TPN Campus Trial - 48 Hour Review
By
Amygdala,
Posted on: 2011-12-08 11:18 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Thrice-Proven TPN Strategy
After three successful runs of the TPN Campus Trial (2 Wednesday night, 1 Thursday night), I feel I should share the effective strategy (mentioned in the above post), especially since I have read that some people are already getting frustrated enough to ignore it and return to BAF/Lambda grind. So here it is!
Phase 1: Pretty simple. You have to clear out the IDF surrounding the buildings, without damaging the cameras disbursed by H.D. Simply make sure your team is not using AoE Damage attacks, and this phase should be cake.
Phase 2.1: Main Building. Enter through the black doors. The entire league blitzes through the hallways to the center room. Once there, any taunt-capable characters (mainly Tankers, Brutes, and some Scrappers) need to herd the IDF mobs away from the Technicians at the terminals. Once all IDF are about 30 ft. from the Technician, the Technician becomes vulnerable. Have a few characters (preferably high single-target damage dealers like Blasters and Stalkers) skim around the perimeter defeating the technicians and clicking the computers.
Phase 2.2: Once all 4 terminals have been clicked, Maelstrom will spawn, followed shortly by a re-spawn of the IDF and Technicians. Again, while the majority of the league keeps Maelstrom busy, have the Taunters pull the IDF away from the terminals towards Maelstrom, as there is probably enough AoE flying around to deal with both sets of enemies. The same small group of people should continue around the perimeter defeating technicians and accessing terminals until all 4 are complete. Then, converge on Maelstrom. You should be able to defeat him before, or within seconds of, the next spawn of Technicians, thus completing the phase.
Phase 3.1: In this phase, you will follow a similar pattern as Phase 2.1, except you have the added minor obstacle of having to protect H.D. You are going to ignore the telepathists and civilians outside. Make it crystal clear that AoE Damage attacks and uncontrollable pets are to be disengaged when transitioning from building to building. The first building you have to enter is usually TPN Today (the eastern building). Once inside, blitz to the center, and let the Taunters do their thing, pulling IDF to the center of the room. (This should also take care of the group currently attacking H.D., thus eliminating that threat.) Once again, the majority of the league deals with IDF in the center while a small group goes around the perimeter and takes care of the Technicians and terminals. Once all 4 terminals have been taken care of, the league will be teleported out of the building, and should move on to the next building. H.D. spawns in a repeating sequential building pattern from East to West. So the order will go: TPN Today (east)-->Main Building (center)-->VisualCorp (west), then back to TPN Today.
The telepaths' debuffs are negligible. As long as you move quickly and follow your specific role, you should be gaining more Public Opinion than you are losing (due to converted civilians outside).
Phase 3.2: Once you reach 500/500 of Public Opinion and keep it there for a certain amount of time (seems to be 10-15 seconds, contrary to the official site's guide), Maelstrom will respawn outside and the civilians will disperse. AoE attacks are fine here, simply dog-pile Maelstrom to defeat him. Beware of his Marked For Death attack: if a crosshairs icon appears above your character's head, get away from him until he executes his kill shot.
Phase 4.1:Once again, you will be following the same building pattern as in Phase 3.1, ignoring the outside threats. (Again, provided you follow the pattern, you should be gaining more Public Opinion than you are losing.) The one difference is that Maelstrom will be present and he likes to one-shot league members as they are exiting buildings with his version of Vorpal Judgement. Ignore him, and if you are unlucky and he hits you, simply hit the hospital and join the rest of the league in the current building as soon as possible. Follow the pattern and you should be at 500/500 Public Opinion after a couple building rotations.
Phase 4.2: Your final confrontation with Maelstrom. His Whirlwind Hands (for which you'll get a prompt much like you would Nova Fist in Lambda) is not overly deadly from what I've seen, but can do quite a bit of knockback. If you see he's about to do it, jumping away from him might save you a few seconds and a chunk of health. Just keep slugging away at him until he is defeated, thus achieving you victory once and for all over the trial.
All three times we have run this, there have been new people in the league. With a brief explanation prior to queuing up, as well as quick reminders throughout the trial, we achieved success using this exact strategy. The one downfall it currently has is that it makes the "Fair and Balanced" badge (and thus the Master Of... badge) impossible to get. However, this strategy should enable enough players to complete the trial successfully, and once enough people get the general hang of the trial's pattern, a strategy can be formed for getting badgers their badges.
