J.T.

Heard about it this morning from my brother; a professor at VT. He's teleworking from home today because the campus is locked down. Condolences to the families. What a horrible thing to happen.

That spot is a safe haven when the adds thin out because Valus doesn't like to follow you around the barricade like Phalanx units do.

Well that is what I was saying. I will clear out the Clash match bounty from my queue and get as many of the others done as I can so that I can get IB bounties and roll with you. I should be home around 4PM so I should be all done with Clash by the time you get home.

I need to run 5 Clash matches to clear out bounty space. If you are online tonight, count me in..

Destiny must be the official video game of the state of West Virginia. The randoms that send me a request to help with the Nightfall were a couple of kids from Charleston and IIRC 99% of the members Xbox 360 Coalition is from there. One kid was a 33 and not very good but the other kid and I and dragged him to victory.... Then they wanted to do PoE with me.... Damn.... RIP Valus Trau'ug. My patience ran thin with the 33 because he tried to solve every problem with Gally rockets that he did not have and he died a lot waiting out synth timers and there isn't really anywhere to camp in the Cabal arena. I try to constantly stay on the move. Spent more time reviving him to keep the wave going than I did shooting at enemies. Got Mr. Rainbow Shield down to a sliver of health, said Fuck it, pinned my ears back, charged, and shotgunned the bastard to death. Dry Rot 32, bitches! Went with the Bungie database odds that the 34 or 35 PoE would have a better chance of giving me the repaired Cipher on my first try. I knew that it takes a full day in real time before Variks repairs the cipher and I'd get more points towards LoW for 34 PoE and 35 PoE, but it was that or risk running out of keys trying to find the cipher. Played my hand and got the Cipher from the chest. YAY~! Variks should be done with the cipher by this afternoon, so I will play some Clash to clear a few PvP bounties out of my queue and then maybe jump into the Iron Banner for a bit. Then I will jump back into PoE to work on the Cipher bounty. I still have the 32 to do for the week, so if anyone wants to roll let me know. I am also up for going up against Skolas again since beating him will go towards points for my HoW bounty. Finally made HoJ Rank 2 and got a blockade runner jumpship. Put my Hildan Seeker in the vault for the future Awoken warlock I will build after TTK launches.

What shall be known forever in the annals of DVD inside jokes as the Misanthrope309 Clock of Doom. I know to brew a pot of coffee when Mis says that the coordinated VoG run of Coalition members that starts at 11PM EST will only last an hour or so goes on all night while the snap VoG run made up of regulars and randoms takes like 30 minutes.

Hey, it is an exotic shotty from Jakobs.... er... Tex Mechanica

Hell, you could get one of those in a fraction of the time running 34 PoE with me and then hit the IB over the weekend to grind to Rank 5 and get two more. At least I will be online a little bit on the good internet at my crib this weekend to help you out in the tournament. I could stand to improve my bleh Iron Banner K/D%.

That is true. Today is my ninth day in a row on shift, so last week has bled into this one and it is just dawning on me that it is the end of the month. Real iife focus has been on work and collecting my loot and in-game focus has been on Skolas. I totally blanked on this week being Iron Banner week.

There is nothing about the Bravados that says, "Harlem."

DISA hates Dailymotion so I cannot see if anyone has posted a montage of Shane-o-Mac's various leaps off of the Titantron. I love the guy and I will personally contribute freely to his knee surgery and wheelchair funds even though he does not need my money.

TTK strike preview and debut of Nolan North as the voice of Ghost.

Bungie is starting to post the new exotic pics on Instagram.

Well shit. I totally forgot that the Iron Banner is this week. The Hunter boots are sexy but the stats on the ones I have are way better. I'd love to make a run at Felwinter's Lie but I won't get a lot of use out of that shotgun before TTK makes it useless.

Bungie is supposed to show images of some of the new exotics via their Instagram page sometime today. https://instagram.com/destinythegame/

Also set a record. My kill streak of 169 murders in 32 PoE earlier this week is the third longest PoE kill streak of everyone on my Friend's List.

Yeah, I've noticed that the three PoE boss fights I have been in (Kaliks, Skolas, Guilrot) are counterintuitive to Raid boss fights. Adds and sub-bosses need to die first and then you dogpile on the big boss as opposed to dumping all of your firepower on the big boss. I'll be trying to taking a crack at Valus Trau'ug sometime this week so we'll see how that goes. My goal is to eventually clear all of the PoE bosses so the Fire Knight is on my hit list for next week.

Xavier playing Taps on the trombone during the pinfall was the true Highlight of the Show. If you did not love the New Day before, you love them now or at least you do if you are not a dumbass. Dudleyz and Sting are soooooo old and broken down. Why do I mark like I am 12 years old when I see them when I know they can barely wrestle, much less stand up straight? I am a mark being worked. Thank you, Bo Dallas, for dying for my enjoyment and moving into the penthouse on the tallest building in Suplex City.

