Topic: Destiny

[Ceric]

I pre-ordered the game and I'm going to play the Beta.  I enjoyed the Alpha and I be more excited by the game if they hadn't already announced Expansions.  With that being said who else is playing?

[Ceric]

Been playing the Beta.  I'm a level 5 Titan at this time.

It's interesting comparing the Alpha to this.  I like the progression more.  I absolutely hate the dialog change for The Dark Within.  It feels total different and soulless.  I like this version of the Dialog vastly less.

It's still lonely when playing it.  They tweaked the enemies.  In The Dark Within where your rushed by The Hive.  The rushing enemies take about 2 shots.  Which I think is appropriate for a Swarming Rushing type enemy.  It feels a lot better for the role.

Been finding chests thats cool.  Sparrow grids not so cool.  Beacon's are still broken in my mind.  Having to go to Ten-Buck-Two to do something in a Pop in play mode doesn't feel good.

Going to be playing Tonight, 7/18/2014, at 8:30pm CST.  All are Welcome.  Lord that sounds like Church.


I'm CericME.  If you don't put a little bit of who you are I'll probably ignore your request.

[Ceric]

Last night got my Titan to level cap which is 8 again.  Did a first run through of all the PvE content.  Disappointed they didn't raise cap and allow some of the moon missions.  What's there is good.  Biggest problem is that Public Events need a tuning pass or the dynamic world filling algorithm needs tuned.  Two level 7 couldn't make a dent on a level 5 event boss.  To the point that 2 more wouldn't help.  There is to much walking between points on some of them.

[NWR_insanolord]

I haven't even played it yet, but watching a friend play a bit of it has already sold me on the game. I'm not usually a big FPS guy, but this is exactly the kind of thing I could get into.

[BranDonk Kong]

I've only seen a few clips, but if Halo 5 wasn't being made by whoever is making it, I would have thought that this game was Halo 5. I want to play the beta, but I might not pre-order (you can cancel those though, right?) because school starts in a few weeks and I basically can't play any video games until late December once that happens.

[NWR_insanolord]

I've only seen a few clips, but if Halo 5 wasn't being made by whoever is making it, I would have thought that this game was Halo 5. I want to play the beta, but I might not pre-order (you can cancel those though, right?) because school starts in a few weeks and I basically can't play any video games until late December once that happens.

I've got an extra beta code for the PS4, if you've got one and would like to play.

[BranDonk Kong]

I will love you forever (emotionally and physically), yes I have a PS4.

[NWR_insanolord]

Emotionally AND physically, you say? Check your PMs.

[BranDonk Kong]

Thanks! Lovemaking will begin soon, disappointment to follow.

[Stratos]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[Ceric]

On Saturday I played Crucible Iron Banner.

I'm disappointed it didn't really change anything.  Just got Mars maps and I know its suppose to take out the equalization.  Besides that its just control.  I have yet to find where the Iron Banner is in the tower.  I have rep for them but I'll bet I can't wear the gear which is a theme.

On Sunday I did ALL of the Single Player story content on the higher difficulty with my Titan.  It had some intense moments.  I almost made it through all the SP content in the higher difficulty without dieing.  I was on the last enemy set of the last story mission and a Hive Wizard poisoned me somehow.  Once I respawned I demolished that wave with prejudice.

Then I saw I almost had my Fist of Havoc upgrade so, I did some PvP to see if I could push it over.  That didn't work out.  I stink at PvP.

Got a ton of Bounties done though.  Including Killing 30 enemies without dieing using your Melee.  The bounties give you experience which since I'm level cap doesn't do much for me but it seems to raise my different abilities.  Like I was close on the Grenade upgrade.  Turned in a bounty and it popped.

Talking about the Grenade Upgrade.  The Pulsing Grenade definitely been tweaked since Alpha.  I can't put my finger on it but it was much stickier and harder to use in Alpha.  I'm having great success with it this time.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I've put a few hours into the Beta and have mixed feeling about it. The shooting feels great, the game looks good, and the speeder bike you can summon is a lot of fun to ride around on. Unfortunately the missions themselves are kind of boring. Maybe those missions would be more fun played with other people, but the only other players I bumped into were busy doing their own thing and didn't necessarily seem to be directed by the same prompts as me. It might be a cool game, I just don't feel like I've got a good grasp of it yet.

I did, however, play some competitive multiplayer on the Moon map and thought it had a lot of potential.

[BranDonk Kong]

Haven't played it yet. I downloaded it yesterday and it said it was done, so I started it, got signed in after several attempts and then it told me...26% downloaded. I think it's done now but I fell asleep waiting for it last night.

[lolmonade]

Unfortunately I was out of town until last night, and I promptly started my download.


Turn on my PS4 tonight to give it a shot….and now it's down until Wednesday?!?!?!  Shoot!

[Ceric]

The Beta was up last night.

Finally Finally Got a new ship.  The rate you get Glimmer in the Beta is seriously bumped down from the Alpha.  It took me forever to get a new ship.  In retrospect I should have bought a new speeder because it would have made me faster.  I just wanted a sleeker ship so I got the Sleek Purple one.

I played PvP last night.  Haven't got Rusted City this whole Beta.  I'm still not overly fond of the Moon map while vehicles are in play.  Though I am getting better at PvP.

Finally, got my Fist of Havoc upgrade.  Its awesome in its own way.  They whole Impact area gets this continual AoE that lasts about as long as the Grenade one.

I think they tweaked either the damage output I was doing down or the armor of the Monsters up.  They seem to be harder to kill after the maintenance in the Harder Modes.

The game is less boring mission wise on the higher difficulty and with someone.  They seem to tweak the numbers for how many there are and the higher difficulty there just more and more aggressive AI.


If I'm not swamped with Church work I'm going to try to do the Harder Difficulty Devil's Lair tonight.

[lolmonade]

The Beta was up last night.

Yep, I took note of that and got through the introductory mission.  I'm enjoying it for what it is so far (FPS with leveling-up).  Playing a warlock because it seemed like the most interesting character from the description, although if I have enough time, I might create an alt.

