Destiny - Discussion Thread

[VladDracule]

Is the level cap 20 or 30? Am I wrong in thinking you need special gear to ramp up levels after 20?

No your correct. Level 18+ gear can have a stat called "light" on it and you need to hit certain amounts of light to level past 20. The true cap if you want to call 20 the soft cap is 30

 

[Modred189]

Is the level cap 20 or 30? Am I wrong in thinking you need special gear to ramp up levels after 20?

No your correct. Level 18+ gear can have a stat called "light" on it and you need to hit certain amounts of light to level past 20. The true cap if you want to call 20 the soft cap is 30

Correct. Every 10 "light" you have on your gear after 20 gets you another level. So hard character cap of 20, but light can get you another 10.
I THINK it is only armor that has a light stat, but I could be wrong.

 

[eloj]

Yahtzee takes the piss in Zero Punctuation.

Starting to think there might be something to this age argument advanced by Danny O'Dwyer.

 

[SeymourGore]

I do like the idea behind the levelling system in this game, since level progression past 20 is gear based, it's easier to understand when you're ready for a raid or strike. And since there's not a huge amount of difference between PVE and PVP-oriented Legendaries, you'll be fine with whatever legendaries you have equipped.

 

[VladDracule]

I do like the idea behind the levelling system in this game, since level progression past 20 is gear based, it's easier to understand when you're ready for a raid or strike. And since there's not a huge amount of difference between PVE and PVP-oriented Legendaries, you'll be fine with whatever legendaries you have equipped.

Yeah I agree to an extent. All the stats seem like just an afterthought. The cooldown reduction even at 100% didnt seem to make a major noticable difference to my play, only the light levels really seemed to matter which really does put a limit on character progression. Light level to me should be more akin to gear score in WoW but its a super stat in this implementation

 

[SeymourGore]

Yeah I agree to an extent. All the stats seem like just an afterthought. The cooldown reduction even at 100% didnt seem to make a major noticable difference to my play, only the light levels really seemed to matter which really does put a limit on character progression. Light level to me should be more akin to gear score in WoW but its a super stat in this implementation

Haven't done much experimentation with the stats (have just been focusing on Disc and Intel gear), it's a little disheartening to hear that the stats don't affect much. If that's the case, I'm not even going to bother choosing equipment by stat bonus, I'd be better off looking at weapon modifiers.

 

[VladDracule]

Haven't done much experimentation with the stats (have just been focusing on Disc and Intel gear), it's a little disheartening to hear that the stats don't affect much. If that's the case, I'm not even going to bother choosing equipment by stat bonus, I'd be better off looking at weapon modifiers.

I could be wrong. its a little hard to tell though because stats dont increase damage like they do in other games. The CD reduction may really be improving my damage output a lot but i really dont know, its hard to even really experiment with it as all light gear has some other secondary stat.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

This is just dissapointing as if not more than titanfall. The fallout from this has been huge compared to titanfall, you see it EVERYWHERE. Even with the first raids being completed nobody sees an upside to the game or a reason to keep playing.

Even critically Destiny is faring 10 full points worse on metacritic than titanfall did. This is significantly more disappointing because of what was advertised, what was promised, the budge and the development timeline. Absolutely nothing about Destiny lives up to what everyone though it was going to be.

This game has a major identity crisis, its its not an MMO then why the hell do we have 10 hour raids that only premade groups can do and take HOURS to complete. Bungie doesnt even know what the hell to call this abomination of a game

There is certain content for the hardcore. Just because you don't/can't put the time in for it doesn't mean the content shouldn't exist.

 

[VladDracule]

There is certain content for the hardcore. Just because you don't/can't put the time in for it doesn't mean the content shouldn't exist.

except right now its just content for the sake of content. There is no reason to complete the raid, there is no gauranteed loot, there isnt even any exclusive loot that can only be found in the raid. It has no purpose other than to say oh look you can raid! but its not an mmo!

 

[Modred189]

Starting to think there might be something to this age argument advanced by Danny O'Dwyer.

Thanks for that last link. He hits it square on the head. I'm 31, and being only a few years older than him, my experiences are the same. It's hard to check my expectations of a revolutionary, insane new experience at the door when breaking down a new game. There's always a part of me that's asking, "why is this game THE game that's better than ALL the rest?" It takes a conscious effort to give a game a square shot at just being a great/good game on it's own without expecting it to blow the doors off everything else that has come before.

