Destiny Patch 1.1 Thoughts

We received a patch for Destiny that went live yesterday. Here are the patch notes and my thoughts are at the bottom:

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1.1 : The one about Exotics. And the Raid!

Today's patch includes the long-awaited arrival of Exotics weapon buffs, additional acquisition paths for destination upgrade materials, along with additional changes to exotic gear node upgrading in preparation for the soon-to-be-released expansion, The Dark Below. We're also correcting issues induced by our more recent update to the Raid.

Weapons

Exotics

Exotic Weapons are designed to look, feel, and sound overpowered. At the same time, they are not supposed to break the balance of the game. We hope these weapons challenge the way players think about their loadouts. Exotics will be a constant work in-progress!

General

• In preparation for the Dark Below, Exotic Armor and Weapons no longer require Ascendant Materials to upgrade
• The final upgrade node of all Exotic Gear will require an Exotic Shard
• Exotic Shards can be obtained by one of the following means:
• Dismantling unwanted Exotics
• Purchased from Xur for 7 Strange Coins
• Exotics now start at a higher base Attack value and have a narrowed upgrade range to compensate

Thorn

• Projectiles now briefly highlight targets on impact
• Mark of the Devourer DoT (damage-over-time) upgrade increased against PvE enemy targets
• Reload Speed increased
• Magazine Size increased
• Ammo inventory size increased
• Stability and Weapon Handling increased

Bad Juju

• Magazine Size increased to 8 bursts (was 5)
• Ammo inventory size increased
• String of Curses now also decreases the cooldown of your Super on kill
• Adjusted effects to not block first person reticle

Hard Light

• Stability increased
• Perfect Balance upgrade replaced by Fitted Stock (increases maximum possible weapon Stability)

Suros Regime

• Lowered total damage at the end of the mag on SUROS Regime upgrade to be more in line with the Glass Half Full perk on Legendary Auto Rifles

Monte Carlo

• Stability increased
• Range slightly decreased
• Monte Carlo Method upgrade now also has a chance to fully charge melee ability on kill

MIDA Multi-Tool

• MIDA rounds now have increased knockback against targets in both PvE and PvP

Hawkmoon

• Send It upgrade (which was redundant) replaced by Speed Reload

Red Death

• Rate of Fire increased slightly, but Burst Damage reduced to compensate

Plan C

• Weapon Handling speed increased
• Player Speed increased while Plan C is in hand

Pocket Infinity

• Speed Reload upgrade replaced by Extended Clip which allows the option to increase magazine size (5 bursts)

Vex Mythoclast

• Attack Power increased to 323 (from 300)
• Base Damage increased, fixing bug we introduced in previous patch
• Enhanced Battery upgrade by Extended Mag (this change still allows for a significant upgrade to Magazine Size, but less than before)

Invective

• Reload Speed increased significantly, auto fires slightly slower

Ice Breaker

• Send It upgrade replaced by Lightweight (which was redundant as Icebreaker already had maximum range) 
• New effects for enemies killed by Ice Breaker upgrade

Patience and Time

• Snapshot upgrade replaced by Custom Optics (provides a lower zoom option)

Super Good Advice

• Stability increased

Truth

• Magazine Size increased to 3 (was 1)
  

Activities

Raid

• Fixed an issue we introduced in a previous patch, in which Atheon did not correctly send 3 players through the time gates
• Fixed an exploit where the Templar could be forced off its platform

Daily Heroic Story

• Destination Materials now drop from completing the Daily Heroic

Bounties

• Removed the ‘Relic Hunter’ Bounty 
• Destination Materials now drop from completing the Daily Patrol Bounty 

 

Vendors

• Reduced Cryptarch reputation gain from Engrams, but reputation reward packages now have an increased chance for Legendary Engrams
• Players will now be able to use Vanguard Marks and Crucible Marks to purchase Spinmetal, Relic Iron, Spirit Bloom, and Helium Filaments from the Vanguard and Crucible Quartermasters in the Tower
• Xur now sells a new material, Exotic Shards, to upgrade the final node of Exotics for 7 Strange Coins
• Faction Class Items (ex: FWC Cloak, Dead Orbit Mark, etc.) are now replaced by Faction Emblems in the rank-up reward packages from Faction Vendors

Technical

• Networking fixes, which should reduce the instance of the Bee family of KTOs
• Fixed an issue in which using Xbox One party chat induced a slower frame rate

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Okay, so a lot of stuff there. Let's start at the top with the decision to remove the need for legendary ascendant materials to upgrade exotic weapons. It makes logical sense since the materials say legendary, but it's rather silly to have to get them via Xur. Yes, you can get them dismantling exotics, but let's face it, you pretty much only get exotics from Xur anyway. Sometimes you get them from the nightfall or raid but it's fairly uncommon. Now if you have everything fully upgraded you may need to wait until Friday in order to get the exotic shard you need. Hopefully it won't be too annoying. It would probably be smart to stock up on a few each week just in case. They only cost 7 strange coins so that's nice. I personally think a permanent vendor should sell them but whatever.

