Destiny 2

[J.T.]

31 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I have already been trying to figure out a schedule since I except to get at least 2 games on my wishlist at Christmas in addition to still having to finish Borderlands 3 and Horizon Zero Dawn.

Thankfully I have a lot of vacation to burn over the next two months

I am taking a blue flu vacation when Bloodlines 2 comes out.

One of Blacksmyth's crew got the Xeno over the weekend.  He says it's the more of the railgun that Thunderlord should've been but not as fun to use.  He enjoys using it, but feels that it could've been better.  It definitely has the feel of weapon that is better at PvE than PvP.

Some people grumble about the weapon being range focused and still having explosive ammo, but they don't seem to understand that's how you get past damage falloff and cheat range so that it is just as effective from further away.

He says it's more or less a Heavy Scout Rifle pretending to be a LMG, which makes me even less inclined to grind for it since it will probably be a very situational item and I have plenty of those sitting in the vault.  It'll be one of those guns you grind strictly for the triumph. 

The big attraction for me is that it is a Solar weapon and I have precious few of those in my HW slot, so that may be the quality that piques my OCD enough to tackle the Pit of Heresy.  My most effective HWs are Void based.

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

Speaking of exotics and their catalysts - got Borealis from a season pass exotic so, again, I decide "sure why not" and have been working on that while doing random patrol shit. Finished the void kills already. God you don't realize how many kills 450 is until you start to actually count.

Finally listened to all of Toland's bullshit to get that Triumph done too.

[J.T.]

21 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Speaking of exotics and their catalysts - got Borealis from a season pass exotic so, again, I decide "sure why not" and have been working on that while doing random patrol shit. Finished the void kills already. God you don't realize how many kills 450 is until you start to actually count.

It just seems that way because the Borealis only takes Special Ammo.   I am experiencing this now that I am working on Eriana's Vow.

Catalyst grinds for Exotic weapons that take Primary Ammo feel like they take no time at all to finish.

I was done with Cerberus +1 and the Ace within one full Vex Invasion cycle on the Moon.  By the time the Overlord showed up, the catalysts for both weapons were already completed.

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

I will say that - at least at the moment - it seems that green will drop on like every third or fourth kill so I am just feeding back into Borealis constantly.

I also used Momentum control to fuck out with a few weapons I would never normally use in Crucible. Like I tried both my Borealis and Prometheus Lens out. PL fucking sucks (not surprising)

I might use today to do some more Momentum just to take advantage of the no radar to keep upping my sniper kills for that fucking quest

[J.T.]

34 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I will say that - at least at the moment - it seems that green will drop on like every third or fourth kill so I am just feeding back into Borealis constantly.

I also used Momentum control to fuck out with a few weapons I would never normally use in Crucible. Like I tried both my Borealis and Prometheus Lens out. PL fucking sucks (not surprising)

I might use today to do some more Momentum just to take advantage of the no radar to keep upping my sniper kills for that fucking quest

I have to say that I am enjoying Momentum Control more than I thought I would.  It is the camper's paradise I imagined it would be and it plays to the strengths of my RTK or Bust load-out.  

Scout Rifle kills from long range happen much faster and if I can catch zone defenders flat footed, I can easily score natural Doubles or Triples with the Recluse before anyone can react.

The problem is that I have to depend on my teammates not to do dumb things like wander off during zone defense and I will occasionally get blindsided while I am ADS under the foolish assumption that someone is watching my flank.

Everyone is so preoccupied with their own shit that they do dumb things that jeopardize the team wins. 

I swear that it's the same thing when I am playing Gambit Prime and no one on my team seems to know what the fucking red halo over my head stands.

Whenever I am playing GP, someone always tries to push me out of the way when Heavy is up or they will fucking snag the portal before I can use it and die within seconds of invading.

I was in a GP match on Friday night where I denied the other team nearly eighty motes during my invasions.   Even in the matches when I am invading and don't get any kills, I still made the other teams spend their time hiding from me rather than gathering motes and my teams eventually won those matches..

This is what you can do when your teams help you do your fucking job.

Speaking of evasive players, this weekend I almost got the triumph for wiping a team without using PWs or a super, bot one little rat bastard with ten motes made me chase him all over the fucking New Arcadia map and my timer wore off just as I had him sighted for the kill.

Fuck.

I knew I should've just tried to lock on with Trust and get a shot off before being sent back to my side, but there are a lot of obstacles on the big GP maps that keep you from getting a clean sight line and I was stubborn and wanted to get that last KW or EW kill.

I tried not to be angry at the guy because he was only doing what he was supposed to do in order to keep his team in the match.  I was still mad as shit, though.  It felt like the times when I was trying to get Mote Thief done and some tryhard would always pop his super to kill me before I could leave after securing the third mote.

