Destiny Raid Groups/ General Discussion

[f0rge]

I always do at least 1 public event per day. Great way to get mats but it's still really slow.

I'm good for a nightfall or a raid tonight.

[Xuningshen]

I might be down for raid tonight, lv 28 hunter. ps4- PSN - Xuningshen.

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by 53Driver

Either way, the story side to this game has been very lacking so far. Lots of things are not even being explained or giving any incentive for their existence. Like the dead ghosts. What's their point, other than adding another grimoir card to your collection? At first, I was spending a lot of time looking for them but then I realized I wasn't getting any tangible rewards for spending all this time looking for them so I quit. Now I just stumble on them by accident, even in the Tower.

I feel the same way the story is sorely lacking. They don't really give a incentive for wanting to fight other than the darkness. I mean what is this "darkness." Why kill these aliens? xenophobia, or are they minions of the darkness come to kill us all? If so why are they fighting each other? The gameplay and collecting stuff is good to a point, but where is the story. Well maybe I wouldn't be as annoyed if I could do the raid so I could play everything, they did bill the game as a great solo or multiplayer experience, solo isn't that fun if the story lacks any depth.

This could be one of those situations where they leave a lot vague to really tie things in later but usually you get a lot of little hints here and there to the larger picture to keep you wanting to find more and thinking about where things could go. But that is also lacking.

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by Xuningshen

I might be down for raid tonight, lv 28 hunter. ps4- PSN - Xuningshen.

I'll add you to my thread but my thread is probably gonna die since everyone still posts in this one.

[Xuningshen]

Originally Posted by 00NissanNinja

I'll add you to my thread but my thread is probably gonna die since everyone still posts in this one.

Thanks dude, I need to go and just add everybody on that list lol

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by f0rge

Part of this game's longevity is never giving you want you want so you have to keep playing it.

I'm not even convinced it's RNG. RNG is not random when it's the worst possible outcome every time.

I hate pulse rifles, my first 2 legendary primary drops decode to... pulse rifles. My friend excitedly gets his first primary legendary....he gets the exact same terrible pulse rifle as me. I've never had a primary legendary drop that wasn't a pulse rifle.

I get shaders all the time in Tiger Strike...too bad they're ALWAYS BLOODPACT. How is that random? I hear there's a bunch of shaders in this game, but I would never know that.

/rant

Originally Posted by 53Driver

I'm thinking about trying Nightfall tonight, that's the one thing I haven't done yet.

If you do the Daily story on level 26 or 28, you get ascendent energy/shards as a reward I believe. If you do the weekly on level 28, you get ascendent energy/shards x2 and at level 26 x1. Good way to get ascendent stuff, but the weekly will only reward once per character per week. Also, getting Gold Star in Public events has a decent chance of earning ascendent material and I believe there's a website that will tell you when/where each Public event is per day. I tried it the other day and the website was off by about 4 minutes, but it did show up where they said it would. And yes, I am struggling to get my armor upgraded right now and as well. Both my exotic chest piece and legendary leg armor are eligible for 2 more upgrades but the ascendent stuff is coming very slowly.

And I agree with MokSpeed, I still think there should be some sort of trading system where you can trade comparable equipment with another individual. That way when I get Warlock stuff I could trade for Titan stuff and vice versa.

I sure hope not. As soon as trading is implemented, someone will find a way to dupe. Duping becomes rampant and then everyone all of a sudden has the best stuff and no reason to play the game anymore. Of course, I've PVP'd against people that I can tell have cheesed Atheon. There's no way you get a Vex Mythoclast, even nerfed, and suck that bad at Crucible that you end up with a <0.2 kdr. I don't believe it one bit.

[wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by 00NissanNinja

I feel the same way the story is sorely lacking. They don't really give a incentive for wanting to fight other than the darkness. I mean what is this "darkness." Why kill these aliens? xenophobia, or are they minions of the darkness come to kill us all? If so why are they fighting each other? The gameplay and collecting stuff is good to a point, but where is the story. Well maybe I wouldn't be as annoyed if I could do the raid so I could play everything, they did bill the game as a great solo or multiplayer experience, solo isn't that fun if the story lacks any depth.

This could be one of those situations where they leave a lot vague to really tie things in later but usually you get a lot of little hints here and there to the larger picture to keep you wanting to find more and thinking about where things could go. But that is also lacking.

After playing the Souls series, I look at story in games much differently. The Souls series is absolutely drenched in story and lore, but they give you almost nothing, save a few nibbles and glimpses here and there. The story is so interesting that it makes you want to seek out other sources of information. They found a niche that allows the game to feel empty and hollow, abnormally difficult with no direction, but rich and overflowing all at the same time. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that the series has such strong medieval and fantastical elements, that it lends itself to well to the mystery of things lost. Well played From, well played.

