what I (see name below) dislike the most
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2012-06-12 17:09 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Yeah Synapse is a very annoying TF, I tend to do it once per character for TF commander and that's it. Even with a good team it's a real drag.
As a side note, Force Field REALLY helps with the END drain. The added defense reduces the number of drains you get and it also provide END Drain resistance.
...
Sounds like something went wrong. That's about three times longer - eh, maybe twice as long - than any time recently I can recall being on it. How early did the people quit? Were you playing it at the level range it was designed for, or exemped down?
That just sounds.... ouch. Sorry you had such a bad time of it. Time to take time and find out why.
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Actually it's a pretty fast TF on the best days. Can run it in slightly over an hour and the XP and Inf fall like rain. Your description is pretty much the worst case scenario for that TF. A few years back i duoed it with a Scrapper and it took about an hour and a half. (Mind you to duo it you need to be slightly selective about team makeup and/or carry a few temp powers like Envenomed Dagger.)|
Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
Synapse task force
3 hours, 13 minutes 2 people quit during it. I would have but did not feel like I could do that to the others. We had 1 support and the rest were single target melee. Even the stuff that went well took forever. The stuff that went badly was awful. They could drain all of our END before we could defeat them. It is just an awful TF on the best days. This needs to be fixed. |
Of course duoing almost any TF is usually the fastest route if you can do it. Smaller spawn sizes and less confusion. (This is assuming the minimum team size required to avoid auto-disbanding the TF/SF is four or less of course.)
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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Sounds like what you need is:|
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
I tend to do it once per character for TF commander and that's it.
|
I have two main beefs with the Synapse TF. One is that it's broken into several phases of utterly redundant missions. If they cut all the "go to Warehouse X, now go to Warehouse Y" bits to "just Warehouse X", it'd knock off an easy half the missions and feel a lot less tedious.
The second beef is just that I really hate the Clockwork as a villain group. The high resists at low levels, this colossal amount of time waiting for Gears to finish their spawning animation, their tiny hard-to-click-on sizes, and the fact that with the exception of the King, are sort of by definition, lacking in personality as a faction (granted, the King himself is pretty neat), they're just un-fun.
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Task Force Ovaltine, I'm glad you're here. After a recent run-in with Lord Recluse and his henchmen, I've begun a period of convalescence. Slipped disc, you know. Anyway, my mentor Penelope Yin's enormous Bio-Reactive Analytical Intake Network, or B.R.A.I.N., has detected a nefarious plot brewing among the lower dregs of Paragon society! That's where you come in.|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
It needs a revamp - which would mean more Penny
 |
We've got intel that says 60% of the laboratories and 50% of the warehouses in the metro area have been taken over by gangs of robots. A key informant spotted them smoking cigars in defiance of the '99 smoking ban. You know what that means: no survivors. The twist, though, is that Penelope will have one of her powerful psychic avatars on site at each location to evaluate your performance, your worthiness to carry those licenses. You'll need to escort her to a series of psychic terminals in each building. She's a little hard of hearing so you may have to walk slowly.
What do you say, TASK_FORCE_NAME, are you up to the task?
This task force will require a minimum of eight players to overcome the staggering challenges ahead. Any players over level 20 will be reduced to tears by their obvious inferiority.
I figure the Synapse TF can be easily split into two halves much like the Positron TF was:
Part 1 involves stopping the Clockwork plot to reroute Steel Canyon's power supply.
Part 2 involves tracking down the Clockwork King and defeating him.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Synapse_Task_Force
to 
TO THE END!Villains are those who dedicate their lives to causing mayhem. Villians are people from the planet Villia!
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Totally agreed.|
Originally Posted by Lazarillo
I have two main beefs with the Synapse TF. One is that it's broken into several phases of utterly redundant missions. If they cut all the "go to Warehouse X, now go to Warehouse Y" bits to "just Warehouse X", it'd knock off an easy half the missions and feel a lot less tedious.
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| The second beef is just that I really hate the Clockwork as a villain group. The high resists at low levels, this colossal amount of time waiting for Gears to finish their spawning animation, their tiny hard-to-click-on sizes, and the fact that with the exception of the King, are sort of by definition, lacking in personality as a faction (granted, the King himself is pretty neat), they're just un-fun. |
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
I've said a few times recently, and still maintain:
- The Synapse TF does indeed need to be revised/reworked/replaced.
- The Citadel TF needs it at least twice as badly.
Synapse is at least a series of different annoying kill-all missions against the same villain group, in instances that don't all have a dozen hidden alcoves and multi-level rooms that make the in-game map useless. Plus, Babbage.
FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
Eh, Citadel is more tedious than outright annoying, but that's largely because of the villain group involved.
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I was 17 when we started, 21 when we finished. So my DO enhancements were almost worthless. I think just about everyone was around 20, although 2 I know were higher.|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
...
Sounds like something went wrong. That's about three times longer - eh, maybe twice as long - than any time recently I can recall being on it. How early did the people quit? Were you playing it at the level range it was designed for, or exemped down? That just sounds.... ouch. Sorry you had such a bad time of it. Time to take time and find out why. |
The others quit after the first defeat all missions - which had gone well but slowly.
