Why the alpha requirement for Tin Mage and Apex?

When these TFs first came out the with requirement to have alpha slotted I didn't really think it was a problem. But now that there's the trials which allow any 50s to just jump on in, I think this should be reconsidered.

Even the story behind it seems a little silly. If Cole has this great debuff that he can apply to us, why isn't he using it in the trials as well as these TFs? I would of fully expected the first trial to be us taking down this debuff but the storyline of just seems to have been ditched after the first two Tfs.

P.S. I really love that they updated the rewards table for these. 2 incarnate threads just didn't seem like enough but 10 actually feels worth it. Plus the merits and the ability to get an astral or insp if we so desire

I think it should be changed. Especially since one could use these task forces to unlock the Alpha.

Please let any 50 run Tin Mage and Apex and let them run it as a 50.

Because the Devs wanted to really show off the Alpha slot shininess at the time and give Incarnates something special to do that only they could accomplish. And it probably won't be changing due to the fact that they've worked hard at making Cole's ability to do this so ingrained into the storyline. Retconning it would require going through and rewriting every mention of it, and probably a big chunk of the TFs themselves since the entire Freedom Phalanx, save Statesman, was incapacitated by the debuff.

And I agree, it's a stupid mechanic and plot device.

i think its also kind of stupid how these 2 tfs dont grant incarnate xp, threads, and barely have anything as a reward related to the incarnate stuff when in i19 when alpha came out they were touted as incarnate content

yet they barely have ANYTHING incarnate related except for the alpha requirement and the 10 threads or once-per-20-hour astral merit