What's your favorite TF?

Just idly curious. We always talk so much about the TFs we hate and want revamped (or the lack of TFs, depending on the side).

So, what's your favorite? Why? What does it do -right-? Heck if you want pick a blueside and a redside one for those inclined to play both sides.

For me? Mine are probably Imperious, Mortimer Kal, and Penny Yin.

Imperious - Is just great for leveling, for one, because of its huge range and -mass- of enemies in so many missions. Yet even with so much to kill it doesn't really feel tedious or like it drags out. Cimerora is, in general, one of the more interesting settings in the game and I -adore- the mission to take Imperious' generals and you make it atop the Vista and see the 5th column base. It's just a big 'wow' moment and really changes up the feel of the story up to that point. And the finale just -screams- epic. Extra nice that it's co-op so I can run it on any character I please

Mortimer Kal- Easily my favorite redside Taskforce, hands down. It takes about an hour, give or take 20 minutes, it's got a fantastic story that just feels perfectly villainous and pits you up against a variety of enemies. My only complaint, and it's small, is with small teams it can become a -very- binary 'win/lose' TF. Running it with the min., you'll find out pretty quick if you can do it or not. But if you've got enough you tend to steam roll it. And the rewards are just the best, I'm a lil sad Blueside has no equivalent. How can you beat a decent lil stat boost that turns into an early Notice? Nicer still when it's the WST and you can score 2 Notices together if you've never run it before (though shame on you if you've got a 50 and you've never run it before).

Penny Yin - SOOOOO much better than Sister Psyche. It's fast, it flows well, the cut scenes are well done and explain everything you need to know so not just the leader has all the tidbits, the missions are quick and actiony, it's just fun. I am never reluctant to do this TF. I honestly could stand it to be like 1 mission longer but compared to the multi-hour slug fest it was under Pscyhe I can tolerate 'too short'. For a longer TF though, you can't beat Posi 1 & 2, which this just edged out I think for my blueside favs.

Ok, so, how bout you guys?

Morty Kal for me to.
Just the way all missions are so varied. Perhaps the talky one could stand to be longer..but it is a minor nit pick. The fight vs the 3 Midnighters is awesome, as is the huge CoT exodus when Ferny shows up.

Yin is also really fun..again, varied missions help, and it is SO good to see that stupid Reactor and KNOW you don't have to wait for 45 minutes.

In general, I find redside SFs to be much more fun and satisfying. As in..I WILL do them on toons who already have the badge, just for fun. Whereas I wont bother with ANY tf blueside after I have the badge. Aside from maybe Katie. The redside ones have much much more epic final battles..compared to things like fighting Hopkins blueside

Katie is one of my fav TFs too..but much less so since they chanced the escort mission. A HUGE cave, redcaps, and then you have to get her out? Wtf devs.

Hess is also really good, for the unique council cave maps.

Not really a 'TF', but I really enjoy all the Oro taskforces, even if the rewards are a joke. Especially the 5th column one, that is a really neat final fight.

Oh, +1 for the Notice from Morty. And the temp power is pretty nice too. I do really like Sutter..and think that should also award a Notice.

I really like most redside TFs and the ITF is great as well, but the victor has to be Mortimer Kal. It was also my very first TF. Which... kinda made all the other ones suck by comparison. Except ITF, that still wowed me the first time through.

The only TF I'd say I remotely care for, off the top of my head, is the one where you fight the big mechanical spider at the end... because you fight a big mechanical spider at the end.

In other news, I'd still like for my SoA to be able to have the retro Arachnos gear.

Another one for Mortie! Well... unless the whole team is at the minimum level and then it's really painful at the end. But otherwise, it's great! All kinds of really funny throw-away lines, that's the best part. I think I got killed from laughing too hard when Mercedes Sheldon got mad during a fight because I made her break a nail. The thing is full of stuff like that, especially the robots in the end mission.

Second favorite is ITF, again like everyone. It's a challenge, but not a grind. The pacing of it is wonderful! It only drags a bit on Lag Hill, which I find terribly apt.

Posi 1 and 2 would be tied with Penny Yin for 3rd. I don't mind exemping down for these a bit, and I don't like exemping much.



The old Katie Hannon would have probably been at the top of my list, until they redid the second mission and made it long, dreary and depressing. Still sad about this, but oh well. Good new stuff, eh?

Mortimer Kal and ITF are, as mentioned, really good.

STF and LRSF are also fun, as are Apex/Tin Mage.

Lady Grey and the Reichsmann TF's are beneath those: They just feel more tedious.