Other story rich games can't do that so much, or they have to do it with little hints or clues like how two people behave in cutscenes or facial expressions to tell a story that isn't directly written into the script, like The Last of Us. This is one of those ways where you can pack a LOT of story and meaning into a scene, but it needs to be put in there somehow to feel rich and engrossing. Like a scene where two characters don't even need to talk to have a complete conversation, that gives you more information than the conversation itself.

Destiny seems to walk a sloppy line between all the various storytelling methods, picking a little from each. Comparing to the Souls series, there may be just as much if not more lore, but since a lot of it actually is explained in game it feels like it should envelop a substantial amount of the story and lore, enough that you can fill in the blanks. Instead it comes across as incoherent and a little confusing, so the blanks become huge swathes of black holes in the plot and back story, and the whole Grimoire card thing seems like a story band aid. They're explaining things throughout the game, but the why and the association is always missing. Like who the hell is Rasputin, and wtf is a War Mind? As the Souls series nailed the mystery due to its setting, whereas such a modern and futuristic setting as Destiny, where everything is digital and everything is recorded (somewhere), that it makes sense that the story should be more present. If that's not the case and all this information from previous generations of the "Golden Age" is lost, then the "dark age" theme isn't coming through very strong.

I get it, not having enough time to put the entire story in the game, but hell, throw us a bone... They could include some nice storyboard artwork and simply have PD narrate the major historical events as slick artwork fades in and out. I think that would have been a graceful way to do it.

They did a fantastic job making the whole game world feel immersive and palpable, but it feels like a modern action movie story where we're just dropped in wondering wtf is going on...

Originally Posted by 00NissanNinja

I'll add you to my thread but my thread is probably gonna die since everyone still posts in this one.

I see this thread as a general Destiny discussion, and the other thread specifically for setting up raid/strike teams and times.

[53Driver]

So I understand people feel like it's "cheating" to cheese Atheon but here's my take. First and foremost, there's no "rules" in the real world and yes I understand it's a game but if there is a cliff and you can push the Boss off it, then how really don't feel like that's cheating. After all, I die if I fall off the cliff so why shouldn't the Boss? After all, it gets a little ridiculous to me when you pound a Boss with rocket after rocket, bullet after bullet and he just keeps ticking. In the famous words of Dutch "if it bleeds, we can kill it".

Now with that being said, I understand the fight with the Boss isn't supposed to be easy as it is the culmination of a stage within the game. I think one of the reasons why cheesing Atheon become so prevelant was how the loot/drops in this game works. When you spend hours after hours going though the raid and not getting any weapons to drop, but then a random person who's running it for the first time gets three weapon/armor drops, it feels you leaving a little frustrated/disappointed.

Look, I hold no ill will nor am I jealous of someone else getting good loot. That should be what the game is all about and is why I am playing, so I can get the better loot to level up! When I put in over 5 hours of my time running the raid a couple of times and only get a few ascendand shards and that's it I feel a little disappointed and my desire to keep running the raid goes out the window. So I can see where people get furstrated and then cheese Atheon so that way they can hopefully pull some gear in a timely fashion. There's plenty of rants on the forum section of the Bungie APP where people have said they've run it 5 to 6 times + and not got anything.

Personally, I feel that everyone in a raid team should get one legendary/exotic weapon or gear drop the first time they complete the raid. That would make it feel worthwhile and after that, all bets should be off. At this point I'm not sure I'll ever see level 30 without doing the raid a hundred times hoping to pull some sort of raid gear from it. As of now, I'm just going to level up all my legendary/exotic armor and see where I stand. Weapons are finally starting to come my way so not too worried about that.

[f0rge]

Don't believe the level 30 hype. I told myself if i get enough shards to get to 29 before i got raid gear i'm going for it.

If I had done the raid 5-6 times and never gotten anything I'd be looking for any way to make the raid quicker and avoid as much grind as possible.

[53Driver]

Originally Posted by f0rge

Don't believe the level 30 hype. I told myself if i get enough shards to get to 29 before i got raid gear i'm going for it.

If I had done the raid 5-6 times and never gotten anything I'd be looking for any way to make the raid quicker and avoid as much grind as possible.

True and maybe I'm just being a whiner, but personally I just don't want to grind away in the raid for hours and hours hoping that something will "eventually" drop. With that being said, I've enjoyed it but right now I feel like running the daily story and weekly strike on level 28 are being more productive than running the raid. Also, I agree with you about becoming more efficient. I know there are people who have run it from start to finish in less than 1 hour. While I know I will probably never be good enough to run it that quick, if we can get it down to an hour and a half I'd be happy. I do enjoy it, I just needed a break from it after this weekend. I'm really curious to see what the next raid will be. Will it be Cabal, Hive or Fallen?

[f0rge]

I'm pretty sure it's hive/fallen, on the moon?

Yes, it is:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...-release-date/

They're also raising the light cap to level 32. So new raid gear I guess? How is that going to work for people like us who are stuck at 28/29?

I wonder how they're going to manage that, they're essentially forcing you to complete the first raid enough times to get enough raid gear to hit 30 and then do it all over again with the new raid?

