The Positron TF is...weird. There's a lot of things wrong with it. Let me see if I can name the major issues.
First, the TF is tough. Enemies are pretty damn brutal for that level. You got Vahzilok with toxic damage, slows, and the zombies resist immobilization. You got CoT ruin mages who make you do the bouncy trampolene. And Clockwork who sleep you. At 10-15, even some scrappers and tanks don't have mez protection...much less everyone else. Now, as you level up, as you get more powers and slots, your ability to deal with tough situations improves. But at those low levels, you...really don't have much to work with. So it sucks.
Second, the TF is loooong. In fact, according to Positron (the developer, not the character), it was actually supposed to be two Task Forces. It sorta got merged into one before game release, so think of it as almost double length. And it makes you travel over three zones. That last bit is a hassle if you've got folks who don't have travel powers yet...very possible, since the range is 10-15.
Third, the TF is boring. It's long and draggy. It doesn't take you into any unique locales. It has no climatic boss battle. No Elite Boss, no Giant Monster, no Archvillain, nothing. Compare that to the Synapse TF, which gives you three major enemies (EB, GM, AV) and a unique map. It's just like...mission, mission, mission, and that's it. There's no sense of having accomplished anything.
So. Yes. It sucks. 's totally counterintuitive, too. You would expect that the first TF in the game shouldn't be so harsh. Well, it wasn't supposed to be. Positron's two task forces were intended to be TF-lite. But as I noted, both TFs got combined into one...the devs claim they couldn't figure out how to make a contact offer two seperate TFs (at launch, presumably the SG mish computer indicates they've solved the problem). I heard that in a thread discussing the problems with the Posi TF...from a post by Posi. One of several, IIRC. So the devs are aware of the problem. But I'm guessing that fixing the TF is fairly low on their priority list.
However, that doesn't mean it can't be done right, or done well, with the right team. Or even the wrong team and good tactics. Everyone understands how, say, a team of all-defenders can be very safe and efficient. But there's a bunch on Virtue that do all-Blaster TFs. I think they did Positron with eight blasters in under three hours. Yes, they admitted they died a fair bit, but... =)
-- Acyl
(who ran Positron back in Issue 2, when TFs were bugged, bugged, bugged...)
-- Acyl
First, the TF is tough. Enemies are pretty damn brutal for that level. You got Vahzilok with toxic damage, slows, and the zombies resist immobilization. You got CoT ruin mages who make you do the bouncy trampolene. And Clockwork who sleep you. At 10-15, even some scrappers and tanks don't have mez protection...much less everyone else. Now, as you level up, as you get more powers and slots, your ability to deal with tough situations improves. But at those low levels, you...really don't have much to work with. So it sucks.
Second, the TF is loooong. In fact, according to Positron (the developer, not the character), it was actually supposed to be two Task Forces. It sorta got merged into one before game release, so think of it as almost double length. And it makes you travel over three zones. That last bit is a hassle if you've got folks who don't have travel powers yet...very possible, since the range is 10-15.
Third, the TF is boring. It's long and draggy. It doesn't take you into any unique locales. It has no climatic boss battle. No Elite Boss, no Giant Monster, no Archvillain, nothing. Compare that to the Synapse TF, which gives you three major enemies (EB, GM, AV) and a unique map. It's just like...mission, mission, mission, and that's it. There's no sense of having accomplished anything.
So. Yes. It sucks. 's totally counterintuitive, too. You would expect that the first TF in the game shouldn't be so harsh. Well, it wasn't supposed to be. Positron's two task forces were intended to be TF-lite. But as I noted, both TFs got combined into one...the devs claim they couldn't figure out how to make a contact offer two seperate TFs (at launch, presumably the SG mish computer indicates they've solved the problem). I heard that in a thread discussing the problems with the Posi TF...from a post by Posi. One of several, IIRC. So the devs are aware of the problem. But I'm guessing that fixing the TF is fairly low on their priority list.
However, that doesn't mean it can't be done right, or done well, with the right team. Or even the wrong team and good tactics. Everyone understands how, say, a team of all-defenders can be very safe and efficient. But there's a bunch on Virtue that do all-Blaster TFs. I think they did Positron with eight blasters in under three hours. Yes, they admitted they died a fair bit, but... =)
-- Acyl
(who ran Positron back in Issue 2, when TFs were bugged, bugged, bugged...)
-- Acyl