Seems like a lot of the internet's response to the beta so far is "meh", but as someone who could never get into borderlands and doesn't play many first person shooters, I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far.
 
My only gripe is that the sprint button wasn't working, but that might have been because I was using remote play on my Vita, so I don't know if remote play's kinks haven't been worked through yet.

[Ceric]

The Beta was up last night.

Yep, I took note of that and got through the introductory mission.  I'm enjoying it for what it is so far (FPS with leveling-up).  Playing a warlock because it seemed like the most interesting character from the description, although if I have enough time, I might create an alt.

Seems like a lot of the internet's response to the beta so far is "meh", but as someone who could never get into borderlands and doesn't play many first person shooters, I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far.
 
My only gripe is that the sprint button wasn't working, but that might have been because I was using remote play on my Vita, so I don't know if remote play's kinks haven't been worked through yet.

The Sprint button is weird on remote play.  I believe its the touch screen.  Check the Help info on the Vita for all that they have a mapping diagram.  At least they did in the Alpha.

I enjoy it for what it is.  I wish they would have up the level cap some and opened up a little more.  Another PvP Mode would have been nice and at least 1 moon mission.  I'm sure later on it will get harder.  Like in the last story mode mission on hard difficulty the Wizard can poison you.  Don't really know how that mechanic works but it killed me.

[lolmonade]

Thanks, Ceric.  Found out it's actually mapped to the D-Pad Down for remote play, which is a poor choice.  The game feels much better on the DS4, obviously.  As a side note, I really wish Sony would implement Remote Play through their playstation app for tablets so I could use the controller/tablet and my wife could use the TV.  Vita is a bit cramped for my hands, and you can't chat through the vita with PS4 people while playing.
 
I'm really enjoying the game so far.  I get the comparisons to Borderlands, but the gunplay & controls feel better here, and honestly, I wasn't a fan of the style & humor (felt like it was trying too hard).  I much prefer the asthetic of Destiny, which feels like a mix of Star Wars & Mass Effect wrapped in Halo gameplay and WOW instance structure.
 
I started as the Warlock, but I think I might give the other two classes a try before the beta ends to see how they all play/feel, so I can get a sense of who I'll main with.
 
 

[shingi_70]

So anyone know where I go to do the PVP?

[Pixelated Pixies]

So anyone know where I go to do the PVP?

That would be the 'Crucible' which is accessible on the 'choose a destination' menu page. I've only jumped into PVP the once, but it seemed fun.

If anyone is interested in creating a Fireteam/partying up on PS4 let me know.

[Pixelated Pixies]

So, I've experienced something in Destiny since my last post and have a question about it. A question that is make or break as far as my getting this game is concerned.

In what I believe to be the last story mission of the Beta I was thrown into a Fireteam with two other people, and at the end of the level we had to fight a boss. We got creamed the first time, and did much better the second time. Then the other two guys quit. Now I'm left fighting the thing on my own, but the game does not seem to have scaled accordingly. There's still a ****-tonne of enemies and now the boss's cannons are constantly trained on yours truly.

Up until this point my understanding of Destiny was that it was more fun to play with other people, but that it was possible to play through solo. So my question is this: Was I wrong? Will Destiny require me to play with others in order to complete it's campaign? I don't necessarily have a problem playing with people online in order to get past certain missions, but I really don't like the idea of making it all the way to the end of a mission only for them to piss off, leaving me unable to continue.

[BranDonk Kong]

Just played it for the first time...seems pretty cool so far. What's weird is I always play any FPS with vertical look inverted, including this, but I find myself pushing the stick in the wrong direction constantly. Maybe it's just because I haven't played my PS4 in like 6 months.

[lolmonade]

So, I've experienced something in Destiny since my last post and have a question about it. A question that is make or break as far as my getting this game is concerned.

In what I believe to be the last story mission of the Beta I was thrown into a Fireteam with two other people, and at the end of the level we had to fight a boss. We got creamed the first time, and did much better the second time. Then the other two guys quit. Now I'm left fighting the thing on my own, but the game does not seem to have scaled accordingly. There's still a ****-tonne of enemies and now the boss's cannons are constantly trained on yours truly.

Up until this point my understanding of Destiny was that it was more fun to play with other people, but that it was possible to play through solo. So my question is this: Was I wrong? Will Destiny require me to play with others in order to complete it's campaign? I don't necessarily have a problem playing with people online in order to get past certain missions, but I really don't like the idea of making it all the way to the end of a mission only for them to piss off, leaving me unable to continue.

For what it's worth, I've played solo nearly the whole time, including the level I believe you're referring to.  That boss IS beatable solo, but you can't just run around guns blazing, you have to really strategize and work on separating the enemies from the larger horde and pick them off in smaller groups.  Took me about 4 times to be successful because it was a sharp increase in difficulty compared to the other levels. 
 
That said, I don't know if the enemies scale based on group vs solo, and don't know if it would scale down mid-mission.  Did you actually join the group, or did they just follow you through the mission?  Technically you can play along with a group without actually joining them.
 

[Ceric]

If the game paired you with 2 other Guardians then what you played was Devil's Lair.  It is not a story mission.  It does not count for the story stats on Bungie.Net.  Devil's Lair is what is known as a Strike.

A Strike is a Dungeon or Instance if you've played any other MMO.  It is designed and meant to be done by a team of 3.  The game should have automatically paired you with more people.

All the Story Missions you can do Solo.  Now I know from experience that they do scale to your fireteam which can be interesting.  I haven't had a fireteamate leave while doing a Story Mission but, I imagine that it would scale back on the next wave or area.

The Last Story Mission of the beta is on the Far Left middle of the Earth Map.  It ends with Hive jumping in out of no where and you have to defend a Communication Array.

To answer the question about where is PvP its to the far Right of the destination map.

Its Moon (PvE Locked), Tower (Hub Town), Crucible (PvP)
Earth (PvE)

That's how the map should look.

Did a little PvP last night.  I think they nerfed Grenades a bit in PvP.  I had a grenade land and go off at a Hunter's feet and they didn't die last night.  That was pretty much a guaranteed kill before.  Got a Bounty done and upgraded my Storm Fist and Sniper Rifle.  Then went to bed.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Thanks for the info guys.

