Happy Xur Day!
This week Xur can be found at the large door near the Speaker.
His inventory this week includes the following (click the links for full stats):
Exotic Weapon
- Dragon's Breath* (Rocket Launcher) - 17 Strange Coins
Exotic Armor
- MK. 44 Stand Asides* (Titan Boots) - 13 Strange Coins
- Don't Touch Me* (Hunter Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- Starfire Protocol* (Warlock Chest) - 13 Strange Coins
* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
Other Exotic Items
- Exotic Shard - 7 Strange Coins
- Exotic Engram (Gauntlet) - 23 Motes of Light
Exotic Upgrades - 1 Exotic Shard and around 7500 Glimmer each
- Mask of the Thid Man (Hunter Helmet)
- Young Ahamkara's Spine (Hunter Gauntlets)
- Helm of Inmost Light (Titan Helm)
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest)
- Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Warlock Helm)
- Sunbreakers (Warlock Gauntlets)
- Suros Regime
- Thorn
- Universal Remote
- Pocket Infinity
- Ice Breaker
- Super Good Advice
Curios
- Hand Cannon Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Fusion Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Rocket Launcher Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Plasma Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" 23 Strange Coins
Friday, January 30, 2015
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Destiny Crucible: Doubles Skirmish - My Thoughts
As many of you are probably aware, this past week one of the featured Crucible playlists is Doubles Skirmish. Since its something that I spent a great deal of time playing, I thought I would give my thoughts and opinions on it.
For those who don't know, Doubles Skirmish was a new variation on the already existing Skirmish gametype for Crucible. There's no Zones to capture and control, just teams of two pitted against each other with teammate revives activated. Doubles Skirmish required that fireteams race to reach a score of 3500 points and placed a big emphasis on teamwork, strategy, communication, and area control.
Overall I generally enjoyed this game type. Nearly every Crucible game I played last week was Doubles Skirmish, each time with the same partner. Like in Skirmish, its extremely satisfying to be part of a team that doesn't have to rely on a random teammate or two, like is generally the case in Control or Clash. It feels as though you and your teammate have much more of an impact on the course of events in the match, because you do.
Because of this Double Skirmish was a much more satisfying multiplayer experience for me. I felt that it really allowed great Crucible players to shine. And, because of the emphasis on team play and the smaller number of people involved, there were no indtances of any one individual carrying the team to victory or defeat. This made the outcome of the game more dependent on how you and your teammate performed. No longer was I easily topping the post game stats on my team, only to be met with a defeat because others on my team couldn't pull their wait. For basically every match, I got out what I put into it. A high number of kills generally meant a victory, and a poor performance from myself and my teammate led to a victory. It sounds like a simple aspect, but this idea at times can seem almost nonexistent in other game types.
Perhaps the only problem I had with this gametype in all of my matches was the often over-emphasis on area control. In short, it was easy for a game to become a camp fest, and mine times they did. After several dozen matches it quickly became apparent that my friend and I were one of the most mobile teams playing the game. A handful of teams would resort to camping a single area with snipers for the entire match. This made special ammo even more crucial in this game type, and for that reason I think it needs to be tweaked. At the moment, I think it is far too readily available, and it's abunfance led to what often seemed like snipers with unlimited over penetrating rounds.
All in all, I greatly enjoyed this game type. I'm sad to see it go, as participating in it was definitely the most fun I've had in the Crucible in a long while. I really hope it comes back sometime in the future. It was a nice and welcome change of pace to the usual lineup of Crucible playlists.
For those who don't know, Doubles Skirmish was a new variation on the already existing Skirmish gametype for Crucible. There's no Zones to capture and control, just teams of two pitted against each other with teammate revives activated. Doubles Skirmish required that fireteams race to reach a score of 3500 points and placed a big emphasis on teamwork, strategy, communication, and area control.