 

[refraxion]

except right now its just content for the sake of content. There is no reason to complete the raid, there is no gauranteed loot, there isnt even any exclusive loot that can only be found in the raid. It has no purpose other than to say oh look you can raid! but its not an mmo!

Does someone really need loot to enjoy the raid? If you are already raid capable (read: level 26+) just doing it should be fun with 5 other IRL friends. This game has been such a blast for all of my friends that we are still going strong, and it seems like I'm still seeing quite a few people on despite the media "outfall". Kotaku so far has the best and most in depth review of the game yet. And is the only one that anyone should read as a review other than the rushed to market "me-first" type of reviews.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

I'm really flabbergasted at treasure cave. I gained six levels in a couple hours last night just sitting there while I watched TV.

 

[VladDracule]

I'm really flabbergasted at treasure cave. I gained six levels in a couple hours last night just sitting there while I watched TV.

See this confuses me. The drop system apparently means you just have to be in the proximity of an enemy being killed and you have a chance to get a drop? You dont even have to deal damage to it? And the same is true for exp? Hell i just need to log in with my hunter and leave him there while i eat etc to get my alts leveled.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

See this confuses me. The drop system apparently means you just have to be in the proximity of an enemy being killed and you have a chance to get a drop? You dont even have to deal damage to it? And the same is true for exp? Hell i just need to log in with my hunter and leave him there while i eat etc to get my alts leveled.

You don't have to participate at all. I watched something on Apple TV, pulled the trigger every few minutes, then switched my receiver over to collect loot. All you have to do is face the cave.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

I turned the game on 7:15 and I was 13. I'm now 17 and it's 9:25. I've barely done anything. Just collected loot.

 

[SeymourGore]

I turned the game on 7:15 and I was 13. I'm now 17 and it's 9:25. I've barely done anything. Just collected loot.

I loot caved for 30-40 minutes and scored a legendary sniper (amazingly enough).

I wonder if Bungie will look at nerfing this tactic. If they do, hopefully they counter it buy revising their loot system.

 

[DPI]

 

[DPI]

I loot caved for 30-40 minutes and scored a legendary sniper (amazingly enough).

I wonder if Bungie will look at nerfing this tactic. If they do, hopefully they counter it buy revising their loot system.

Can't blame ya, based on the abysmal drop rate when playing the game normally, but man it's pathetic that this is the endgame right now.

 

[Plague_Injected]

Is there any advantage to fighting higher-level enemies, since a lvl 1 dreg will give you the exact same amount of XP as a lvl 20+ dreg?

 

[KickAssCop]

Reached level 24. Got only 2 legendary items from queen's quests. One a pulse rifle and another chest armor. About 900 defense now and 248/300 damage on the rifle. Need to upgrade it to do more damage soon.

Would have preferred an auto but not complaining. Considering the game took its sweet time in giving me the legendaries. Need friends to run the queen's missions or otherwise if you are a casual gamer like me, you are SOL.

 

[eloj]

Thanks for that last link. He hits it square on the head. I'm 31, and being only a few years older than him, my experiences are the same. It's hard to check my expectations of a revolutionary, insane new experience at the door when breaking down a new game.

And I'm even older yet.

I'm not expecting revolutionary from games, but I think it's reasonable to expect new games, if they strive to be truly great, to at least do the old things better than ever before.

That's the disappointment with Destiny for me. It was never going to be revolutionary, but it had a shot at being great. Only, if you're going to do an online space opera shooter, at least do the elements better than Elite, Mass Effect, Diablo and Borderlands did.

I'm not saying that is easy, but if you're out there selling your game as a 10 year epic, /that/ is what I expect of you.

I have called the design of Destiny arrogant, because I think it came from people who haven't studied history, and certainly not the competition. I wouldn't doubt a Bungie designer who said they were happy and proud of their product, but I just hope that somewhere in there there are a few unhappy malcontents who see how deeply flawed it is.

Because if this was what they as a company actually wanted to achieve... man, that to me would be profoundly sad.

 

[m33pm33p]

Reached level 24. Got only 2 legendary items from queen's quests. One a pulse rifle and another chest armor. About 900 defense now and 248/300 damage on the rifle. Need to upgrade it to do more damage soon.