Now the various buffs to the exotics you can see for yourself but a couple of points are that the Thorn is finally decent! You practically couldn't use it in light of a number of other hand cannons that were flat out better in every way. But now the Thorn is a beast and I love it.It's such a cool looking gun and I'm glad to be motivated to use it. Now I just need to get an exotic shard ;).

They buffed the Bad Juju but I still don't think it's very good, which is a shame because I think it might be the coolest looking gun after the Mythoclast. The damage and impact are just too low, especially when compared to a number of other guns.

The Suros actually got a nerf, which may have been needed, but I hardly used it outside of crucible anyway. Now I definitely won't.

They actually buffed the Plan C which I am surprised, as that is pretty much universally considered to be the best fusion rifle. If you had it, you used it in crucible. Making it better is rather silly, but whatever.

They boosted the Mythoclast which was necessary. I wish they boosted it more as I am finding it hard to not use the Vision of Confluence and Ice Breaker combo, which in my opinion is the best in the game. It is nice to have a gun that does over 300 damage though, plus it looks amazing.

The Truth upgrade is a little silly since it actually has a magazine size of 2, not 1. So they just increased it by 1. That gun is not going to get used as long as the Gjallarhorn is around.

Now onto the raid fix. They fixed the teleportation glitch. Finally. You can't be too happy about stuff like that because it shouldn't have happened in the first place, but at least they did their job. I must ask why they didn't fix all the other crippling issues that the raid has though? Random minions regenerating health, the relic shield turning off or not working, the glitch where you don't get to go through the gate unless you slowly walk and take turns with people, Oracles not getting killed even though they should have, etc. Baby steps I suppose. They fixed the Templar glitch where you could push him off. That was probably necessary as it was kind of cheap. Now it will just make the raid a little more annoying. I wish they had fixed the crippling issues before fixing something that made the raid easier but it shows where Bungie's priorities are.

The daily Heroic story missions now also drop Destination Materials. And for those of you, like me, who had no clue what they were talking about: Destination Materials are the crafting materials like Spirit Bloom and Relic iron. That's a nice plus. And speaking of the crafting materials, they finally made it so you can purchase them at the Tower! That's awesome and was greatly needed. You can buy them with crucible or vanguard marks at a 2:1 ratio.

All in all it was a good patch, fixing several issues. There are still a lot of things that need to be fixed but I'm still glad for this. It does show that Bungie cares about their game. Now we just need some more content. Hopefully the DLC gives us that.

You know you play too much Destiny when...

...you are driving and you keep looking for little green lights on a loot chest

...an item that's green angers you, but you inexplicably become happy when you see purple or gold

...someone shows you something new and you think: "they didn't earn that, they got lucky off RNG!"

...your week officially starts on Tuesday

...you look for craftable items in the real world

...you see a ton of people walking out of a store and think "maybe it's the new loot cave?"

...you try to shoot the Sun down before you get marked

...you mistake the Moon for the Traveller

...the lights dim and you get excited for an incoming Public Event

...you see a green traffic light and try to think of a way to get up there to accept a patrol mission

...your hours played in Destiny is tracked by the week instead

Destiny level 29 and the daily grind

Well Destiny has been out for a while and I'm still level 29....with two characters. I think a lot of people are in the same boat as I. I've gotten to the point where my destiny is now in the hands of the almighty RNG. I need a chest or head piece raid gear in order to get to 30, and the only way I can get that is dropped in the raid, and it's completely random. I would also love to get the Mythoclast but that can only be gotten for beating the final boss on hard mode. I've beaten the raid tons of times by now but just haven't had the luck. I've received the same sniper rifle 4 times in a row, and the Chatterwhite armor shader 3 times in a row, along with countless ascendant shards and energy.

This is almost identical to my Hunter. So much for looking unique...