Overall I generally enjoyed this game type. Nearly every Crucible game I played last week was Doubles Skirmish, each time with the same partner. Like in Skirmish, its extremely satisfying to be part of a team that doesn't have to rely on a random teammate or two, like is generally the case in Control or Clash. It feels as though you and your teammate have much more of an impact on the course of events in the match, because you do.
Because of this Double Skirmish was a much more satisfying multiplayer experience for me. I felt that it really allowed great Crucible players to shine. And, because of the emphasis on team play and the smaller number of people involved, there were no indtances of any one individual carrying the team to victory or defeat. This made the outcome of the game more dependent on how you and your teammate performed. No longer was I easily topping the post game stats on my team, only to be met with a defeat because others on my team couldn't pull their wait. For basically every match, I got out what I put into it. A high number of kills generally meant a victory, and a poor performance from myself and my teammate led to a victory. It sounds like a simple aspect, but this idea at times can seem almost nonexistent in other game types.
Perhaps the only problem I had with this gametype in all of my matches was the often over-emphasis on area control. In short, it was easy for a game to become a camp fest, and mine times they did. After several dozen matches it quickly became apparent that my friend and I were one of the most mobile teams playing the game. A handful of teams would resort to camping a single area with snipers for the entire match. This made special ammo even more crucial in this game type, and for that reason I think it needs to be tweaked. At the moment, I think it is far too readily available, and it's abunfance led to what often seemed like snipers with unlimited over penetrating rounds.
All in all, I greatly enjoyed this game type. I'm sad to see it go, as participating in it was definitely the most fun I've had in the Crucible in a long while. I really hope it comes back sometime in the future. It was a nice and welcome change of pace to the usual lineup of Crucible playlists.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Xur's Inventory - 1/23-1/24 (Destiny News)
Xur is once again back in the Tower!
This week he can be found near the Vanguards.
His inventory this week includes the following (click the links for full stats):
Exotic Weapon
- No Land Beyond (Sniper) - 17 Strange Coins
Exotic Armor
- MK. 44 Stand Asides (Titan Boots) - 13 Strange Coins
- Radiant Dance Machines (Hunter Boots) - 13 Strange Coins
- Starfire Protocol (Warlock Chest) - 13 Strange Coins
Other Exotic Items
- Exotic Shard - 7 Strange Coins
- Exotic Engram (Helmet) - 23 Motes of Light
Exotic Upgrades - 1 Exotic Shard and around 7500 Glimmer each
- Knucklehead Radar (Hunter Helmet)
- Achlyophage Symbiote (Hunter Helmet)
- Helm of Saint 14 (Titan Helmet)
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest)
- Light Beyond Nemesis (Warlock Helmet)
- Sunbreakers (Warlock Gloves)
- Bad Juju
- Invective
- Universal Remote
- Thunderlord
- Gjallarhorn
- Truth
Curios
- Shotgun Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Machine Gun (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Rocket Launcher (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Plasma Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" 23 Strange Coins
This week he can be found near the Vanguards.
His inventory this week includes the following (click the links for full stats):
Exotic Weapon
- No Land Beyond (Sniper) - 17 Strange Coins
Exotic Armor
- MK. 44 Stand Asides (Titan Boots) - 13 Strange Coins
- Radiant Dance Machines (Hunter Boots) - 13 Strange Coins
- Starfire Protocol (Warlock Chest) - 13 Strange Coins
Other Exotic Items
- Exotic Shard - 7 Strange Coins
- Exotic Engram (Helmet) - 23 Motes of Light
Exotic Upgrades - 1 Exotic Shard and around 7500 Glimmer each
- Knucklehead Radar (Hunter Helmet)
- Achlyophage Symbiote (Hunter Helmet)
- Helm of Saint 14 (Titan Helmet)
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest)
- Light Beyond Nemesis (Warlock Helmet)
- Sunbreakers (Warlock Gloves)
- Bad Juju
- Invective
- Universal Remote
- Thunderlord
- Gjallarhorn
- Truth
Curios
- Shotgun Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Machine Gun (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Rocket Launcher (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Plasma Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" 23 Strange Coins
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Weekly Update - Crota's End Hard Mode World Firsts!
