Destiny

[EVA]

I'm almost certain the Cabal will be the big bada of the next major expansion. I think "Outbound Signal" is TTK's "Shrine of Oryx"-type foreshadowing mission.

I'm not sure it's even worth grinding to 320 now if max light is just going to get bumped "significantly" this Spring. Surely there'll be a bunch of new gear and new pathways to it that will blow past 320 easily.

[Basara]

Yeah, they've mentioned a few times that the Cabal we fight are just one small part of the Cabal Empire. I'm guessing they send some reinforcements to find out what the hell's going on over here. Either that or i'd like to see something to do with the Warmind on Mars that's been mentioned a few times during the early story missions and strikes. Maybe after getting their asses kicked by the Guardians, then again by the Hive on the Dreadnought , the Cabal have finally broken into it. The Story missions could set up a raid on the Warmind itself. 

 

I wasn't too fussed about hitting 320 before anyway. There's no real tactical advantage being 320 over being 315 this time around. The difference between being 29 instead of 30, or 31 instead of 32 etc was a 32% damage drop off but since they changed the light level it's something like 2.5%. And aside from Oryx himself i don't think there are any actual enemies in the raid above 310 so it's not a 35 PoE situation where you're getting your ass kicked by even the most basic enemy.

 

Still, i want HM Oryx dead. I've not really took a serious crack at him yet. We tried a few times during the last challenge mode but it was late and most of the team was under leveled and on alts at that point. We normally just farm HM for gear at this point. Run through it on one character up to whatever the challenge mode is that week, swap out the check point, get the gear, then maybe kill the Daughters once. I really just want him dead on hard mode (and again on normal) since he's never dropped the helm for me and you need a complete set of gear for the shaders.

[J.T.]

Finished up the Crimson Doubles bounties on my 2 alts and scored the Scheme and Cower emotes. Still no Ghost. We then proceeded to kill ourselves with the Touch of Malice for half an hour to blow through games to try and farm it. Including the games it took to complete the 3 weekly bounties and killing ourselves a hell of a lot we played 47 games. No Ghosts. Goddamn it Bungie! why do you screw everything up? 

 

I braved the CD waters last night.  Went 3-4 in the matches needed for the emblem quest and got a 316 Ghost shell that I used to bring my favorite Dread Explorer shell up to 314.  One match we lost to bullshit lag when I failed to bring down a guy 3 light levels below me with Arc Blade and he somehow managed to shotgun me for the win.

 

This is a busy weekend for me so I will try to knock out the rest of the bounties on either Sunday morning while my girlfriend is at her PTJ at H&R Block or sometime on Monday since I am off for President's Day.  Gaming is verboten on Saturday because we have family coming in and we're headed to a nice restaurant for dinner on Valentine's Day evening.

 

I bought 100 3oCs today in the hope of either getting some 310 gear to infuse my favorite stuff or lucking out on a 310 Graviton Forfeit and a 310 Knucklehead Helmet for my Hunter.  My love affair with Plated Ahamkara Grasps is over.  I miss the free Shadestep. 

 

I also used my beloved Zhalo to infuse my Boolean Gemini which has become my go-to gun in PvP after wrecking shop in a Control match on Skyshock.

[EVA]

I think Boo is a very underrated gun.

It's been fun seeing Jason Schreier make all the YouTube guys who buried his story about the D2 delay eat a little shit. They're all trying to save face by saying it's not really a delay because it was never "officially" announced.

[J.T.]

I think Boo is a very underrated gun.

 

Most reviewers think that the sights are a bit clunky, but I like the holo sight around the red dot that puts a nice little box around my target to aid my focus.  I believe most reviewers prefer their Scout Rifles to serve as baby Sniper Rifles for long range work and this weapon is clearly built for medium range marksmanship.

 

The Aggressive Ballistics / Unflinching set up lets me stay on target at medium to long range even when being hit by enemy fire, and the extra tanky-ness I get from using Or Another is allowing me to win a few more of those low health secondary gunfights instead of being team shot by another player, so long as my killshot to the guy I murdered beforehand hits the body and procs the armor buff in time for the next engagement.

 

I'm pretty good at recoil control so I went with Hammer Forged for the range and accuracy bump rather than double pump Perfect Balance for even more stability.  I don't really need to have the additional recoil dampening since I am using Or Another and it is more beneficial for me to score killshots to the body. 

 

I can just relax and let combat unfold rather than constantly worrying about trying to get headshots in every engagement. 

 

The impact of my rounds match up nicely head to head against the RoF of most pulse rifles so medium range gunfights are a pick 'em.  it all boils down to whose shots hit first, whose shots are the most accurate (the armor buff perk procs on body kills so I have the luxury of aiming at larger target), and who picks flight over fight when their health and armor goes down to Narrow Escape level.  