 The RNG system is something that has bothered me a while when it comes to Destiny. Now I understand the need for it and am fine with it existing. But I have a problem when Bungie claims that they didn't put trading in the game because they wanted each item in your arsenal to tell an epic story. I don't want trading in the game but the various items that you get are hardly gotten in an epic way. It's completely random.

"AAARGHRHGHGH!!!!" -Every gamer ever

 I've gotten an exotic sniper rifle from a random grunt while on patrol. I've gotten lots of legendary items from leveling up the Cryptarch and other minor things like that. When RNG is involved, it isn't skill or an epic story, it's just dumb luck. I played with someone in the raid when it was his first time and he got 2 different raid armors. It has taken me countless times going through the raid to get 2 items. I've played the hard raid and people have gotten their 5th Mythoclast, and they are angry because that's all they get, meanwhile I'm stuck with another Chatterwhite. It's hard to feel any sense of accomplishment when everything you get is just dumb luck. The only thing that would feel like an accomplishment is your faction rank, as that actually can only be required by playing the game and isn't up to luck.

I always find it funny when people on the forums start getting angry at Xur when he sells various exotic equipment at the Tower on Fridays.

That Cthulu/Nazgul slut...

 People will claim that they earned their equipment, while others will say that it's welfare for unskilled players. I have gotten plenty of items by "earning" them in game, and I've bought several items from Xur as well. I actually would lean towards saying that people that buy items from Xur are the ones that earned them, honestly. Because of RNG I have randomly gotten exotics from the Nightfall or the Raid. I was lucky to get them, I could have just gotten ascendant materials. Meanwhile, if I bought it from Xur, I had to play long enough to earn all those Strange Coins, which aren't easy to get. But then again the RNG has a lot to say when it comes to how many Strange Coins one gets, but still.

What's strange is thinking about what Xur does with them when he gets them

 There hardly any earning in Destiny, it's all RNG, so stop complaining. I for one am glad that Xur is around because it helps to limit the negative effect of the RNG system. There are plenty of people (like my brother), who have had horrible luck with getting legendaries and exotics. If Xur or the faction venders didn't exist, my brother would be stuck at level 20 with rare gear if he was lucky. Instead, he has been able to play the game, earn the reputation or Strange Coins, and buy some stuff that has helped him level up.

So do whatever rain dance or sacrificial ceremony you think will help you on your way to becoming legendary in Destiny. Appease the RNG god!

Destiny Patches and "Improvements"

So Destiny has been out for a good while now, and Bungie has had time to take in comments, look at their game and how people are playing it, and then implement changes they think benefit their game and player base.

For the most part I have agreed with a lot of the little tweeks: Auto Rifles are too powerful and although it saddens me because they are my favorite (not just because they were powerful), it probably needed to be done. Most recently they've said they will add "baby bumpers" to the Atheon raid to prevent players from pushing him off the edge. This is a good idea. That's clearly a bug and an exploit that defeats the spirit of the raid, I'm fine with that.  Bungie has also made it so engrams will give you at least that same rarity in item (ie green engrams will give you at least a green rarity item, and so on). Before you could finally get a purple engram, only to give you a blue item. It was frustrating.

However, there have been a number of changes that I have disliked a lot. For one they have decided to make it so 3 random players are teleported during the final fight against Atheon, instead of the furthest 3. This is ridiculous in my opinion. Now they have stated that they want everyone in the raid group to be able to do everything, so it's at least in line of what they said they wanted to do, but I personally think it's a mistake. During the raid everyone has a role. You have your groups of 2 players (normally) that take care of various sections like mini fireteams. During the Templar fight you have your various roles including the dedicated relic holder and Atheon-teleporting prevent-er (worst title ever). Then for the final boss we had roles of 2 portal guardian, floater, 2 oracle killers, and a relic holder. And now Bungie has stated that they are making the last boss choose 3 randoms and now anyone can be teleported and now everyone must be able to be any one of roles. Now that does make it more difficult, and a raid should be difficult, but I think it will just cause more panic and frustration. I imagine the hatred for certain poor players, that just don't happen to be good with a relic or guarding a portal, will be so great as to turn them off to the whole thing. I now dread taking in a new player to the raid for the first time, as I will have to cram so much information into their skulls and demand so much skill for it to be enjoyable for anyone (as nobody wants to fail tons of times). We had our roles throughout the whole raid, why not allow us to continue doing that, instead of implementing yet another RNG (random number generator) aspect to the game.