DeeJ posted a somewhat short Weekly Update earlier today. As promised, it feature the Top Five fireteams to finish Crota's End on Hard Mode.
Bungie reported that within the first 24 hours after the launch, 557,354 Raids were launched. The first fireteam to finish? One and Done, a clan that has been unheard of until now. With so many big names competing for the title of World First, its surprising, and even a bit refreshing to see an unexpected and unknown clan take the title. They had an impressive completion time of 27 minutes!
More about One and Done can be found in the Weekly Update. There's a brief interview with them, and also with the 2nd place team, tripleWRECK of Twitch fame as well as shout outs to the remaining three Top Five teams.
There's also a short behind the scenes interview about Doubles Skirmish, the new Crucible playlist for this week. I'll be talking about this myself in a future post, hopefully tomorrow. Unfortunately, there wasn't any news on what we might see next week in terms of patches or weekly playlists like Iron Banner.
Well, that's about it. As always, be sure to check the official Weekly Update for more stuff. And remember, Xur will be in the Tower again tomorrow!
Stay strong, Guardians!
Bungie reported that within the first 24 hours after the launch, 557,354 Raids were launched. The first fireteam to finish? One and Done, a clan that has been unheard of until now. With so many big names competing for the title of World First, its surprising, and even a bit refreshing to see an unexpected and unknown clan take the title. They had an impressive completion time of 27 minutes!
More about One and Done can be found in the Weekly Update. There's a brief interview with them, and also with the 2nd place team, tripleWRECK of Twitch fame as well as shout outs to the remaining three Top Five teams.
There's also a short behind the scenes interview about Doubles Skirmish, the new Crucible playlist for this week. I'll be talking about this myself in a future post, hopefully tomorrow. Unfortunately, there wasn't any news on what we might see next week in terms of patches or weekly playlists like Iron Banner.
Well, that's about it. As always, be sure to check the official Weekly Update for more stuff. And remember, Xur will be in the Tower again tomorrow!
Stay strong, Guardians!
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Crota's End Hard Mode Beaten!!
According to Bungie's Twitter page, within roughly an hour a team beat the Hard Mode version of Crota's End which released at around 10 AM PST this morning. Confirmations of the Top Five teams are going to be posted in the Weekly Update according to Bungie, which should land sometime tomorrow afternoon.
There are rumors spreading around about the excessive cheese strategies during the raid. If true, I think that's a bit unfortunate, but oh well. I will be reviewing some of the Twitch streams later tonight!
There are rumors spreading around about the excessive cheese strategies during the raid. If true, I think that's a bit unfortunate, but oh well. I will be reviewing some of the Twitch streams later tonight!
Monday, January 19, 2015
Crota's End Hard Mode Coming Tomorrow!
That's right Guardians! Tomorrow at around 10 AM PST, the Hard Mode version of Crota's End will be launched!
According to last week's Weekly Update, the Vault of Glass Hard Mode offers some "cluse for how [Bungie] we scale up a Raid." In this version of Crota's End, players will have fewer options for healing themselves and each other, with numerous enemies that are stronger and more prone to temper tantrums, according to Bungie.
New Loot is offered in the Hard Mode, including a number of Primary Weapons, all of which have a maximum Attack of 331, a new ship, and an exclusive shader.
As you can see, all of this new loot has a very distinctive Hive aesthetic, which is not only fitting but also very unique and should result in very cool and eye-catching items that any Guardian can proudly show off. Unfortunately, there's no new Exotics or armor pieces, as far as we know. If you've got a bunch of Radiant Energy that you're saving up, the time has come!
Despite last week's patch that was aimed at fixing several of the cheese strategies in the current version of the Raid, players have amazingly found alternative ways of serving cheese to Crota. There's no way of saying whether these cheese strategies will be viable in the Hard Mode Raid, but you can be certain that the community will find out for certain! I have my fingers crossed in hopes that all attempts at cheesing tomorrow will be futile!