Would have preferred an auto but not complaining. Considering the game took its sweet time in giving me the legendaries. Need friends to run the queen's missions or otherwise if you are a casual gamer like me, you are SOL.

Wrong!

Queens quests are guaranteed legendaries. You can also solo the earth mission one very easily. Just keep going back to orbit and restarting until It pops.

 

[lilbabycat]

Haven't done much experimentation with the stats (have just been focusing on Disc and Intel gear), it's a little disheartening to hear that the stats don't affect much. If that's the case, I'm not even going to bother choosing equipment by stat bonus, I'd be better off looking at weapon modifiers.

Stats reduce the timer on whatever it describes by up to half, there are some exact numbers floating around but I want to say the super timer for example went from 1:05 to 0:38, not including gear/spec that can also lower it. Not sure how much of an effect stats have on movement speed, jump height, punch speed, etc if at all.

Can't blame ya, based on the abysmal drop rate when playing the game normally, but man it's pathetic that this is the endgame right now.

Its not quite the endgame, but its def. the best place to level and progress gear wise up till about 22-23. After that you'll need to start farming all the planet specific mats to upgrade your pieces, as well as doing strikes/pvp to get gear that simply won't drop from the trash. The queen's missions are really good for upgrades, but they are epic lvl 24 and are incredibly tough compared to even the heroics.

When you hit 20 and start doing these harder strikes, you absolutely need to keep heavy/special weapons of each element type, otherwise you'll find yourself seeing "RESIST RESIST RESIST" and take 3x as much ammo just to drop a simple trash mob (who btw, will kill you in 2-3 hits like he was a boss).

Overall, i've found in doing the heroic/epic strikes that the difficulty for Mars+Moon missions ramp up incredibly versus normal, but Venus+Earth ones are much more manageable.

And I have a mantra that I recite quite often while playing: "Fuck you Dinklage"

 

[Occidio]

Yep, different weapon ammo types is a must. I have 3 sniper rifles all different ammo types. I am sitting at level 28 and I have 4 more upgrades on all my armor to go. I am just waiting on Ascendant Shards to update them.
The Queen's missions are a little nice since I am just dismantling them to give the shards.
I got an Exotic Weapon Mission to do now and it is going to be a bitch.
Complete 1 weekly heroic, turn that in. Complete 25 strikes, turn that in. Get 10,000 points in pvp, turn it and get my Bad Juju Pulse Rifle. The pvp part is going to kill me. I find pvp on a console hard to begin with. Destiny's small FOV and using a gamepad is hard for me to overcome.
I love the game though, I guess I just like grinding games really.

 

[refraxion]

I'll probably finally hit rank 2 with crucible today and buy the rest of my legendary gear. Crucible is by far the easiest to level rank and get legendary gear. Easier than vanguard repping.

 

[VladDracule]

Reached level 24. Got only 2 legendary items from queen's quests. One a pulse rifle and another chest armor. About 900 defense now and 248/300 damage on the rifle. Need to upgrade it to do more damage soon.

Would have preferred an auto but not complaining. Considering the game took its sweet time in giving me the legendaries. Need friends to run the queen's missions or otherwise if you are a casual gamer like me, you are SOL.

huh, so apparently you can get legendary weps out of queens quests...coulda fooled me ive completed 12 now with no weapon rewards

 

[refraxion]

I haven't seen any weapon rewards. Just a bunch of helms and chests. Useless. I need gloves and boots!

Exotic merchant can't come soon enough.

 

[Nimisys]

Can't blame ya, based on the abysmal drop rate when playing the game normally, but man it's pathetic that this is the endgame right now.

I got really mixed feelings on this too. so far I have stayed away, because honestly, it is cheating through an exploit. That being said, I have twice solo'd a walker for nothing. no drop from the walker, no loot chest, nothing. just a big fat ammo drain and not even a stat update. which is bullshit. I don't expect epic and legendary to fall out of the sky, but at the same time, the loot system is deeply flawed.

at this point, the caves have made it a requirement to be fully geared for end game, so they have become a needed evil

 

[boomboy2k1]

Can't blame ya, based on the abysmal drop rate when playing the game normally, but man it's pathetic that this is the endgame right now.

I never do this and I got all legendary gears and an exotic weapon. If this is the endgame, I'd stop playing.

