Destiny 2

[Nolan]

Slight (un)humblebrag. 

Midway through the match (after round 2 or 3 I believe) I was 8.5 Efficiency. And only in chat with my clan mate.  My Destiny 2 competitive career has peaked. 

[drahkon]

Quote

 

The Return of the Iron Lord

 

The Red War scattered the heroes of humanity across the solar system. One by one, they have been returning to the City. Now, Lord Saladin will hold court and reward the brave.

 

 

Begins:  October 10, 2AM Pacific

Ends:  October 17, 2AM Pacific

 

The game is Control.

 

As the first Faction Rally comes to an end, the Iron Lords are hosting the next ritual. Their special event has undergone some changes. The Iron Banner is still your chance to stand and be proven in the fires of friendly competition.

 

What’s different?

• Combat will be between two teams of four players
• Your fighting abilities, not your power levels, will decide the outcome
• Bounties and Ranks have been replaced with an Iron Banner Engram

 

How can you compete?

• Complete the Destiny 2 campaign – the only way to reach the Tower
• Visit Lord Saladin in the Tower to begin the Iron Banner Quest
• Fight in the Iron Banner playlist with Quickplay modes and matchmaking

 

What’s in it for you?

• Earn Iron Banner Tokens in every match (earn more if you win)
• Daily and Season* Milestones that track your progress to glory
• Claim brand new armor wrought in the forges of the Iron Lords

 

 

Decorate yourself as a master of your competitive spirit. Form up into a Fireteam or let the fates choose your teammates.

 

As someone who got his ass kicked in Destiny 1 during Iron Banner because I didn't have all the end game gear (i.e. my Light Level was low) I appreciate the changes. I do, however, think that Bungie should add some kind of PvP which takes Power Level into consideration.

Also:

Quote

You’re the Best… Around!

 

Combat against other Guardians not your thing? The ultimate PVE challenge also arrives in your Director on Tuesday at 10AM Pacific. The morning after the weekly reset begins a new invitation from Calus to join him for the Prestige Raid.

 

 

We do not expect everyone to be successful in completing this activity. Mechanical changes to the encounters are minimal, but they are there. The Prestige Raid is about mastering a more punishing sandbox. Our goal is not to provide a boon to your character progression, but there are unique rewards to help you shine. Consider this your invitation to prove to the world that you are among the very best of the Raiders who overlook the City.

 

World First will be counted. We can tell you no more.

 

Good luck!

Well, I still have to start/complete the normal Raid

 

[Rummy]

If there's a spare space for the nightfall amongst anyone this weekend or so do gimme a shout - destiny app or ps4 messages probs best over here as I'll get the notifications to my phone as they happen (in theory)

[MilaGi]

1 hour ago, Rummy said:

If there's a spare space for the nightfall amongst anyone this weekend or so do gimme a shout - destiny app or ps4 messages probs best over here as I'll get the notifications to my phone as they happen (in theory)

I'm around pretty much all day tomorrow. Happy to help you out!

[drahkon]

If some of you guys see me online tonight and want to give the Trials a go: Give me a shout

[drahkon]

People who've done the raid: How much time would it take to complete it?

[Hero-of-Time]

Seeing as it's a nightmare to get any sessions going on here, I tried doing a Nightfall via the guided games feature, again. We ended up blitzing the thing. I swapped characters and had another crack at it and once again myself and the randoms stormed through it.

I've now got one of my characters on 301 and another on 298. 

[Nolan]

4 hours ago, drahkon said:

People who've done the raid: How much time would it take to complete it?

Blind? Hours and hours. I haven’t don’t all of it, but the parts I have attempted are so dependent on every player being damn near perfect with their execution. Even knowing what to do exactly it took hours to finally defeat Calus. (Also running out of ammo was happening to the entire fire team, for energy and kinetic)

[drahkon]

32 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Blind?

Nah, just if someone (like me ) never played the Raid.

[Nolan]

7 hours ago, drahkon said:

Nah, just if someone (like me ) never played the Raid.

Hours and hours. We just spent an hour and a half doing the pleasure gardens and got close but no cigar. Everyone had a clear idea of what needed to be done. No bueno. 

[Nolan]

Hit 305 power, not with my most optimal Kinetic weapon though. Near as I can tell that’s the current hard cap. I’ve yet to see anyone with higher than 305 gear. 

Iron Banner is a mixed bag. First match I was by myself and hated it. Last night did about 4 matches in a row no losses with full clan fireteam. Ironically we are actually horrible at teamwork and call outs. 

Far simpler to hit end game levels than Destiny 1. The weekly milestones really help things along even if you play solo. 

