Destiny

[J.T.]

Well that goes back to the general principle of I can't believe folks waste their exotic on a HW in Crucible

 

You used to be able to get away with that in the good ol' days of PvP where you could jack players for their purple ammo.  I had HW ammo hoarding down to a near science.

 

Now HW and SW ammo is tightly controlled, wasting an exotic slot on a HW that you will only get to use in five minute intervals is dumb. 

[glfpunk]

Not really. There are no exotic special weapons that outperform legendary counterparts. And you don't always have to use thorn or last word or hawkmoon. Sometimes you might want to roll with a good pulse rifle or something. In which case a heavy like ghorn and it's wolfpack rounds or truth is really useful.

[TheVileOne]

I tried my first level 34 POE last night with two other level 34.  It was freaking insane.  We got as far as round 3 with the Cabal before it just became too much.  Beating a boss at level 34 probably would've been soul crushing.

[Basara]

The second I get that sword it's never getting un-equipped!

Well that goes back to the general principle of I can't believe folks waste their exotic on a HW in Crucible

You used to be able to get away with that in the good ol' days of PvP where you could jack players for their purple ammo. I had HW ammo hoarding down to a near science.

Now HW and SW ammo is tightly controlled, wasting an exotic slot on a HW that you will only get to use in five minute intervals is dumb.

What are the preferred exotics for Crucible then?

Thorn and The Last Word obviously. I use Thorn in the Iron Banner just because it's easy but I've never used TLW. I'm not a fan of hand cannons so they aren't my go to weapons. A lot of people seem to rave over MIDA but I tried it out and couldn't get on with it. Having your radar while aiming is obviously a huge advantage but I did much better with The Scholar. I cleaned up with Red Death on smaller maps, especially on Control where people bunch up, you can happily engage a group single handedly and the health regain keeps you going. But the range isn't great and I was swapping back to The Scholar for larger maps.

I can't think of a single exotic special I'd use in the Crucible. I've just been running with the store brought Felwinter's from The Dark Below Iron Banner. Gets the job done. I don't really like fusion rifles and I haven't tried my hand at sniping in there yet.

I was using Jolder's Hammer in the Iron Banner for me heavy. It's pretty easy to get the triple kills needed for the bounty. But it's so much better with Truth in the regular Crucible, I was probably getting 5-6 kills from the 4 rockets, the tracking's just too good. Find some enemies, aim away from face, pull the trigger.

What do you recommend then? Because so far I've not found anything I like better than Red Death/Scholar, Felwinter's Lie and Truth. Red Death and Truth being the problem since I can't equipped them at the same time. A friend of mine uses The Messenger for his pulse rifle needs but that isn't in my Trials arsenal. I've only got the scout, auto rifle and rocket launcher.

[J.T.]

Not really. There are no exotic special weapons that outperform legendary counterparts. And you don't always have to use thorn or last word or hawkmoon. Sometimes you might want to roll with a good pulse rifle or something. In which case a heavy like ghorn and it's wolfpack rounds or truth is really useful.

 

Most Legendary or exotic pulse rifles will get the job done but TLW is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, TTK weapons in the game as far as PvP goes.   Weapon snobs hate TLW and Thorn but at the end of the day, players want to win so until those guns are patched "pro players" will continue to bitch about so called crutch weapons.

 

I don't give a fuck about that sort of thing.  Shaxx says show no mercy so I don't and I bring the weapons that get the job done.

 

Of the weapons I've used on various characters since HoW, here are the ones I love:

 

Primaries:

 

The Last Word

Fatebringer

Bad Juju

KAU8 Constellation Scar

Hopscotch Pilgrim

 

Specials:

 

Dry Rot 32

Matador

Invective

Patience & Time

Her Benevolence

 

Heavy:

 

Radegast's Fury

BRTD 345

Jolder's Hammer

 

Noticed that I omitted Thorn.  I like the DoT and Final Round but the RoF leaves me underwhelmed even though the range is obscene.  I like TLW's ability to get things dead quickly and the current shotgun rage plays into my hands because I can light up guys who are trying to close in on me.

 

I prefer snipers to fusion rifles in my Special slot because I pack TLW, so I have mid range covered.  I like a good sniper for long range maps and tend to favor shotty on short maps for when I am in close and flanking an asshole that is staring down at his sights for too long.  Since I play a Hunter with high AGI, camping is somewhat counterproductive so I need to be on the move and capping dudes with the 12 gauge and the hand cannon.