Good luck! I wish you all success.
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
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Originally Posted by Winterminal
Phase 4.1:Once again, you will be following the same building pattern as in Phase 3.1, ignoring the outside threats. (Again, provided you follow the pattern, you should be gaining more Public Opinion than you are losing.) The one difference is that Maelstrom will be present and he likes to one-shot league members as they are exiting buildings with his version of Vorpal Judgement. Ignore him, and if you are unlucky and he hits you, simply hit the hospital and join the rest of the league in the current building as soon as possible. Follow the pattern and you should be at 500/500 Public Opinion after a couple building rotations.
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Thanks for sharing this. The part above is where the leagues I've been on have floundered. The strategy we used was having one team outside and two teams inside. Reading your explanation, I can see how your version could work better, because your only way to increase Public Opinion is doing the buildings. The more people assaulting a building, the faster you clear it. And as long as everyone is in a building, there are fewer opportunities for someone to make a mistake and kill a civilian.
I'm curious to see this strategy in play.
[EDIT: Removed a stupid question because it was answered by actually reading.
]
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After repeated trips to the hospital due to this on the successful trial I did on beta, all I can say is:|
Originally Posted by Winterminal
The one difference is that Maelstrom will be present and he likes to one-shot league members as they are exiting buildings with his version of Vorpal Judgement. Ignore him, and if you are unlucky and he hits you, simply hit the hospital and join the rest of the league in the current building as soon as possible.
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There is no <CENSORED> way that I want to subject myself to this crap.
This should never have been allowed. The player exits the hospital with no recourse and instantly dies.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
I did this the first night on Freedom with a team of 16. We got pretty much all the badges but we did some things different:
1) We had one team out, one team in.
2) Team going in was pretty much DPS that would burn everything down.
3) Team that stayed out kept Maelstorm dead and all the seers dead.
Arcanaville said this about the Avatar of Hamidon fight, but I think it is apt for the new trials:
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For better or worse, the strategy Winterminal relies on cannot be done by a lot of leagues, and after a few goes, players will tune the trial out.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
But if that fight lasts more than a few minutes, the odds start to stack against you, especially of the league hasn't done a lot of trials together and isn't working perfectly cohesively.
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Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
I just participated in a successful run of the trial using more or less this method, although we did leave some players outside to eliminate the Seers, and a small group to keep Maelstrom busy outside.
IMO what really makes the difference between this run and previous ones for me is pulling or repelling enemies away from Technicians instead of fighting where they stand.
One small thing I did note is that you don't actually need a Taunter to peal enemies away from the Technician. Any character can do it (especially a ranged character) by hitting one of the enemies and ducking for cover. My Ice/Fire Dominator pealed a couple of groups back by doing this when for some reason a Tanker or Brute wasn't there to do it. Some Controllers, Defenders, MMs and Corruptors can pull this way by casting a debuff on the enemies (for their safety). And Trick Arrow can hide behind a wall and shoot Disruption Arrow around a corner, since that power will alert enemies but not slow or control them in any way.
This is also the first piece of content I seriously wished my character had a Repel power. Sometimes enemies end up just a short distance inside the radius of protection. Levitate, Force Bubble, or Hurricane can push them back a couple of feet very quickly and save the team a lot of time.
Found a league using this method successfully, and ran it with them several times successfully.
The only thing that really bothers me about the standard method I can see developing for how this will be ran is the mad dash past the several mobs in each building that risks squishies being quickly smacked down and left in the dust.
But that already happens on the LAMs, so nothing new there.
Feels a little long though, like Keyes before the changes was.
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I haven't had any big issues with TPN other than it is a little repetitive in all the 500 pt Public Opinion challenges. Though overall I feel the trial is good, it is not too hard, and I have never felt it to be too complicated, like certain people were overly complaining about. It was in general pretty easy to understand the basic idea of what had to be done my first time through and in the runs after that it was all gravy. Really, the trial is well balanced for where we are at in the incarnate system.
Sort of related to TPN/sort of not: Why wasn't the graphical effects that Maelstrom uses for his Marked for Death ability used for the UGT Warwalker Targetted mechanic? I can't be the only person that sees how easy it would have been to implement something like that since it was done for maelstrom.
