Monday, August 27, 2007

Apollyon Ravaged!

TheNewUltimates finally beat Proto-Omega, on our third attempt. We've tried different approaches on our previous two runs, and we learned quite a bit from those frustrating experiences, but the standard strategies don't fit for our shell. Lucrezia worked really hard to put together a strategy that would work with the jobs we had available. Rather than wait for that perfect moment when everyone was actually available for a run (we've got several members "on leave" at the moment), Luc recruited two former members of TNU, two members of TU, and one friend from BEB (who we'd like to have join TNU, but he can't commit to two nights a week). So on Thursday night, we ended up going in with three parties, with 17 people total (I may not have the sub job right for everyone):

NIN/WAR Lucrezia
PLD/NIN Tsakiki
WHM/BLM Anrita
RDM/DRK Morgoth
BRD/WHM Ranzz
BLM/NIN Reefermadness

BLM/NIN Fliggity
BLM/NIN Darsonavin
RDM/DRK Elbryan
SMN/WHM Ardan
SMN/WHM Meshe
SMN/WHM Thom

DRG/WAR Venn
MNK/DRK Ryken
MNK/SAM Itera
MNK/SAM Tye
SAM/THF Helldam

Luc's plan was to have the tanks establish hate, with the help of 300% TP Spirits Within, then the SMNs would be the primary damage dealers for the bulk of the fight. They were to use either physical or magical rage bloodpacts every minute, depending on which form Proto-Omega was in (one form is magic resistant, the other is resistant to physical damage). The BLMs and RDMs were on a Stun cycle, along with nuking (and refresh). The BLMs were also on gunpod duty, with no tank helping them out, which was one of the "troubling" aspects of the strategy beforehand, but was a non-issue in the fight. The BRD would keep double march on the tanks, and double ballad on the tank party mages, and the WHM would do everything she could to keep the tanks alive and hasted.

Meanwhile, the melee were to sit on the sidelines, figuratively eating popcorn and watching the show as they would boost, meditate, or sleep for tp. At 25%, when Proto-Omega goes into a rage mode, they were to rush in, unleash the dogs of war, and demolish Proto-Omega. The main reasoning for this was to reduce the amount of TP gained by Proto-Omega, which would mean fewer nasty attacks on the tanks, and it would also be relatively hate-free, allowing the tanks to keep Proto-Omega on a short leash. It would also keep the melee out of harm's way until we were ready for a final burst of extreme damage to get him dead as quickly as possible.

We had an uneventful trip to Apollyon, and Lucrezia made sure everyone was fully aware of the strategy. We buffed up, slept for TP, and headed into the fight. At this point, I was wearing HP gear, and with Pescatora had around 1600 HP.

Luc and I ran in, and Luc voked Proto-Omega and moved him over to where we intended to fight him. We unloaded our TP, and Luc switched to his katanas, while I swapped in my haste/enmity/shield gear. With double march, Haste, and +14% Haste from my gear, I'm pretty sure I was at the haste cap, but I didn't really check my timers, as I was too busy at the time. It was really so much better than the first time we fought Proto-Omega, when I was PLD/NIN, but we didn't have a BRD in the tank party. Flash and the two Utsusemi spells were up so quickly, it really seemed so easy to stand there, casting shadows, flashing for hate, and using my other job abilities as needed to hold/regain hate. The stun cycle helped Luc and I an awful lot, stopping TP moves, and giving us plenty of time to get shadows back up.

We decided to let Helldam come in for a big weaponskill fairly early in the fight, which is something we probably won't do next time, since he pulled hate and got killed for his efforts.

Luc and I were sharing hate quite well, with the first couple pile pitches shifting hate between us, but then Luc got killed, and it took awhile for him to get his hate level back up (a bit dangerous when fighting weakened). I believe we lost control of Proto-Omega twice during this phase, but I was able to get him back over to me with a Flash and a big cure without him flattening someone. I was really happy that I was able to straight tank the two legged phase, since I feel like things get so sloppy with kiting. We only had one gunpod ejection, which the BLMs were able to quickly defeat.

The SMNs and mages got Proto-Omega down to 25% pretty quickly, and as we were switching Ranzz over to the melee party for soul voiced attack songs, I got killed by 3 big attacks of some sort that were too quick for anyone to do much about. I was stunned at the time, and couldn't do anything myself either. But the timing worked out pretty well, since everyone jumped in for the final zerg, with the RDM/DRKs using chainspell stun, and everyone going all out. I reraised and ran over to try to help out, but my flash and invincible didn't do anything at that point, since I was starting from 0 on the hate threshold at that point. He was quickly dead, and I think the only casualty at that point was Morgoth, one of ths Chainspell-Stunners. It was so exciting for us to finally win!

It's so very satisfying when a plan comes together, and everyone works well together as a team. We're so much greater as a whole than simply the sum of our parts, and we all need each other to succeed.

The treasure chest contained Omega's Eye and Omega's Tail. Based on our lotting rules, the Eye went to Lucrezia (main lot THF) and the Tail went to Venn (main lot DRG), so we finally have two shiny red pieces of Homam in our shell. And hopefully we'll be able to repeat our success, and get to the point where we can say "lolOmega" like people who are in shells that have long ago mastered Proto-Omega. Then we'll have to muster up the courage to try killing Proto-Ultima for the mages' fancy red gear. Even the lolOmega people say Proto-Ultima is a bitch.

I couldn't take any screenshots during the fight, so I've borrowed Thom's to illustrate this entry. Note the tiny spec in front of Proto-Omega in the top shot. That's Kiki, doing what she loves to do best, tanking mobs 20 times her size. :-)

New title: Apollyon Ravager

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