 

Auto Rifles should start becoming more popular after the WT patch next Tuesday, so you should start seeing more people using SUROS Regime and the faction ARs.  Prior to WT v1 which neutered auto-rifles, the Vanquisher VIII from New Monarchy was the beast weapon.

[J.T.]

The new trailer with story content. That fucking thing looks like it is for a movie.

 

 

I love you so much, Mara Sov, you psychotic homegirl.

 

IF ORYX HAS HURT A HAIR ON HER HEAD I SWEAR~!

[J.T.]

Cozmo tweeted:

 

Get ready for the biggest Raid Bungie has ever created! You have 3 days to get ready for King's Fall on 9/18 at 10am

 

Also note that playtesters have stated that the heir apparent to Gjallarhorn is this weapon:

 

[Basara]

Good read on the crucible weapons J.T, I'll take a look at some of them. I understand Hopscotch Pilgrim is the pulse rifle everyone wants and grinds Dragon Strikes for?

I had a read up on some legendary rocket launchers to use too. Seems proximity is preferred over tracking for the Crucible since people tend to duck and weave out of the way of tracking but can't be safe if it explodes 2ft infront of your face. My Tomorrow's Answer from trials is a good, straight out the box, launcher. Proximity and Tripod. I scored 2 Radegast's Fury from IB drops which seems to be the 'go to' legendary launcher. So I might finally re-roll a weapon. Put some of those 2000 weapons parts and near 500 motes to use.

[J.T.]

I never put myself through Trials because of all of the DDoS crap going on, so I can't really speak on how good The Messenger is, but PS guys I know swear by it and Hawkmoon in PvP.  Four Horseman also found new popularity after it got a much needed range buff.

 

The pre HoW Felwinter's Lie is really overpowered, but it isn't your job to leave your best guns in the locker.  If you have it, use it while you can.

 

I love how Bungie avoided dealing with the issue of OP Year One weapons by creating an arsenal of Year 2 weapons, raising the level cap, and not carrying Year One weapons over to Year Two specs.

[Basara]

The new trailer with story content. That fucking thing looks like it is for a movie.

I love you so much, Mara Sov, you psychotic homegirl.

IF ORYX HAS HURT A HAIR ON HER HEAD I SWEAR~!

I'm glad they are finally putting some cutscenes in this damn game again. Anything to get some actual in game story. I noticed in the new strike reveal that there's a cutscene before you start, I wonder if they will go back and add scenes to the other strikes, or at least to the new 'taken' versions. Or if their retconning of the base game missions will have more cutscenes.

I know there's plenty of story in the grimoire but it's not even in the actual game. Most people I play with don't even bother with it. You can't expect everyone of your fanbase to go out of their way for the story.

How much more awesome would it have been for The Taken King if, instead of getting a grimoire card of Eris meeting with the Queen about Oryx we got a post credit scene after beating HoW.

[J.T.]

If there is one thing that HoW dropped the ball on, it is plot progression.    We really did deserve a cutscene or two talking to Petra, Mara, Variks, or Uldren during those story missions, especially after hauling Skolas's punk ass to the Prison of Elders.

[Basara]

I never put myself through Trials because of all of the DDoS crap going on, so I can't really speak on how good The Messenger is, but PS guys I know swear by it and Hawkmoon in PvP. Four Horseman also found new popularity after it got a much needed range buff.

The pre HoW Felwinter's Lie is really overpowered, but it isn't your job to leave your best guns in the locker. If you have it, use it while you can.

I love how Bungie avoided dealing with the issue of OP Year One weapons by creating an arsenal of Year 2 weapons, raising the level cap, and not carrying Year One weapons over to Year Two specs.

Felwinter's is all I ever use for my special in Crucible so far. I've not tried my hand at sniping and while I'm not much for using a shotgun in there I may as well bring along the best. A lot of people seem to make their own baby Felwinter's now out of Matadors and Party Crashers. 4th Horseman is great in PvE but I can't see taking up an exotic slot in Crucible with it when I have so much success with Red Death and Truth.

It's weird with the Shotguns. Back in my Call of Duty days I'd go entire games using nothing but a shotgun. They just don't feel right in the Crucible to me.

[J.T.]

Thanks to the new PvP rules, there isn't much profit in taking up a Special or Heavy slot with an Exotic unless you have a good PR and are packing something like Invective or Icebreaker that doesn't send you running for green ammo every few seconds.

