Destiny and Xur: Looking Forward and Year 1 in Review

Hello Guardians! 

It's almost Friday again, which means that Xur is about to arrive. But, like many other things in Destiny, Xur was not immune to changes brought about by the launching of The Taken King. Since Bungie has tied many of the Exotics in TTK to various Quest lines, the list of things that Xur could possibly sell is quite small. So, Xur's inventory will now be handled drastically different.

Each week, Xur will no sell an Exotic Weapon OR an Exotic Engram, which can decrypt into any TTK Exotic armor piece. He'll also be selling a Legacy Engram, which will decrypt into Year 1 Exotics, with a high bias towards Exotics you don't already own, so you can complete your collection more quickly. 

So, before Xur comes for the first time in Year 2, let's take a look back at Year 1 to see some of Xur's milestones. Let's also take a look at what Exotic items Xur seemed to like the most!

Xur's First Visit
The first time that Xur popped up in the Tower with his face full of tentacles, nobody really new what to expect. Xur was undoubtedly the first place that many players saw Exotics in-game for the first time. So what did he bring those Guardians who were brave enough to approach Xur the first weekend of Destiny?

For Hunters, Xur sold the Mask of the Third Man exotic helmet. Both Warlocks and Titans could buy gauntlets, Sunbreakers and No Backup Plans, respectively. 

And Xur's first choice of weapon? The infamous Red Death. Xur would sell this again a few weeks later, which brought about the infamous few weeks where it seemed like literally everyone was using Red Death in the Crucible!

Hunter Exotics
In Year 1, Xur was generally pretty good to Hunters. The two Exotic armor pieces that he sold the most for Hunters were Achlyophage Symbiote and Crest of Alpha Lupi, which he sold eight times each. Both of these are top tier Exotics, so there's not much to complain about. For the other items, this is how the distribution worked out:
  ATS/8 ARACHNID - 3
Celestial Nighthawk - 2
Don't Touch Me - 5 Khepri's Sting - 2 Knucklehead Radar - 5 Lucky Raspberry - 5 Mask of the Third Man - 5 Radiant Dance Machines* - 4 Young Ahamkara's Spine - 5

The Exotic that Xur sold the least for Hunters was Bones of Eao, which he only sold one time. This is a House of Wolves Exotic, so it wasn't in the loot table until May, but the fact that it has only been sold once since then makes it quite rare.

Warlock Exotics
Many Warlocks undoubtedly have a love-hate relationship with Xur, who seem to have gotten shortchanged perhaps more than any other class. The most common item ever sold by Xur is Voidfang Vestments, which was sold a record 10 times. In a period of 10 weeks, Xur sold this chest piece seven times, with streaks where he sold it twice and even three times back to back. As if that wasn't bad enough, Starfire Protocol was sold nine times, making it the second-most-sold item in Xur's inventory. 

Nothing Manacles and Purifier Robes were both sold one time each. Like with the Hunter, these are House of Wolves Exotics and weren't available until May. However, despite being sold once each, these are not the least sold Warlock items. The infamous helmet The Ram was never sold by Xur and is the only exotic in the game (besides the ones that have a standard way of obtaining them) that has earned that distinction. 

Overall stats:
Apotheosis Veil - 6
Claws of Ahamkara - 4
Heart of Praxic Fire - 3
Light Beyond Nemesis - 5
Nothing Manacles - 1
Obsidian Mind - 5
Purifier Robes - 1
Skull of Dire Ahamkara -  2
Starfire Protocol - 9
Sunbreakers - 7
The Ram - 0
Voidfang Vestments - 10 
 
Titan Exotics
Titan's probably have the most evenly-distributed list of Exotics in terms of how many times each was sold. The Armamentarium was the most sold Exotic at eight total, with Helm of Inmost Light close behind with seven. The rarest Titan armor piece was ACD/0 Feedback Fence, which again, was from the House of Wolves expansion.

