Monday, 4-25-11: Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dogs Of War

I started out today by getting blaster Jack on a BAF.  Nothing really notable happened, but given what happened later, it was good he got that warmup.  :P

 I got out Frost 2.0 next.  Originally, he was an ice/ice dom, but it was sooooo hard to play, and I decided to try a different approach.  I rerolled him as a fire/cold corrupter.  His fire powers are colored black, and I’m saying they’re negative energy.  Anyway, I got him out to do some missions, and someone offered over broadcast to powerlevel any lowbies that wanted in.  Well, I wanted in. 

I know, some of you now think I’m lame.  It happens.  I hate those beginning levels!  So, I blow through ‘em as quickly as I can.  Frost got to 12, and I decided to see if I could scare up some random RP in the D. 

Yeah, I know.  I’m trying to get past my hang-ups with the place.  I brought out Tommy, who tried to engage a Devanna(sp?) Jade.  Her profile said she was all hella psychic-y and that other psi’s would notice it.  So I figured Tommy would, since he’s a pretty powerful telepath.  I sent a /tell which got ignored.  His emotes did too, but she was talking to a couple other people, so I thought maybe she didn’t see them.  I eventually said ‘the hell with it’ and moved on.

About that time, Mel’s sent me a /tell asking if I could grab blaster Jack for a MoLambda run.  See, the main AV in the raid, Marauder, does Unstoppable near the end, which means that psi damage is the only thing not resisted.  And without using the pacification grenades (which is a hilarious concept to me…*BOOM!* “Thank you, I feel much calmer now!”) it’s hard enough to damage him.  Also, without using the grenades, it takes much longer to kill him, so your teams really have to get through the instance FAST, so you get as much time as you can. 

So, you can see, it’s kind of a tall order. 

We hit the ground running, with a plan in place.  Team A does this, while Team B does that.  That kind of thing.  We FLEW through the first part and got to Marauder very quickly.  Here’s what was scary and kind of exciting about it.  Normally, at this point, you clear away the adds, drop the Molecular Acid on the gates so no more reinforcements come, and then you take on Marauder.  This time, our plan was a little different.

1.      Everybody buff up.
2.      Everybody charge screaming into Maruader’s teeth and hit him with everything you’ve got.

ATTAAAAAAACK!!!!!!

Cue epic battle music.

Normally as blaster Jack, I hang back and pick my shots from the air, keeping an eye on my HP so I can pull back if it gets too low.  This time, given that I had to pile on the hurt nonstop, I found myself in melee range hitting Marauder with nukes, Drain Psyche, Mind Probe, etc.  And I had to trust my team to keep Jack alive.  (For the record, I know Drain Psyche doesn’t actually do DAMAGE, but the –regen/recovery is helpful, and since our kin was slacking off, I had to keep that blue bar filled somehow.)

We got SO close the first time.  We had him down to 14/100, but we didn’t have enough time to finish him without using a ‘nade.  Dammit. Mel said at least two of our scrappers weren't doing squat.

The second time, we pulled it off.  For me, it wasn't about the badge, really. It was more the challenge, and the opportunity to really cut loose with blaster Jack.

The pic below is Jack sporting his new Barrier Destiny power.  Basically, it’s a giant PBAoE boost to Defense and Resistance, that fades gradually within 90 seconds.  How will I justify/explain it ICly?

No damn clue.  But it is NICE.

*shrugs* I suppose I could say Jack's getting more and more versatile with his power, but the bigger feats (namely the Judgement and Destiny powers) take a lot out of him.  That seems workable.