I guess it just wasn't clear to me that the 'Devil's Lair' mission was distinct from the others. It was just another selectable point on the map, so I thought it was a story mission like the others. I went on to beat it with another group and thought it was pretty fun.

[Ceric]

Thanks for the info guys.

I guess it just wasn't clear to me that the 'Devil's Lair' mission was distinct from the others. It was just another selectable point on the map, so I thought it was a story mission like the others. I went on to beat it with another group and thought it was pretty fun.

My Big problem with Devil's Lair is that last two bosses.  Spider-Tank needs its health dropped in half and Eye guy needs an adjustment down of about a quarter.  Spider-Tank just is boring easily half way through.

[lolmonade]

The beta just became open to all with PS+ or Xbox Gold, which is nice.
 
 

[shingi_70]

Will try and play some of the PVP tonight, and try the other two classes after work tomorow.

But yeah I'm set that this is going to be my next major driver game. Sony def choose the right game between this and titanfall.

[Oblivion]

The game is multiplatform, so I don't know how Sony "chose" anything.

[Shaymin]

Sony's putting so much marketing behind this game it's not funny. In the eyes of the wider audience, it's going to be PS4 only. (Same thing they did with Watch Dogs.)

Which is a shame, as this would be best served on a platform where you don't have to pay for online (PS3).

[Ceric]

Alright the Destiny Beta is done.

Things that I haven't mentioned.  I did the Moon when it was open.  Sort of interesting.  Reminds me of the Moon PvP map, which I hate, I think that Mission wise it could get more interesting.  I did do it on both modes, normal and higher level, I have to say that they Mini-Boss they put at the beginning of the Moon on Higher Level is the hardest thing the moon had to offer.  He was aggressive, would chase you, close to melee when he had an opportunity, needless to say he was rough.  The Hive Wizard at the end is no chump either and if I had to face him on an open killing field yeah...  Luckily though the room is setup for the fight.  Unluckily though I died the first time on the Higher Level so I had to do the fight without any heavy ammo.  A lot of widdling down to get minor damage while charging the super.

At the end of the day I loved my Titan.  He felt me but, I have to concede that at this stage the Titan may be the weakest of the 3 classes.  Extra armor means relatively squat when you can regen everything.  Now if you could only regen Shields health damage was permanent till healed otherwise maybe.  I know why they went away from that design and I think it was a good choice.   But the bomb on the Titan is not nearly as powerful as the Warlocks including the upgraded version of the Titan's that is suppose to be the equivalent.  The Super for the Titan while cool doesn't have the flexibility of the other two and the Warlock does about the same.  I have a feeling the Alpha and Beta are doing Titan's a disservice by being capped at level 8.  Looking later in the skill tree I think they come more into there own at the higher levels.

Let's talk about leveling and Rep Gear.  Rep is almost useless while leveling which was made painfully obvious by the Alpha and the Beta.  You really couldn't get anything from leveling rep.

I tried PvP leveling a character and man thats rough.  You might hit just as hard because of the equalization but, you missing a lot of you tool set.  I had to play matches with no Grenade, Super, and Double Jump.  On some of those maps missing the Double Jump is painful.  Gear for the secondary stats are rarely dolled out.  They really need a vendor that you can use Rep from The Crucible to buy supplemental gear of your level.

In the Moon PvP vehicles still need to be tweaked.  That tank vehicle either needs a bump down in health/armor or needs to hold damage.  Shield recharge but the red damage stays like with enemies.

Patrol needs a little something.  I know people who love it but, it feels like it needs a little something for me.  I feel in there own way the mission areas are a little small.  I hope that its just a matter of more area's of the earth are just higher level.

Overall, I think its pretty solid demo.  I do hope there are more PvP modes in the final product.  They do have a month to tweak.

[lolmonade]

I tried all 3 classes, but only got to the level cap with a Warlock.  I didn't have issue making progression with any of them, but the Warlock definitely felt the strongest.  To add to your point, Ceric, if this were an MMO, the Titan should be the "tank" class that is able to handle the most damage and pull aggro, but this would essentially make him useless in a PvP role.  That said, extra armor means more in PvE, where I often found myself dying off quickly as a warlock when my Titan teammate could absorb much more damage.  I did find a lot of success using his special move though, moreso than the warlock even.
 
Given they have the option to upgrade your ship, I wish there would be some space exploration/battle levels.  If there aren't (i'm assuming there aren't), then it's paying currency for something that's purely cosmetic, which is disappointing.
 
I had a lot of fun with the beta, but my only concern is that the PvE levels seem repetitive so far.  Maybe there's just a limit to what you can do with a FPS game in terms of variety, but all the levels seemed to be "go inside, kill enemies through some cooridors" and either "fight the big nasty boss", or "defend this thing that the ghost is analyzing".  Repetitiveness aside, playing with others is what will really make this game a great experience above all else, so I'll need to make sure I have people to play with through the game if I want the best experience.  Still trying to get feedback from a few friends I played the beta with on if they intend to get the game at launch.

[Ceric]

It is fun to play the game with someone.  Especially if you can talk with them.  The problem with that is they break the chain.  I've made friends in Monster Hunter because of Monster Hunter.  Destiny I'll have to make friends through Friends of a Friend much like Diablo III.

[lolmonade]

It is fun to play the game with someone.  Especially if you can talk with them.  The problem with that is they break the chain.  I've made friends in Monster Hunter because of Monster Hunter.  Destiny I'll have to make friends through Friends of a Friend much like Diablo III.

I didn't check, but was there no "looking for group" queue you could put yourself in to join a firesquad in?  If not, that's a pretty bad omission to have for a game that relies so heavily on the group experience to get the most out of it.

[Ceric]

It is fun to play the game with someone.  Especially if you can talk with them.  The problem with that is they break the chain.  I've made friends in Monster Hunter because of Monster Hunter.  Destiny I'll have to make friends through Friends of a Friend much like Diablo III.

I didn't check, but was there no "looking for group" queue you could put yourself in to join a firesquad in?  If not, that's a pretty bad omission to have for a game that relies so heavily on the group experience to get the most out of it.