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That's quite interesting. I don't think we ever considered just ignoring the Telepaths during beta. Of course, this strategy needs good pullers and more than a few high DPS toons to pull off cleanly, so I'm not sure how popular it will become. Nevertheless, congratulations on beating TPN and coming up with a different way to do it!
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Originally Posted by Winterminal
Thrice-Proven TPN Strategy
After three successful runs of the TPN Campus Trial (2 Wednesday night, 1 Thursday night), I feel I should share the effective strategy (mentioned in the above post), especially since I have read that some people are already getting frustrated enough to ignore it and return to BAF/Lambda grind. So here it is! Phase 1: Pretty simple. You have to clear out the IDF surrounding the buildings, without damaging the cameras disbursed by H.D. Simply make sure your team is not using AoE Damage attacks, and this phase should be cake. Phase 2.1: Main Building. Enter through the black doors. The entire league blitzes through the hallways to the center room. Once there, any taunt-capable characters (mainly Tankers, Brutes, and some Scrappers) need to herd the IDF mobs away from the Technicians at the terminals. Once all IDF are about 30 ft. from the Technician, the Technician becomes vulnerable. Have a few characters (preferably high single-target damage dealers like Blasters and Stalkers) skim around the perimeter defeating the technicians and clicking the computers. Phase 2.2: Once all 4 terminals have been clicked, Maelstrom will spawn, followed shortly by a re-spawn of the IDF and Technicians. Again, while the majority of the league keeps Maelstrom busy, have the Taunters pull the IDF away from the terminals towards Maelstrom, as there is probably enough AoE flying around to deal with both sets of enemies. The same small group of people should continue around the perimeter defeating technicians and accessing terminals until all 4 are complete. Then, converge on Maelstrom. You should be able to defeat him before, or within seconds of, the next spawn of Technicians, thus completing the phase. Phase 3.1: In this phase, you will follow a similar pattern as Phase 2.1, except you have the added minor obstacle of having to protect H.D. You are going to ignore the telepathists and civilians outside. Make it crystal clear that AoE Damage attacks and uncontrollable pets are to be disengaged when transitioning from building to building. The first building you have to enter is usually TPN Today (the eastern building). Once inside, blitz to the center, and let the Taunters do their thing, pulling IDF to the center of the room. (This should also take care of the group currently attacking H.D., thus eliminating that threat.) Once again, the majority of the league deals with IDF in the center while a small group goes around the perimeter and takes care of the Technicians and terminals. Once all 4 terminals have been taken care of, the league will be teleported out of the building, and should move on to the next building. H.D. spawns in a repeating sequential building pattern from East to West. So the order will go: TPN Today (east)-->Main Building (center)-->VisualCorp (west), then back to TPN Today. The telepaths' debuffs are negligible. As long as you move quickly and follow your specific role, you should be gaining more Public Opinion than you are losing (due to converted civilians outside). Phase 3.2: Once you reach 500/500 of Public Opinion and keep it there for a certain amount of time (seems to be 10-15 seconds, contrary to the official site's guide), Maelstrom will respawn outside and the civilians will disperse. AoE attacks are fine here, simply dog-pile Maelstrom to defeat him. Beware of his Marked For Death attack: if a crosshairs icon appears above your character's head, get away from him until he executes his kill shot. Phase 4.1:Once again, you will be following the same building pattern as in Phase 3.1, ignoring the outside threats. (Again, provided you follow the pattern, you should be gaining more Public Opinion than you are losing.) The one difference is that Maelstrom will be present and he likes to one-shot league members as they are exiting buildings with his version of Vorpal Judgement. Ignore him, and if you are unlucky and he hits you, simply hit the hospital and join the rest of the league in the current building as soon as possible. Follow the pattern and you should be at 500/500 Public Opinion after a couple building rotations. Phase 4.2: Your final confrontation with Maelstrom. His Whirlwind Hands (for which you'll get a prompt much like you would Nova Fist in Lambda) is not overly deadly from what I've seen, but can do quite a bit of knockback. If you see he's about to do it, jumping away from him might save you a few seconds and a chunk of health. Just keep slugging away at him until he is defeated, thus achieving you victory once and for all over the trial. All three times we have run this, there have been new people in the league. With a brief explanation prior to queuing up, as well as quick reminders throughout the trial, we achieved success using this exact strategy. The one downfall it currently has is that it makes the "Fair and Balanced" badge (and thus the Master Of... badge) impossible to get. However, this strategy should enable enough players to complete the trial successfully, and once enough people get the general hang of the trial's pattern, a strategy can be formed for getting badgers their badges. Good luck! I wish you all success. |
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
Quote:
I have never been hit by Maelstrom upon exiting the hospital, only upon entering/exiting a building during Phase 4. I did not hear any complaints to that effect from league members either. If that happened to you during Beta, they either fixed it so he wouldn't do that, or it was a rare occurrence.|
Originally Posted by Snow Globe
After repeated trips to the hospital due to this on the successful trial I did on beta, all I can say is:
There is no <CENSORED> way that I want to subject myself to this crap. This should never have been allowed. The player exits the hospital with no recourse and instantly dies. |
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Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Arcanaville said this about the Avatar of Hamidon fight, but I think it is apt for the new trials:
For better or worse, the strategy Winterminal relies on cannot be done by a lot of leagues, and after a few goes, players will tune the trial out. |
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I just participated in a successful run of the trial using more or less this method, although we did leave some players outside to eliminate the Seers, and a small group to keep Maelstrom busy outside.