[Basara]

If there is one thing that HoW dropped the ball on, it is plot progression. We really did deserve a cutscene or two talking to Petra, Mara, Variks, or Uldren during those story missions, especially after hauling Skolas's punk ass to the Prison of Elders.

The whole thing felt like a side story rather than anything to do with the main game. It was all rather self contained. At least with Crota and Oryx, they are heavily hinted at during the base games about being a real threat and having some sort of link to the Darkness. Skolas just showed up, we kicked his ass, and it really wouldn't have made any difference if he was there or not.

The only links to the bigger picture and future plot points from HoW are all hidden away in grimoire where most people won't see them. I like reading up on the cards but they should really be an expansion to the story, not the only story in the game.

[J.T.]

At least Skolas got some direct linkage to the HoW storyline.  In the main story, we get one line of dialogue hinting about the existence of the Vault of Glass and then nada. 

 

No backstory about Kabr or Atheon or why we should even bother going to the Vault in the first place other than it is the only Raid available. 

 

I personally would've at least had some sort of cutscene where you get to talk to the Cryptarch about the data you find at the Archive and have that seagueway into talking to the Speaker about Kabr after you destroy the heart of the Black Garden.

 

At least Eris has the good taste to sell you on why you need to go to Crota's dimension and finish him off.

[Basara]

Atheon doesn't even get a mention when the Queens listing our accomplishments at the start of HoW. And when we revisit the Vault, when the wolves have broken in, they act like it's our first time there. I blame time travel.

I never got the point of the Prison either. They want us to capture Skolas alive, then lock him up, just happen to forget they let the Fallen keep all their weapons so we're sent back in to kill him this time?

[J.T.]

I also blame time and reality warping for all of the story inconsistencies with the Vault.  We only understand the physical threat that the Vex pose and most people are clueless about their true aims.

 

The logic behind the Prison doesn't bother me.  Mara and Uldren want to keep their hands clean when it comes to Prison business so it is up to us to knock her enemies out of the box and be their executioners. 

 

Variks is steeped in Eliksni tradition and he is the Warden so the denizens of the Prison have been granted the honor of trial by combat.  Variks cannot deny Skolas the traditional rights granted to an Eliksni of his stature and position even if Skolas is a traitorous douchebag.

[glfpunk]

 

Not really. There are no exotic special weapons that outperform legendary counterparts. And you don't always have to use thorn or last word or hawkmoon. Sometimes you might want to roll with a good pulse rifle or something. In which case a heavy like ghorn and it's wolfpack rounds or truth is really useful.

 

Most Legendary or exotic pulse rifles will get the job done but TLW is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, TTK weapons in the game as far as PvP goes.   Weapon snobs hate TLW and Thorn but at the end of the day, players want to win so until those guns are patched "pro players" will continue to bitch about so called crutch weapons.

 

I don't give a fuck about that sort of thing.  Shaxx says show no mercy so I don't and I bring the weapons that get the job done.

 

Of the weapons I've used on various characters since HoW, here are the ones I love:

 

Primaries:

 

The Last Word

Fatebringer

Bad Juju

KAU8 Constellation Scar

Hopscotch Pilgrim

 

Specials:

 

Dry Rot 32

Matador

Invective

Patience & Time

Her Benevolence

 

Heavy:

 

Radegast's Fury

BRTD 345

Jolder's Hammer

 

Noticed that I omitted Thorn.  I like the DoT and Final Round but the RoF leaves me underwhelmed even though the range is obscene.  I like TLW's ability to get things dead quickly and the current shotgun rage plays into my hands because I can light up guys who are trying to close in on me.

 

I prefer snipers to fusion rifles in my Special slot because I pack TLW, so I have mid range covered.  I like a good sniper for long range maps and tend to favor shotty on short maps for when I am in close and flanking an asshole that is staring down at his sights for too long.  Since I play a Hunter with high AGI, camping is somewhat counterproductive so I need to be on the move and capping dudes with the 12 gauge and the hand cannon.

 

Auto Rifles should start becoming more popular after the WT patch next Tuesday, so you should start seeing more people using SUROS Regime and the faction ARs.  Prior to WT v1 which neutered auto-rifles, the Vanquisher VIII from New Monarchy was the beast weapon.

 

 

I just never got as good with TLW as I am with Thorn.  Because of the DoT I think Thorn wins out on TTK but TLW on it's own without factoring in DoT is much faster.  For some reason with Thorn I just get headshots much easier.  I don't know if there's a hidden aim assist in there that's higher than some other handcannons but that's how it works out for me. 