If you jump into a Skirmish it automatically does that for you.  Its pretty seamless.  Unfortunately its not very intuitive to like a group and want to do something else with them since there is not communication.

[Ceric]

Destiny is Out in the wild people.  The Servers have been turned on already.  The problem is that the only way to get onto said server is if you have a physical version.  Sony and Microsoft are holding true to the Digital Release Date and Bungie has said that its between you and your retailer about getting the physical version.

It boils down to if find a way to get Destiny playing on your system Bungie is not going to stop you from connecting to the servers.

Also Sony is releasing a Companion App just for there Gold line of Headphones that is suppose to have Enhanced Sound for Destiny.

[lolmonade]

I went ahead and stopped at my gamestop's midnight launch to swoop in and bring home my copy of the game, so all the updates could get started and I can dive right in after getting off work, exercising and putting the kids to bed.  There was a pretty even mix of xbox and playstation owners there.

[NWR_insanolord]

I had it preordered on PSN so it was downloaded and ready to go, but I also had NHL 15 that way, which also came out last night, and I've been spending my time with that so far.

[lolmonade]

I had it preordered on PSN so it was downloaded and ready to go, but I also had NHL 15 that way, which also came out last night, and I've been spending my time with that so far.

I haven't played an NHL game since maybe 98' on the Genesis.  I've always been curious to check a more recent one out, but get the feeling that if it's anything like Madden, I'll be overwhelmed with options that I'll never use effectively.

[Ceric]

So Yesterday Destiny.

First off the biggest thing I found out on my own was you just have to get a Character to level 5 to open Crucible.  Than any character can do it.  That means for my Pure PvP leveling toon, a Hunter, she started at Level 3 or so.  A lot more XP from PvP and I've played all the initial opened modes.  Its pretty much 3 Deathmatch style and Control.  I like Control more gets people moving better.  I'm hoping they didn't cut Salvage because I really want to try that mode.

On my PvE Toon, got all the way through all the Beta content, including the moon, to the second part of the moon.  I've died about 5 times mostly for cheap reasons.  I have to say that I'm a little worried about the balancing Level wise.  I didn't do the Devil's lair yet so that might be why I'm off but I feel like I'm clearing content and moving on a little behind the recommended level. Take the Moon, I even goofed off some and wasn't Level 7 by the time I cleared to the Level 7 Content of the Moon.  That has me concerned about the later part.

On my PvP toon I got an Excellent Scout Rifle for my PvE toon.  So I go to the Vault to store it and it won't let me store anything.  I think the Vault is broken.  I'm my PvP toon I don't seem to be getting Crucible Marks.  I should be but, I don't think I am.  I had a match where Bungie gave everyone on my Team 2 Items except me.

Another thing to note if you have the Digital Guardian edition on PS4 you have to go to the Add-on area in the PS4 menu to get your bonus stuff.  That wasn't made clear initially.

Played a little with @ETDragon and a friend of here.  That went ok.  Though I don't think I made a lifetime buddy.  Saw Dr.Metts and Lindy on.  Thought about jumping over to there game and seeing if they wanted to play but decided not too.

[broodwars]

My Destiny LE arrived today, but I won't have a chance to play it until later tonight. Looking forward to playing through the game for real this time with my green-haired female Hunter.

[Ceric]

So Last night, after realizing Devil Lair was Level 8, I went and did a mission on the Moon to find a Sword.  I also did a mission to disconnect a communication relay for all intents and purposes.  I have to say that the moon gets downright creepy eventually.  Wielding the sword is also cool but, it stops you from being able to use your guns so that was annoying.

I don't think Bungie has the server populating scheme correct yet.  Take the moon last night, I had a public event pop and there was only me and 1 other guy.  Which happen to be the only other person I have seen on my last 3 Moon missions.  We go to take it on.  He's a level 10 and I'm a level 7 and between us neither one of us could make a dent in the shields of the level 8 Public Event Wizard.  That is ridiculous.  They needed take a page from Rift and how they implemented there Public Events.  Let them scale to the number of people.  I also like to mention since I started playing that was the first public event I had even available.  That's pathetic to think they must have had it turned up in the Alpha and Beta.

On my PvP toon I have gotten to level 7.  Had a really good game this morning.  Highest score I've made yet and still didn't get to a 1.0 KD Ratio.  I just stink at PvP.  As Level 7 I should be able to get Bounties but that is broken if you just PvP level a toon.  Which really stinks because that is a big source of Rep.  Winning matches does not give you barely any rep with the PvP Factions and the 1.01 Patch (Day one Patch) Made it so that you don't gain Crucible Marks till Level 18 which is a crock. 

So lets review, if you PvP level a toon then not only do you get access to a pitiful dribble of gear.  You probably won't be better off in PvP then someone who just jumps in at Level 18.  Though it is a good source of Glimmer from what I can tell.  I've been over 2000 for  while.  There needs to be a bit of tweaking.  I know they want you to go through the story but, still needs some tweaking.  At least they seem to have gotten rid of the Moon one.

Looking forward to tonight.  I got to the point where I'm at the Big Mission for the moon.  I opted to do a littler mission last night because it was late and it promised me a Primary Weapon upgrade, which in fairness it did give but it was just White .  This one heavily hints that it will cause something to happen with The Traveler.


Also according to Geek.com, Destiny made $500 Million its first Day,  which would cover the WHOLE cost of Destiny.  That's everything according to other articles I found on the cost. 


Say what you will about Destiny but, as Lindy said on Twitter, this has been a smooth launch.  PSN and Live have been Solid.  Destiny itself has only bumped me to Space twice and both of those from the tower.  Supply of the game itself hasn't been constrained.  I have not seen any noticeable lag.  The closest I've seen is when parting and someone does a quick move and your going a different way you might see them disappear into Blue like the ghost then reappear a little farther.

[NWR_insanolord]

It really is impressive that such a massive launch went that smoothly. Maybe it shouldn't be, and this is what should be expected as the norm, but historically this isn't the way it's been usually.

[Ceric]

It really is impressive that such a massive launch went that smoothly. Maybe it shouldn't be, and this is what should be expected as the norm, but historically this isn't the way it's been usually.