Overall stats:
ACD/0 Feedback Fence - 1
An Insurmountable Skullfort - 5
Crest of Alpha Lupi - 4
Eternal Warrior** - 3
Helm of Inmost Light - 7
Helm of Saint-14 - 4
MK. 44 Stand Asides* - 6
No Backup Plans - 5
Peregrine Greaves** - 2
Ruin Wings* - 5
The Armamentarium - 8
The Glasshouse* - 3

Destiny Crucible - Mayhem Review

As part of The Taken King Crucible preview event currently going on, Mayhem Clash is now a live game mode! Mayhem Clash, along with Rift and the rest of the preview playlists will continue until the Weekly Reset at 2 AM PST on Tuesday 9/15, at which point The Taken King will go live and anyone who hasn't purchased it will no longer be able to play these game modes. 

Mayhem Clash, as it sounds, is a hectic variant of the traditional Clash playlist. In this 6v6 playlist, Heavy ammo spawns far more frequently, and like in the early days of Destiny, when you kill someone who has Heavy ammo, you get to pick it up. But that's not what makes Mayhem special. What makes it special is that all ability cool downs - grenades, melees and even supers - are drastically reduced. This means that you will get your Super will charge much earlier and much more frequently. You shouldn't have a hard time at all getting your first super off within your first life, especially if you have a high intellect build.

After playing more than my fair share of Mayhem Clash yesterday and today, I think it's safe to say that it is an awesome game mode. Unlike Rift, which is objective-based and really not all that much fun without a few friends, Mayhem Clash is fun even while solo-queuing.  

Unlike Bungie's previous games from the Halo series, Destiny is really quite lacking when it comes to creative and, more importantly, fun game modes for multiplayer. In the Halo series, there were dozens of fun and just outright crazy game modes to choose from. Not only were these game modes a great chance of pace from tradtional game modes, but they were also a great way to blow off some steam and just relax. 

That's one reason why Mayhem Clash is so much fun. Yes, the game still keeps track of scores and yes there can be times where it's frustrating. But in general, Mayhem Clash is a lot more laid back and just a lot more fun and energetic than Destiny's other playlists. It's a great change of pace, and I hope sometime in the future that Bungie releases more game modes like this.

'So what are some tips for Mayhem Clash?' you might be wondering. Well, just from general observation, it seems as though the three dominant supers are Golden Gun, Fist of Havoc, and Nova Bomb. Not only do these supers have great range (in the case of GG and NB), but they also have tremendous and instantaneous stopping power. Arc Blade and Radiance, while they can be useful if you know what you're doing, especially when paired with other people of the same subclass, are at an inherent disadvantage because in general its just much harder to get a kill with these supers. It's very easy for an Arc Blader to get shut down as they're making their way over to their target to melee them. As for Defender, well, that's not useful at getting kills, but if you want to lay out some bait by spawning a bubble, then spamming Suppressor grenades and getting kills with weapons, it is a perfectly valid strategy. This can be pretty deadly and effective if you know what you're doing, but be warned, this is extremely annoying to other players so expect a dosage of teabagging, dancing, and hate mail.

Other than that, my only advice is to not take the game mode too seriously. Just sit back, relax, blow off some steam, and enjoy the Mayhem. 

Please be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Xur's Inventory - 9/11 - 9/12 (Destiny News)

Happy Xur Day!

This is the LAST time Xur will be here before The Taken King, at which point his inventory will change. Once Taken King arrive Xur wil sell "Legacy Engrams" that can reward year 1 Exotics.

This weekend Xur can be found in the Tower near the Crucible vendors.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 9/13.

His inventory this week includes the following:

(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- No Land Beyond* (Sniper(Primary)) - 17 Strange Coins 

* Indicates Dark Below Expansion items.
   