I'm all for playing the shit out of this game almost daily, but that seems like an almost impossible feat to me.

[53Driver]

Originally Posted by f0rge

I'm pretty sure it's hive/fallen, on the moon?

Yes, it is:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...-release-date/

They're also raising the light cap to level 32. So new raid gear I guess? How is that going to work for people like us who are stuck at 28/29?

I wonder how they're going to manage that, they're essentially forcing you to complete the first raid enough times to get enough raid gear to hit 30 and then do it all over again with the new raid?

I'm all for playing the shit out of this game almost daily, but that seems like an almost impossible feat to me.

I agree and that's the part of this game that could potentially kill it IMO. They billed this game as a game for "everyone" and it definitely has elements that do that. However, for many of the casual/average gamers their interest will wane quickly if they lose the desire to keep running the raid. The game is already repetitive in many ways, but maybe that goes with the territory. I don't know, I'm new to all this. So far I am still enjoying it, especially now that I've found a group to run missions with as that is making the game more enjoyable. I also still have immediate goals to strive for such as upgrading my armor and getting more weapons/armor. However, I feel like I'm on the verge of hitting another wall. I'm sure there's lots of people who are having a hard time getting a group of 6 together to do the raid with, especially a group that can actually complete it. To me, that is where the let down with this game is. I was really happy when I got to complete it, but then was let down when I didn't really get anything. Maybe I'm just whining, but I felt like I should have got at least 1 of something for "completing the hardest part of the game". Of course, I realized I had not done Nightfall the other day so that's something I plan on doing this week.

Edit-Just read the article. Not sure how I feel about the PS "exclusive content". I knew going into this game that the PS was being "hailed as getting exclusive content" but originally I thought it was armor/gear. It almost seems like Bungie/Activision is trying to drive away the Xbox people. It would have been one thing if the entire game had been excusive to one platform, then I would have considered my console purchase a little more closely (though I still don't like the PS controllers). The missions/strikes are what I really like and it sounds like the expansion for the Xbox guys will be pretty lite in that regard.

[MokSpeed]

Originally Posted by 53Driver

Edit-Just read the article. Not sure how I feel about the PS "exclusive content". I knew going into this game that the PS was being "hailed as getting exclusive content" but originally I thought it was armor/gear. It almost seems like Bungie/Activision is trying to drive away the Xbox people. It would have been one thing if the entire game had been excusive to one platform, then I would have considered my console purchase a little more closely (though I still don't like the PS controllers). The missions/strikes are what I really like and it sounds like the expansion for the Xbox guys will be pretty lite in that regard.

The Xbox controllers have hands down always been better suited for FPS gaming. This is not an opinion but a fact. The PS4 controllers are great and more versatile, but hand and joystick placement is just so much more natural for FPS gaming on the Xbox controllers. As for the exclusive content for PS4, it's an indirect way for Bungie to give the finger to Microsoft after their falling out. This is not the only game to show bias towards Playstation over Xbox in the new consoles. You could say Microsoft did it to themselves with the shroud of lies and misinformation prior to release. Regardless, I'm still happy with my XB1 and really enjoy the overall console experience!

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by 53Driver

I'm really curious to see what the next raid will be. Will it be Cabal, Hive or Fallen?

Yup, we're hunting down Crota if I remember correctly.

Originally Posted by f0rge

I'm pretty sure it's hive/fallen, on the moon?

Yes, it is:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...-release-date/

They're also raising the light cap to level 32. So new raid gear I guess? How is that going to work for people like us who are stuck at 28/29?

I wonder how they're going to manage that, they're essentially forcing you to complete the first raid enough times to get enough raid gear to hit 30 and then do it all over again with the new raid?

I'm all for playing the shit out of this game almost daily, but that seems like an almost impossible feat to me.

Iron Banner will be one way, if you hadn't seen the changes coming. Here they are, detailed in the weekly update:
http://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-Weekl...News?aid=12318

At some point the soft cap will have to be raised because old content becomes obsolete in any MMO, but I'm guessing this won't happen until an expansion. However, their scaling of older content to higher levels, while the receiving end of a whole lot of bitching about having to repeat the same thing over and over, is a great way to keep that old content relevant as well.

Originally Posted by 53Driver

Edit-Just read the article. Not sure how I feel about the PS "exclusive content". I knew going into this game that the PS was being "hailed as getting exclusive content" but originally I thought it was armor/gear. It almost seems like Bungie/Activision is trying to drive away the Xbox people. It would have been one thing if the entire game had been excusive to one platform, then I would have considered my console purchase a little more closely (though I still don't like the PS controllers). The missions/strikes are what I really like and it sounds like the expansion for the Xbox guys will be pretty lite in that regard.

Money does it. And I believe it's all timed exclusives anyway, so you'll have it at some point. Same reason that Microsoft gets timed-exclusives from third party stuff as well.

Also, if you hadn't tried them out, the Dualshock 4 controllers are far better than the 3. I would say that after putting about a year of use into it, I like it probably equally as much as my 360 controller.