Second, they nerfed the Mythoclast. The Mythoclast is the hardest gun to obtain in the game (It can only be gotten as a random drop for beating the raid on hard) and is rightly the most powerful. I personally don't have one, but I would love to. Bungie reduced it's damage by 34%. Ouch. At the time of this writing they have announced that they will modify it further saying that they didn't want to hurt the PVE aspect of using this weapon as much, as they mainly wanted to nerf the gun from a PVP standpoint, but that brings me to my next point:

It seems that Bungie is mainly listening to former CoD players and little kids. Most of the changes in the game have been in the form of modifying weapon damage because of the multiplayer aspect, but it has spread to the PVE section as well. The forums and multiplayer in general are filled with what I'm assuming are little kids (whether they are immature kids in body or mind), who just whine and complain when they get killed in a match, screaming that everything is "OP". So instead of Bungie just calming down and letting those players either learn from their mistakes and become better, or just quit the game to everyone's relief, they are catering to them and going overboard on their modifications, almost ruining the best gun in the game. As I said they are trying to fix that mistake, but it just goes to show how impulsive they are being to cater to the biggest whiners.

They are also the ones that are screaming about the RNG element in this game, and are crying because they don't have every exotic in the game. Destiny has an RNG system in place and is very similar to an MMO in that aspect. That means that getting the various good loot is random. I have run the raid many times and I've only gotten one of the raid armor pieces, and that's what has kept me stuck on lvl 29 with over 50 ascendant shards waiting. Am I crying about that? No, that's part of the game, that's part of the grind. But instead we have a bunch of immature and impatient players (the staples of the modern gamer it seems) demanding that Bungie just give them everything that they want. This is the reason the Queen's Bounty event was such a disaster. We had little kids crying over not getting any legendary armor (even though they could guarantee themselves to get armor if they just played strikes or multiplayer enough and built up the marks and just buy it). Bungie just gave it to them. And to make matters worse, they removed the only reason us veterans had for playing in the event by removing the rewards we could get by destroying the said armor for ascendant materials.

Bungie also removed the loot cave in the game. I also think this was a mistake. Or mainly I think that this has started a chain of events down a slippery slope. In games like this people will be looking for the easiest way to level up or to get materials or money or kills or whatever. That will never change. The loot cave was the easiest place to get various engrams (although personally I never got anything decent but it was nice to upgrade my Cryptarch with all the worthless green and blue engrams), but Bungie took that away because they didn't want people to exploit the game I guess? The problem with that is that it wasn't really an exploit. Players were killing enemies in the game and hoping that through killing a ton of them, they would get a couple of engrams and maybe some good gear. That's just playing the game. Now people will just find the next "loot cave" (ie the greatest concentration of enemies) and use that to get better stuff. Will Bungie keep nerfing the game to the point that enemies only spawn every hour? What do they want us to do? If you want us to play other modes or strikes then you should make it worth our while. Strikes right now take too long and the bosses are just bullet sponges. I personally still love playing them but I understand that if you are trying to get some new gear, that is not the best way to go about doing that.

This brings me to my last point, and that is that although Bungie has been making a lot of little changes in the game, it has never been about adding anything, only taking it away. All of the hotfixes and patches seem to come from Bungie saying "you are not playing the game the way we wanted, so we're going to take something from you". Games need stuff like that, and it's good that they are trying to fix bugs and glitches, but that shouldn't be the only thing. Where's the stuff that makes our game better through addition? I have seem many good suggestions on the forums from players who are honestly trying to give good feedback and info on how the game could be improved (ammo synthesis quick-use buttons or raid matchmaking for example), but stuff like that hasn't been implemented. So much of what Bungie promised us has been a huge let down. The game isn't the sprawling open world that if we see it we can go to it. They story has been very lackluster so far (almost nonexistent). And although I keep hoping they will add stuff to make it better, I have not seen it.

Despite all these complaints I have I still enjoy the game. But I want it to be better. I want it to be the game we all thought we'd be getting. I just hope Bungie actually starts putting some stuff into the game that makes it better.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Review

So I've been so excited about Shadow of Mordor ever since they first released info on it. Lord of the Rings themed game focused on brutal action and showcasing a new Nemesis system that allows your foes to remember you? Count me in! Naturally I pre-ordered it and eagerly awaited its release.

                                                                 I am death incarnate!