I've been part of a lot of MMO launches, closest equivalent, from some of the top companies that do this type of thing and it has never been that smooth.  Poor Wildstar seems to still be having problems.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I agree with most of the criticisms I've read of Destiny, I can for instance see it eventually becoming repetitive, but I'm still finding the combat and upgrade loop to be really satisfying. Also, it doesn't hurt that it sounds, looks and controls great.

I'm currently only level 7, so I'm still playing through the stuff I already saw in the Beta, but I'm looking forward to seeing what else the game has to show.

If you're looking to fill out your Fire team my PSN name is 'MartySmyth'.

[lolmonade]

I'd be happy to play with anyone here if they are also looking for someone to fill-ou their fireteam, psn ID below.

[broodwars]

I've put a few evenings into the game on PS4 and...honestly, this game's kind of boring and severely underwhelming considering the money and hype put into it.  The Destiny universe is interesting and I want to explore it, but there's just nothing there. The environments are huge and beautiful, but also ridiculously empty.  It feels like I'm spending hours wandering through empty corridors, occasionally shooting at enemies. Bungie didn't think the Call of Duty crowd would be intelligent enough to read lore (and they're probably right), so every scrap of lore was banished to their website.  And thanks to the stupid online requirement, I can't play the game at all anytime my family's using the kitchen microwave.

My biggest problem, though, is that so far (I'm a Level 9 Hunter, and I just completed the World' Grave mission on the moon) every...single...mission in this game is exactly the same: wander through this same area you've crossed 5 billion times to this one spot, shoot some guys, find the thing to latch your Ghost onto, and then fight off waves of enemies till mission completion. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. There's absolutely no NPC interaction and barely even an attempt at storytelling so far.  The gunplay's great,  but that's all there is to this game. Even Call of Duty games have better storytelling than this game, and that's saying something.  Hell, when frickin' Borderlands looks like a Final Fantasy game by comparison to your game, you done ****ed-up.  : :

Maybe I'll like the game better once I play some multi, but right now the game's just looking like it should have a sticker on the box saying "Warning: a huge backlog of podcasts required to enjoy this game."  I do enjoy the Public Events; the music is fantastic; and the game is gorgeous...but I just wish all that was in service of a better game.

[Ceric]

So last night I was doing the Last Big Moon mission.  My Son then wanted to play a game so, I was like alright let me find a place to park my toon where no enemy spawn and we'll do that.  Destiny wouldn't let me.  It decided to Spawn enemies if I sat anywhere to long.   Traditionally that is how you handle these types of things in MMOs.  I tried to rush through the rest of the mission just to get cheap shotted by a Thrall after taken out all the big nasties.  Back to start the whole end sequence again.   At that point I was just frustrated and had other things to do so I killed Destiny.  When I jumped back in I had all my Loot and levels plus when I went back it didn't have me restart the mission but put me at the checkpoint before the sequence.  I cleared it and unlocked Venus.

Played some more PvP.  I'm hoping to unlock Salvage soon.  I would really love to be able to do Bounties on my PvP toon but Bungie has deemed that to not be allowable even though there now Level 7.

This morning I decided I do the Venus Mission to see how the story continued.  I noticed someone who was also doing the mission and went to join them as a fireteam.  I didn't realize it but it forces you to become friends.  Which is silly.  Bungie needs to take a page from SWTOR, WoW, almost any other MMO.   I should be able to invite people to at least a fireteam that is the length of the mission w/out being friends.  Also Cutscenes should be handled like SWTOR when your in a team then all the members should be in it.

I also did Devil's Lair for the first time since the Beta.  I'm glad they toned down the health of the Spider-tank some.  Still think that fight is too long.  They need to make these fights a little more dynamic and they might in the Next Skirmish that I haven't played.

Something to note about story the last moon mission your sent there by the Speaker urgently and when you complete it the speaker doesn't want to speak to you.  Its sort of disconnect there storywise.

Venus introduces some new Enemies with a different weak point so Yay for variety sort of.

I do agree, you should be able to access all the Grimoires from within the game.  You shouldn't have to go to Bungie.net to read them.  More lore to find be nice.  I think Destiny's big problem though gameplay wise is that there is only so much you can do with this Genre.  They need to add more puzzle elements to the game.  Much like some games have hacking.  Maybe enemies you need to shoot with sequences.  By this point I would expect more to start being asked of the player.

For reference This should lead to the Profile of my Titan and Hunter.

[shingi_70]

I'm a level 10 warlock and i'm halfway through the moon portion.


I find it a bit funny that Bungie left microsoft since they were a Halo only studio, only to commit themselves to Destiny for ten years.




So far i'm loving the game but find myself disapointed that Bungie didn't decide to just make the game a full MMO. Playing my first even with more than the alloted three players has been the best experience so far.

[Ceric]

Your on XBone aren't you Shingi?

I can share the sentiments.  There is a good base there to build an MMO type experience but, they just didn't take it that extra mile.  I'm curious if something just opens up a lot when you reach 20.

[shingi_70]

Yep. When I first played the Beta it seemed to me that there wasn't alot of people out in the world when i'm doing mission or Patroling and chalked it up to probably not as many Xbox One players as PS4 users. But playing the full game it seems to be a design decision as I was paroling on the cosmodrome and there were only a few other players around me, but once an Event started we got a big influx of players running around.


It seems that alot of the decisions they made are very MMOish like the multiple currencies but the game is seemingly hurt by the fact that their isn't multiple hub area's like the tower (though i'm expecting each planet to get one as the updates go on).

I've been enjoying the Crucible but none of the levels seem memorable.

[Ceric]

From experience having just the Tower is actually a good thing. 

That's interesting, for me the world is always fairly barren.  I figure in release they put more people in but they didn't.  I haven't seen in influx of people for events.  Considering I've only ran into 1 event  I don't have a large sample set.

[Ceric]

I really didn't get to play a lot this weekend.  I did take my Titan into PvP enough to clear his bounties for those up.  Which was nice because he got 2 levels off it and a nice Blue Chest piece off of it.  Interestingly enough they gave him maps that I hadn't gotten on my PvP Hunter.  Might be a level thing.  Also got an Arc Damage Sniper rifle.  Can't wait to use one of those again.

