Visual Guide: TPN Campus Trial

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TPN Campus Trial

Overview

This guide is intended to help players learn everything they'll need to know to complete the TPN Campus Trial.

Minimum players needed: 12
Maximum players allowed: 24

Incarnate XP: Physical Incarnate Experience

Obtainable Badges: Spin Doctor, News Flash, Fair & Balanced, Television Addict, Tonight's Top Story, Master of TPN Campus

Phase I: The Siege of TPN

Map of the TPN Campus (click to enlarge)

• Objective: Defeat 5 IDF Guards, Earn 50 points of H.D. Favorability
  
• Time to complete: n/a
• Merit Rewards: n/a
  

Entrance to VisualCorp

Camera

The first task of the trial is to defeat 5 IDF Guards. Before you begin, the leader should make sure that everyone on the league knows which building is TPN Main, TPN Today, and VisualCorp. Looking at the map, VisualCorp is on the left (its door is on the right-hand side of the building), TPN Main is in the middle, and TPN Today is on the right. The leader should also call out any special assignments (a team to cover the outside and dispatch the Telepathists, someone to hold aggro on Maelstrom during the final phase, keeping H.D. healed, etc.) depending upon what strategy they are using. Also let players know that there is a hospital in the zone (behind the VisualCorp building).

After 5 IDF Guards have been defeated, H.D. will begin sending cameras to the TPN Campus. You need to earn 50 points of H.D. Favorability to move on to the next phase. For each IDF or DUST you defeat on the TPN Campus you'll earn 1 favorability point. Be careful not to hit any cameras. Each time a camera is destroyed you'll lose 5 points of favorability. The cameras are only Level 1 and have 20 hit points, so they'll be destroyed if anything hits them.

Once you've reached 50 points of favorability you'll be invited into the TPN Main building.

Phase II: Initiate the Broadcast

Map of TPN Main (click to enlarge)

• Objectives: Activate 4 terminals, Defeat Maelstrom
  
• Time to complete: 20 minutes
• Merit Rewards: 1 Astral Merit (from phase completion)
  

Technician & Broadcasting Terminal

Everyone on the league should head into the TPN Main building (there are no Telepathists in the trial at this point) skipping past the mobs in the hallways and heading directly for the broadcasting room. There are 4 terminals in this room. Each is guarded by a Technician and a mob of IDF. The Technicians are protected by impenetrable shielding as long as there are allies within 50 feet of them. Pull the IDF away (pulling works much faster than killing) from the Technician to make him vulnerable, then kill the Technician and activate the terminal to initiate the broadcast signal. Do this same thing to activate the other three terminals in the building.

Pulling the IDF will go much quicker if the person pulling breaks line of sight after they've gotten the attention of the IDF (see maps for pulling strategies). It is important for players that are not pulling to not to hold, immobilize, mez, or engage the IDF until they have been pulled out of range to protect the Technicians. See the Notes, Tips, & Strategy section for tips with using Judgement to pull the IDF away from the Technicians and terminals.

If you allow the public opinion to reach zero, the trial will be failed.

Once all four terminals have been activated, Maelstrom will appear. Everyone in the league should focus on attacking Maelstrom. More IDF will come and try to retake control of the terminals and shut down your broadcast, but there's not much point to recapturing the terminals here because any public opinion earned by doing so is reset once the next phase begins.

Once Maelstrom is defeated, he'll drop one of his pistols and you'll be sent back outside to the TPN Campus grounds.

Phase III: Make the Case to Praetoria

Map of TPN Today (click to enlarge)

• Objectives: Maintain a Public Opinion rating of 500 for 30 sec, Protect H.D.; Defeat Maelstrom
  
• Time to complete: 15 minutes, 10 minutes
• Merit Rewards: 2 Astral Merits, 60 Incarnate Threads
  
  • Winning the 500 point Public Opinion Challenge (Astral Merit)
  • Phase Completion (Astral Merit, 60 Incarnate Threads)

H.D.

Telepathist

Once this stage begins, your league will need to split off to cover different tasks.

Most players should be watching for which building H.D. appears in, head into that building, and make their way to the broadcasting room. They will be activating terminals the same way that was done in the previous building. Each terminal counts for 50 points of public opinion. In addition to activating terminals, you'll need to protect H.D. from the IDF in the building. H.D. will always appear in the same spot in the broadcasting room for a given building (see maps). It works best to assign someone to heal H.D. If H.D. is defeated, the IDF will secure the building and you will be unable to build any public opinion until H.D. has had time to fix itself.