I have managed to play the game for about 15 hours by now and I beat the game the other day. I still have many more abilities I want to unlock in order to become the ultimate BA but I feel as though I have enough information to put forth a general opinion of the game.

So far I am loving the game. The graphics are beautiful and it's just fun walking around admiring the landscape; From the arid Mordor crags to the more lush, farmable area of Mordor that apparently exists. From the quaint goblin towns to the vast fortresses where you have to sneak from parapet to parapet to avoid the wrath of a hundred orcs. It really is a fun world. That being said, I of course would have loved to see more areas. A more dedicated forest area or northern area would have been a lot of fun to explore, and maybe we shall see that in the future as a DLC or a second game, who knows?

The action is awesome. I can't get enough of the swirling melee. You have so many different ways of fighting that it never gets old. Building up a hit streak in order to pull off an execution is always entertaining, but you can always get in some arrow shots and vaults over shield-bearers to mix it up. You can really create your own style when it comes to combat. Want to just go in and start wrecking people in close combat, you can do it (good luck). Want to sit back and snipe everyone in the head, you can do it. Want to use the environment to your advantage and just sit back and watch the carnage as orcs go running from Mordor flies and get mauled by Caragors (think Wargs but half lion instead of hyena), go for it. Want to sneak around like one would in Assassin's Creed, slowly killing off the orcs in a stealthy approach, that's also possible. There are many other ways that you can go about doing this with combinations up the wazoo. I love everything about it.

 There is not a ton of customization in the game there is still a lot to do. You can upgrade your 3 mains weapons: You dagger Archan, your sword Urfael, and your bow Azkar can all be upgraded with various runes that can be collected in the world and from fallen enemies. You also have two skill trees to upgrade: One from your wraith side, and one from your ranger side. These 2 skill trees allow you to become the great BA ranger/wraith everyone wants to be. There of course are tons of little trinkets and hidden lore artifacts and relics throughout the world that you can find on your quest for 100% completion.

Although the game is accurately portrayed as an Assassin's Creed with a Lord of the Rings theme, it feels refreshing enough for anyone to enjoy it as something new. There's a lot more to the combat and from what I've heard that is similar to the Batman Arkham games. The game is also at the same time both more forgiving and more punishing. It is more forgiving in that there is no falling damage because you are a wraith, and you can even unlock abilities that allow you to "teleport" to an enemy for the kill. This is a thematic way of making the game just more fun to play. Who wants to struggle around trying to find a safe way to climb up or climb down? Just let me do it and get on with the action! The way it could be less forgiving is because of the Nemesis system.

If you haven't heard of this, it's basically the draw that the game uses to get in any gamer. This system randomly creates your foes and gives them several different strengths and weaknesses. These various captains of Mordor can be viewed in a kind of pyramid hierarchy. You can gain intel from various foes and allies in the game and learn what the strengths and weaknesses are, and then you can exploit them. In the beginning of the game you will be basically learning these things in order to find the easiest way to kill the orcs, but later in the game you have the ability to brand the orcs and command them to do your bidding. The Nemesis system also can create personal stories within the game in that your foes will remember you. Did you run away from an orc, he'll remember that and taunt you the next time you see him. Did you throw him into a fire or stab him in the eye? He will sport some nasty burns or a sweet eye patch. Did he kill you? Well then you have successfully leveled him up, making him harder to kill as well as giving him ammunition to make fun of you the next time you see him.

                                                         Just look at that cute mug

I haven't run into the same script more than once, and I've killed thousands of orcs so far. Although it's only the captains and war chiefs that have this system, even your run-of-the-mill orcs can get promoted if they should kill you. They get some flashy new armor and a cool name, as well as some new strengths and weaknesses for you to exploit. I love branding orcs and sending them to go betray their master, or to go get initiated as a bodyguard for someone else. You can brand someone and watch them climb the ranks as you help them destroy their rivals, successfully go on hunts, and generally thrive in the unforgiving orc society.

What also is interesting is that anytime you die, or anytime you fast forward the game, you can see the world really come alive. The orcs have their own agendas that they will carry out with or without you. Say you get killed by a random orc. Not only will that orc get leveled up and become a captain, but all the other orcs in the army will have done stuff too. Some may have taken it upon themselves to become the war chief and have killed the top orc and taken their place. Others have warded off enemies or gone on successful missions and leveled themselves up that way. And then there are just some other random baddies that have shown up on the board, awaiting your swift justice. It really makes the world feel real and alive. It's a fun system to just watch.