Exotic Armor
- Helm of Inmost Light (Titan Helmet)
- Celestial Nighthawk** (Hunter Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Apotheosis Veil (Warlock Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

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

Other Exotic Items
- Exotic Shard - 7 Strange Coins
- Exotic Engram (Chest) - 23 Motes of Light

Curios
(Xur is not selling telemetries this week. This may be a glitch)
- Plasma Drive - 23 Strange Coins
- "Emerald Coil" - 23 Strange Coins
- Heavy Ammo Synthesis (3) - 1 Strange Coin (Note: now only 3 synthesis instead of 5)

Material Exchange
- Mote of Light - 2 Strange Coins

Please be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Destiny Patch 2.0: The Story of How Shaxx Needs a Break

As I'm sure many of you are aware, Patch 2.0 was implemented on Tuesday in Destiny. With that, there were dozens of changes, affecting pretty much everything in Destiny. Most of these changes were detailed in the official patch notes, some of them however, were kept a little more secret.

One of the hallmarks of Halo's multiplayer was the Announcer. The Halo Announcer is arguably the coolest multiplayer announcer ever and the familiar voice is most certainly on the list of the most iconic video game voices. What made this Announcer so special wasn't his constant commentary on the state of the game or angry remarks on how your team is performing. In reality, pretty much all he did was call out when you got a cool medal. But that, that is what made him iconic.

With Halo, Bungie was a little bit more tongue-in-cheek when creating medals. Killing five players by splattering them resulted in being rewarded a medal called Splatter Spree. And of course, this medal was accompanied by the Announcer humorously saying "Splatter spree!" Fortunately, that's only where the fun began. There were dozens of other humorous and creative medals. Vehicular Manslaughter. Slice 'n' Dice. Hell's Jerome. Inconceivable. Yoink. Dream Crusher. And the list goes on and on.

"So what does all of this have to do with Desinty?" you're probably asking right now. Well, with 2.0, not only does Shaxx now call out when you get a Double Down, Triple Down, etc. he's also got a small sense of humor now. What am I talking about? I'll just let you watch the video:

So is Shaxx now as iconic as the Announcer from Halo? No, not really. Not at all actually. Unfortunately, he's still a pretty generic multiplayer announcer. But, he got some much needed comedic dialogue, which is honestly something I never thought would happen, and I'm pretty happy about that. So maybe in a few years I'll think differently about Shaxx.

Good job Bungie, keep it up.  

Please be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!

Destiny - Patch 2.0 Analysis

Greetings Guardians! The Patch 2.0 has finally arrived, after several months of hype and teasing from Bungie. So let's just dig right in and get to the analyzing. You can view the official patch notes on the Bungie website.

Player Character
The base level of Players has been increased from 20 to 34 and the Light and Level system are now completely separate. This means that there will be no more "Forever 29" or "Forever 31" because now we leave up based on XP which can be earned from various activities, so now our level is a more appropriate reflection of the amount of time and effort we put into the game.

Light isn't going away entirely, and it's still an important, even more important aspect of Destiny. Light is now calculated by the average of all of our gear's Attack and Defense values. This means that weapons now contribute to our overall Light. Ghost shells, class items and Artifacts (a new item) now contribute to our Light as well.

Speaking of Attack and Defense values, those have been modified a bit as well. Attack Power on all weapons has been renormalized, so all of those 365 weapons will no be 170 attack. This isn't a nerf, it's just a reworking of the way the system is structured, so don't worry. Defense values on armor are now on the same scale as well. In addition to this, Ability damage and Health are being calculated based on Light, with Weapon damage being effected by both Light and Attack values.

Classes
Yes, that's right. Bungie is finally addressing class balance with Update 2.0! Although the changes here aren't many, there's a few that will have a pretty huge effect on overall gameplay, especially in the Crucible.

There's a few general, all-around changes to class structure. To start with, Intellect, Strength and Discipline now only affect abilities in set increments and the exact duration of their effect is now conveniently displayed. This will make it much easier to customize our class builds exactly the way we want them. Recovery stat times have also been slightly renormalized to make a "more compelling character stats choice." All Pulse grenades now have a univeral range of 8 meters, which is a slight buff for the Thermal and Void versions, and a slight nerf for Arc, with fuse times also being reduced universally.

There's also been some slight tweaking to specific subclasses. For Defender, Ward of Dawn has been tweaked so that Razor's Edge (Arc Blade) and Shockwave (Fist of Havoc) can no longer penetrate the bubble. This is a nice change and will make Defender more viable in PvP. 