[Basara]

I think you two must have the only Ghost drops in the game. Between all the games we've played, and the games the people i play with have played, 1 Ghost has dropped. It's insane how low the drop rates are. I saw a thing on reddit about how someone farmed for 22 hours and got 1 drop. That has to be broken?

 

Thing is i don't get why it's so low. During SRL the helms dropped on average about every 5 games with class items dropping every 10. At this point i think they just upped the drop rates in SRL to sucker everyone in to playing it for infsuion fodder so they could say how successful it had been and how many millions of people played it.

[EVA]

They nerfed shell drops in Nighfall with the last update. I think that might have unintentionally nerfed drops elsewhere.

[RIPPA]

Fuck Bungie

It feels good to get that out of my system again

[Basara]

Went 8-0 in Crimson Doubles tonight. Should have put that effort into Trials instead, still no freaking Ghost. 72 games now. Not even sure why i'm bothering?

 

On the plus side its getting a whole bunch of those annoying 'kills in the crucible with...' whatever punches and grenades quests done that I've never bothered to do on anything but a Voidwalker.

[Basara]

Bungie have actually acknowledged that there is a problem with Ghosts dropping. I think that's the first time they've admitted a problem with drop rates. When it all went wrong with the whole 'post game drops being the main way to get Iron Banner armor' they insisted it was working fine. Then patched it. And the current legendary weapons drought in the Crucible hasn't even been mentioned. Well i guess its too late in the event to patch this problem so they are giving you a free 320 Ghost. All you have to do is compete (not suicide) in 7 games during the event and some time between it ending on the 16th and the reset on the 23rd one of the two styles of Ghosts will be sent to your postmaster.

[EVA]

Hmm...I wonder if I'll get a free ghost, too, even though I actually had those two drop for me early on. I will officially be the luckiest SOB in the galaxy if that happens.

[Basara]

You are officially the luckiest SOB in the galaxy then!

 

Have you been playing Crimson Days, but have yet to score one of the Ghosts that we created for the event? Feedback has been unmistakable: the drop rate has been pretty low. We agree. We took a look at the data, and the number of Ghosts awarded has not been what we expected.

That's no way to tell you that we love you, so a fix is in the works.

Check it out:

• After the event is over, we'll deliver Ghosts to the Postmaster
• Anyone who has competed in seven matches will receive one
• You had to actually compete though - no suicide pacts!
• Your Ghost will be Chocolate or Crimson - the odds are even
• 320 Light will be guaranteed - the odds are totally in your favor
• Packages will be addressed by account, not character
• Qualifying players will receive their Ghost by February 23rd

If you've already put up the good fight in seven matches, you're on our list. If you want in on this, you still have time to earn your reward. Crimson Days comes to an end with the Weekly Reset on February 16th.

Grab a partner and throw down. We'll have something sweet for you when all is said and done - whether you win or lose.

 

 

So yeah, if you've played 7 games you get the Ghost regardless of if its dropped for you yet or not. I wouldn't mind this being the way forward for these events. They want people to play them so guarantee a reward for completing a quest then let the rest be RNG. SRL is the best example of this so far. A guaranteed Sparrow for completing the quest then a crack at infusion fodder for those who want to grind.

[Basara]

I've seen several people saying that Ghosts seem to drop more when you are around 300-310 light level as apposed to 315+ which is what I've been playing at. And the 2 my friend got where both at 310. Superstitious crap no doubt but i dropped my light to 309 anyway. 2 games later i get a 314 Crimson Ghost. I'll take it.

 

I'm sure its just RNG being RNG but there could have been something to it. Most people wanted that 320 Ghost and were going in as higher level as possible and not getting any so maybe they some how broke the drop rates for higher Ghosts? i don't know. But after about 80 games i finally got one from this goddamn event so i'm satisfied.

[J.T.]

Fuck Bungie

It feels good to get that out of my system again

 

You'll probably repeat that in this thread since I am going to repost the news from the Mass Effect thread here.

 

Mass Effect: Andromeda's head writer, Chris Schlerf, has left Bioware for Bungie.

 

The storyline for Destiny 2 should be off the chain!

[misanthrope304]

Fuck Bungie

It feels good to get that out of my system again

You'll probably repeat that in this thread since I am going to repost the news from the Mass Effect thread here.

Mass Effect: Andromeda's head writer, Chris Schlerf, has left Bioware for Bungie.

The storyline for Destiny 2 should be off the chain!

I hope D2 has a story, ya know, since this gen really hasnt.

[J.T.]