 One main point I'd like to make that other reviews have not mentioned is that the Nemesis system "punishes" a player in weird ways. Let's say you are not very good at video games, or you are just impatient and like to ignore in game hints and start fighting. You will most likely die several times in this game and because of the system, all the enemies around you will grow stronger. The game "punishes" you for not being good. Now you can always just go around and level up by killing orcs and doing side missions, but I find it interesting that you can constantly make the game harder by continually dying. However, you will take advantage of and see the Nemesis system really shine. Most reviewers have great tales of that one orc that constantly bothers them and keeps on returning (remember that an orcs not officially dead until you decapitate him). This brings me to my next point: The Nemesis system also "punishes" you for being too good. I am not a professional gamer, nor would I consider myself one of the best casual players, but I am decent enough and in this game I have played the game in what I think is the way it was designed to be played. I mean this in that when there is a powerful orc I need to take care of, I learn the intel on the orc and then I exploit the weaknesses and avoid the strengths so I can take him on while I have the advantage. I do not just charge in when he has 50 other orcs around him and several bodyguards and hope to just win. I cause him to run away scared when I find out he's afraid of Caragors and I unleash them in his area, then I chase him down so I can deal with him one on one and easily dispatch him. Now while I have been very successful in doing this, I feel as though I am missing out on the fun parts of the Nemesis system. I have not built any fun lasting relationships with any orcs. Sure there has been the random orc that has killed me, or an orc that I killed that somehow actually survived and now remembers me, but those are few and far between and the ones that do are properly killed in our next matchup. I almost want to just go up to an orc and get myself killed just so I can build up a fun rapport, and that is odd and doesn't seem like what the designers had in mind.

The story was entertaining enough. You are a ranger who was "killed", and then possessed by a wraith, and now you want revenge for the death of your family. A simple enough story that has been told before, but nonetheless a tried and true classic that I don't mind playing again. The story delves (not too deeply though as we don't want to awake the Balrog), into some previously unmentioned lore when it comes to the Rings of power. I have loved this part of the game. The main story, as well as the countless little hidden tidbits thrown about the map as collectable items, have really shown some more light into the Lord of the Rings history. It even goes into some stuff only talked about in the appendices of the books, which I as a Tolkien nerd find amazing!

                                              Wow Bert really went through a spike phase

I have some questions about the lore in the game that I think should be mentioned (without using major spoilers): In the game all the various animals you can kill/dominate are new to the world as far as I know. There are Caragors, which are basically bigger Wargs, who are half lion rather than hyena. There are Graugs, which are huge troll/Rancor beasts that could probably eat trolls for breakfast. Then there are little cousins of the Fell beasts flying around not really bothering anybody, but something you can shoot out of the sky for hunting rewards. The orcs in the game aren't really orcs either but rather are referred to as Uruks. Why did they do this? Were wargs and trolls just not BA enough? I can understand from a lore point that you don't want trolls roaming around in the light seeing as though the Hobbit ones turn to stone in the light, but we've seen plenty of other trolls in the Peter Jackson series (which is obviously where this game gets its art), that can be in the sun. I'm assuming that they wanted bigger and badder things to fight, but it seems a little video game gimmicky. The orcs turning into Uruks at least have some lore validity since Uruks in the books are the leaders of orcs that aren't afraid of the light.

Another minor issue is that the major villains in the game are not really built up enough. You CAN build up a relationship with the various orcs in the game, but you don't really do anything with the main villains. Sure, they murdered your family and cursed you to undeath, but you quickly forget about them as you go about killing the other random orcs. This, and the fights against the villains were very forgettable, which to me is a little sad considering how awesome the fighting is.

However, the sidekicks and allies in this game have been decently fleshed out and have been some of my favorites in gaming. The little sniveling orc Ratbag that introduces you to a lot of the game is hilarious and I love the dynamic between he and Tirion. The wraith that occupies your body is also very interesting in more ways than I care to talk about because of spoilers. There is also a dwarf in the game that is highly entertaining as you go around with him hunting various creatures in the wild. I wish there were even more story bits and interactions with these characters and the time you spend with them is far too short in my opinion.

                                                                    Silly Ratbag

There is of course a season pass with this game that will be adding some fun new story elements that I obviously cannot wait for.

Despite the minor issues I have with the game I must say this has been a very entertaining experience so far. Even after you finish the game you can still roam around the world killing orcs. I am tempted to just kill all my war chiefs and fast forward the world so I can kill new ones all over again. I can easily see myself replaying this at random points in my life when I have an itch to kill some orcs.