IMO what really makes the difference between this run and previous ones for me is pulling or repelling enemies away from Technicians instead of fighting where they stand. One small thing I did note is that you don't actually need a Taunter to peal enemies away from the Technician. Any character can do it (especially a ranged character) by hitting one of the enemies and ducking for cover. My Ice/Fire Dominator pealed a couple of groups back by doing this when for some reason a Tanker or Brute wasn't there to do it...*snip* |
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
Of course, you need a league that actually listens to what the leader says. Throughout beta, we had problems with new people doing the trial for the first time not listening about pulling the IDF away from the techs, which meant we had to spend extra time in the buildings.
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
Wow, pity party much? Buy 3 purples from the nurse, eat them, jump out side. Eat 4 or 5 if you are concerned. Plenty of other people seem to have no problem leaving the hospital and getting back into the fray. Your excessive response seems to indicate a lack of experience in the trial.
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Originally Posted by Snow Globe
After repeated trips to the hospital due to this on the successful trial I did on beta, all I can say is:
There is no <CENSORED> way that I want to subject myself to this crap. This should never have been allowed. The player exits the hospital with no recourse and instantly dies. |
-------
Hew in drag baby
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This is imperative to this strategy's success, I agree. Honestly, I have rarely played anything higher than level 29 on any other server but Pinnacle, so I have very little idea what kind of community other servers have (other than what is said on here, and who knows whether or not that is reliable |
Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater
Of course, you need a league that actually listens to what the leader says. Throughout beta, we had problems with new people doing the trial for the first time not listening about pulling the IDF away from the techs, which meant we had to spend extra time in the buildings.
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). Pinnacle seems to be full of players who are willing to follow directions, or at least want to succeed enough that they are willing to follow directions as a means to that end, and that has undoubtedly aided in the success rate. I can only hope there are enough like-minded on other servers to do the same.
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
Quote:
About the only downside to this strategy I can see is that it means you'd likely have no chance to get the Fair and Balanced badge.|
Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater
That's quite interesting. I don't think we ever considered just ignoring the Telepaths during beta. Of course, this strategy needs good pullers and more than a few high DPS toons to pull off cleanly, so I'm not sure how popular it will become. Nevertheless, congratulations on beating TPN and coming up with a different way to do it!
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But as long as that badge is not a priority then yes this would probably be a good way to get through the trial.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
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Originally Posted by Winterminal
The one downfall it currently has is that it makes the "Fair and Balanced" badge (and thus the Master Of... badge) impossible to get.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
About the only downside to this strategy I can see is that it means you'd likely have no chance to get the Fair and Balanced badge.
But as long as that badge is not a priority then yes this would probably be a good way to get through the trial. |
Personally, I am indifferent towards badges, but I realized the above after the first successful run. I figured this strategy would be good for leagues full of people who have never done the trial, just so that they can get familiar with the trial as whole. Then, once most people have an idea of what the trial looks like and what to do, leagues can split up teams between the outside and inside without too much confusion.
