your points: the PvP or team-average scalers)
Now, this may sound very selfish (it is, I know), but: on my Stone Tanker I can take damage and dish it back out in a way that actually does make me a team member (instead of "Personal Force Field farmer") while in Granite Armor with foes at the cap and me low, maybe at the bottom level?
What I'm saying is, I like being able to have mobs con purple for my Stone Tanker because he can handle and help against those foes, and I enjoy reaping those rewards of my ability. 
A few things:
An option at the beginning to use the rikti code or the current implementation. Since they have to rework the tf's for the code anyhow this is really no additional time spent. Downside is however they would have to have basically 2 copies of each tf. I will say that rikti code would make things much more viable even upon team bailing stupidity.
YES, shorten TF's. This would help alot with team bailing as well as frustration values and time spent vs rewards.
Perhaps I'm just silly, but the biggest 2 reasons I don't do TF's:
1. They take soooo friggen long, and I find that I actually do have a life. If things happen, the game is secondary. Making them horribly long just begs for it.
2. Freekin people bailing. Ironic considering the last statement? Maybe. But fact is it's extremely annoying to spend 2-4 hours and get shafted because everyone leaves, or enough people leave that it can no longer be handled.
I'd really love some sort of mechanic to recruit some new people in a controlled fashion if the tf's aren't gonna get any shorter. Just put a tag on each player in a tf that checks if they completed X mish. Have the final rewards scale based on the number of missions you were around for.
[ QUOTE ]
If I missed someones suggestion/idea I'm sorry, please add it to the list.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, you forgot a really big one.
* Take all Hero TFs except for, Hess and Katie, and cut their lengths down by one half. Strip out as many of the extra "defeat all" and "kill X" missions as possible.
Hess is a fun TF that can be done by a full team in under two hours without stealthing any of the missions. More TFs should be like that.
Shorter TFs also have much less chance of people bailing 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through.
[ QUOTE ]
Choices in TF's would be good too. E.g. The CoT are robbing component X, and at the same time grabbing sacrifice Y. You choose which to go for - and they get the other one, altering later mission choices or content a bit. This gives TF's a little more re-playability. So they may have sent an AV/Monster to collect the component, but if you save the sacrifice they will help you later on or give you a temp power for use against the end villain.
One idea I had that is probably really bad, but would be fun for lunatics like me. Have a mission to defend the Hospital teleporter network. If you fail - you die (or dropped to level 1 and all ench's removed). If you succeed you get something really cool, like a power set respec (e.g. from a fire/fire blaster to an ice/ice blaster). And also the bragging rights from the "Hardcore" badge.
[/ QUOTE ]
Choose your own adventure TFs/SFs!
That could be awesome, much like Borea's choices between hunts/doors.
Minor point: While we're on the subject, could coop TFs fixed be added to the master list? I've had to restart sveral LGTFs due to someone on a mixed team zoning.
Speaking as a resident hero player who has several characters with the TF Commander Accolade (and am working on that on ALL 34 alts)...
1) Positron's TF. Synapse's TF. Both have issues.
a) Positron's missions are mostly in Skyway.
b) Synapse's missions are mostly in Steel Canyon.
c) Positron is in Steel Canyon.
d) Synapse is in Skyway.
e) Positron's TF is designed for level 10-16 characters, BEFORE they have the option of travel powers.
Therefore one of these following would be good:
.) Swap Positron and Synapse's hangouts. Posi would be in Skyway, Synapse would be in Steel.
.) Swap the zones where the missions spawn.
.) Give temporary travel powers to all members of either TF that last until the TF is completed.
2) Positron's TF is the longest and hardest of all the Hero side TFs.
a) This is wrong because this is many people's first experience with a TF
b) If they have a bad, frustrating experience, the developers really cool stories that they worked so hard on will be completely ignored, until IF and/or WHEN the players get to 50, are bored, then simply do the missions just to get them over with and get the accolade.