Destiny Farming Issue

First off, this is my opinion, so obviously everyone can disregard it. Second, I hope that maybe I'll make some good points and that people will consider them before they get very angry. For more reference, I am not some 12 year old immature kid but rather I'm 29, married, a college graduate, with a kid and a house. I am blessed with the opportunity to work from home and take care of my infant son, who has slept so much it has allowed me to play this game a lot.

Okay, a little background when it comes to this game: I am a lvl 29 Hunter. I got to lvl 27 without "farming", and got to lvl 29 by getting through the raid. I have played this game for over 3 days (check my profile if you don't believe me. The only exotic I've ever gotten was when I bought one from Xur or when I completed an exotic bounty. So if anyone has cause to be angry at people who can quickly get through the game and use an exploit to get high end gear it is I.

I am NOT, however, angry.

In any game that exists, many people will do what is optimal over what is fun. This has been found to be fact with any number of games ranging from video games like WoW and Destiny, to even card games like Magic. People like to win, even if it is against the computer, and will do anything to do that. With that being said, it should be obvious that if there is an optimal way to play the game and "win" at it, then people will take it.

So is that a bad thing? Well it seems that Bungie has wanted people to take it slow. That makes sense as the longer it takes to play their game, the more people will stay interested. It's business, but that makes sense. So what do we want them to do? We want them to remove various exploits in the game that allow you to get stuff quickly? Now, knowing what I said before about how people will do whatever is optimal, do you really think it will be solved once the cave exploit is removed? People will just find the next best thing, and the next best thing after that.

Bungie could keep getting rid of these exploits (side note: I do mean exploits rather than glitches. Glitches need to get fixed, but an exploit is simply using the game's mechanics in order to do something optimal), but doing so will create an ever lasting cycle of patches. And to what end? When does that stop? Does it stop when the only way to get an item means to complete 3 raids and kill 2,000 enemies? Obviously there has to be a line, but my point is that we would forever be searching for that and be butting heads with the designers, rather than playing the game.

Another point: We can agree that farming for items is not the most fun thing ever. I know some people can enjoy it, but honestly it would be more fun to get items by playing missions and stuff. If that is the case, and we want Bungie to get rid of the various exploits, we are asking Bungie to make the game less fun. Keep in mind people will do the most optimal thing, no matter what.

Why do we want Bungie to make the game less fun? I can hear people now saying that farming isn't fun, but playing the game as it was meant to be played is fun. How is the game meant to be played? There is obviously farming that needs to be done. You cannot just go through and play everything once and be at the top level. So obviously Bungie has created a game that requires farming, so why are we hoping that they remove farming, or make it harder?

I think a main crux of the issue is between people who claim to have "legitimately" played the game and gotten high end gear vs people who have "exploited" to get it. It comes down to a time issue and that line is very blurred. Am I a better player because it took me 3 days to get my stuff, vs someone who got it in a couple of days? That actually sounds like the other player is smarter. It's a better spenditure of time.

As I said I have "legitimately" played the game and got my stuff, but I am not complaining. Not everyone has as much time as I do. I want people to have fun with this game, and if they have fun doing this, then why not allow it? The only other stipulation is when it comes to Iron Banner, where your gear actually matters in a PVP setting. I don't know how to fix it, but then again it simply comes down to a definition of "legitimacy" of playing, which hopefully we can agree is a very blurry line and mostly comes down to personal preference.

If you made it this far congratulations, I hope I made some good points and I hope to see you guys (who farmed and who didn't), starside. Enjoy!

Destiny Vault of Glass Raid

Okay, so the first week that the raid came out was an exciting one. I spent a lot of time on the forums seeing which clan would beat it first as I was sure someone could beat it day one despite what Bungie said about it being really hard. Although I was ready to go on Tuesday my clanmates would not be lvled up or have the time ready for the raid until Saturday so I was forced to sit back and watch. As it was we ended up having to grab 2 people from the forums to help out.

                                                               The fabled entrance

Saturday morning finally came around and we were ready to start playing. At approximately 11AM we started playing. During the week I had read up and watched some videos in preparation. I was going to keep my mouth shut for a while during the raid and only answer questions as I wanted it to be fresh and new for the other players. But if we had a question we didn't have to spend a ton of time trying to look it up because I had a good idea of what to do.