 

[refraxion]

Its end game for people who can't compete in crucible or are not good enough for strikes. Gear comes pretty easily in this game I don't know why people need to rush for their gear. Crucible alone is worth the $60 entry fee for me.

 

[VladDracule]

Its end game for people who can't compete in crucible or are not good enough for strikes. Gear comes pretty easily in this game I don't know why people need to rush for their gear. Crucible alone is worth the $60 entry fee for me.

except for the fact that the cave is faster. People have hit level 24-25 regularly in a matter of 4-5 hours of cave farming, cant do that in the crucible no matter how good you are.

 

[refraxion]

except for the fact that the cave is faster. People have hit level 24-25 regularly in a matter of 4-5 hours of cave farming, cant do that in the crucible no matter how good you are.

Hence why I stated I don't know why people need to rush for their gear.

Anyways I'm not gonna say I haven't done it myself. Did it while I had some downtime and took a break. Already was decked out in blues so this was good mat farming. I never got legendaries doing it (I got leg engram's but those never turn out) but have so from actually playing the game.

Only 780 rep to go for my rank 2 crucible. Woop

 

[VladDracule]

Hence why I stated I don't know why people need to rush for their gear.

Anyways I'm not gonna say I haven't done it myself. Did it while I had some downtime and took a break. Already was decked out in blues so this was good mat farming. I never got legendaries doing it (I got leg engram's but those never turn out) but have so from actually playing the game.

Only 780 rep to go for my rank 2 crucible. Woop

I need like 2200 rep to hit rank 3 with vanguard and be able to get some leg weapons but i dont want to grind anymore :/

 

[refraxion]

It was my fault for wearing the dead orbit cape (ate so much rep from my vanguard stuff) but damn does that cape ever look snazzy! Lol.

I'm still low rank vanguard

 

[Occidio]

If you want your Vanguard rep up, do some Patrols and farm materials at the same time. It is the fastest way to gain Vanguard rep. Faster than strikes and Vanguard missions since most of those Patrols can be done within 5 mins sometimes less.

 

[DPI]

I need like 2200 rep to hit rank 3 with vanguard and be able to get some leg weapons but i dont want to grind anymore :/

And even if you grind to get legendaries, what then? I mean what do you do with them, because what else is there to do - raids? Or I guess just wait for DLC to come out. They're normalized in PvP anyway. I ask because I am trying to find the motivation or reason to keep playing past lvl20 and don't really see any.

That dawning realization its the end of the road either way.

 

[refraxion]

Iron Banner hasn't even been released yet. That is where gear matters and is not normalized. Right now damage is normalized but perks and passives are not.

Anyways this game for me has always been the multiplayer aspect so I'm enjoying it for what it is for me. The story mode is really just a side thing for me to do when I'm taking a break from crucible. Oh and I usually play crucible solo or with one or two friends only. For story mode we usually do full party.

 

[boomboy2k1]

And even if you grind to get legendaries, what then? I mean what do you do with them, because what else is there to do - raids? Or I guess just wait for DLC to come out. They're normalized in PvP anyway. I ask because I am trying to find the motivation or reason to keep playing past lvl20 and don't really see any.

That dawning realization its the end of the road either way.

Keep playing because it is fun? If you don't find it fun then maybe you should stop playing.

 

[DPI]

Keep playing because it is fun? If you don't find it fun then maybe you should stop playing.

I did stop playing, that was the point. I'm interested in hearing suggestions for why I should continue playing, that I may have missed or am not aware of. Example I haven't done a raid, maybe that's something worth pursuing, I don't know.

So do you have specific suggestions or were you just sharing more of the meaningless "don't criticize the game" hyperbole you keep droning here?

 

[Modred189]

I did stop playing, that was the point. I'm looking for suggestions on why I should continue playing, that I may have missed or am not aware of. Example I haven't done a raid, maybe that's something worth pursuing, I don't know.

So do you have specific suggestions or were you just sharing more of the meaningless "don't talk bad about the game" hyperbole you keep droning here?

Well, if you stopped at lvl 20 you're missing out on 10 more levels.
There's also MP, events (like the current Queen's Wrath), replaying missions at higher difficulties which messes with the baddies, etc. Until you've hit lvl 30 and completed Glass Vault, you're not really done...
There was one review posted that made the point that lvls 1-30 is essentially the tutorial, and there's a lot of truth in that.