[Zell]

There's a lot of good things about Destiny 2, but Bungie need to address 2 things quite quickly:

1. The End Game grind (or lack thereof) - the problem is that none of the endgame activities are needed to get to the highest power level or the best weapons. Exotics are no longer powerful; Raid and Trials gear aren't particularly special nor do they increase your power level; there's no holy grail of armour or weapons for people to grind for (no Gjallarhorn, Fatebringer, Vex Mythoclast etc). The Strikes and Raid are fun and well designed, but without the right rewards, there's no reason for anyone to do them again and again. In vanilla Destiny, you had to do Vault of Glass every week to get the shards, the gear and weapons in order to get to the highest light level. As your light level went up, the raid became easier, the nightfalls became easier, so you had more opportunities to get exotics and raid weapons (which made a massive difference to certain activities). You put the effort in, and by the end (if you were lucky enough, but that's a separate issue with D1) you became a beast with some seriously OP gear that you couldn't get by simply doing the weekly patrols and handing in your exotic engrams that you got from little to no effort. Simply put, they need to make the end game activities mean something in terms of rewards.

2. The state of PvP - in their quest to make the game more balanced and competitive, Bungie seemed to have forgotten how to make it fun for the majority of players. When you nerf all abilities and their cooldowns, make all weapons less powerful, and take away Snipers and Shotguns, sure you get a balanced team-based shooter, but if I wanted to play Halo or CS, I'd play Halo or CS. It's lost a lot of what made Destiny PvP unique - the awesome movement, the clutch plays, the mayhem of supers going off left and right... this is what people miss. People want to play Crucible to relax, but what you get in Quickplay is something that feels far too competitive and not social enough. Make Quickplay 6v6 again and introduce more fun modes - Mayhem, Rift, CTF, Snipers, Rockets, Swords, Vehicles etc. The Competitive Playlist is a joke - if you're going to have a Ranked playlist, then it should have visible Ranks. They should just scrap Trials and make competitive a 4v4 ranked playlist - everyone starts at 1000 SR and you go up and down. Have seasons with rewards at the end of the season. Right now, there is no incentive to play competitive, so nearly every match there is someone who quits. 

It may seem like I'm taking 2 issues and blowing them out of proportion, but when there's no reason to play PvE once you've done everything, and when PvP is just not fun... then there's no reason or incentive to keep playing. I think Bungie will soon find themselves with a rapidly shrinking player base if they don't start addressing these issues in their next big update.

[Hero-of-Time]

16 hours ago, Zell said:

It may seem like I'm taking 2 issues and blowing them out of proportion, but when there's no reason to play PvE once you've done everything, and when PvP is just not fun... then there's no reason or incentive to keep playing. I think Bungie will soon find themselves with a rapidly shrinking player base if they don't start addressing these issues in their next big update.

I think this has already happened. The sales figures for this game aren't close to what they were when Destiny launched and that's not just in the UK but worldwide. I also remember people on my friends list playing the original game non stop for months but with this one there's only a couple of people playing it now and then. You just have to look at here and Gaf to see that there doesn't seem to be as much buzz about the game compared to the original. I've seen that lots of people are now throwing in the towel and trading the game in. I'll probably be doing the same pretty soon as there's nothing to really do on the game ( still got the Raid but getting a group together is a hassle ) and its hard to get a group together to play at regular times to do the more interesting things like Nightfalls and Trials.

 

 

[Jimbob]

Bungie needs to address the issues with Destiny 2.

Myself, i'm sort of between sessions with D2.  I got a pretty hefty gaming backlog, which is just increasing further with the impending arrival of both Stick of Truth and Fractured, But Whole.  That's also not including 2 purchases i made on the PSN sale either.  I'm finding it easier to just go and play other games than Destiny 2.  The 4v4 PvP mode is good, i like the idea and it's great to see some quicker matches.  However, i'd have liked a choice in what type of PvP matches happen.  The random selection isn't ideal and it's off putting (i'd prefer to play Control solid or the Capture the Flag mode than mixing things up).

[Choze]

I think its fine. They should push a big update later. If people only play one game non stop its unhealthy. Overall its been good so far and I agree with the complaints above. Soon time to start going for the long term.

You dont want something like Legion where everyone ends up burnt out from chasing new targets constantly2.

[Daft]

I played for about an hour last week. Or maybe less. Long enough to do the Fashpoint.

I'd say I'm struggling to find reasons to go back to Destiny 2, but the truth is I'm not even trying to find reasons. I am done with the current content.

[Choze]

7 hours ago, Daft said:

I played for about an hour last week. Or maybe less. Long enough to do the Fashpoint.

I'd say I'm struggling to find reasons to go back to Destiny 2, but the truth is I'm not even trying to find reasons. I am done with the current content.

Exactly. The next big update or holiday updates shall be interesting.

[Rummy]

On 15/10/2017 at 3:31 PM, Zell said:

There's a lot of good things about Destiny 2, but Bungie need to address 2 things quite quickly...