Once 3 terminals have been activated in the broadcasting room, you'll be sent back outside to the TPN Campus grounds again. Shortly after being sent outside, H.D. will transport to another building. You'll continue to be sent to buildings until you've held a public opinion of 500 for 30 seconds. It is important to not harm mindwashed citizens while you are outside. Doing so will cost you public opinion points. Let the outside team handle the TPN Campus grounds.

Map of VisualCorp (click to enlarge)

Those that were assigned to cover the outside area of the TPN Campus should be focusing solely on defeating the Telepathists. It works best to select players that are single target oriented so no splash damage is done to any nearby mindwashed citizens. If your league can spare a healing player, it's not a bad idea to put one on this group to help keep them alive. It's important to not let the Telepathists run wild for two reasons. First, they'll mindwash the citizens, causing them to begin attacking you and each time a citizen is mindwashed it costs you public opinion. The mindwashing effect will last for 3 minutes. Second, the Telepathists cast a debuff called Pacify, which has a range of 5000 feet, does not require line of sight, and debuffs your damage/defense/resistance/tohit. This debuff stacks, so the more Telepathists out there, the worse it gets.

Marked For Death

Like the previous phase, if you allow public opinion to fall to zero, the trial will be failed.

See the Notes, Tips, & Strategy section of the guide for a full breakdown of how public opinion points are earned/lost.

Once you've held 500 points of public opinion for 30 seconds, the protesters and Telepathists will run away. Maelstrom will appear below the stairs in front of the TPN Main building. He has a new trick up his sleeve this time, called Marked For Death. If you are targeted by this, you'll see a red crosshair icon above your character's head. If you are within 30 feet of Maelstrom and are Marked For Death when he uses his Time To Die attack, you will die. Players not Marked For Death will take damage from the attack, but will survive it.

Once Maelstrom is defeated, he'll drop his other pistol and the final phase of the trial will begin.

Phase IV: The Closing Argument

Maelstrom

• Objectives: Maintain a Public Opinion rating of 500 for 30 sec, Protect H.D.; Defeat Maelstrom
  
• Time to complete: 15 minutes, 10 minutes
• Merit Rewards: 2 Empyrean Merits, 6 Astral Merits
  • Winning the 500 point Public Opinion Challenge (Astral Merit)
  • Trial completion (2 Empyrean Merits for the first completion in 20 hours, additional completions within 20 hours award 1 Empyrean Merit)
  • Open league (Astral Merit)
  • Qualifying for News Flash (Astral Merit)
  • Qualifying for Fair & Balanced (Astral Merit)
  • Qualifying for Television Addict (Astral Merit)
  • Qualifying for Tonight's Top Story (Astral Merit)

This phase is almost identical to the one before it. The first difference is that Maelstrom will be present during the 500 point public opinion challenge. He'll stay on the outside, so it's a good idea to have a strong tank or brute out there taunting him so that the outside team can work on the Telepathists with little to no interference. You can drive Maelstrom away for 30 seconds by dropping his health to 85%, but you are probably better off by focusing on activating the broadcast terminals. However, if you have just finished a building and are waiting for the next one to open, it can't hurt to attack him a little bit. Just make sure that you are not going to hit any mindwashed citizens.

Watch out for Maelstrom's nasty Teleport Kick when you are moving between buildings.

After you've held 500 points of public opinion for 30 seconds, you'll be set for the final showdown with Maelstrom. Without any pistols, he'll no longer be able to use his Marked for Death/Time To Die attack, but he'll periodically channel energy inward to charge up his Whirlwind Burst attack. This attack doesn't seem to do very much, but it may be nullified by a large amount of group buffs.

Defeat Maelstrom this time to successfully pass the TPN Campus Trial.

Upon completion of the trial you will be awarded the Spin Doctor badge and receive your reward pool window.

Spin Doctor

You have completed the Incarnate Trial: TPN Campus.

Master of TPN Campus

The Master of TPN Campus badge can be earned in one attempt of the trial. The four badges needed to earn Master of TPN Campus are:

News Flash

You managed to successfully complete each major broadcast to the people of Praetoria within a few minutes, establishing to the world that Tyrant's Imperial forces are no obstacle to the Incarnates and their mission to deliver the truth to the people during the raid on TPN Campus.

To earn this badge you need to complete all three public opinion challenges, taking no more than 8 minutes to complete any of the challenges. Use only the minimum amount of players you need to keep the Telepathists in check. See the strategies regarding Judgement pulls and activating a fourth terminal listed below in the Notes, Tips, & Strategy section.