 

 

Fuck Bungie

It feels good to get that out of my system again

You'll probably repeat that in this thread since I am going to repost the news from the Mass Effect thread here.

Mass Effect: Andromeda's head writer, Chris Schlerf, has left Bioware for Bungie.

The storyline for Destiny 2 should be off the chain!

I hope D2 has a story, ya know, since this gen really hasnt.

 

TTK had just enough story to keep me interested in killing Oryx and it managed to flesh out a few characters, but it won't make you forget Mass Effect.  It would be nice to see Tess and the Faction Leaders as something other than vendors.

[RIPPA]

Keep living that dream

[J.T.]

Keep living that dream

 

Until we get the PMI paid down on the mortgage, it's all the dream I have.

[Basara]

Looks like next weeks Iron Banner is Clash again. Definitely my preferred game mode. It's faster than Control (and Rift, short of a 2 min blow out mercy) and easier to go it alone since there's no objectives other than kill. Plus with the 20% win rep increase this time it should make for a quick Bannering.

If you're still after that playstation helm EVA then Saladin's got your back. He's selling it at rank 4. He's also got Gauntlets (and for the first time PS exclusive ones), sniper rifle and rocket launcher.

[J.T.]

I am up to 82% reknown for this fucking Chaperone quest.  I am actually doing it the hard way and using TLW the entire time, but playing as a Gunslinger with Gunslinger's Trance and Don't Touch Me's with HC Loader balances things out.. It also helps that players are doing me the courtesy of blundering into my Tripmines two at a time.  The free Double Kills are a blessing..

 

Playing matches in the Classic 6v6 playlist is getting it done, but there are lots of fireteams full of tryhards that have the same idea as I do and are hunting scrubs on the old map playlists to finish PvP portions of quests.  Lots of guys with swords running around introducing lowbies to the merciless world of The Crucible... 

 

I had two 20+ kill matches in a row that really bumped up the green bar and my DTR Combat Rating is finally getting back to 99+ after taking a slight tumble during Crimson Doubles.  I will feel better when it is over 100 again. 

 

I will try to get the last bit of progress done on either Sunday or Monday.  Lots of family stuff to do today and tomorrow.

 

Now that my remaining story quests for my Hunter are all King's Fall related, I now care enough to go try for a Black Spindle.

 

Thank God that the IB is Clash.  Not quite as exposing of teams of randoms as Rift was, although I had more fun playing Rift than I want to admit to myself.  I can slum it and play with blueberry teams when the DARPA crew isn't online without too much fear of getting mercied after five minutes.

[RIPPA]

At least you have people who will be able to get your through the last step of the quest

 

Stupid everything

[J.T.]

At least you have people who will be able to get your through the last step of the quest

 

Stupid everything

 

Yeah, I am not looking forward to shotgunning the Shield Brothers to death with a coordinated fireteam, much less with total randoms.  I have a feeling it will be as frustrating as the Kill 6 Sniper Shanks version of Fallen SABER or the Kill 6 Shriekers / Kill the Unstable Core version of Sunless Cell..

 

That being said, I still have to get my Touch of Malice and I have heard the Kill Morgoth stip on Undying Mind has driven many players to alcohol abuse.

 

I didn't think there would be a quest stip as infuriating as the special Summoning Pits strike for the Thorn quest, but here we are.

 

Which reminds me that I have to put them through the hell of getting Sleeper Stimulants for my Warlock and Titan alts.

 

They owe me for those nights of back to back VoG raids on Normal / Hard so that they could get their No Time To Explain shit done.

[Basara]

The Shield Brothers shotgun strike wasn't near as bad as i was expecting. And i did it with 2 randoms. Thanks to matchmaking i joined in about half way into the strike. The instructions are a little misleading, like most instructions in Destiny. You don't actually have to personally kill the brothers with a shotgun. You just have to get some damage in with one before they die. I'd play it safe and get your licks in close to when they are about to be killed, and i'd try and stay close to them when they die since the requirements are still a little blurry. But it's a hell of a lot easier than 'Kill the brothers with a shotgun' or whatever the actual mission is. I certainly didn't get the last hit in on the brothers and still got the quest done. Plus specialist is on so your shotgun will rip through most things in there. I'd recommend a solar shotgun since some of the reinforcements in the boss fight have solar shields.

[J.T.]

I am just thankful that there is no reset penalty for dying in PvP during the Kill Things With Shotguns part.  Nursing my K/D is not how I like to play Crucible.   The more I worry about dying, the more often I do it.   Learned that the hard way so I have reverted to my old run and gun ways.

[J.T.]

RIP Baby Crota.  I only have KF baddies and Crota himself left in my Exalted Hive grimoire hit list.