The Raid is set to release tomorrow. However, there was no mention of a maintenance window during which the servers will be down, or if there will be any sort of additional update tomorrow. Perhaps soon we'll hear more about upcoming changes like more vault space.
When, or if, someone beats the Hard Mode tomorrow I'll be sure to highlight the first Fireteam's amazing accomplishment!
According to last week's Weekly Update, the Vault of Glass Hard Mode offers some "cluse for how [Bungie] we scale up a Raid." In this version of Crota's End, players will have fewer options for healing themselves and each other, with numerous enemies that are stronger and more prone to temper tantrums, according to Bungie.
New Loot is offered in the Hard Mode, including a number of Primary Weapons, all of which have a maximum Attack of 331, a new ship, and an exclusive shader.
As you can see, all of this new loot has a very distinctive Hive aesthetic, which is not only fitting but also very unique and should result in very cool and eye-catching items that any Guardian can proudly show off. Unfortunately, there's no new Exotics or armor pieces, as far as we know. If you've got a bunch of Radiant Energy that you're saving up, the time has come!
Despite last week's patch that was aimed at fixing several of the cheese strategies in the current version of the Raid, players have amazingly found alternative ways of serving cheese to Crota. There's no way of saying whether these cheese strategies will be viable in the Hard Mode Raid, but you can be certain that the community will find out for certain! I have my fingers crossed in hopes that all attempts at cheesing tomorrow will be futile!
The Raid is set to release tomorrow. However, there was no mention of a maintenance window during which the servers will be down, or if there will be any sort of additional update tomorrow. Perhaps soon we'll hear more about upcoming changes like more vault space.
When, or if, someone beats the Hard Mode tomorrow I'll be sure to highlight the first Fireteam's amazing accomplishment!
Monday, January 12, 2015
Destiny Hot Fix - Patch 1.1.0.3
In a previous post, I covered last week's Bungie Weekly Update, which gave a preview of what the next Patch for Destiny would entail. Early today that Patch was released!
Bungie says that with this update they're "paying special attention to the Crota's End Raid." This is obviously in response to the massive amount of cheese that was assaulting Destiny's newest Raid. The fixes that have been implemented seem promising, so hopefully most, if not all, cheese strategies will now be obsolete and people will have to pass the Raid in a more fair fashion. If and when there is a new way to cheese, I'm sure it will catch on quick in the community!
Now that the patch is implemented, players will be forced to beat the raid legitimately, or at the very least find a different way to cheese. In the Pit Encounter, the Pillars of Light no longer launch players into the air when they explode. This is another attempt by Bungie to fix a cheese strategy in which plays walked in the caverns above the main area and bypassed all the Pillars of Light, and therefor all the enemies.
Moving on to the Bridge Encounter, players will be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter and be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword.This, again, should make most cheese strategies obsolete. It should make it difficult, if not impossible to solo this portion of the Raid.
In the Deathsinger Encounter, a rare glitch where the Shriekers would not spawn, preventing players from reaching the Deathsinger has been fixed and the Deathsinger now has a chance to drop Exotic weapons and armor, class pieces, and Radiant Materials. More loot!
At the end of the Raid in the Crota Encounter, Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits. This should finally put to rest the very infamous cheese strategy in which a Fireteam member would disconnect their Internet in order to easily kill Crota. On top of that, Two Swordbearers will no longer spawn at the same time at the outset of the encounter.
In addition, there are a few smaller, but still important changes and fixes. Treasure chests now contain Radiant Materials and the former Pit treasure chest reward has moved to killing Ir Yut, the Deathsinger. There's also a few other bug fixes for Crota's End, and Level 32 Exotic weapons for Vault of Glass rewards.
Iron Banner, which will begin tomorrow, January 13th, at 1:00 AM PST has few tweaks as well. High level gear and weapons are included in the drop table.
There's a few other changes in this Patch as well, including bug fixes and additions to Crucible. Unfortunately there is still no mention of a set release date for Hard Mode of Crota's End!