I'll link it later but, the thoughts that Tim Buckley had today about Destiny at Cad-Comic are a lot in line to my thoughts.  Read those and to expand on that the Multiplayer was obviously balanced for Control and none of the other modes.  The maps just don't feel right in the other modes.  They should have made different variations for them.

I also realize that I miss a crafting system.  I just can't get better pants.  A vendor that would help you fill in those gear gaps be nice.  The loot just doesn't drop enough that I'm feeling loot starved in some slots.  I have yet to naturally get a class item.

[Ceric]

Last night I was going to Finish Venus.  I did it a bit out of order.  I like the Vex because they at least have a different weak point than the other two.  I ended up doing all the missions but the last story one.  It was getting to late.  I'm going to go through that tonight possibly.

I was playing and I saw Dr.Metts on and a few others I knew I thought about joining them but I didn't.  I was a little dismayed that Jonny's character who is only a level above me had almost all greens and 3 blues.  To me 1 Blue and a few greens.  Oh my luck.

I also tried the Dungeon on the Moon.  I got to the very last boss.  Which is in its way a sorta interesting fight but since we couldn't communicate we wiped enough I lost my team.  My Problem, beyond not being able to communicate in any way, in that fight was that it just kept spawning enemies.  So here I had this huge hard boss but, instead of fighting the boss I had to just keep clearing trash.  Bad design.  Should be only X Trash or set wave times, like 25% health, 50% Health, etc.  I would like to do it with a Fireteam of friends that I could talk to.  Be a lot simpler.

[Ceric]

Finished up Venus.  I wished this game had Sidequests.  I like to learn some more about the Awoken.  In the process of finishing up Venus I went over level 15 and opened up my Sub-Class but, thats a misnomer.

I wouldn't call it a Sub-Class as an Alternative class that you have to level from scratch.  You heard that right.  By using my "Sub-Class" I have No Grenade, No Super, No Double Jump, No enhanced Melee, and No Character Stat Upgrade.  I am literally starting from scratch with better gear again.  I don't think that's how I would have handled that. 

I've been leveling that on my Titan.  I like the Magnet Grenade.  I don't know if I like the Purple Bubble Super.  As a Shield it works well that problem with it is that beside people not being able to shoot you.  You can't shoot them.  Making it not as useful.  In all honesty if I could take the grenade from this spec and almost everything else from my other spec it would be Ideal but, a little OP.

Also got a cool ship as a Story Reward.  I'm surprised I haven't seen more of them when I go and do PvP to be honest since everyone should be getting them.  I mean not like there are a lot of alternative ways to get through the game unless you just grind PvP and Patrols.

[Ceric]

Off to Mars. Interestingly the first mission gives you an upgraded Speeder.  Also introduces the Cabal who must be Ink men contained in suits.  This has been harder.  Mostly be the introduction of better armored enemies and more aggressive weapons.  Plus Ambushes.

I got a Blue Class Ingram last night.  I was really excited because I wanted a new belt.  I want and got it decoded... It turned into a Mote of Light.  I have to get 24 Motes of Light for a new built.  Seriously game.  I know I'm getting it a few levels early but its still worthless to me for a good amount of time.  Though my Cryptarch is Level 2 because Blue Engrams pop them about half a reputation level and I've gotten 2.  My luck holds though because I have yet to see anything that was locked behind the later levels in the store.

I've been thinking more about this game and I actually miss having a Crafting System, places to get pre-defined loot, and Resistances gear.  It sounds odd but there it is.  I have had some slots that I've had a hard time filling which is where the Crafting comes in.  Since the last time I had a Weapon choice as a reward, lvl 8 I think, I have only seen AutoRifles really drop that where green.  I have yet to get a Machine Gun drop.  I would like to get a Scout Rifle again and if there was a predefined reward for a quest I could do that Quest to get one.  Resistance is sort of a weird one.  As it stands there really isn't any armor that rewards you for being prepared like in Monster Hunter. 

When I have more time I'll probably right something longer on the things that are missing for where they took this game.

[Ceric]

I busted the Level 18 Glass Ceiling last night.  Which was interesting.  It says that I'm know eligible for Legendary loot and will be getting Crucible Marks and Vanguard marks.  I argue that I should have been accumulating them forever but whatever.  Also noticed onced I dinged that Loot started dropping better.  Probably not coincident.

I thought about joining Jonny in the game.  We seem to play around the same time at night and he's a couple missions behind me so were close. 

I was poking around the Grimoire.  Which there interesting.  They also show you stats versus the enemy and how many you have to kill to rank up with them.  That particular bit of information be nice to have in game not hidden on a card.  Anything interesting fact is they give you special quirks at times of an enemy.  Like a Cyclops, effective a huge Vex Turret even though that's not its real purpose, if you get about 3 precision shots on it it will go crazy for a little bit and shoot randomly hurting other Vex.  I know from card progress that flashed, something also that should be checkable in game, I have 20 or so more story missions, there is a total of 50 according to the card, was wondering where they could be.  Then I saw there was a card area for Saturn and Jupiter.  I wonder if I follow and do all the Story content if I'll end up raiding level, 26.  It also specifically noted the type of damage enemies.  Which is weird because there is no Resistance in the game yet.

[ShyGuy]

I spent a couple hours playing Destiny last night, and it was mostly good. The controls felt tight and the shooting was polished. Enemies have an interesting non-aggressive AI which was a nice change of pace. The story was generic and really mostly nonsensical stuff that meant nothing. If they stripped out all the MMO stuff I wouldn't care, but the game part of the game was nice.

It was gorgeous too, maybe the best looking console game I've ever played? Draw distance was impressive, so were the sharp textures. The load times were not impressive.

I do wonder how long it would hold my interest, it seems like the lack of variety in enemies and missions would get old and the combat would turn into a real grind for levels.

My favorite mode of combat was to run around knifing everyone, and I saw an unlockable sub class or something called Blade Dancer that peaked my interest.

