Here’s a lesser-known beast of the PVE wilds: The Jerk Node. A Jerk Node is NOT a hard or even necessarily challenging node. It is one that can almost always be won, but one that must be managed. A Jerk Node makes you stop (usually literally, by slowing down gameplay) and think about what you’re doing. It does this by being a jerk, usually via a maddening roster of required characters.
The current Deadpool PVE is home, in sub 1, to perhaps the finest Jerk Node ever crafted. You enlist your all-support team of CStorm, Falcon, and Mr. Fantastic, ready to … I dunno, buff the hell out of some protect tiles, I guess? Heal one guy, occasionally? The possibilities are several.
In the opponents’ corner: OBW, Luke Cage, and Hawkeye. Between a passive protect tile and blue heal and your own miserable damage capabilities, this sets you up for an incredibly slow game. It also means Cage is probably getting his uppercut off, which will one-shot CStorm if you’re not paying attention but is otherwise survivable. There’s also Hawkeye’s passive and a Fury team up, which each become more likely as the round drags on.
It’s a classic Jerk Node for several reasons. Note that Cage has been neutered (no black power), and OBW is stripped of her steal; if not, this would become the Jerk Node’s ugly cousin, the Dick Node (see various Carnage and Kingpin feeder nodes for examples). That’s an entirely different beast, one to be feared and faced. There’s little chance of losing a Jerk Node, but the proposition still makes you roll your eyes and grit your teeth because UGGGHHHHHH.
Lest you think this a complaining post, I come rather to offer grudging props for the well-crafted Jerk Node. It’s far stupider than its relative the True Puzzle Node (think Quicksilver-IW), but far friendlier than the Dick Node. A Jerk Node requires craft, and, however maddening, craft deserves respect. So: Well played.
Now let’s never, ever see this fershlugginer thing again.
