Destiny Raid Groups/ General Discussion

[tahdizzle]

I agree. Iron banner gear can get you to max light level, but thats a chore also.

[f0rge]

I have armor that gets me to 32, but I never wear it. It's hideous, the perks are terrible and I don't want to look like everyone else. Only time I put it on is to do CE, but I've never even done hard mode.

I definitely agree they need more paths to max level, for example TDB should have included a level 32/33 version of the VoG which would have dropped the second set of VoG armor that people have datamined but was never released.

Then again, I've done everything except HM:CE as a 31, so maybe max level is only needed for the truly hardcore.

[Andrew025]

They really should implement the reforging from Iron Banner items for everything else.
Reforging vanguard weapons, raid armor through eris or something and having raid armor with more unique perks possible instead the same stuff everyone gets (move faster with sword, stupid oversoul crap that's practically useless). Gets kind of boring with everyone having nearly the same.

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by f0rge

Then again, I've done everything except HM:CE as a 31, so maybe max level is only needed for the truly hardcore.

I'll try not to go into a long winded explanation about ilvl and things in other games. This statement knocks it out of the park. If you want to be the best of the best you need the best gear. But if you're not concerned with that you don't need the best gear to survive. The only thing in the game that requires it is HM CE. You don't need to be 32 for strikes, or nightfall, or weekly, or crucible, or even Iron Banner.

What I think Bungie could do to get a lot more life out of the game is require incremental steps, rather than be able to go straight to the vendors and buy items that will put you near the cap. Take progression in WoW for example. You hit cap. Then you do dungeons. Then you do heroic versions of those dungeons or easy group finder raids. Then you do normal raids. Then when you have the team and equipment, you do the hard mode.

IMO Bungie is missing a huge opportunity here to get a lot more out of what is already available. They're even already tuned the strike tiers to specific light levels. But I think if this were the case they'd need to make a whole lot more blue filler items, make those incremental gaps in gear a lot easier to upgrade, and then make legendaries and exotics equippable at llvl 30.

[f0rge]

I think that's the problem, they made it way too easy to get near max level, you can get to 31 with a full suite of Legendary weapons without ever setting foot into a raid.

Although i'm not sure making the raid a requirement to get above 30 would really work either, they would box out way too many casual gamers.

[tahdizzle]

This entire expansion was garbage.

In normal CE, the mobs are 32 (max level). In normal VOG the mobs are 28 (2 lvls below max level) So unless you complete the raid on hard, you are always going to be at a handicap when you try complete normal?

Thats Bass Aackwards.

[tahdizzle]

You can now use the destiny app to move items from the vault to your characters and vice versa.

[53Driver]

Originally Posted by f0rge

Although i'm not sure making the raid a requirement to get above 30 would really work either, they would box out way too many casual gamers.

Exactly. This isn't WoW, this is a console game. I'd be willing to bet the large amount of people who play console games are what we would call the "casual" gamer. I mean, look at the amount of games that are available for consoles. It seems like most people buy a game, play it for a few weeks and then move on to the next biggest and greatest thing.

Bungie promised an "evolving, open world experience where you would never run out of things to do". At least, that's the way I've interpreted from all the reading and research I've done on this game. I'm certainly not un-happy about the game. In fact, many elements of the game are fantastic. I looked the other day and I've put over 500 hours into this game.

I guess the long story short is, I have run out of things to do unless I want to grind the Raid which I don't plan on doing. Bungie has established artificial barriers to this game that are counter-productive IMO. I mean, if I'm not going to grind the Raid then at this point there's nothing left for me to do other than the NF and Weekly. Even that has become quite repetitive since they aren't adding any new content. Also, this RNG system is partly to blame in this mess. There's no rhyme nor reason how things get rewarded. You could do the Raid 3 times and have all the pieces of armor to make max light level or you could do it 30 times and only have 1 piece of armor. What about the NPCs? Say you want the Dead Orbit shader. There's people who've hit Rank 30 and haven't got it and there's people who've got it at Rank 5. That makes no sense. Some things should be guaranteed at certain Ranks, that would give people a goal and incentive to keep doing a particular activity. It would also help "show off" your prowess/status with different factions or activities. That's why I can't stand these elitists in the Bungie forums who talk about how they "earned" max light level. BS. You could have been one of those people who just got lucky with the current RNG system, you didn't "earn" shit. What about the people who spend hours grinding the Raid or any other activity for that matter and don't get the same rewards. Certainly I'm not saying everything has to be fair, but there should be some sort of established route for certain rewards, kind of like Exotic bounties. While I'm also not a huge fan of how most Exotic bounties have a PvP element tied to them, at least I know what all the bounty entails when I accept one.

If Bungie wants to model this into a similar system that n2oinferno has suggested, then they need to move to a paid subscription format rather than this paid "expansion" format they are currently using.

My last point goes back to what I had suggested earlier, that if there is no longer anything to "accomplish" then the fun and incentive starts to go out the window. That's where I am at right now. Grinding the Raid isn't something I want to do for various reasons, so no reason to keep grinding the rest of the game because I'm not accomplishing anything. Certainly I want to attain max light level, but Bungie has said "you will have to be hard core or else you can't max out". I'm not sure how solid of a business model that is, I'd be willing to bet 70-80% of people who started this game are "casual" gamers. Now, if there was a path to attaining max light level that I could do solo, kind of like some version of exotic bounties, then I would gladly keep working on it. For now, my playtime is just going to go down quite drastically unless things change.

Originally Posted by tahdizzle

This entire expansion was garbage.

