Friday, May 29, 2015

Xur's Inventory - 5/29-5/30 (Destiny News)

Happy Xur Day!

This week Xur can be found near the Crucible Quartermaster.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 6/1.

His inventory this week includes the following:
(text color of gun type indicates damage type where applicable)
(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- Patience and Time (Sniper) - 17 Strange Coins

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
   
Exotic Armor
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest) - 13 Strange Coins
- Achlyophage Symbiote (Hunter Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Nothing Manacles** (Warlock Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
** Indicates House of Wolves 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

Note: After the release of House of Wolves on May 19th, Xur will no longer be selling Exotic Upgrades as the path for gear upgrades is changing. You may wish to wait until then and save your Strange Coines and/or Exotic Shards and Glimmer.

Curios
- Scout Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Shotgun Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Sniper Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin  
- Stealth Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- Void Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- Heavy Ammo Synthesis (5) - 1 Strange Coin

Be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Destiny Weekly Reset Activities - 5/26 - 6/1 (Destiny News)

Hello Guardians!

We're just entering the second week of House of Wolves which means that we are now entering the rotation cycle for Prison of Elders. With now four different activities that alter each week, new Queen bounties for the week, and also Trials of Osiris map rotations, Destiny is becoming more dynamic.

Here's this week's activities:

Strikes
Weekly Nightfall
Devils' Lair - The Darkness gathers around Sepiks Prime as it absorbs the essence of everything the Fallen can steal.
- Epic: Heavily shielded and highly aggressive enemies appear in great numbers.
-  Angry: Minions of the Darkness won't flinch, even after massive damage.
- Lightswitch: Minions of the Darkness deal much more melee damage.
- Brawler: Guardian Melee damage is greatly increased.
- Nightfall: If all players die, you Fireteam is returned to Orbit.

Weekly Heroic
The Shadow Thief - Board the Fallen Ketch Above the Moon and defeat the notorious Taniks, the Scarred.
- Heroic: Enemies appear in greater numbers and are more aggressive.
- Specialist: Special Weapon damage is favored.



Prison of Elders
Level 32
Urrox's Grudge - The Flame Prince Urrox vows to burn the Light until all that remains is Darkness and bone.

Level 34
The Forever Eater - Qodron, a Vex chronovore, sees only one outcome: your demise. Prove it wrong.

Queen's Bounties
Wanted: Kaliks-12
Hunt Kaliks-12 in the Cosmodrome's Skywatch.
"Kaliks-12 was High Servitor of Skriviks' Ketch. It was captured during the Cybele Uprising with its mistress" - Petra

Wanted: Peekis, the Disavowed
Hunt Peekis the Disavowed in the Citadel on Venus.
"Peekis's arms were docked after the Eos clash. He's been desperate to prove himself ever since." - Petra

Wanted: Saviks, Queenbreaker
Hunt Saviks, Queenbreaker in the Anchor of Light on the Moon.
"Saviks was the first to pledge fealty after the Cybele Uprising... and first to break his pledge when Skolas returned." - Petra

Wanted: Wolf Scavengers
Hunt th Wanted Wolf Scavengers in the Halls of Wisdom on the Moon
"A group of Wolf Scavengers were spotted making runs into Hive territory. Don't care what they're up to. Put them down." - Petra

Wanted: Queenbreaker Captain
Hunt the Wanted Queenbreaker Captain near the Cosmodrome's Dock-13.
"A faithless Queenbreaker Captain has fled to Earth. Show him the Queen's justice." - Petra

Wanted: Ether Runner
Hunt the Wanted Ether Tunner near the Endless Steps on Venus.
"An Ether Runner Servitor has been spotted on Venus feeding the Wanted Wolves. Find it. Destroy it." - Petra

Friday, May 22, 2015

Xur's Inventory - 5/22 - 5/23 (Destiny News)

Happy Xur Day!

This week Xur can be found at Vestian Outpost (the Reef) in a newly opened door along the lower level.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 5/24.

