Catching Up in CoH

So the past week was busy, but I did get some CoH play time in. Highlights:

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Finally got Vesuvius on a Posi TF with Keli's Assail (ice/storm 'troller) and were lucky enough to meet some really cool guys on Justice. Two guys from The Core SG, which imo, judging by the forum posts, is a SG that's pretty laid back, with good moral code, and perfectly smart peeps with senses of humour. Hopefully.

Cos one day, perhaps after my first 50, or at 30-40 thereabouts, I might be looking for a place on CoH to call home with experienced, sensible people. And I'd like a GoC or Asc-like group.

Redemption gives me the shivers from the forums. Remind me of a DS/Baali/Inc mix. The crazy intensity of DS in its Alexian-run heyday, the snobbishness and elite ability of Inc, and the ethics of a Lasc-encouraged Baali. Can you say, exploit, PL and very quick bored burnout in the same sentence?

Thanks, but I don't need a repeat of avatar RoD days any time soon. You gotta last me FOUR YEARS at least JUST LIKE ROD, no? I better take a year to level up to 50, and stay a newb and immersed in the story, rather than join the ranks of jaded players who are busy counting percentages of defence buffs on a power.

Back on topic though, The Core is promising. And I think it is VERY COOL to have played with Project 52-X, who is LaserJesus on the forums, and who possibly has induct powers. :P Networking, meh? Must be aware of it. Cackles.

And we had a good tank in the form of an invul named Bestarius, not officially Core, but he seemed to know the other chaps. Dunno. And oh yes, he had TAUNT. And used it. And I went hog wild with AoEs after 5 seconds, and never got any aggro worth mentioning. Proof enough for me.

Gratutious screenshots:

Here's our gallant tanker herding as if all the hounds of hell were after him. They were, pretty much.


Some serious ass-kicking of CoT going on here post-herding. Revenge for the evil 5-tier cave room. I still hate jumping it without fly or superjump.


I have never seen so many frickin' zombies in one place before. Thank goodness our tank was up to the task. I know I woulda looked twice with Raggy, even with toxic resist on.

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So that was Posi. I also got some time in on Particle Fusion, my Buffer Overrun illusion/rad chappy. Managed to slog my way through contacts to the Negotiator mission, and I solo'ed it, though I was a little worried being a wussy 'troller all over again. Did in 20, with 40 minutes to spare. I shouldn't have panicked.

There was this weirdo called Infamous Lard, a /da scrapper who wanted to team with me cos he said he was getting slaughtered in his missions. I begged out the first time to finish Nego, but after that, I hit Seek Team to look for some PuG random fun, and he came calling.

He was a level lower than me, I was 10, he was 9, and he'd managed to pick up another grav/storm 'troller who was, I kid you not, level 15. Oh, and he only had GALE in his secondary.

The 'troller sk'ed HIM to 14, and I was following along blinking bemusedly.

After standing around for the usual age to decide what to do, Lard suggested doing my Hollows mission. My level 7 Hollows mission. :P

And they finished it for me. Ye gods. Did you know I got 10xp for the mission complete bonus? :)

Then the level 15 'troller, Normal Kid, griped about not having enough xp (wow, understatement of the year)...

So Lard suggested hunting in Steel and Kid agreed happily, and I pretty much didn't care since I was laughing too hard to myself and 4 levels lower than them. You can guess who would be doing the killing.

(I did attempt holds on the level 12s they started with. 50% misses, but it wasn't that bad. I consoled myself with the fact that everyone likes AM, even though Lard didn't know wtf was making the green glow and him go faster at first, but he liked the +speed all the same.)

Then they got greedy and started with the level 15s and 16s. I was still too busy laughing, wondering if they realized that I was practically LEECHING offa them as the lowest level? Well, I did try to put up two rad anchors every time, radiation infection and enervating field, but you can guess who Mr Scrapper Lard kept attacking first. That GREEN BUBBLY INVITING LOOKING MOB.

I personally didn't care because Mr Grav Controller was opening the attacks and SUCKING up the alpha strike by losing half or more of his hp every time. :)

After which, Mr Scrapper was in the middle of things...killing my anchors first of all, of course. (Granted, this DA actually knew how to turn his toggles on, but Death Shroud and Murky Cloud were possibly not the greatest defense for him against things like Bricks and Council. No, he did NOT have Dark Embrace. No wonder his KR mission was killing him.)

And I had Superior Invisibility to slap on the moment mobs noticed me standing around there. :P

I DID try to suggest once that they not kill my anchors, but it was ignored. They prolly didn't know what an anchor was, and again, I was too busy laughing to try to teach them. I know, I'm a jerk. :P

But surprisingly, they prevailed. I just sat by Normal Kid at the back and ran off my weakling +27hp RA every time it recharged so they would see green glowy numbers and feel happy. I seriously do not think they even realized just HOW MUCH xp I was glopping off their hard bled for fighting. :P

This continued until I was about 2 bubbles away from level 11. We musta killed a hundred mobs, a group of 3-6 at a time. :) Street-hunting. In Steel. *boggles*

You can guess what happens. Random noob passerbys see a fairly successful hunt going, start begging for invites, Mr Lard gets invite happy. Suddenly the group is 7 strong ranging from 13-16. I cave in and get a sk from the level 13 blaster - still tied for the lowest level, so I can actually not see purple every mob...

Then the Kid doesn't wait before he charges the next group. We're standing around deciding what to do next, and he teleports UP to the high ground on Steel and tackles about 6 lvl 16 Vahz...by himself. :P You can guess what happens. No one moves to help him. I don't think they even realized what happened. :P I'm nearly in tears by this point and my sides are dying.

But they actually gather for AM the first time I ask them to. Mind boggling. Of course, they are still anchor killing happy.

Then they get all cocky and see a bunch of level 18 Outcasts. "We can take them!" is the general outcry. I know better, but I do try to put RI and EF on. By the time RI goes up, half the team is dead. My EF nearly drags aggro on me. The dead blaster is yelling RUN. I slap both anchors off, and toggle superior invisibility, and waddle a little back to watch the hilarity. Everyone dies. But me. :P

ALL but one of them awaken once the mobs reset. Wow. You know, that's a noob sign right there, imo. When they come prepped with awakens. I used to buy/hold like 3-4 of them as a newbie cos so many people including me kept dying. Now I hold zero unless I happen to pop them off a mob, then I maybe keep one.

The last blaster HAS awakens, but he doesn't dare cos he says he's too close to the mobs. (Smarter than average, anyhow.)

The group stands around some more. One member stands a little too close to level 19 outcast lieutenants. They fling boulders. I'm invis still (possibly lost my sk) and I get caught in the AoE for like 89 damage, and half my hp bar vanishes. I take off backward in a hurry and spam RA until it heals back up, but the rest aren't so lucky. Wipe again. :P

By this time, I've pretty much laughed myself out and come to the conclusion that I'm not going to get any more progress on the xp bubbles from this group, so I make an excuse and log off...

But dayum, sometimes PuGs like this make your day. When you have the tools not to join in the debt fest. *hugs superior invis*