You can check out the full rundown over at Bungie and see the Community's reaction to what will inevitably be a sorely accepted Patch for some Guardians.
Feel free to post a comment here with your thoughts on the Patch!
Bungie says that with this update they're "paying special attention to the Crota's End Raid." This is obviously in response to the massive amount of cheese that was assaulting Destiny's newest Raid. The fixes that have been implemented seem promising, so hopefully most, if not all, cheese strategies will now be obsolete and people will have to pass the Raid in a more fair fashion. If and when there is a new way to cheese, I'm sure it will catch on quick in the community!
Now that the patch is implemented, players will be forced to beat the raid legitimately, or at the very least find a different way to cheese. In the Pit Encounter, the Pillars of Light no longer launch players into the air when they explode. This is another attempt by Bungie to fix a cheese strategy in which plays walked in the caverns above the main area and bypassed all the Pillars of Light, and therefor all the enemies.
Moving on to the Bridge Encounter, players will be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter and be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword.This, again, should make most cheese strategies obsolete. It should make it difficult, if not impossible to solo this portion of the Raid.
In the Deathsinger Encounter, a rare glitch where the Shriekers would not spawn, preventing players from reaching the Deathsinger has been fixed and the Deathsinger now has a chance to drop Exotic weapons and armor, class pieces, and Radiant Materials. More loot!
At the end of the Raid in the Crota Encounter, Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits. This should finally put to rest the very infamous cheese strategy in which a Fireteam member would disconnect their Internet in order to easily kill Crota. On top of that, Two Swordbearers will no longer spawn at the same time at the outset of the encounter.
In addition, there are a few smaller, but still important changes and fixes. Treasure chests now contain Radiant Materials and the former Pit treasure chest reward has moved to killing Ir Yut, the Deathsinger. There's also a few other bug fixes for Crota's End, and Level 32 Exotic weapons for Vault of Glass rewards.
Iron Banner, which will begin tomorrow, January 13th, at 1:00 AM PST has few tweaks as well. High level gear and weapons are included in the drop table.
There's a few other changes in this Patch as well, including bug fixes and additions to Crucible. Unfortunately there is still no mention of a set release date for Hard Mode of Crota's End!
You can check out the full rundown over at Bungie and see the Community's reaction to what will inevitably be a sorely accepted Patch for some Guardians.
Feel free to post a comment here with your thoughts on the Patch!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Why Destiny Both Succeeds and Fails in Terms of World Building: An Intro
Ask anyone who has played Destiny, and the majority of
them will probably say it's a great game that they can't stop playing.
In fact, Destiny was recently awarded the Game of the Year award for
both PlayStation 3 and 4, in addition to Best Shooter from Game
Informer. Of course, Destiny has its fair share of problems, but that's
the case with any game. In a way, that should almost be expected with a
brand new franchise that's largely still trying to discover itself.
The fact that it received the Best Shooter and Game of the Year titles is incredible. In terms of shooter mechanics, Destiny is rock solid. But beyond basic mechanics, perhaps the most important thing that Destiny needs to succeed is a rich, amazing, and fascinating world in which the game itself takes place. Unfortunately, this aspect of Destiny seems to be the one with the most rocky terrain. One can site numerous examples of both amazing successes and epic failures within Destiny in terms of world building.
Perhaps this shakiness is due to Bungie's relative inexperience in terms of massive world building. Sure, they created a captivating mythology in the Halo series, but since that series is a narrative-driven game with eight-hour campaigns, the world building didn't need to be very extensive. Or, perhaps it is due to the fact the Destiny is still in its infancy, having been out for barely four months. Whatever the reason is, the plain and simple truth is that the world building in Destiny can be seen as a paradox (like a few other things within the game). It is both good and bad at the same time. In this ongoing series of articles (at least as far as I can tell) which I will be calling "Destiny World Building Successes" and "Destiny World Building Failures" I want to take a look at specific cases where Destiny either fails or succeeds in this regard.