C'mon guys, face it. The first mission in Posi is HARD. Imagine you're level 12, and someone says to you "Hey wanna join the Posi TF?"
You respond "What's a TF?"
Most likely response is "Really cool buncha missions where you get mondo XP, but it takes a while, like a bunch of hours. Cool?"
Not knowing what you're getting into, you accept, hang around for 10-30 minutes while the team assembles (assuming that you're not Joe Impatient). Boring!
Then you go into the first mission and are looking at Level 16 Abominations.
The first group wipes your team.
You laugh it off, wups, drew too much aggro, and try again
Wipe.
Wipe.
3 of 8 quit.
...
Tell me why you'd find this enjoyable again?
Then, if you get lucky enough to get through this monster, huge, as-bad-as-any-defeat-all mission, 1-2 hours later, that's just the FIRST MISSION.
As we all know the most dangerous and annoying villains at low level are Vahzilok. What's the second? Oh, yeah, Circle of Thorns. All those to-hit debuffs of the ghosts just suck because you only have DO's, *IF THAT*.
Oh, and since Stamina is only available at level 20, fighting wave after wave of Clockwork really SUCKS.
It's not that the TF is a bad one. The story is good, the enemies are cool. It's just that you're facing enemies that have things that are *Unable to be Countered by Players YET!!!*.
So there needs to be some kind of ability to down the difficulty or get temp powers or inspirations that boost your ability to survive against the enemies you're going to be facing.
I love the Posi TF... with people who are on their 3rd alt, and/or have a 50 already and know how the mechanics of the game work. Or with 3-4 people on Ventrillo and the right team makeup. More than 4 people sucks because of the spawn size, the number of bosses you face, et cetera.
Could there possibly be a difficulty slider available for ONLY Positron and Synapse TF's that allows you to set the difficulty to 1 or 2 levels BELOW heroic?
I have no idea what would work, just wanted to point out some of the issues I see, and see if we could brainstorm on a way to make players first and second (Hero side) TF's better.
It's really hard to get a new player to join up when you tell them "Hey wanna join this really cool team? You get a badge and great experience, but you're going to be locked in for 6+ hours, will die a lot, and probably not get to finish for the reward at the end. Doesn't that sound great???"
Any ideas on how to make that better?
Thanks in advance...
Oh, and HexGirl is Sexy!
Happy gaming!
-SunderX
Sset - 50 DM/Regen Scrapper - 8 years of out-tanking any tank but Granite, with 5x the DPS.
**Making Altaholism a socially acceptable disorder**
"Scrappers are just like chainsaws. Somewhat hard to handle, EXTREMELY dangerous, and by far the most fun when wielded by the slightly insane." -Alissara
The longest TF hero-side?
Somebody's never tried the Dr. Quarterfield TF.
Play my MA arcs!
Tracking Down Jack Ketch - ArcID #2701
Cat War! - ArcID #2788
[ QUOTE ]
The longest TF hero-side?
Somebody's never tried the Dr. Quarterfield TF.
[/ QUOTE ]Wups! I stand corrected, yes, you are right. LOL I keep forgetting that one, because I've only gotten to run it ONCE. Granted, we did it in just about 6 hours... 
Happy gaming!
-SunderX
Sset - 50 DM/Regen Scrapper - 8 years of out-tanking any tank but Granite, with 5x the DPS.
**Making Altaholism a socially acceptable disorder**
"Scrappers are just like chainsaws. Somewhat hard to handle, EXTREMELY dangerous, and by far the most fun when wielded by the slightly insane." -Alissara
My biggest gripe about TFs is that they are usually the best storylines in the game and I never get to actually absorb any of the story while on a TF/SF team.
Only the Team leader gets to talk to the contact and hear what is said between missions and at the end of the TF.
You still get to read the mission briefings and the clues list but often because the Tf is so long the team rushes through it and if you stop to read the story you are holding everyone up.
