Destiny

[danielpholt]

Not sure if any one saw it but I sort of retired my Destiny characters the other day (I'm done with RoI). Not having the ability to bring them over would absolutely suck.

 

It probably wouldn't be enough to stop me playing the new game, but its another Destiny promise that Bungie have failed to keep.

 

As for the PC news? Fantastic.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[CorgiShinobi]

I could see a problem if you wanted to jump PS4 to PC, one platform to another, but considering our characters are tied to a Bungie account, all that data has to still be available in some form. If it's things like weapons and armor, we're use to that now. Sure I've kept all my old cloaks, but they're like memorabilia.

[deanb]

Your data is definitely not connected with the console given you can go on the bungie site n see your dude and what he's wearing n such. Of course it's all rumour at this point. I guess I could see them wanting to get rid of old guardians to keep it a level playing field but if that was the case they would be doing the same with the major expansions. And you level up fast enough that it wouldn't matter much. Only other thought is if they're mixing things up enough that carrying over old guardians would be a PITA.

[TheMightyEthan]

The data isn't tied to a specific console by necessity, just by manufacturer requirements. That's why you can migrate from PS3 to PS4 but not PS3 to XB1.

 

Bungie said from the get go that you'll carry your same character through the full 10 year Destiny plan, and considering the whole game is about progress and persistence I'll be really irritated if they bail on that. Though it would give me a good opportunity to jump ship to PC.

 

As far as the level thing, with TTK they gave you an item to raise one character straight to 25, and with RoI they gave you one to get to 40, they could just do that again for Destiny 2.

[Hot Heart]

I always wondered why it wasn't planned for PC. A PC release would be cool, although unless there's cross-platform play, I'd probably stick with console myself.

 

In theory, characters should be able to carry over since they're just logging everything (this is a game that can tell you your average kill distance). Then again, it would be more a case of your loot carrying over which they've not done wholly successfully/consistently anyway. I mean, character-wise, it's not as if I have a complex skill tree that I've worked on. You are just level, gear and ability nodes.

 

... and I think everyone wants to remake their character's face as well (I'd only change my Exo).

 

The big thing is whether they are keeping the same ideas of "progression". Frankly, I'd love to see them experiment with the RPG possibilities a bit more; like, a wholly melee/ability-based class or something.

[TheMightyEthan]

I got my character's faces perfect the first time around, I don't want to have to try to remake them.  

 

If the characters carry over then I'll stick with PS4, but if they don't then I'll probably jump ship to PC.  Unless the console characters can carry over to PC in which case I'll jump ship no matter what, but I don't see MS and Sony allowing that.

[Hot Heart]

Finally got myself up to 368 without even having done the raid, but now I'll have to rely on packages, the raid and IB for getting any higher it seems; all my legendary engrams are coming out at 365.

 

Archon's Forge can be helpful for getting higher gear but fuck those goddamn perfected shanks and servitors. Pro-tip if you're having trouble finding groups: walk slowly into the area to give it time to matchmake on the fly and you should usually find 2-3 other people; running in usually means you'll find it empty.

 

I've heard Iron Banner is giving out lots of cool loot even if you lose, and they've altered the progression to make it a lot more friendly and even give you a chance at getting gear that isn't shown in the vendor.

 

It definitely feels like they've fixed a lot of the old issues (exotic weapon quests are decent this time) and everything's a lot more approachable or just plain rewarding.

[TheMightyEthan]

Huh, that was quicker than expected, I'm already back to the point where I don't care to continue playing. All I've ever really cared about in this game is the story content, so once I've gone through all that and hit a plateau with leveling I just lose interest. Got all three of my characters to the 351-353 range and now it's slowed down enough that I don't care anymore.

 

I'll probably do the King's Fall raid some day when I've got the house to myself for 5 hours or so, but other than that I'm done. I know I'll never get high enough for Wrath of the Machine so I'm not even going to bother thinking about that one.

 

I really hope in Destiny 2 they do easy modes with matchmaking on the raids. They can make it so you don't get the really cool raid gear except on the higher levels, that's fine, I just wish there was a way to experience at all for people like me.

[CorgiShinobi]

Did you try Iron Banner? The way you rank up now is much easier and you can get easily rewarded just for playing. Got to Rank 5 fast and it helps that they no longer have IB buffs you would have to make sure you're using to optimize your progression.