It's amazing how many bits and pieces of other games I recognized while playing. Obviously lots of Halo influence, some Borderlands, some Call of Duty, a serving of World of Warcaft, a little Elder Scrolls, even a dash Metroid Prime and The Conduit of all things.

[Ceric]

Well I finished the story over the weekend.  I was disappointed that you didn't naturally end at Level 20 by doing the story and the Weapon I got out of it was as sweat Pulse Rifle.

I did the post 20 content some.  I'm going to go straight out say it Heroic = Shitty.  Here is my Heroic story experience.  I spent an 1 hr 47 minutes in game time with the majority of that being on the last boss because Bungie decided do give the Lightswitch modifier that significantly ups Melee damage in a level where there are those stealthed fallen that rush you and even with a 5 level gear difference will 2 shot you.  So Yeah, they one shot you now.  Combine that with a cramped Boss room with a lot of other enemies as well and you can see the annoyance.  I had to just give up.  The next day I try it again thinking I just had bad luck.  This time I get the Cabal story mission with enemies who don't flinch.  If you haven't done Cabal there is an enemy with a riot shield you can't destroy or take away and you flinch them be shooting there gun arms so that you can shoot that body.  If you can't flinch them they will overwhelm you because you do squat damage to the gun hand.  **** that, left it.

I did random strikes and had limited success with that and found that Bungie loves to give me Chests when I literally need any other piece of gear with any light on to advance my level.  Also, to my Horror, I found out that even though you are doing PvP for a given faction you don't actually get Faction rep for that faction for doing it.  Instead you have to buy there cloak for 2,500 Glimmer and wear that and ALL of your rep will than be for this faction.

So all the time I've spent with this game amounts to a colossal FU in Endgame.

I don't know why they even bother with the first 20 levels.  The story was obviously trimmed down from where it was.  Narratives just sort of end with no conclusion or hit at it.  Loot is rare to get anything worth a darn that's even when you get something.  If you have a problem with something there is no real clear path to getting through like you have with an MMO.  Challenges are made epically harder than they should be by not having the barest forms of communications.  The core of this game is solid.  Everything else around it is a stinking mess.

[lolmonade]

I've made it to level 21 at this point with my warlock.  For me, the Strike missions at level 20 have been the most effective way to get blue gear/weapons, although I did get a purple Rocket Launcher in the last crucible game I played.  I see some people at level 25 or above, and I can't fathom how someone has collected that much light yet, given how much you have to grind.
 
I think if you have people to play with, especially that you know, the post level 20 content is good fun (we still need to try playing together sometime).  My group tried the Heroic Moon mission, and got completed stomped in the first room of fighting-off hordes.  The enemies are just horrible bullet sponges in those cases, at least for a lvl 21 & 2 lvl 22s..
 
Ceric, in regards to the story, while I didn't care either way about it, that seems to be the common complaint that it's basically window dressing to the gameplay, which in of itself is very repetative/grindy.  It's also clear that they're planning on having this being a multi-game/DLC-heavy experience.  I agree completely that the story end-point was kind-of garbage, but as someone who will probably be continuing to play this game, I hope bungie/activision actually do something about the very valid criticisms levied at their game, although unlikely, given how much they've made on the game already.

[Ceric]

I wouldn't complain about the story if it was blatantly clear that things were taken out.  I also believe that you should naturally be able to reach max level in any game like this by going through the story.  Its like going through a WoW Expansion just to find out that you completed all the quests and now you have to grind Dungeons/Mobs/PvP to get to the cap. (Not talking Light Levels just getting to 20.  Light Levels is just Gear-Ranking.  Which is fine it just a little stupid to mix it in with you Level.  What happens when Level Cap is Upped?)

Broodwars posted this on Twitter and I have to agree.  Warning unlike NFR this has Language.

I'm going to sit down and right down my thoughts for the next Nintendo Free Radio.  I'm going to try to be pretty Clinic.  There is stuff I really Like which makes the other parts so frustrating.  I'm also going to grade Bungie on what they wanted to do compared to what they did.

I'll end my rant with saying what we should have gotten was Vanilla WoW.  What we got was Burning Crusades without Vanilla Content. 

[ObbyDent]

That is a fantastic video.

[lolmonade]

I've gotten my warlock to level 27 through lots of crucible matches & many, many strikes with a few friends.  This is where i've gotten into a leveling slump.  So the way leveling works after level 20 is light, a new stat that armor starts coming with, grants you a new level after you're wearing armor with enough of it..  There are blue, purple (legendary), and gold (exotic) gear that have progressively larger potential light stats. 

Each of these pieces of armor can be upgraded with glimmer ($), materials you find in the different planets, and "ascendant shards".  Ascendant shards are hard to come by, either having to complete the daily heroic story (story level chosen daily with difficulty modifiers), completing the weekly heroic raid, completing a public event, or (from what i've read) a potential reward for Vault of Glass Raid.  I've also heard if you buy legendary equpiment from the vanguard or crucible vendors and deconstruct them, there's a chance at gettin g ascendant shards.  Lastly, I've read about several people having two alts at level 20+ for the sole purpose of farming these materials (I don't know how anyone has that much time).

The problem with this is that the possibility of getting either this or the ascendant materials to upgrade weapons is completely random, and there are only a certain number of things you can do on a daily or weekly basis to obtain these materials.  Basically, if you don't have a pile of people to organize daily/weeklies/raids, you're gated pretty heavily when it comes to leveling up at a certain point.
 
This game is like a candy apple with dirt covered all over it.  At its core, there's great gameplay, but there's this layer of crap that makes it an exercise in frustration sometimes.

[Ceric]

I talked about it on NFR recently but, after failing for a very long time to breach level 21 one night my Cryptarch leveled and I was shot to level 23.  Now I'm level 24 and the only legendary I've gotten was a class item and it turned into material.  I've done a ton of Crucible it feels like and I still don't have the Rep to buy any of the legendaries.  With going through the whole story and doing a good number of strikes I still don't have the Rep to do use my vanguard stuff.  It makes me wary to try t get rep with other factions.  The only thing I can say is that I'm Rank 1 with the Queen and the Iron Banner.  The Queen was a real grind since I was stuck at 21 so the only way to get rep was to do the bounties daily since it wouldn't let me do the mission.