His inventory this week includes the following:
(text color of gun type indicates damage type where applicable)
(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- The Last Word (Hand Cannon) - 23 Strange Coins

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
   
Exotic Armor
- No Backup Plans (Titan Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- Radiant Dance Machines* (Hunter Boots) - 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 (Helmet) - 23 Motes of Light

Exotic Upgrades Due to the release of the House of Wolves Expansion on May 19th, Xur will no longer sell Exotic Upgrades. Older versions of gear can now be upgraded through the process of Ascending, which requires Etheric Light for Legendar items (obtained from Prison of Elders or the Nightfall) and Exotic Shards for Exotic items.

Curios
- Auto Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Sniper Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin  
- Machine Gun Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Plasma Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- Void Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" - 23 Strange Coins
- Heavy Ammo Synthesis (5) - 1 Strange Coin

Be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Destiny - House of Wolves: First Impressions (General/Story)

As I'm sure many of you know, the second Expansion for Destiny, The House of Wolves came out today. There's a lot riding on this Expansion for Destiny's future. There's still a lot of people out there that feel that Destiny needs to step up its game in order to live up to its full potential and deliver on the pre-release hype.

Have I played all of House of Wolves? No, not yet. I've finished all of the missions, and I'll be upgrading this post as I finish more of the DLC.

However, given what I've played so far, I would give the House of Wolves a 9 out of 10. Check out why below (spoilers, obviously).

So let's just cut to the chase.

I'm fairly surprised with House of Wolves. I expected it to be a lot like the Dark Below in terms of content and story. At the time Dark Below came out, I thought it's narrative structure was a slight improvement over Destiny's original narrative structure and methods.

Even though HoW shares a lot of elements with DB, it's another noticeable improvement in my opinion. There's much more exposition and explanation of what's going on. Throughout the story missions there's a lot more dialogue from characters along the way giving you details about what's going on and what you're seeing. At time's the dialogue even gives some insights into the lore of Destiny, which is a nice change of pace from the Grimoire being the sole source. There's also a lot more tension and urgency throughout the missions. In short, its the first thing in Destiny that feels like an actual story. It's by no means perfect, but it is definitely much, much better than what we got in the base game, or even DB.
 
Just like DB, HoW uses a series of Quests to tell its story. These Quests require you to either complete story missions or do things like Patrol Venus and complete the new Strike. And this time, the non-mission Quests are actually integrated into the story, even taking place between Missions, rather than after the main story as a pointless, disconnected activity.

The story missions featured in this Expansion offer a wide variety mechanics and encounters that mix up the gameplay and actually make it interesting. Every mission isn't a copy and paste of the last one, like in the base game where (what seems like) every mission involves protecting your Ghost from wave after wave of enemies. And that's saying a lot, because unlike DB, there are a total of five new story missions. The Expansion missions feature Scorch Cannons, Heavy Pikes, trip mines, jumping puzzles, and even a trip into the Vault of Glass to fight Fallen (!!). Combined with the fact that many of the missions take you to totally new or under-used areas, there is a very nice mix of new content for these missions. All of these elements were integrated very seamlessly together and combine for a very diverse, challenging and fun gameplay experience.


There were also a number of other additions and changes that made this Expansion noticeably better than Dark Below. HoW features more new areas than DB did, not the least of which is the Reef itself. These new areas are much more expansive than the areas found in the DB missions and feel much better executed. There's also the new public event, which is also an improvement over the DB public event with the Blades of Crota and is an exciting feature that mixes up the monotony of Patrols. I also liked how the Expansion took the liberty of adding new variants of enemies. Unlike DB where every enemy is the same as ones you can find elsewhere in the game, HoW features multiple new variants of Shanks, including long-range snipers and exploders, and cosmetic variants of a few other enemies.

So far, I still haven't even attempted any of Petra's bounties, the strike, or the Prison of Elders, and there is still more to come this weekend with Trials of Osiris. But, even though I still haven't even played half of the Expansion, I am so far very pleased with it. It is a noticeable improvement over Dark Below, offers a decent amount of new content and features, and overall just seems to be better executed than Dark Below.

Overall, my final score for House of Wolves would be 9/10 and I highly recommend that anyone craving some more content to play in Destiny give it a go. It was very fun and satisfying and overall is a very good sign for Destiny's future.

(I'll be adding other posts as I complete more of House of Wolves, so check back.)