I really enjoy Mortimer and Penny since they are quick and the travel is rather limited. They along with Admiral Sutter and Imperious are S/TFs done right. I also concur that I find SFs more enjoyable generally than TFs, but I have more friends who play Blueside than Red.

Same answer as the others: ITF, Mortimer Kai, new Posi 1 & 2, Yin.

And I also agree that Katie Hannon was fun until they F'd up the 2nd mission. That's a personal pet peeve of mine. I get that failing the first mission was a huge bug that needed to be fixed, and I can understand that they also changed the reward because it was still a pretty fast TF, but then they had to mess with a THIRD time and really ruin it. Because it's not "fixed" until you make it so people don't want to run it anymore.

As for old content, I'd put in a vote for the Eden Trial because of the maps, you don't see anything on that scale anywhere else in the game.

Also I just want to add that of the six original Freedom Phalanx TFs, the best was probably Sister Psyche. It had more variety than the others and wasn't too long, so it's kind of sad that they decided to revamp that one before Synapse or Citadel.

I'd have to say you favorites are pretty much mine as well.

Whenever Kai/Sutter is the WST I will always pick a Mortimer Kai SF over a Sutter TF .. Sutter is just too confusing at times (how many of you out there have found yurself wondering "where are my team mates?" during the ship to ship battle in mission one) and if you hook up with the wrong PUG the final battle with the two Durays can be a nightmare.

I never really disliked the old Sister Psyche TF but I have to admit I enjoy the format of the Penny Yin TF better ... Its shorter, I never need to leave IP and the way the story plays out is interesting.

I have always enjoyed the Imperious TF and look forward to hitting 35 and being able to run them. In most cases As soon as a character is high enough to do so I run the Midnighter Arc to make sure I am ready and able for the ITF as soon as possible.

Runner (s) up include Manticore.. yeah its older and could probably use some tweeking but its not to long, has stealthable mission (if you want to speeed things up) and presents a good challenge. Now do something with Hopkins at the end and I'd be perfectly happy

Moonfire is good too... Not a lot of kill alls and the ones that are there serve a purpose.. When I go for my Atloas Medallion I head to Striga knowing I can practically get the 200 Vamprii and Warwolves just doing the first two missions! Aside from one talk to mission no one ever needs to leave Striga Island and HEY who doesn't enjoy beating up the Council?

OHH after reading some more of the other posts I should add in ... (add these to my runner's up section above)

STF .. Yeah that's right I still th8ink of it as Statesman's TF Ms Liberty is just watching over it for him now LOL Since I play both sides (red/blue) getting the opportunity to actually battle almost every single Arachnos high level contact in one Tf is a lot of fun. This used to be the second hardest TF/SF in game (the LRSF is harder in my opinion) sadly Incarnate abilities have made it a lot easier to breeze through but its still fun

LAdy Grey .. About the only bad thing abound Lady Grey is that so many people want to rush through it just to get to the end. If your below 50 this thing can get you a TON of XP. I did an advertised KILL ALL LGTF a long time ago and went up almost 3 full levels .. please keep in mind the bug is fixed and you need to be level 45 to join so 3 levels on any TF is impressive. I walked away with over 300 vanguard merits and pile of recipes and salvage (including one purple recipe) and we did all that in less than two hours.

Lord Nemesis TF and ITF for me. ITF for what op said nemesis because of its last mission.

I would say Yin and ITF.

iTF.

Sutter for me.

The ITF is important, as it was the TF that became the template for all the ones after it - it let the devs see what the players thought was the perfect length, structure and boss fight - all the TFs after the ITF were designed to be in the 30-60 minute range, have fewer missions but with more objectives in each mission, and have more complex boss fights.

My favorites include the ITF (has Romans and a lot of epic battles), the Sutter TF (essentially one long epic battle), and Tin Mage (also essentially a single enormous battle). Fighting entire armies just seems like something that it'd be logical to assemble a huge team of superpowered beings to do.

For quirkier stuff, I second the numerous Mortimer Kal posts. Plus, it provides me with so many opportunities to make lascivious comments about Mercedes Sheldon (the Grace Kelly of contacts). My favorite so far is, "She can cast a Radiance Spell on me any time!"

1. Imperious-Epic, lots of enemies in a great setting.
2. Lady Grey-Epic battle against another central villain group
3.Ms. Liberty-Epic, challenging battle against practically every Archvillain in one of the main villain groups in the game.
4. Positron (Lumping both parts into one)-Love fighting Dopplegangers, Dr. Vahzilok's dialogue in the last mission's cutscene is epic and gives him great characterization.
5. Apex-Awesome maps, fending off War Walkers from the Police station in Kings Row, epic final battle.
6. Admiral Sutter-Cool maps and unique (Albeit sometimes aggrivating) mechanics for the final battle.
7. Tarikoss-Awesome map for the final mission
8. Twilight's Son-Because this was probably my favorite story in the comics.
9. Numina-Fighting nearly every villain group in almost every blueside zone just makes this TF feel epic.
10. Synapse-While I think it REALLY needs to be revamped and cut into two pieces, you still get to fight good 'ol Babbage and then the Clockwork King on one of my favorite maps in the game.