I'm sorry but this game has a Rewards problem something serious especially since they did the patch that was suppose to make it better.

[lolmonade]

I talked about it on NFR recently but, after failing for a very long time to breach level 21 one night my Cryptarch leveled and I was shot to level 23.  Now I'm level 24 and the only legendary I've gotten was a class item and it turned into material.  I've done a ton of Crucible it feels like and I still don't have the Rep to buy any of the legendaries.  With going through the whole story and doing a good number of strikes I still don't have the Rep to do use my vanguard stuff.  It makes me wary to try t get rep with other factions.  The only thing I can say is that I'm Rank 1 with the Queen and the Iron Banner.  The Queen was a real grind since I was stuck at 21 so the only way to get rep was to do the bounties daily since it wouldn't let me do the mission.

I'm sorry but this game has a Rewards problem something serious especially since they did the patch that was suppose to make it better.

I agree with you, that said, best way to grind rep for vanguard & crucible is to complete bounties.  The bounties for Crucible will be things like "Kill 25 warlocks" or "get 5 postmortem awards", and give 50-100 additional faction rep based on the difficulty.  The ones for vanguard (which you can farm other rep by wearing the right faction piece) are done by completing the vanguard bounties, many of them can be completed during strikes, and others are things like completing a certain number of patrol missions on a planet or defeating a certain boss in a story level on "heroic" modifier.
 
Not saying it isn't a bit of a ridiculous grind, but you could probably get your rep up in a week or so, depending on how often you play.

[Ceric]

The Crucible ones are really ridiculous especially the Iron Banner ones.  The Vanguard ones aren't overly bad.

[lolmonade]

I finally got over the level 27 hump, now a level 28 Warlock.  Best way to farm ascendant materials after all your equipment is purple or higher:

Complete the weekly heroic strike - should net you ascendant materials (I forget how much).
Do the daily heroic story every day - completing level 24 difficulty gives you one ascendant material, completing level 28 gives you 2.

Complete at least one public event daily - nets you an ascendant material daily.  I've found sometimes if you complete more public events you'll get awarded more.

Have excess vanguard or crucible marks and don't want any of the armor they offer?  Buy it and deconstruct it, should net you about 2 ascendant shards.
 
Make alts, get them to level 20+, and complete the above with them.

 
My RL friends and I haven't gotten to a point where we're comfortably ready to try the nightfall strike, so I can't speak to that.

 
That said, anyone here still playing other than myself & Ceric (sorry about yesterday, Ceric, we should team up to knock out some strikes or something)?  My group consists of 4 people so far, and I think we're gonna try & assemble a raid team to try out the Vault of Glass sometime in the next couple of weeks.  I'd rather we get someone from these forums than complete randoms.
 

[Ceric]

I like to do the raid.  I enjoyed raiding in my WoW days but, I'm not a great FPS Player.

How are you doing the Weekly Strike?  I can't get anyone to play with so for me its near impossible because it doesn't seem to do the random group making so its just me alone doing a lvl 24 strike tuned for 3 people.  Not something I can really do.

[lolmonade]

I like to do the raid.  I enjoyed raiding in my WoW days but, I'm not a great FPS Player.

How are you doing the Weekly Strike?  I can't get anyone to play with so for me its near impossible because it doesn't seem to do the random group making so its just me alone doing a lvl 24 strike tuned for 3 people.  Not something I can really do.

I have 3 friends I regularly play with, which helps.  Even if I do it with them once, I wouldn't mind helping you out, but we'd need to find a 3rd.  When do you usually play?  I'm generally on sometime between 8:30 - 11:00 EST, and unless I'm in the middle of one already or gathering materials, I'm generally up for strikes/group play.

[Ceric]

Ironically we are normally on at the same time.
My son goes to bed at 8pm CST so I normally jump on around then if I'm going to play.

[lolmonade]

Ceric, you give up on Destiny?  What level are you?
 
I've finally broken the threshold to lvl 29 on my Warlock, just as the DLC's about to hit.  Ran Vault of Glass once up to Aethon, but my PUG group kept getting wiped, so I had to leave at that point.
 
A lot of changes have taken place to expedite the leveling process from 20+, including material drops coming from the patrol bounties/daily heroic story missions, and the planet materials are just plain more plentiful on each planet.
Biggest problem is still no easy way to group up on strikes/Raid.  Vault of Glass is probably one of the most interesting things i've played through so far, but unless you seek out a group and can devote a minimum of 2 hours to it, it's a challenge to get to experience it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Ceric]

Not exactly.  Been crunched on time and there really hasn't been anything to entice me to jump back in and play some.  I was really dismayed that there really hasn't been any holiday events.  Those got me back into WoW when I was in a lawl.

Also the lack of finding any community has also gotten me.  So if I get to Glass Vault Level that's great.  I invested a lot of time for something I'll probably not get to do.

That being said I'll definitely be back on to do the new story when the expansion hits.

[Ceric]

No one can say I didn't give this game a fair shake but, I breeze through all the first mission of the expansion than bam I hit the boss, they give me a debuff, and then make it so I can't get away and use my weapons effectively.  Yeah No Thanks.  Are they even trying to make a fun game now?

[NWR_insanolord]

I just started playing this after having it since launch, so if there's anyone still playing it (or, like me, another late-comer) on PS4, I'm here.

[lolmonade]

I just started playing this after having it since launch, so if there's anyone still playing it (or, like me, another late-comer) on PS4, I'm here.

My group ragequit a few months after the 2nd DLC hit (House of Wolves).  I ended up selling my copy as I had dumped an unhealthy amount of hours into the game and no longer found solo playing enjoyable.  that said, I'd be interesting in hearing your impressions, especially as someone who now isn't bothering to play until after a lot of changes from the vanilla release have been implemented.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm still not that far into it, but I'm liking it a lot. Been playing only solo so far, but have a few people lined up to maybe play with once I level up some more. It feels really good as a shooter, and I've always enjoyed this kind of gear grind mechanic.