Plugging the Leak

Sometimes, it's all too easy to get into a rut when questing.  Now, there's nothing wrong with working out a routine which seems to be effective for yourself and your companion, but it's a good idea not to get too complacent.  The other day, I had a wake-up call on this point.

On Tatooine, there is a quest chain entitled "Plugging the Leak."  (I'd like to give my readers' intelligence enough credit to believe they would understand by this statement that I will be talking about a quest, instead of having to holler, "Possible Spoiler Alert!")  Basically, you've been tasked with drawing smugglers, who have been trying to sell explosives to the Republic, into an ambush.

All went without a hitch when Hikarinoko faced this task, until the final step of signaling and defeating the smugglers.  Two regular level smugglers appeared, who were quickly beaten, and then a gold star level elite smuggler showed up on the scene.

No problem, I thought.  By this time, Kaliyo and Hikarinoko had faced many an elite mob and managed to work out a system, although it focused more on survival than speed of killing.  Accordingly, with my eyes half-closed, I started on our normal routine.  Hit the elite, heal Kaliyo, hit the elite, heal Kaliyo, lots of Rifle Shot, Kolto Injection, Kolto Infusion . . . check Energy, time for Adrenaline Probe . . .

It was a few minutes before I realized the life bar on this elite had hardly changed.

With a sigh, I figured this one would simply be a long fight . . . just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . . If I managed my Energy and kept plugging away, surely this elite would end up falling, even if it ended up being a 10-minute fight or something.

Roughly 8 minutes or so later, I revised that estimate to 20 minutes.  Kaliyo and I were fine and in no danger of dying or running out of Energy, but the smuggler was simply not dying!  Something was definitely wrong, and it was time to start engaging my brain.

I wondered if his shield was giving him too much advantage, so I pulled Kaliyo into the room with the idea of "line-of-sighting" the smuggler and forcing him to move away from his shield.  I figured even if he dropped another one, I might be able to get an idea if it was a useful thought.  He came in, all right, and he didn't drop another shield, but his life bar still wasn't moving much.

And then I saw his life bar go up.

This elite had a heal!  (See that Med Scan cast bar?)

What is cast can usually be interrupted, so I frantically scanned my ability bars to remember what on earth my interrupt was called.  (You can tell how often I depart out of my "normal" mode of operations . . .)  Here it is!

Distraction worked like a charm to interrupt the Med Scan.  I wish I could say it interrupted every one, but the cooldown only permitted me to interrupt every other Med Scan.  Regardless, it was enough.  After what was still a reasonably long fight--not willing to admit how long--the smuggler was defeated.

Luckily for me, the encounter ended up being worth it!  New boots!  (Might be green, but an upgrade is an upgrade.)

The entire experience was a good reminder to stay awake and be situationally aware.  The game may still toss in some surprises, even in what seems to be a fairly normal kind of quest.