ITF, STF, LRSF, Apex/Tin

If I had to pick more...
Manticore, Yin, Renault, and Cuda

Damn. Forgot to mention KHAAAAAAN and Barracuda.

I still haven't played all of them, but since returning I have run more TFs than in all my previous years of play combined.

I don't know that I have a favorite- my enjoyment of them hinges more on having a fun team than on the mechanics and setting of the TF itself. I can say I've had more fun than otherwise on pretty much all of the 'modern' TFs I've run over the past month or so. Kal, Yin, the Posis, & Sutter are all very entertaining.

If I had to pick a favorite, probably Posi 1.

Morty, Silver Mantis now.
Formerly LRSF (just not fun since incarnates made it a cake walk), old posi, old sis, old lady grey.

I'll go Apex.

Its the one that feels like an actual two-parter JLA comic or similar.

The first mission is split into different fight scenes (Clockwork, Sewers, War Walker assault) each with their own character/style.
The second one is just epic. Battle Maiden dropped from the sky and knocked over a massive statue, radioactive swords falling everywhere. Its brilliant. And its insanely difficult, unlike running say Citadel at +0 and chatting about movies on the way through.

I'm actually going to break things into categories.

Favorite Map: Eden Trial
The sheer scale and massiveness of the map makes it an impressive romp, especially on the occasions when the team is willing to kick back and take it all in rather than just speed run it in under 10 minutes. I'm thankful that the first one I ran was treated as a defeat all so I got to actually enjoy it.

Honorable Mention: Silver Mantis SF (final map)...well, redside as a whole
The SF as a whole isn't much to write home about and it doesn't have the same impact now as when I first encountered it but assaulting the Sky Raider base has always been exciting. I think the fact that it's actually dynamic with the whole place catching fire as you attack combined with the sunken cruise ship off to the side that really sold it. It's actually a pretty drastic difference when compared to doing the basic story arc version of the base or physically going to it in Sharkhead. Redside as a whole tends to handle big finishes better ranging from demons in a volcano to fighting the eye of a gigantic entity.

Favorite Ally: Jade Spider (Mender Silos SF)
I've always found it ironic that I'm arachnophobic yet I like spider themed characters like Spiderman. There was something pretty awesome about having one of the largest GMs in the game fighting alongside you, especially since she has a secondary form.

Favorite Challenge: Abandoned Sewer Trial
It's one TF where it feels like you actually have to work together as a team, rather than just a bunch of people sharing xp. Due to a built in timer, it's one of the few that can outright fail. While that's not for everyone, it can make some things pretty exciting and PUGs tend to walk away with a new experience. One particular run I remember the group feeling down and not thinking we would make it but after pushing it we managed to pull through with just 1 second on the clock.

Favorite Boss Fight: Reischman pre GR (Barracuda SF)
For all of the complaints it used to get, for the longest time it was one of few things in the game that actually felt like you were fighting a super villain as opposed to just fighting some dude who didn't die as fast as everything else. Unique mechanics, a powerful big bad, and a constant incoming stream of enemies made it pretty exciting. Somewhere around GR it seemed like the temps and the sizes of the ambush waves got subtly adjusted plus the Incarnate system dulled down the encounter's impressiveness.

Honorable Mentions: Leviathan (Operative Renault SF), Battle Maiden (Apex TF)
Over the course of the Leviathan boss fight it slowly descends into chaos with multiple tornado summons and ambush waves. Battle Maiden added a mechanic to keep people moving and on their toes.

Best Overall: Mortimer Kal SF
While I feel the final map could stand to have a different layout, I agree with many that MKSF just feels right in how it was made. Decent pace, well timed cutscenes, and an overall proactive feel help it stand above many others.

Favorite Failed Mechanic: Reactor Trial
I like the idea since protecting something feels a bit more heroic and I wish there were more missions like it. It's just that the current state of the attack waves reduces what seems like it could be a different yet fun kind of battle.

Honorable Mention: Reischman boss fight (Barracuda SF)
Just because I like it, doesn't mean I can't see its flaws. Reischman has way too much HP, the temps aren't explained well, and there's a few fundamental flaws with the way some of the temps were designed.