I got an Elder Cipher and had a key to get the Hildan Seeker and other stuff. I went back to Variks and selected Lord of Wolves, so I'll be working on that this week. We had a Defender, a Sunsinger, and me (Bladedancer). It didn't dawn on me until after we ashed Skolas that we only wiped twice: once during the Fallen Target round and once to Skolas. Adds management, me not using my Super offensively, and plain ol' doing your best to stay alive were the keys to victory. The Cabal Dismantle wave was all about me clearing out adds with Gally and spamming Arcbolt Grenades (Arc Burn and Catapult are on, dummy...) so that I could double tap Vanish when I popped my super and get 16 seconds of Invisibility since I had Shadowjack turned on. Sixteen seconds of not getting shot at was fucking huge in Round 3 and the Disarm Mines waves during the Skolas fight. Now I know what makes Khepri's Sting so useful. It is a free use of Stalker so that a Bladedancer can select Hungering Blade to keep himself healed while Arc Blading. Probably the only way allow yourself to use Arc Blade offensively in 35 PoE and even then, one Lightswitch hit can take you out. Fallen Target wave was all about clearing adds and killing the target with rockets and shotguns. AND PATIENCE AND TIME~! We zerged the first target with shotguns during the second wave but wiping during the third wave (AGAIN~!) made us rethink our tactics. Suddenly, it occurred to me on the third wave that I should use P&T to snipe adds and clear the field until the target comes out since (duh!) SPECIALIST IS ON AND MY FUCKING EXOTIC 365 ATTACK SNIPER RIFLE IS A SPECIAL WEAPON AND MY ARMOR GIVES ME BONUS SPECIAL WEAPON AMMO, the fucking target takes his sweet time going on the move which provides window to start killing his helpers, and the Exotic Arc Damage sniper rifle that I often forget I own just happens to cloak me when I aim down the scope (MORE INVIS~!) and keeps my radar active to alert me if trouble is coming. The Defender guarded the checkpoint with his Saint -14 Bubble while the Sunsinger threw grenades at EVERYTHING to keep adds clear while I took up a sniper position where the C mine spawns and headshot the target from long range. Sniper bullets thankfully stagger the target since (Thank God) Angry is not a stip this round and the stagger delay buys us the precious seconds we need to kill this bastard.. Between rockets, Sunsinger grenades, the Defender's beast shotgun skills, and me not sucking at sniper duty, the Target died and we all go into EXTREME SURVIVAL MODE as not to let all of that effort go to waste. No way do we want to go through that shit more than twice. Pilot Servitor fight was relatively simple compared to the horrors of Round 3 and 4. Skolas was Skolas. We overdamaged him our first attempt and made the mines spawn before we were ready. Adjusted the second time and it was all good. Rationed out his health damage, kept an eye on the curse clock, watched adds and ran the ring when they got too close, never spawned mines until my super was up so that I could dismantle one or two by myself. A lot of micromanagement. There were a couple of tense moments during our second attempt where I had to pull off a double revive and where the Sunsinger had to self-rez after a near wipe and timed it perfectly to revive the Defender and run the ring to revive me. We knew after the second clutch save that it was our night. I'm stoked that I got that done and wasn't a burden to my team, but I would like to get Rippa and Rob through it. They don't really need to do much more to get the Year One emblem and arguably the stips on Skolas this week should make the fight somewhat easier since Juggler should produce more Heavy on the field and Brawler should allow players with the Fallen bane gauntlets to produce more orbs via melee. Gonna try to do the Omnigul Nightfall for the XP / Rank buff, endure some PvP this afternoon to get rid of some Crucible bounties, and try to knock out 32 PoE and 34 PoE to get some Judgment rank if anyone comes onllne. Much less stressful..

Jesus, Mis. You need to take care of yourself, buddy. Well I have good news and bad news and the good news may make you feel better. I HAVE BECOME LEGEND~! I beat Skolas with the help of two guys I chatted with at Destiny LFG. Solid dudes that knew what they were doing. I had to pull hero duty and disarm two sets of mines in the second cycle. Fight was rough but manageable. Lots and lots of communication. When to dig in, when to bail, and when to take the taint. As per all of the good tutorials, killing adds and keeping your curse order straight are the most important things so that you have more freedom of movement to navigate the map and keep as many guns firing as possible. Bad news is that Rob wasn't around to get into the group so I still have to help him get past Skolas. Preferably before the Triumph deadline. We may make another go tomorrow night. If it is Brawler / Juggler we'll lose the weapon advantage but at least Lightswitch will be off. And you can survive a 35 melee attack from a Vandal or a Dreg if Lightswitch is turned off.... if you have the Fallen bane chest armor that gives you the extra armor bonus.. A Captain on the other hand......

My shift ends around 3:30 PM but I've got some running around to do and I've got to eat dinner. Had to skip lunch. I should be on and legit playing by 5PM or so. I am not sure when Rob (Game Tag = RobNater) will be on but he works from home and has more freetime than I do. He will probably be online around the same time as me. He'll be running a 34 Sunsinger, I think, so we may have self rez working for us.

I applaud Big E's subtle effort to bring the Fruit Booty insult back into the wrestling lexicon one word at a time.

Damn you, Destiny LFG. So far I have two bites on the apple for this afternoon; a 34 Defender and a 34 Bladedancer. Naturally the 34 Bladedancer is the most responsive to my PMs. I am up for trying to perish Skolas with whomever we get, but I was sorta hoping we'd have a bubble to work with instead of another invis dasher like me.

Pouncey got injured over the weekend so too late for that.

Grounded Vex rounds and Grounded Fallen rounds are usually my Achilles Heels since Blinking to evade is in my muscle memory. Wire Rifles and Line Rifles are brutal on jumping players even when Grounded isn't turned on and naturally enemy snipers get pinpoint accuracy when the game feels like being cheap. Arc Burn on the Cabal rounds will make Psions more dangerous, but I should also wreck a lot of havoc on groups of Cabal with my Arcbolts with AB and Catapult on. I'll switch to Flux Grenades during the Skolas fight since those are my best Captain Killers. Not sure if Catapult gives a higher RoF to launchers like Hive Boomers or Cabal Projection Rifles. I hope not. The Skolas fight rewards the patient, so that is what we will have to be. Little room for error in a very unforgiving encounter.