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I think you found your problem right there. It might have taken "more time" to go reslot, but I think it would have helped make the run faster overall.|
Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
I was 17 when we started, 21 when we finished. So my DO enhancements were almost worthless.
|
I'll agree the thing needs some reworking though; like all old content, it's not quite awesome as it could have been. I ran it for the first time like two months ago (sorry, red-sider by nature here) and was pretty bored, although we got it done in about an hour ten (and on a roll). "Go hunt down some CW!" X (far too many times). Some variation would help a great deal.
This is the 1 TF I hate the most to do, just because how long it can take at times. If you have the right team it can fly by, get a standard PUG and it can drag on.
With 5 defeat alls - I would get rid of 3 especially the 3 right up front with the same map usually.
Get rid of the trip to Boomtown, and remove the last run to Positron (no reason for one person to run to another zone while fighting Babbage)
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It was back in the day, but I have been on a 7 hour Synapse. I guess we were hella stubborn.
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I've done Citadel, no less than 50 times and I still don't know what it's about. Something about the Council. |
Originally Posted by Agent White
Eh, Citadel is more tedious than outright annoying, but that's largely because of the villain group involved.
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Revamp Synapse and Citadel and the Freedom Phalanx TF series is no longer a chore. Manticore and Numina's aren't bad at all.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
I have no sympathy, but then I duo's the last half or so on a Dark Scrapper without the Psi shield and was paired with a fire tank.
We lucked out begging in /b after clearing the last mission to CK, and a highlevle loaded us up with big insps 
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
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IIRC, stopping the rise of Fascist Citadel copies.
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Originally Posted by EvilGeko
I've done Citadel, no less than 50 times and I still don't know what it's about. Something about the Council.
Revamp Synapse and Citadel and the Freedom Phalanx TF series is no longer a chore. Manticore and Numina's aren't bad at all. |
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
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Same. It was the first TF I ever did, too.|
Originally Posted by Psylenz
It was back in the day, but I have been on a 7 hour Synapse. I guess we were hella stubborn.
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It continues to surprise me that I ever did another TF again after that.
And yes, both Citadel and Synapse need reworking. I'd argue Synapse needs it just a little bit more, since at least you normally have some fun powers by Citadel level, but both are top contenders for reworking.
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I have to say the worst was Positron.
At least half the time I started that, the team could not complete the first mission against the Vahz and broke up. It was the most painful death march ever.
But the new Positron's are fun and I am happy to do them.
I actually like the scope of Synapse, but it needs whittling down. maybe 5-6 missions. The problem with any of the old TF's is time. They just take so long and by the 4th or 5th defeat all it's like the mid point of a game of Monopoly, no one is enjoying it. It's no longer a game but a chore.
On the other hand Giant Robot Fight. The first time I saw Babbage was a Synape TF begging for help with him, it seemed half their team had bailed too. Seeing 10-12 heroes pounding on a giant robot sealed me into this game until servers shut down. Of course that also revealed another flaw, the Babbage fight almost requires the full 8 team. I had an SG mate once sending me messages that half his team bailed and they were really close to the Babbage fight. I rallied some back up from Pinnbadges and a couple incarnates and my long retired 50 Rad/AR corrupter helped them put the big bot down which kind of boosted their morale to finish the TF. But the fact they would have been screwed w/o that help kind of shows a big flaw in the TF.
So make it more focused, relocate the Babbage fight to an indoor map, something custom for the TF, so that Big B can scale properly for a team like Jurrasik does. Then make Citadel and the rest of the grandfather TF's interesting! Especially the Shard ones, such a wasted zone.
@Sylver Bayne
Pinnacle Server
I still have nightmares about my first Positron...
You see, we had a warshade with us.
Who quit after three missions...
But they reained set for x8.
And kept spawning Shadow Cysts.
Shadow Cysts are not fun at level 11.
"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."
You kids today and your revamped TFs. I did Positron the old way, on my badger, AFTER bypassing it earlier (I was new to badging). This was when they introduced exemplaring and you had to be connected to your exemplar for the entire TF. If either you or your exemplar disconnected during the TF, your exemplar connection was also broken and you were booted from the TF.
I finally got the badge on the fourth run.
--NT
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But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!
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I like Citadel, but I can understand why most don't.
1. It is not as long as Synapse.
2. The maps are smaller.
3. The enemy is less annoying... if not exactly exciting.
4. You have more powers available to you.
That's about it... Synapse has the advantage of a nice ending with Babbage and then the Clockwork King on a unique map. Citadel just kind of ends like it began, except one of the Council looks slightly different and has more hit points. You can rework Synapse just by consolidating repeat missions. If you consolidated repeat missions on a Citadel... you'd have 1 mission.
my lil RWZ Challenge vid
Synapse task force
3 hours, 13 minutes
2 people quit during it. I would have but did not feel like I could do that to the others.
We had 1 support and the rest were single target melee. Even the stuff that went well took forever. The stuff that went badly was awful. They could drain all of our END before we could defeat them.
It is just an awful TF on the best days. This needs to be fixed.