 

But sometimes I get tired of using Thorn and roll with a Messenger(adept), Praedyth's Timepiece, or that pulse rifle from the Vanguard that I rerolled to have braced frame.  At special I use Judgement VI, Matador 64, or Her Benevolence.  In that case I'll use Ghorn at heavy because you can get kills just from the wolfpack rounds if the blast radius didn't get them.  If I'm using Thorn I'll use an Exodus plan that I rolled to have grenades and horseshoes.  Or sometimes I just feel like rolling with a Heavy MG like Jolders or Corrective Measure. 

[misanthrope304]

This last ib, i rolled with my timepiece/found verdict/jolders hammer loadout. I used thorn(titan) and bad juju(warlock) very little before switching over my timepiece to those characters...i was just getting more killing done with those weapons. I have a matador 64 with...im wanting to say luck in the chamber and final round, as well as a party crasher with the same perks, and two felwinter's (with range buffs), but found verdict supposedly has really good range (just a hair under my felwinters) and great impact...

The hopscotch i have has headseeker and fast reload when empty, and a stability upgrade, but timepiece does also (with my hunter gloves),a much bigger magazine, and ridiculous rate of fire...im sure i pissed some people off with it on anomaly during that 2nd day of ib.

When i need to snipe, patience &t time is the king, followed closely by praedyths revenge, then black hammer. I got 8/10ths of the way through an iron wrath this last ib running p&t on shores of time, then let vision of confluence (probably my favorite/most used weapon in the game) clean up the rest

[RIPPA]

Just got an email from Gamestop that if I trade in my 360 copy of Destiny for the XBone Legendary version of The Taken King - I get a $20 credit

 

So I think that answers that question

[Basara]

Just had a quick browse of the weekly update. Looks like there's a lot of new stuff starting with the update next week:

The new weapons rebalancing.

Max level increasing to 34 (basically if you're light level is 34 your character level will be 34 instead of 20 next Tuesday).

The new bounty slots and quest slots will be available. Any incomplete bounties will be deleted, any incomplete exotic bounties will be automatically finished. (Free Thorns for all!) I read somehow else that any quests linked to Year 1 would be available too but there's no mention of that in the update.

No more Elder Ciphers. The 3 HoW guns now have a chance to drop from the big chest in PoE.

No more prowling Wolves. If you need any for your grimoire, get hunting.

You can start earning XP with the gunsmith.

The new currency system will start. Vanguard and Crucible marks into Legendary marks. 3 different amour upgrade types into one universal type.

The new Crucible game modes will be available to everyone for 1 week whether you have TTK or not.

The new terminals in the tower will be available.

From the looks of it, essentially any changes to the base game that don't require you to own TTK will start next Tuesday with the patch.

Best start downloading early on Tuesday if you want to play, looks like the patch is between 18-20 gig depending on your system.

[RIPPA]

Xur is in the reef

I got The Ram from an exotic engram so I'm happy I have that before Year 2

He is selling a Helm of Saint 14 better than the one I have

I don't know if I should buy it since - while 14 will have a Year 2 version - I don't know if everyone starts with the same base version. I don't want to waste the coins if the quality of your Y1 has no effect on your Y2

[J.T.]

Just got an email from Gamestop that if I trade in my 360 copy of Destiny for the XBone Legendary version of The Taken King - I get a $20 credit

 

So I think that answers that question

 

You can still chat with me in Party even though you will be on XB1, you know.

 

I played a lot of Sleeping Dogs last night.

 

Xur is in the reef

 

Yeah, I am contemplating getting Khepri's Sting but I also want to save my coins for what Xur has after TTK launch.

 

I got a Dead Orbit package today and left it with the Postmaster.  I want to save it until after launch, but I can't remember how long the timer is on mail or if there is a timer.

[Basara]

I think your packages stay until the postmaster is full, then it deleted the older one to make room for the new one. I was stockpiling exotics and raid weapons in mine by filling up all the slots when raiding or doing a nightfall to force them into lost items. I wanted a way to be able to delete items from the vault without loosing them. No need now though with the larger vault and giant iPhones in the tower storing your exotics. I could fit 20 items in there before it deleted older stuff. I assume it's the same for packages.

It won't have new stuff though, the items are decided when it drops, not when you open it. Only way to get new stuff out of them is to level up your factions to just below popping, then finish them off once TTK drops.

[J.T.]

Bah.  May as well open it next time I am online and hope for a new faction shader.