So stay tuned and we'll be looking at everything from NPCs, loot, lore, enemies, and more!
The fact that it received the Best Shooter and Game of the Year titles is incredible. In terms of shooter mechanics, Destiny is rock solid. But beyond basic mechanics, perhaps the most important thing that Destiny needs to succeed is a rich, amazing, and fascinating world in which the game itself takes place. Unfortunately, this aspect of Destiny seems to be the one with the most rocky terrain. One can site numerous examples of both amazing successes and epic failures within Destiny in terms of world building.
Perhaps this shakiness is due to Bungie's relative inexperience in terms of massive world building. Sure, they created a captivating mythology in the Halo series, but since that series is a narrative-driven game with eight-hour campaigns, the world building didn't need to be very extensive. Or, perhaps it is due to the fact the Destiny is still in its infancy, having been out for barely four months. Whatever the reason is, the plain and simple truth is that the world building in Destiny can be seen as a paradox (like a few other things within the game). It is both good and bad at the same time. In this ongoing series of articles (at least as far as I can tell) which I will be calling "Destiny World Building Successes" and "Destiny World Building Failures" I want to take a look at specific cases where Destiny either fails or succeeds in this regard.
So stay tuned and we'll be looking at everything from NPCs, loot, lore, enemies, and more!
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Weekly Update - Destiny Patch and Iron Banner Inbound!
In today's Weekly Update, Urk (filling in for DeeJ) dropped some info about what we can expect in the next patch, which can drop as soon as Tuesday the 13th! While the update does not include Hard Mode for the now infamous Crota's End Raid, it does provide some fixes for the normal version of said Raid.
The biggest of these fixes are for the Bridge Encounter and the Crota Encounter. After the patch, players will be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter and be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword. At the end of the Raid in the Crota Encounter, Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits.
These changes are significant in that they should make all of the current cheese strategies obsolete. Hopefully this will be the case and the Raid can return to its rightful place as the most serious and challenging activity in the game.
In addition, there are a few additional fixes for glitches in Crota's End, a chest location change, and Level 32 Exotic Weapon drops in the Vault of Glass.
There's some exciting news in the PvP world as well. The Anomaly, Burning Shrine, and Asylum are being added to the current map rotation playlist for both Control and Clash. I personally love these small, close quarters maps. They're a blast to play on with two other friends in Skirmish or Salvage, so it's nice to see them being added to the mix for large 6v6 games as well. Be prepared for lots of shooting!!
And of course, the highly coveted Iron Banner event will be returning. Lord Saladin will be staying in the tower from January 13th to the 19th, so play hard Guardians!
There's some additional info in the update as well, including a cool look at the most used weapons in Destiny. Check out the rest of the update here.
When the patch drops, check back here for another in depth update!
Fight on, Guardians!
The biggest of these fixes are for the Bridge Encounter and the Crota Encounter. After the patch, players will be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter and be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword. At the end of the Raid in the Crota Encounter, Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits.
These changes are significant in that they should make all of the current cheese strategies obsolete. Hopefully this will be the case and the Raid can return to its rightful place as the most serious and challenging activity in the game.
In addition, there are a few additional fixes for glitches in Crota's End, a chest location change, and Level 32 Exotic Weapon drops in the Vault of Glass.
There's some exciting news in the PvP world as well. The Anomaly, Burning Shrine, and Asylum are being added to the current map rotation playlist for both Control and Clash. I personally love these small, close quarters maps. They're a blast to play on with two other friends in Skirmish or Salvage, so it's nice to see them being added to the mix for large 6v6 games as well. Be prepared for lots of shooting!!
And of course, the highly coveted Iron Banner event will be returning. Lord Saladin will be staying in the tower from January 13th to the 19th, so play hard Guardians!
There's some additional info in the update as well, including a cool look at the most used weapons in Destiny. Check out the rest of the update here.
When the patch drops, check back here for another in depth update!
Fight on, Guardians!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)