 

Only downside is that while you can get higher light gear and weapons, it's still a slow process as you're only going up little by little. Also hurts when the legendary weapons you get from the bounties have terrible rolls. Heck, I got a cool looking piece of Iron Breed armor, but the stats absolutely sucked. The only other downside will be based on how you see the new game mode, Supremacy.

 

Personally, I'm not truly a fan, though it has its moments.

[TheMightyEthan]

I did not try Iron Banner because I've never really liked PvP (in any game, not just Destiny).

 

I enjoyed RoI, and Destiny overall (I should hope I did, I've got more than 500 hours in the game, probably 40-50 in RoI), I'm just done with it now.

[Hot Heart]

I gave IB a go yesterday; my first time playing Supremacy.

 

... I kinda hate it?

 

While I like the big sandbox, loadouts-across-different-modes idea there will always be balance issues, which this gametype only exacerbates.

 

Since snipers got hit pretty hard (kinda needed, really) the current problem is with shotguns. There are too many long-range ones and very mobile subclass options that cause the opposite of the "camping sniper" problem. Plus, it completely rules out alternative playstyles while adding in the constant spawn-flipping.

 

The best Destiny maps accommodate all different elements because you have sniper lanes, flanking routes, close-quarter areas, etc. Even if you went in solo, you could find a "place" in the game. Now, you kinda just have to rush round as a group with shotguns.

 

It does seem easy to progress through the ranks at least, even winning 3 games out of about 8 (I got better after I gave up trying to use a void loadout to get the Thorn bounty done; I think I'll just take Atheon's Epilogue into regular crucible for that). I just hate how slow the gear progression is since you MUST have your highest gear equipped so that the drops come out higher, even if it's shit gear with all the wrong perks. Where light level matters in IB, it's annoying and the alternative is to be infusing all the time. I made the mistake of turning in an IB bounty hoping to level up some gear for future use only to get a crap drop because having those equipped put my light level way lower than normal.

 

p.s. Ethan, King's Fall shouldn't take more than a couple of hours now. Our group were managing hard mode in just over an hour and that was before you could completely outlevel it and rip through most of the bosses in one damage cycle.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, there raid itself shouldn't take too long, but there's gearing up and finding a group, and I like to have a buffer since everything always takes longer than I expect.

[Thursday Next]

I liked IB, got up to rank 5 in a couple of days and I am not even particularly great at competitive FPS's. 

[Hot Heart]

I persevered to rank 5 in the end, but it wasn't so much about being good at FPSs as much as the balance of matches being way off. Out of the roughly 25 games it took me to reach max, about 3 were somewhat close games. All other times, we were getting utterly stomped or completely crushing the other team.

 

It's just too chaotic for my liking and you're completely at the mercy of the spawns too many times.

 

On the plus side, playing Supremacy outside of IB has provided slightly more balanced experiences so it's probably just a "teething" problem in sorting out people's ELO ratings to improve the experience, combined with the light level discrepancies that factor into IB. That said, I will be giving any future Iron Banner Supremacy events a pass.

 

In other news, tried the new raid for the first time last night. It feels "shorter" but it's actually pretty action-packed and we were playing for about two and a half hours and only just got to the last boss (which also has two stages, I think). It does seem like something you could speed through once you're a higher light level. I really like it, though, because there's a lot more flexibility in what (sub)classes you pick, what weapons you use, etc. I was actually switching between the two I don't normally use because they work better for the team.

[CorgiShinobi]

I think I'm close to putting Destiny back down. Not because of the horrible treatment of Festival of the Lost this year (which believe me pisses me off), but because the RNG is all that's left. I finally got the Year 3 Thorn Exotic Quest to drop. I went about that, but the part that was awful was needing to have a Skeleton Key to open up the chest at the end of the Abomination Heist Strike. Turns out I didn't pick up the Skeleton Key that dropped for me, so I was pleasantly surprised, but who knows which strike it was when it dropped.

 

The first one? The fourth one? The last one when I gave up?