In normal CE, the mobs are 32 (max level). In normal VOG the mobs are 28 (2 lvls below max level) So unless you complete the raid on hard, you are always going to be at a handicap when you try complete normal?

Thats Bass Aackwards.

I agree and it's just one more thing Bungie did that doesn't make sense. Game comes out, let's make normal Raid 2 light levels below max. Expansion comes out, let's make normal Raid at max light level. Oh, you want to try Hard mode CE, well let's make that one level higher than max light level! Good grief.

I am happy that they added matchmaking to the Weekly. Did it last night with my primary character. Hardly anyone on my friend's list seems to playing this game anymore so at least I can run the Weekly with other people without having to get on some random match making site. If it wasn't for the matchmaking, I probably wouldn't have done it last night. Now if they would do the same for the NF.

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by tahdizzle

You can now use the destiny app to move items from the vault to your characters and vice versa.

Literal game changer.
Seriously the best thing they've done so far.

[f0rge]

I didn't even care about getting to 32, once I had the armor and realized I needed like 45 shards I almost gave up.

Oddly Exotic bounties kept me going, grinded out Thorn and then picked up Bad Juju and Invective bounties. Invective was cake, Juju was another grind but way easier than Thorn. In the meantime I managed to grab enough shards for 32. Once I got all 3 I had nothing left...so break time...

[53Driver]

Originally Posted by f0rge

I didn't even care about getting to 32, once I had the armor and realized I needed like 45 shards I almost gave up.

Oddly Exotic bounties kept me going, grinded out Thorn and then picked up Bad Juju and Invective bounties. Invective was cake, Juju was another grind but way easier than Thorn. In the meantime I managed to grab enough shards for 32. Once I got all 3 I had nothing left...so break time...

I finally abandoned my Thorn bounty this morning. Realized it wasn't worth the effort since I rarely play Crucible. I'd love to have Thorn, but the PvP stage is brutal partly due to the fact I suck at it. I'm doing the Bad JuJu bounty again, got it once before prior to the expansion dropping, then got rid of it when I saw I was going to have to re-level it and since I had hardly used it before at the time it seemed like the smart thing to do. I'm also on the last stage of the Pocket Infinity bounty, but not even sure if it is worth it since I now I have two Murmurs.

Still playing, just going to be spending a lot less time on there until HoW drops.

[f0rge]

Originally Posted by 53Driver

I finally abandoned my Thorn bounty this morning. Realized it wasn't worth the effort since I rarely play Crucible. I'd love to have Thorn, but the PvP stage is brutal partly due to the fact I suck at it. I'm doing the Bad JuJu bounty again, got it once before prior to the expansion dropping, then got rid of it when I saw I was going to have to re-level it and since I had hardly used it before at the time it seemed like the smart thing to do. I'm also on the last stage of the Pocket Infinity bounty, but not even sure if it is worth it since I now I have two Murmurs.

Still playing, just going to be spending a lot less time on there until HoW drops.

Thorn was a grind for sure, especially because you can't suck, except you're forced to use terrible weapons. Maybe the shotgun buff will help? At least Bad Juju you can put in some terrible games but the counter still climbs.

Pocket Infinity is neat, the 3 or 5 shot burst (depending on perks) devastates almost anything and makes those "get 2 kills with fusion rifle 20 times" bounties super easy. It at least feels like an Exotic.

I'm out of town this weekend but next week I'll run some PVP with you. Thatswhatsup and his buddies also run quite a bit of Crucible.

[wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by Andrew025

Literal game changer.
Seriously the best thing they've done so far.

YES. My group likes to run the nightfalls back to back rapid fire across 3 characters, so being able to swap around weapons in seconds is a HUGE time saver.

Originally Posted by f0rge

Thorn was a grind for sure, especially because you can't suck, except you're forced to use terrible weapons. Maybe the shotgun buff will help? At least Bad Juju you can put in some terrible games but the counter still climbs.

Once you get some decent void weapons, it's better. I ran my voidwalker warlock with maxed Atheon's Epilogue, Two to the Morgue shotgun (never used), and Corrective Measure machine gun and finished the Thorn PvP in about 3 hours. I figured I was in for another month long battle to ship away at it, but once I got into a rhythm I couldn't believe how fast it was ticking up. And I don't PvP except for when I have a bounty. It just takes practice until you find a loadout and rhythm you are happy with. and if you're getting wasted, drop out and find another game.

[f0rge]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

YES. My group likes to run the nightfalls back to back rapid fire across 3 characters, so being able to swap around weapons in seconds is a HUGE time saver.

Once you get some decent void weapons, it's better. I ran my voidwalker warlock with maxed Atheon's Epilogue, Two to the Morgue shotgun (never used), and Corrective Measure machine gun and finished the Thorn PvP in about 3 hours. I figured I was in for another month long battle to ship away at it, but once I got into a rhythm I couldn't believe how fast it was ticking up. And I don't PvP except for when I have a bounty. It just takes practice until you find a loadout and rhythm you are happy with. and if you're getting wasted, drop out and find another game.

I ran a similar loadout, maxed Atheon's, void Comedian shotty and Truth. Rarely used the shotty, played mostly Control and sort of hung back near the capture points and tried to kill anyone who came near me and pray they didn't have Suros. Heavy drops we crucial since it was usually 4 guaranteed kills with Truth.

Took me a while though, definitely more than 3 hours. Probably 2-3 evenings in total, at least 6 hours. Took breaks in PVE when it got frustrating. Might have been my playstyle, in PVP I'm more of a "don't die" type of player rather than a "get the most kills" type. Might have also been because I like to drink when I play.