Gunslinger Golden Gun damage has been increased to 360 (from 350) to "consistently kill opponents in the crucible." Not sure what that is about... Of all the subclasses, Bladedancer received the most tweaks, with its cap on maximum Orbs of Light increased to 6 and a slight nerf to Blink. The ability activation delay for Blink has been increased from 0.26 to 0.33 seconds and the visuals have been changed to better indicate the direction of the blink. This should make tactics like Blink shotgunning slightly less effective. Blink Strike also does Arc damage (this was a glitch, I believe) and Flux Grenade now tracks less aggressively. Arc Bolt grenade also had its range decreased by 11% to 8 meters and had its damage reduced by 25% to 75. Over all, these changes should eliminate some of the grievances that a lot of players have with Bladedancer. 

There is a general nerf specific to both Warlock subclasses that deals with the Ram exotic helmet. The Armor Bonus perk now gives 3 armor instead of 5. This should mitigate the power of this exotic quite a bit, but it remains to be seen just how much this will effect it. As for Sunsinger, there is a fix to Orb generation, which will have some effects in PvP, but in terms of damage, perks, or anything else, nothing was changed. 

Weapon Tuning
Perhaps one of the more significant changes implemented in this patch is the massive Weapon tuning, which affects nearly all weapon types in the game and multiple Exotic weapons directly. There is also a long list of weapon perks that have been readjusted. One of the most-anticipated changes with this retuning is the universal buff for Auto Rifles. I will be doing a completely separate article on this later, so for now, please refer to the official break down. 

Exotic Armor
There have been several changes to Exotic armor pieces. In general, many (but not all) Exotic armor pieces will recolor with the use of a shader. This is a very welcome change, as now we will no longer have to let our Exotics dictate which shaders we use. An Insurmountable Skullfort now gives an additional Melee charge for Storm Fist and Sun Strike (from Sunbreaker). This will eventually apply to Defender Melee, but it is currently glitched. Spine of Young Ahamkara gains a second Grenade charge for Tripmine and now has an increase on its bonus Tripmine duration perk. And finally, Heart of Praxic Fire now grants bonus agility when in Radiance. Those are all of the changes for Exotic Armor pieces for now. There will be more in the future with reworked Year 2 Exotics. 


More coming, check back later...

Destiny Weekly Reset Activities - 9/8 - 9/14

Hello Guardians!

This post has been updated to include changes to Queen's Bounties and I've added the complete inventory for Arms Day with Banshee-44 in the Tower. Also, check out my (still work in progress) analysis of Patch 2.0 here!

Here's this week's activities:

Strikes
Weekly Heroic
The Will of Crota - Omnigul, the mastermind of Crota's armies, nests in the Cosmodrome. Eliminate this horror and purge its spawn.
- Heroic: Enemies appear in greater numbers and are more aggressive.
- Juggler: No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.

Weekly Nightfall
The Summoning Pits - The Hive gather the Darkness around them as they raise abominations from their pits within the Moon.
- Nightfall: If all players die, you Fireteam is returned to Orbit.
- Epic: Heavily shielded and highly aggressive enemies appear in great numbers.
- Void Burn: Void Damage from any source is greatly increased.
- Solar Burn: Solar Damage from any source is greatly increased.
- Juggler: No ammo drops for your equipped weapon. 

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
The Queen Bounties have been discontinued with the release of Patch 2.0. With the release of The Taken King there is supposed to be a new set of bounties that will be in rotation.
Arms Day
New with Patch 2.0 is Arms Day at Banshee-44, the Gunsmith in the Tower. He has five weapons available which you can test by completing certain tasks for each gun.

Omolon Test FR1
Fusion Rifle
"Omolon prototype. Use in the Crucible to gather data for Omolon's weapon's developers."
Full stats and perks

Hakke Test-A
Pulse Rifle
"Hakke prototype. Make precision shots with this weapon to gather data for Hakke's armament scientists."
Full stats and perks

Suros TSR-10
Rocket Launcher
"Suros prototype. Use against high-ranking enemies to field data for Suros research department."
Full stats and perks

Hakke Test-A
Sniper Rifle
"Hakke prototype. Make double-kills with this weapon to gather data for Hakke's armament scientists."
Full stats and perks

Omolon Test RR1
Sniper Rifle
"Omolon prototype. Use in the Crucible to gather data for Omolon's weapons developers." 
Full stats and perks


Crucible Playlists
Trials of Osiris
Trials of Osiris will NOT be going this weekend, or any weekend until "later this year," according to Bungie.