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
Actually I quite enjoy both of the new trials. I love MoM for the gimmicky fights which are different then the other 98% of the game. I love TPN because it is a nonstop battle. I am GLAD that everything in the game is not easy. There are way to many easy things as it is. It's not another game which shall not be named where the raids are built with the expectation that people will fail repeatedly until they succeed at stages of it. Here we are given a strategy and then can find what works from there. If people don't like the trials then fine. Don't run them. The solo path is coming in I22 and you can spend all your time there. But really, to call the new trials "a piece of crap" because they are hard and actually challenge players really isn't called for. I have only failed each new trial once. As long as the leader has some experience and people read and follow instructions, these trials and not that hard.
Liberty Server (@enderbean)
Arcs on Live
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I suppose I did not see that you mentioned that already. |
Originally Posted by Winterminal
Scooped?
Personally, I am indifferent towards badges, but I realized the above after the first successful run. I figured this strategy would be good for leagues full of people who have never done the trial, just so that they can get familiar with the trial as whole. Then, once most people have an idea of what the trial looks like and what to do, leagues can split up teams between the outside and inside without too much confusion. |
On the other hand from what I've seen it's actually not too hard to get a league to get that badge while completing the overall trial. I got it during my first run with a league which, like me, were mostly new to the trial.
Unlike some trial badges you don't really have to run a TPN in a completely weird/unusual way in order to get the Fair & Balanced badge - the Anti-Anti-Matter badge from the Keyes trial is a prime example of having to do something counter-intuitive just for the badge. In fact I almost see the Fair & Balanced badge becoming virtually automatic for most standard speed runs (just like the Not On My Watch and Alarm Raiser are now on the BAF).
So while your idea of ignoring the telepaths is certainly viable I'm uncertain that's going to become the status quo way of doing this one in the long run. Your method may be "easier" in terms of what people need to do but the real question is whether that method will prove to be "faster" once most people are generally familiar with the trial.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
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No, it shows your clear lack of understanding about the game mechanics involved. Maelstrom can 1-shot anyone. His kick can do in excess of 3k damage, and seeing it is in 2 parts, it bypasses the 1-shot code.|
Originally Posted by OneFrigidWitch
Wow, pity party much? Buy 3 purples from the nurse, eat them, jump out side. Eat 4 or 5 if you are concerned. Plenty of other people seem to have no problem leaving the hospital and getting back into the fray. Your excessive response seems to indicate a lack of experience in the trial.
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I was on a controller:
- Maelstrom pummels you with a Storm Kick for 1513.37 points of smashing damage!
- Maelstrom trips you with a Dragon's Tail attack for 4152.23 points of smashing damage! (Funny, because I was FLYING at the time.)
- Maelstrom smashes you with a Crane Kick for 2368.75 points of smashing damage!
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Originally Posted by Winterminal
I have never been hit by Maelstrom upon exiting the hospital, only upon entering/exiting a building during Phase 4. I did not hear any complaints to that effect from league members either. If that happened to you during Beta, they either fixed it so he wouldn't do that, or it was a rare occurrence.
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Originally Posted by Winterminal
I am unclear as to how the Avatar of Hamidon fight, or what Arcanaville said in relation to it, applies to the TPN trial. Maelstrom is by far an easier enemy to defeat, and this strategy is actually fairly easy to follow since there is not a lot of variation. I would say that many leagues will be able to follow it, unless players are deliberately ignoring instructions. Perhaps I misunderstood?
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Your method requires most/all the league to be able to throw as much DPS as possible to overwhelm any opposition before it becomes a problem. Most leagues I've seen can't do that. That isn't just ignoring instructions, that is not being able to get things done quick enough.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
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Ah, got it. That's entirely plausible. I do not (nor did not) mean to imply that the strategy posted above is THE way to do it and will/should become the norm. In fact, I expect the "2 teams inside, 1 team outside" approach to end up the preferred method. But having gone 3 for 3 with this method, and after hearing/reading about how other servers were having trouble consistently completing the trial, I figured I would share what we found.
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Originally Posted by Snow Globe
The point is this: your method is basically a blitz attack. It is a speed ITF taken to an extreme level. Most leagues I've had, and a lot of TFs and trials I've been on for that matter, CAN NOT match that level of combat. I've been on some supposed "Speed-ITFs" that have taken 40-50 minutes. We both know that doesn't qualify as a speed run.