Friday, May 15, 2015

Xur's Inventory - 5/15 - 5/16 (Destiny News)

Xur is back!

This week Xur can be found at the edge of the balcony just after bridge tothe Speaker.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 5/17.

His inventory this week includes the following:
(text color of gun type indicates damage type where applicable)
(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- Truth (Rocket Launcher) - 17 Strange Coins

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
   
Exotic Armor
- An Insurmountable Skullfort (Titan Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Knucklehead Radar (Hunter Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Apotheosis Veil (Warlock Helmet) - 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

Note: After the release of House of Wolves on May 19th, Xur will no longer be selling Exotic Upgrades as the path for gear upgrades is changing. You may wish to wait until then and save your Strange Coines and/or Exotic Shards and Glimmer.

- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest)
- No Backup Plans (Titan Gauntlets)
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Hunter Chest)
- Knucklehead Radar (Hunter Helmet)
- Apotheosis Veil (Warlock Helmet)
- Heart of the Praxic Fire (Warlock Chest)

- MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)
- Thorn (Hand Canon) 
- Plan C (Fusion Rifle)
- Patience and Time (Sniper)
- Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)
- Super Good Advice (Heavy Machine Gun)

Curios
- Auto Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Fusion Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Machine Gun Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Stealth Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" - 23 Strange Coins
- Heavy Ammo Synthesis (5) - 1 Strange Coin

Be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Friday, May 8, 2015

Xur's Inventory - 5/8 - 5/9 (Destiny News)

Happy Friday, Guardians!

Interesting day today. Some of you may have seen the odd pop up that appeared in the Destiny Companion App late Thursday night that showed Xur's inventory. Turns out it was mostly correct!

This week Xur can be found at the large door near the Speaker.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 5/10.

His inventory this week includes the following:
(text color of gun type indicates damage type where applicable)
(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- Thunderlord (Heavy Machine Gun) - 17 Strange Coins
 
Exotic Armor
- Ruin Wings* (Titan Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- ATS/8 ARACHNID (Hunter Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Obsidian Mind* (Warlock Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.

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

Note: After the release of House of Wolves on May 19th, Xur will no longer be selling Exotic Upgrades as the path for gear upgrades is changing. You may wish to wait until then and save your Strange Coines and/or Exotic Shards and Glimmer.

- An Insurmountable Skullfort (Titan Helmet)
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest)
- Lucky Raspberry (Hunter Chest)
- Mask of the Third Man (Hunter Helmet)
- Apotheosis Veil (Warlock Helmet)
- Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Warlock Helmet) 

- Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)
- Thorn (Hand Canon) 
- Plan C (Fusion Rifle)
- Ice Breaker (Sniper)
- Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)
- Truth (Rocket Launcher)

Curios
- Pulse Rifle 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
- Heavy Ammo Synthesis (5) - 1 Strange Coin

Be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Friday, May 1, 2015

Xur's Inventory - 5/1 - 5/2 (Destiny News)

Happy Xur Day!

This week Xur can be found near the Vanguards.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 5/3.

His inventory this week includes the following:
(text color of gun type indicates damage type where applicable)
(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- Hard Light (Auto Rifle) - 23 Strange Coins

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
   
Exotic Armor
- Ruin Wings* (Titan Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- Don't Touch Me* (Hunter Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- Heart of the Praxic Fire (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

Note: After the release of House of Wolves on May 19th, Xur will no longer be selling Exotic Upgrades as the path for gear upgrades is changing. You may wish to wait until then and save your Strange Coines and/or Exotic Shards and Glimmer.
 
- An Insurmountable Skullfort (Titan Helmet)
- Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan Chest)
- Knucklehead Radar (Hunter Helmet)
- Young Ahamkara's Spine (Hunter Gauntlets) 

- Heart of the Praxic Fire (Warlock Chest)
- Voidfang Vestments (Warlock Chest)

- MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)
- Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)
- Red Death (Pulse Rifle)
- Invective (Shotgun)
- Plan C (Fusion Rifle)
- Pocket Infinity (Fusion Rifle)

Curios
- Pulse Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Hand Cannon Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Machine Gun Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Plasma Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" - 23 Strange Coins
- Heavy Ammo Synthesis (5) - 1 Strange Coin

Be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!