 

Anyway, I only really mention this because when I finished that Strike and it was time to open that chest... I got stuck in one of those damn containment traps! Destiny's awful jump physics caused me to bump into one of those walls and dropped me down straight into one. I began panicking because I forgot if you have to try and get yourself out of it or it was just time-based. I only had 23 seconds to get to the chest and open it. Finally at 13 seconds left, I ran over and the Open prompt wasn't displaying. I panicked further and eventually it did open.

 

All that hassle to unlock an Exotic from a strike.

 

Of course the Thorn has been nerfed to kingdom come because of the general handcannon nerf and because a vocal community couldn't counter the DoT of Thorn. It's alright for PvE, but I rather use another Exotic. Still, I have some good memories of Year 1 Thorn. Just like Hawkmoon, there was a time when you were feared and loathed for having it. Kinda like the lore of Dregen Yor.

[Hot Heart]

So, The Dawning (Christmas event) is now going on. As is fitting with the season it seems quite rewarding because you get presents to open each day (usually just materials and strange coins but I hear there's a chance for other cool stuff) and there's extra treasures and things to earn. They've added strike scoring too, with some new exotics (different flavours of Thunderlord) and Ice Breaker is back. They've updated some old strikes too and improved the boss fights for some (you actually fight inside the Omnigul room now!)

 

And Sparrow Racing League has returned! With two new tracks (and new music for the old tracks). I'd forgotten how much I both love and hate it. The new tracks are really neat and it feels awesome when you nail a racing lane but also I hate how little bumps can completely fuck you up and how annoying other (bad) racers are when they knock you about while racing horribly.

 

On the plus side, SRL is so rewarding that post-race drops can get you to 400 light since they increase incrementally based on what you have equipped. After a few races, I got some pieces in the 390s and saw others getting 400s (already being 400 themselves though...) so I'll probably stick with it to help boost myself a little more for when I find time to raid over the holidays.

[CorgiShinobi]

Even though Y1 Icebreaker was attached to my hip back in the day...

 

I'm not sure I'm going to be playing Destiny. Like, cool armor and... I'm more inclined to play my other games. Not sure what else to say because I think I've put in a megaton of hours, but at this point I am just playing the same game over going into a third year.

[Hot Heart]

Yeah, I've not been playing much (mainly because my friends haven't) but I enjoy sparrow racing and am looking to do the raid challenges and such so I'm just chasing that higher light level at the moment, really. PvP can be fun from time to time.

[TheMightyEthan]

I saw that there's new quests, is there any new story content?

[Hot Heart]

Nah, nothing new in the Rise of Iron story. There are quests which are just to get you to check out the new things and a record book if you want to earn shaders and stuff.

[deanb]

https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/45708/7_The-Road-Ahead

 

Officially canning stats, items, etc for Destiny 2. All that'll carry over is your personalisation on your Guardian (assuming they're over lvl 20 and completed Black Garden)

[Eleven]

Lol.

 

Those are the things I want to change. Destiny 2 would have solved that problem by offering to recreate your character's face.

[danielpholt]

I'll be honest, I'm really not all that bothered by this news. The only issue I do have is that people are going to lose the things they've purchased with real money. That part seems real shitty, especially when it seems like it should be so easy to offer them for free if those purchases are tied to PSN/XBOX account ID's.

 

'However, they will remain available to you in Destiny 1'. Because the only other option there would be to go out of their way and delete them?

 

 

This Age of Triumph sounds interesting though. I could throw myself into a few more hours of Destiny, provided it's not too PvP heavy, which it likely will be.

[deanb]

I was thinking on making the same complaint on it losing things people have paid for, but on the other hand they got to use them in Destiny 1 so it's not much of an issue really. It'd be like expecting a season pass to continue from Dragon Age 2 into Dragon Age: Inquisition.

[danielpholt]

I was thinking on making the same complaint on it losing things people have paid for, but on the other hand they got to use them in Destiny 1 so it's not much of an issue really. It'd be like expecting a season pass to continue from Dragon Age 2 into Dragon Age: Inquisition.

 

I guess, although if they're carrying over my Warlocks face, how much harder would it be for them to do the same with a shader I bought? I understand they want to sell it to me again, but it still seems a little stinky.

 

On the plus side, seeing as none of what made my characters mine will be making the jump to the sequel, it might be time to consider jumping platforms. I've got a group of friends who play on XBOX, and it might finally make sense to pick one up to party with them.