Xur's Inventory - 9/4 - 9/5 (Destiny News)

Xur is back in town!

This weekend Xur can be found in the Reef behind a newly opened door on the lower level.
As always, he will be here until 2:00 am PST on 9/6.

This is the last time Xur will appear before Patch 2.0. Xur may be reworked for Destiny 2.0 (and The Taken King) and therefore his inventory may consist of an entirely different set of items. Check back then to see!

His inventory this week includes the following:

(click the links for full stats)

Exotic Weapon
- Patience and Time (Sniper) - 17 Strange Coins
  
Exotic Armor
- Helm of Saint-14 (Titan Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Khepri's Sting** (Hunter Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- Obsidian Mind* (Warlock Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

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

Other Exotic Items
- Exotic Shard - 7 Strange Coins
- Exotic Engram (Helmet) - 23 Motes of Light

Curios
- Auto Rifle Telemetry (5) - 1 Strange Coin
- Sniper 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

Material Exchange
- Mote of Light - 2 Strange Coins

Please be sure to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates! 

Destiny Weekly Reset Activities - 9/1 - 9/7

Hello Guardians!

Two more weeks to go until The Taken King is released. Patch 2.0 should be coming next week!

Here's this week's activities:

Strikes
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.
-  Angry: Minions of the Darkness won't flinch, even after massive damage.

Weekly Nightfall
Cerberus Vae III - Confront Valus Ta'aurc, Fleet Commander of the Cabal Siege Dancers, before he destroys all of Freehold.  
- Nightfall: If all players die, you Fireteam is returned to Orbit.
- Epic: Heavily shielded and highly aggressive enemies appear in great numbers.
- Arc Burn: Arc Damage from any source is greatly increased.
- Solar Burn: Solar Damage from any source is greatly increased.
- Brawler: Guardian Melee Damage is greatly increased.

Prison of Elders
Level 32
Broken Legion -  Valus Trau'ug seeks to prove his might by crushing all who challenge him. 
 

Level 34

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

Queen's Bounties
Wanted: Pirsis, Pallas-Bane

Hunt Pirsis, Pallas-Bane in the Cosmodrome's Divide.
"Skolas's most dreaded vessel led the Siege of Pallas, killed Paladin Imogen Rife with her own hand." - Petra

Wanted: Beltrik, the Veiled

Hunt Beltrik, the Veiled in Ember Caves on Venus.
"When Paladin Abra Zire heard of Beltrik's escape, she was angry enough to destroy an asteroid. Another one." - Petra

Wanted: Weksis, the Meek

Hunt Weksis, the Meek near Archer's Line on the Moon.
"Yeah, the "Meek" bit? That's a joke. This Dregled a brutal charge during the Siege of Pallas." - Petra

Wanted: Wolf High Servitor

Hunt a Wanted High Servitor down in the Temple of Crota on the Moon.
"The Wolves have sent one of their High Servitors into Hive territory. Hunt it down." - Petra 

Wanted: Queenbreaker Vandals
Hunt the Wanted Queenbreaker Vandals in The Cinders on Venus. 
"The Queenbreakers are Wolves who pledged themselves to the Queen and then betrayed her. Show them no mercy." - Petra


Wanted: Wolf Enforcer

Hunt the Wanted Wolf Enforcer near the Blast in the Cosmodrome.
"A Fallen Wolf Enforcer is shooting at Guardian's patrolling the Cosmodrome. Find him. Take him out." - Petra 

Crucible Playlists
Salvage
3v3. Secure and defend the Relics to claim the secrets of our past.

Trials of Osiris
Map will be revealed on Friday at 10 AM PST.