[ QUOTE ]
I know this suggestion might not be as important but what i wanted to see for tf/sf is that they remove the option to pick range as an SO enhancement but add others such as heals or holds.
[/ QUOTE ]
I say take out the SO option all together, or at least from any TF/SF above level 20.
SO's used to be a big deal when they were the biggest thing on the block, make it now that you get a chance at a Recipe, or a fully completed IO, from a full list of choices.
I take the Range SO over the HO or recipe on STF all the time. I don't know what you take, noob.
*golf clap* Well I'm real proud of you. I don't run the STF all the time, but the TF's I do run, I never take the SO, since its readily available in stores.
Would you take a Range SO over the same level completed Range IO?
Wait, don't answer that, because I really don't care what you have to say.
LOL I think he was being sarcastic.
*/em airplane hand over head*
1) I would really like to see Heroe's TF get changed to a minimum of 4 players like Villain TF.
2) I would really like to see a SF in the lvl 40-45 range. Right now they have nothing which sucks.
3) I like longer missions with a purpose ie. Guard the reactor, Keep the fir blogs from bum rushing the portal, guard the portal while red caps rush it. I think ideally Tf should be 4 to 5 missions with the last one being an all out chaotic battle. The fight up the Sky Raider oil rig with the AV popping in once you destroy enough is PERFECT.
Not a big fan of the AV just standing there waiting for you to come while you're just killing everything around them. Its very static.
I think you should be painfully aware that you're in the AV's/heroe's lair and that they have the upper hand. The end battle should feel like you're turning the tides.
Two things off the top of my head.
1. - More stuff for villain-side. The Praetorian SF stuff in the last page was fantastic.
2. - How's about we take that old Cavern of Transcendence trial and actually make it doable by a team that's not custom-made to complete the damn thing.
[ QUOTE ]
Not a big fan of the AV just standing there waiting for you to come while you're just killing everything around them. Its very static.
I think you should be painfully aware that you're in the AV's/heroe's lair and that they have the upper hand. The end battle should feel like you're turning the tides.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd love if it wasn't like this, but people would whine that it was too 'hard'
Mobs all too often watch their friends die and stand there like retards.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Not a big fan of the AV just standing there waiting for you to come while you're just killing everything around them. Its very static.
I think you should be painfully aware that you're in the AV's/heroe's lair and that they have the upper hand. The end battle should feel like you're turning the tides.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd love if it wasn't like this, but people would whine that it was too 'hard'
Mobs all too often watch their friends die and stand there like retards.
[/ QUOTE ]
So glad you agree. I would love an issue say issue 13 were they did nothing but clean up hero TF/trials and add more villain TF, trials
The abandoned sewer trial is a mess because the right team can do it inside half an hour, whereas a team that would seem to be perfectly reasonable for doing it can find it almost impossible. It's a TF not a trial, it doesn't use the trial code (setting off the highest level person plus the leader's difficulty), but the TF (fixed level plus leader's difficulty), however it's broken in that you can take level 50s on it unexemped. To counter this, you can't pick up the cannon if you're higher than 41, but you can go with 7 50s and a 41 and each exemp in turn to get a cannon. The only time I've done it with a team in the correct level range, we finished with about 15 seconds to spare.
On the TF front, I'm happy for the level code to work as it is. There are some teams I've been on, particularly constructed SG teams where I want to be facing +5s, that's the only way of challenging the team. Yes it's slightly frustrating if you have a team of 10s and 11s that wants to do positron (which should be reworked and split with half of it in Faultline).
The best way I can see to do the difficulty would be to put an option on the screen where you start the task force, either to set the badguy level off the highest level member of the group varied by the leader's difficulty, or to do it as it is now.
I would also like to see a change to the rewards, so that the longer task forces give a choice of 3 recipes or the drops come off a list with some of the rubbish removed.
It's true. This game is NOT rocket surgery. - BillZBubba