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.

[J.T.]

In that 80 mote denial match, one guy was so pissed at me that he used his Blade Barrage to nuke me while I was doing my celebratory knife flip at their bank after nuking his three buddies with Truth just as they were about to go into the Well for Primeval damage.

The Triple Kill healed their Primeval enough for my team to steal the win.  We were way behind at the time I invaded.

I was being more of a dick than usual during that match but not enough to get any Hate PMs.  Those are the times where you know you did your best work.

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.

[Eivion]

4 hours ago, J.T. said:

Yeah, I did the Cerberus +1 catalyst expressly for the triumph and it has sat in my vault at 869 LL ever since and I have no intentions of wasting materials getting it to 950.  I don't particularly care for the alternate fire setting.

Speaking of catalysts that make me angry, after thirty or so days I FINALLY got that dumb Eriana's Vow catalyst quest done and guess what?  When you turn the quest in to Banshee you fucking get an incomplete catalyst you have to grind.

I actually like Cerberus+1 fine for regular enemies. There just happen to be too many better weapons to stick with it regularly, especially in a season with champions and wonderful mods like anti-barrier.

That is some bs on Eriana's Vow. Its an decent weapon, but not enough to justify the level of grind they want for the catalyst.

[J.T.]

20 hours ago, Eivion said:

That is some bs on Eriana's Vow. Its an decent weapon, but not enough to justify the level of grind they want for the catalyst.

The catalyst for EV expands the number of rounds it holds and also autoloads it while it's stowed, so it does add some value to the weapon by addressing the shitty Reload Speed stat. 

Once; I've got the catalyst done, I can take off the Enhanced Hand Cannon Loader mods I have off of some my arm armor pieces and reconfigure the mod slots for something a bit more useful than compensating for the crappiest stat of one single weapon.

I'll still keep EHCL mods on my Gambit Prime arm armor pieces since I usually have Malfeasance as my go-to Kinetic Weapon for Gambit match play.

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

God things would go so much fucking easier if people paid attention to the fucking modifiers

Oh there is more aerial damage? Let me see how long I can stay in the air!

Oh, let me equip no mods to help take down champions!

Grr...

[J.T.]

12 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

God things would go so much fucking easier if people paid attention to the fucking modifiers

Oh there is more aerial damage? Let me see how long I can stay in the air!

Oh, let me equip no mods to help take down champions!

Around lunch time yesterday, I ran Ordeal Nightfalls to grind the last bit of Applied Score progress I needed for the Vanguard cosmetic item quest and I was the only guy on my Fireteam that had a weapon that could stun Overload Champions. 

It was horrible.

I rage quit after our second team wipe, got cleaned up, got dressed, and went to the movies to go see Terminator:  Dark Fate.

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

Guess which activity I was doing!

Actually worked out and one of the two idiots I was paired with quit and the rando who go added in knew what the fuck to expect so it went a lot easier from that point.

It also helped that the guy who quit was trying to treat it like a normal strike and run past everything so he would die like an idiot.

[RIPPA]

BTW - I really like the ordeal nightfalls because I am checking off a bunch of Triumphs I never had the chance to get before.

Like I got the one in A Garden World for killing the dudes in like under 90 seconds

[J.T.]

23 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

BTW - I really like the ordeal nightfalls because I am checking off a bunch of Triumphs I never had the chance to get before.

Bah.  I completed all of my Nightfall triumphs two or three seasons ago.  You're just too skittish about using LFG to find randos to help you.  I don't mind hitting up LFG for something quick, but using it to find groups for endgame stuff gives me pause.

The only Nightfall triumph I recall being a pain in the ass was the one for the Pyramidion since you can't beat it with an instant boss melt like you can with other strikes.  You have to go through all of the pressure plate bullshit.

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.

[Eivion]

49 minutes ago, J.T. said:

I'll still keep EHCL mods on my Gambit Prime arm armor pieces since I usually have Malfeasance as my go-to Kinetic Weapon.

With the current system I try to remember to switch out mods for whatever I'm doing, but I am finding I'm mostly using SMGs and auto-rifles this season. I haven't used Malfeasance at all since GP is one of the activities used for the Vow catalyst. I'll be honest though the second Malfeasance's catalyst becomes available every other kinetic and exotic can screw itself until I finish it up, at least when it comes to Gambit.

53 minutes ago, J.T. said:

The catalyst for EV expands the number of rounds it holds and also autoloads it while it's stowed, so it does add some value to the weapon by addressing the shitty Reload Speed stat. 

Nice to know the bonuses don't suck though it still is annoying amount of grind since its based on activities. I would be happier if things like Nightmare Haunts, Nightfall: the Ordeal, & Vex Offensive counted towards it.