Fair & Balanced

The Imperial forces threw some of Mother Mayhems' mindwashing Telepathists at the populace in an effort to turn them against you, and you stepped up to shut them down. No Telepathist managed to convert four citizens during the raid on TPN Campus.

This badge is earned by not allowing a single Telepathist to mindwash 4 or more citizens. If you are focusing on this, make sure the outside team is strong enough to quickly kill the Telepathist before citizens are mindwashed. Most leagues should be able to do this with 4-6 players on the outside team depending upon the quality of players.

Television Addict

During the raid on TPN Campus, H.D. offered you his assistance in delivering the truth to the world, with only his protection as his price. You accepted his bargain and delivered far better than would be expected with the IDF swarming the facility, thus ensuring that H.D. had the greatest chance to deliver your message with no interference.

This badge is earned by keeping H.D.'s health above 80% at all times. Assign a dedicated healer to H.D. and make sure they are quickly making it to H.D. inside the buildings. You can also cast buffs (shields/auras) on H.D. to help with this.

Tonight's Top Story

Maelstrom arrived during the raid on TPN Campus to send a message of his own: that he would not allow the Incarnates to spread their 'lies'. Not only did his efforts fail, but you also managed to defeat him handily, adding his humiliating defeats to your message to the people of Praetoria.

This badge is earned by defeating Maelstrom within 4 minutes each time you fight him. Direct all of the players to focus on him once he appears. Making sure there are not mass casualties from Marked For Death will help with getting this badge too.

When you have collected all four badges, you will earn the Master of TPN Campus badge and be awarded a random rare incarnate component.

Master of TPN Campus

You have mastered the Incarnate Trial: TPN Campus.

Notes, Tips, & Strategy

• Tips for Leaders
  • Communicate clearly how you wish the trial to be run. Call out assignments ahead of time. Remind them again right before the moment arrives.
  • Find out if there are any players on your league that are new or inexperienced with the trial. Explain to them the names/locations of the three buildings (TPN Main, TPN Today, and VisualCorp), to be careful not to harm citizens, what you need to do to be able to activate the terminals, and Marked For Death/Time To Die. If you are busy (understandably) with trying to recruit, lead, or communicate your plan of attack, ask an experienced player if they can mentor a player new to the trial. The more knowledgable players are about the trial, the better it will go.
  • If you are leading a group that is light on level shifts, you should take that into account when determining what your plan of attack will be.

Using Judgement to Pull (click to enlarge)

• Using Judgement to pull the IDF guarding the Terminals
  • Taunting can work to pull the IDF away from the Technicians guarding the terminals, but Judgement powers can be much more effective. To start, taunt can only target 5 enemies, judgement can target anywhere from 16 to 40. Plus, there's a good chance most of the players on the league will have Judgement slotted. If directing players to pull with Judgement make sure they are only using judgement powers that do not have any mezzing side effects.
  • Also, if using the judgement pulling strategy, you should have a rotation system set up. For example, for the first building, team 1 pulls the IDF away from the terminals and team 2 (without aggroing or interfering with the pulls) kills the Technicians and activates the terminals. For the next building, team 1 and team 2 will swap roles (now team 2 pulls, team 1 spikes the Technicians). Keep switching back and forth the roles of these teams between buildings and the pulling team should always have judgement ready to use.

• Public Opinion Scoring System
  • +50 points for activating a broadcasting terminal
  • +1 point for every 10 seconds of terminal use
  • -2 points for each citizen that is mindwashed by a telepathist
  • -5 points for every 10 seconds that a Technician kept alive
  • -10 points for every mindwashed citizen that is defeated
  • -2 points for every 2 seconds that Maelstrom is present (applicable only during the final 500 point public challenge)

• Activating a 4th terminal duing the 500 point challenges
  • If you are on a well coordinated league, you can activate all four terminals in a building if you have players activate the 3rd and 4th terminals at the same time. Depending on how sharp your league is, or if you even need points that much quicker, this may or may not be worth the time required to set it up.

• Keeping Maelstrom busy during the final stage
  • If the tank assigned to hold Maelstrom's aggro is struggling, they can try pulling him to the area in back of the TPN Main building and position themselves around the buildings corners. Maelstrom can still TP to them to attack, but it will buy a little time here and there. Additionally, if the outside group has someone to help heal, have them be responsible for healing the tank too.