Your method requires most/all the league to be able to throw as much DPS as possible to overwhelm any opposition before it becomes a problem. Most leagues I've seen can't do that. That isn't just ignoring instructions, that is not being able to get things done quick enough. |
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
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The problem I have is that the strategy can work with the right league, however I seldom see the "right" league. Your strategy is good for those that can consistently get enough of the right mix to blitz the trial. I don't see this as expanding the amount of people willing to do the trial so much as to get the speed runners doing the trial even more efficiently. That is a disconnect that I don't think either the developers or the hard-core trial runners are taking into account.
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Originally Posted by Winterminal
Ah, got it. That's entirely plausible. I do not (nor did not) mean to imply that the strategy posted above is THE way to do it and will/should become the norm. In fact, I expect the "2 teams inside, 1 team outside" approach to end up the preferred method. But having gone 3 for 3 with this method, and after hearing/reading about how other servers were having trouble consistently completing the trial, I figured I would share what we found.
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Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
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(We have both repeatedly used the word "blitz" to aptly describe this strategy. Looking at the title of i21.5, I have to wonder if the Devs' original intention was to make it fast-paced like that. Not trying to make a point, just wondering if that was conscious on their part to call the update "Media Blitz.")|
Originally Posted by Snow Globe
The problem I have is that the strategy can work with the right league, however I seldom see the "right" league. Your strategy is good for those that can consistently get enough of the right mix to blitz the trial. I don't see this as expanding the amount of people willing to do the trial so much as to get the speed runners doing the trial even more efficiently. That is a disconnect that I don't think either the developers or the hard-core trial runners are taking into account.
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Last night, someone on the league remarked in the middle, "Man, these things just keep getting faster and faster." And that player is right, nearly all the trials are fast-paced due to the constant presence of a countdown-to-defeat and/or someone/something (whose survival is vital to the success of the trial) is in danger. Since TPN has both of those, it is quite possibly the fastest-paced Incarnate trial to date.
Personally, I don't see the need for so many time-sensitive objectives in TPN, or any trial for that matter. It is almost counter-intuitive: the Devs spend a lot of time hard at work designing maps and enemies for these trials, yet do not give us the option to stop and take in the surroundings. Gamers typically want the most power and the shiniest stuff as the fastest pace, so why enforce that? The ITF is one of the most oft run TFs in the game for the very reason that it can be breezed through in 20 minutes (or less for some) for a team of Reward seekers, or it can take over an hour for those seeking inf./shards/prestige/experience. The players have the choice there, but not with the Trials.
Personally, I am not necessarily against the "blitz" tactics that the TPN trial nigh-requires. It gives the trial a high-stakes, intense atmosphere, which leaves you with a sense of relief once it is over. However, I hope it does not become the norm, as I do like to "take it all in" every now and again.
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
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This is it in a nutshell. Most of the extreme speed runners on Triumph have either left the game entirely or have transferred to other servers. There are a lot more players that have characters that are less than optimal to do speed runs with.|
Originally Posted by Winterminal
The ITF is one of the most oft run TFs in the game for the very reason that it can be breezed through in 20 minutes (or less for some) for a team of Reward seekers, or it can take over an hour for those seeking inf./shards/prestige/experience.
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Those average builds will see the fail conditions far more frequently than groups that are optimized for speeding through the trials. The more failures a player experiences, the less likely they are to continue to do the trial. Then we're back to the situation with Keyes before the 11/10/11 patch or Underground. I've done more Keyes since the 11/10/11 patch than I've done the Underground since Issue 21 launch. Why? Keyes was fixed, Underground wasn't. Hated mechanics and the fact that a few players on the league can place the trial in a no-win position in the Underground, TPN, and MoM mean that players will continue their stream of BAF, Lambda, and now Keyes.
Did you know that Maelstrom can defeat a player then 2 seconds later launch another attack capable of defeating another? Two seconds, just think about it. Exiting the hospital only to die is not only possible with that kind of attack cycle, it is likely if the player is one of a few targets (everyone else in the buildings or the hospital).
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
I have not been able to do a TPN trial on live yet 
I've done three MOM trials though...
Ah well, hopefully this weekend will fix that issue (and get EI more badges!)! 
Edit:
Oh and thanks for the write-up; I did a write-up myself but I like the 'blitzing' that you do...not a bad idea.