37 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Around lunch time yesterday, I ran Ordeal Nightfalls to grind the last bit of Applied Score progress I needed for the Vanguard cosmetic item quest and I was the only guy on my Fireteam that had a weapon that could stun Overload Champions. 

I ran into that a couple of nights ago. It was terrible and annoying. 

 

[J.T.]

18 hours ago, Eivion said:

With the current system I try to remember to switch out mods for whatever I'm doing, but I am finding I'm mostly using SMGs and auto-rifles this season. 

Recluse is my go-to EW these days and I usually hate using SMGs.  Even with the nerf, it's still an excellent add clearer and it is excellent in the Crucible.   

I've noticed that autos are making a slight comeback in PvP.   Pluperfect has been melting a few people lately and I imagine that some dudes will break out those 950 Werewolves during the IB this week if they have good PvP rolls on them.

Edited November 5, 2019 by J.T.

[J.T.]

19 hours ago, Eivion said:

Nice to know the bonuses don't suck though it still is annoying amount of grind since its based on activities. I would be happier if things like Nightmare Haunts, Nightfall: the Ordeal, & Vex Offensive counted towards it.

Nightmare Hunts and Ordeal Nightfalls don't give you quest progress for the catalyst, but the Vex Offensive does.  

I used the EV on Barrier Champions and Hydra units all the time.

Edited November 5, 2019 by J.T.

[J.T.]

I finally got to run The Festering Core strike and hear the dialogue.   One of the few moments when this game did not disappoint me.

Savathun is getting a much better story build-up than the usual Destiny BBEG.  I think the Vanguard unwittingly helped her effort by giving Hashladun a dirt nap during the Scarlet Keep strike.

Edited November 5, 2019 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

22 hours ago, J.T. said:

I tried not to be angry at the guy because he was only doing what he was supposed to do in order to keep his team in the match.  I was still mad as shit, though.  It felt like the times when I was trying to get Mote Thief done and some tryhard would always pop his super to kill me before I could leave after securing the third mote.

CURSE THESE PEOPLE DEFENDING THEMSELVES AND NOT LETTING ME MURDER THEM!!!

[J.T.]

45 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

CURSE THESE PEOPLE DEFENDING THEMSELVES AND NOT LETTING ME MURDER THEM!!!

Please.  Like every other sentence out of your mouth when we are running Crucible together is either WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE~??? or DON'T YOU HIDE FROM ME, ASSHOLE~!

Pot Kettle Black since I am also very guilty of this.  It is infuriating to wound a guy down to a small sliver and then have him take cover before you can put him away. 

I'm always hoping he'll try to peek and get a shot off at me so I can finish the job. 

This is why I love the Armor 2.0 version of the Foetracer.

If I get an early stick, I can mark a player and anticipate which way a hurt player will cut around cover so that I can prep to pre-fire, I get a damage buff on wounded opponents,  and I can shove my own fucking mods on the helmet rather than be at the mercy of RNG.

I only use it for normal Crucible though.  No need for added douchebaggery in the IB where I tend to be one of the higher light players and will easily win most of my 1v1 gunfights.  I'll be sporting my full Iron Will armor set tonight.

Edited November 5, 2019 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

Played a little this morning but the servers are a little wobbly due to them doing maintenance before the reset hits

Did have a Coldheart catalyst drop for me this morning so now I feel like they upped the drop rate on catalyst 

[J.T.]

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Played a little this morning but the servers are a little wobbly due to them doing maintenance before the reset hits

Did have a Coldheart catalyst drop for me this morning so now I feel like they upped the drop rate on catalyst 

You are just now getting a Coldheart catalyst?  Man, you ARE behind.

I'm waiting for the devs to remember that the Lens and Coldhard both have catalysts so that they create one of the Wavesplitter.

[RIPPA]

Bungie put in another reminder to not cash in any pinnacle rewards (especially IB bounties) till after the reset on Thursday

[J.T.]

4 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Bungie put in another reminder to not cash in any pinnacle rewards (especially IB bounties) till after the reset on Thursday

It will be hard to just sit on those tokens.   I tend to have really good runs in the IB so I will probably have a bounty or two by as early as tonight.

[RIPPA]

The tokens you can cash in (in fact I already cashed in some I had left over from last cycle)

Just don't cash in bounties - that is what is given the pinacle rewards (ie: stuff over 950)

[J.T.]

8 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

The tokens you can cash in (in fact I already cashed in some I had left over from last cycle)

Just don't cash in bounties - that is what is given the pinacle rewards (ie: stuff over 950)

I never horde my tokens.  Whatever I have, I turn in when I am done with the IB for the week.