...

On 15/10/2017 at 3:31 PM, Zell said:

It may seem like I'm taking 2 issues and blowing them out of proportion, but when there's no reason to play PvE once you've done everything, and when PvP is just not fun... then there's no reason or incentive to keep playing. I think Bungie will soon find themselves with a rapidly shrinking player base if they don't start addressing these issues in their next big update.

Not at all; in fact I think your post has been amazingly sharp in how well its hit the issues. I agree completely with both, especially point 1.

I didn't do raids much originally - but yeah I feel even less incentivised this time from almost all raid folks who've complained that the gear you get isnt good enough(one powerful for completion and tokens otherwise??) - I think the raid should work like it did before.

I understand people's issues; especially with the token system, but I think a lot of the changes are good because it gives more options and control to the player. There are many different approaches to levelling, and if you want to grind the mods actually let you do so from 280 PL to an extent. Sadly that's arguably quite an extreme grind in the other direction with too few rewards along the way to get or keep everyone's interest. I've cared to get my head around the mod system - will casuals? So much of D2 does feel left unsaid or unexplained or assuming everyone played D1. My mate has no clue on any of the story of who the races are and keeps calling Taken ghosts(cos they look like it and were only briefly referenced in story) and whilst it's something not so relevant to me I do think it's a huge gap now I've had my attention drawn to it.

The other thing - D1 was, arguably, actually too grind heavy. I feel like as an adult I can get my adult friends to raid/nightfall ready levels easier; as they haven't got to put so much grind in where I can. D2 is naturally compared to D1 - but I think D1 didn't set all the right benchmarks and we have to wary of that.

 

And ultimately I'll argue the point I think matters the most: how much have you played Destiny? I imagine I've already done at least 50 if not 60+ hours with about 290 PL average; so still lots of room to up all 3 of them to max. How many other products on the market offer such potential gameplay time for cost? I really don't think it's all that bad.

@Choze do forgive me if I've mistaken you; but am I right in thinking it was you who ground your Light level up on D1 mostly through nightfalls and other game stuff over raids?

 

[MilaGi]

2 hours ago, Rummy said:

And ultimately I'll argue the point I think matters the most: how much have you played Destiny? I imagine I've already done at least 50 if not 60+ hours with about 290 PL average; so still lots of room to up all 3 of them to max. How many other products on the market offer such potential gameplay time for cost? I really don't think it's all that bad.

241 hours logged into Destiny of which I've spent 144 hours actively playing (6 days!!!) over 3 characters!

[Choze]

Yeah it’s true, I didn’t do much raiding due to the time commitment sadly. 

The pvp is alright in destiny 2 but I agree with various complaints like match listing and match making. Rewards are slow too. 

 

Time wise I am happy with the game. Let’s see what’s next. 

 

[Rummy]

20 hours ago, MilaGi said:

241 hours logged into Destiny of which I've spent 144 hours actively playing (6 days!!!) over 3 characters!

How did you manage to figure out your playtime? I'd love to know mine!

@Choze I thought so, I do recall thinking it was impressive you'd got do high without raiding as I felt like I was struggling to get there

I must admit I'm not sure I'll get the expansions but rather maybe wait and get a TTK equivalent next year if they do such. The reassuring thing about the current setup is that I feel confident enough that I'll be able to catch back up without too hard a grind(whilst you guys are likely playing and levelling too) in order to be up to scratch to join for those etc.

I think in the long run the current approach will have a benefit for more players on the whole and keep the game accessible regardless of when you get on board - though for that I do also think there needs to be the 6v6 options for PvP again.

[Sheikah]

22 minutes ago, Rummy said:

How did you manage to figure out your playtime? I'd love to know mine!

You've played 132 hours 10 min across your 3 characters.

link

[Rummy]

Aha, thank you! Anyone up for Nightfall at any point this eve, tmw(not too late) or possibly Monday eve?

[Choze]

https://www.wastedondestiny.com/

Is not tracking my time properly. Says I only have 16 hours lol.

http://www.destinystatus.com/

Seems good. /yeah I played plenty, good for me on that front.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Choze

[Rummy]

Hadn't realised about maintainence when I posted earlier and napped thru most of it. If anyone needs a nightfall 3rd tmw eve or Monday as I mentioned gimme a shout! It's Pyramidion again.

Will try and get on with Guided too but happy to do it more than once.

Edit: well that went better than expected! I did try one earlier but we got kicked for the maintainence tho we only had about a minute left and the boss was still first stages. Had no chat on there. Just got another after about 15 minutes, couple of non-english chaps and little need for verbal comms but some nice teamwork even without it. Still good to do it with folks here tho as I'd like to get it done on my other two chars as well.