Leader of The LEGION/Fallen LEGION on the Liberty server!
SSBB FC: 2062-8881-3944
MKW FC: 4167-4891-5991
I tried this a few times in Beta, but I only completed it this week; I think I was actually in one of Winterminal's runs, actually!
Personally, I hated the Trial. Like the Keyes Trial, it's not that difficult if the league understands what to do. I suspect level shifts matter a lot, but otherwise the brute force approach is quite viable.
Unfortunately, also like Keyes, TPN is mind numbingly repetitive with far too many extraneous bells and whistles attached. There's no clear narrative, and there's never a pause to study what little there is. In truth, TPN manages to outdo Keyes by giving us the lamest enemy yet (seriously, Maelstrom?!?) and by being entirely pointless even if you complete it.
I have no interest in running TPN again.
-D
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis
**SPOILERS** If you have yet to run it and do not want the experience ruined, I do not recommend that you continue reading.
(DISCLAIMER: I am not a big fan of the Incarnate trials. I like to successfully run each one on each of my Incarnates to experience it from their point of view, and then I usually let the trials alone. However, given that I never got around to trying the new trials on Beta, finding a working strategy was a tactical puzzle. I am a sucker for puzzles.)
Last night (12/7/11), I had the privilege leading two successful TPN Campus I-Trials on Pinnacle (the first successful runs for the server to my knowledge). Tuesday night, we ran it 3 times unsuccessfully (only 1 of which I led), so we changed up the strategy last night, and it worked. Without divulging the details (don't want to spoil too much): while the strategy we used won't work for badge runs, it was quick and efficient, allowing us to achieve victory in 30 minutes flat.
The first thing I noticed (after our first success) was that the trial is very different from what is implied on the official guide from the CoH website. Without going into detail, it is clear that the extended Beta testing had a significant impact on the final product. The guide made the trial sound quite difficult and frustrating, but the Live version is in fact quite doable.
TPN is a formulaic (and sometimes tedious) pattern in much the same vein as the Keyes Island trial and as long as you move swiftly through the pattern success is nearly guaranteed. I was thrilled when this discovery led to some people's first successful TPN run. However, despite being glad at having led the leagues to victory, I have been left slightly disappointed.
I am not a big fan of the Keyes Island trial because of it's repetitive nature. I was hoping for something a little more like the Underground Trial (but shorter), with multiple stages each requiring a different approach. The Underground trial is the most interesting trial to date in my opinion because of the varying tactics that are required throughout. I would be tempted to run it more often if it weren't so long. That said, I found that there are certain types of characters (melee vs. ranged vs. control, ST vs. AoE, etc.) that are best suited for one part or another of the TPN trial's strategy, as opposed to everyone just dog-piling everything. That variance is a plus for me.
I think I am in the minority, judging by the negative response that erupted at the (now eliminated) proposed changes to the BAF and Lambda trial rewards. The player base as a whole, or at least those playing the end-game, like trials that:
- Have an easily followed pattern/strategy
- Do not require any specific type of ability, Incarnate or otherwise, to complete
- Are on the shorter side
With that being the case, I have to congratulate the Devs. The TPN trial has nearly the same pattern throughout 75% of it. There is no power that is nigh-required to make the trial doable. And the run time seems to be about 30 minutes.It is impossible to tell right now (it has only been 2 days) but this trial has the potential of being run as often as the BAF and Lambda, perhaps even more often given that you are guaranteed at least 60 threads and at least 1 Empyrean Merit every run. That's more than enticing to anyone trying to get their Incarnate powers, especially those going for T4s.
While I congratulate the Devs on modifying the trial to fit the requests of the player base majority, I am left with a divided opinion of the final product. I am slightly annoyed that such a formulaic final state is what the majority of us want out of the trials. However, as I said earlier, I am glad that certain characters are best suited for certain tasks throughout the trial, which will provide for a unique experience when playing the trial with a Blaster vs. a Tanker. It seems a good balance has been found between appeasing those who just want to steamroll for the rewards and appeasing those who want to feel as though they are contributing something to the league that not everyone else can offer.
I admit, I am upset that my puzzle is now solved, but the fact that this trial has the potential to become very popular, thus appeasing both the player base and the Devs, leaves me satisfied.
(I'm still looking forward to the revamped Dark Astoria though!)
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.