We got through the first gate easily enough. We split into 3 teams of 2 and covered the 3 rings. It got a little hairy at times but we were never wiped and eventually got through. I believe I got some ascendant shards for my trouble.

We then got into the area where the Templar was. The first thing we had to do was to protect the 3 areas from the various spawns as they attempted to overwhelm us and sacrifice themselves. This part we lost several times as we were just having too much trouble doing enough damage to the Minotaurs that would charge into the sacrificial ring. We didn't have trouble with the green goo-spawning goblins though so that was nice. We eventually beat it and then moved onto the Oracles part, which was also beaten.

                                                                      The Templar

Then we had to beat the Templar himself. This one took us the longest time. Someone had to pick up the relic shield and use it on the various harpies in the area, charge the super ability, and then shoot it at the Templar in order to take down its invulnerability shield so we could damage it. We went through several different relic carriers. I started out but after a few runs we decided we needed my DPS on the boss (I was the highest lvl character with the only legendary primary weapon). We learned a little more after every death and started getting very good at spreading ourselves out to cover incoming Oracles and prevent the Templar from teleporting so we could shoot at him longer. It took a ton of coordination but after a couple of hours of intense gameplay we finally managed to beat him. It was a huge relief. I got a legendary rifle that could be upgraded to do bonus damage to Oracles. Other more lucky players got the legendary raid armor pieces that are needed in order to reach lvl 30.

We managed to find one of the hidden chests in the raid and I got some more shards which allowed me to upgrade my armor and got me to lvl 28.

We then had to get through the Gorgon's Labyrinth. This part was highly entertaining and I'm glad they put this in as it was a fun break from the regular combat. You have to navigate through the Labyrinth without being seen by the Gorgon. If ANYONE is seen you all die. It was intense and the Gorgons have a nice creepy sound and look about them that really added to the tension. This took much longer to complete than normal as the servers for Bungie went down right in the middle of this and we had to wait for people to sign back on. But eventually came and we mapped out the path to get through unseen. It helped that most of us were Hunters and could cloak ourselves so we couldn't be seen. I kind of wish the path was more elaborate and long because it is pretty easily done and very easily done once you know how to do it.

                                                          Gorgon and their horrible gaze

The next part was the jumping puzzle which didn't take too long. It wasn't as difficult as I originally thought it would be. A part of me is disappointed but then again I would get very frustrated about losing at a jumping puzzle as they are not very much fun. I was entertaining myself by sitting on the other end and watching my clanmates fall to their doom over and over again though.

We finally made it to the last room. The first thing we had to do was kill the Gatekeeper which was easy. The next part, however, was very difficult. We had to activate a time gate one at a time, send 2 guys in to destroy a relic keeper and grab the relic, then come out and do it again. All the while everyone had to protect a conflux in the middle of the map from sacrificial Vex. We got wiped quite a lot of times trying to do this. It took us a while to find a good team of 2 to go in and get the relics (eventually was myself and another player), and then it took even longer to figure out a way of just surviving and killing the various minions. But eventually we finally got through it.

By this time we had been playing the raid for around 7 hours I think. We had the final boss to complete, but we were starting to get weary and tired. I, myself, was still recovering from a midnight Magic release tournament that I went to with a friend (I went 2-1 and got 6 packs of cards thank you very much), but I got home at 4AM and didn't get very much sleep.

This last part was the hardest thing we've ever had to do. I will spoil the ending and say that we did not complete it. We got close though and I am confident that given a week's time until Saturday will allow us to be ready to beat it then. We had to beat Atheon. Atheon spawns kamikaze harpies throughout the battle and he teleports the 3 furthest players into another dimension. Those 3 players need to grab the relic and constantly heal the debuff on all the players or else we all lose. Those same 3 then have to destroy 7 Oracles as they spawn very quickly or everyone loses, all the while being attacked by various Vex. Meanwhile, on the outside, the remaining 3 players have to keep the 2 gates open to allow the original 3 to get back, all the while dodging Atheon attacks and kamikaze harpies.
Once the original group is back everyone gets a damage buff and can start to unload on the boss. After the buff wears off the furthest 3 players are teleported and the process starts again.

                                                                Atheon in all his glory

 It took many many deaths to figure out a good combination and strategy in order to get through even one rotation of events. Myself and 2 others went through the gate to destroy the Oracles, but several times we either got killed by a Vex sniper or Minotaur, didn't kill the Oracles quickly enough, got debuffed so bad we couldn't see, or the people on the outside died or failed to open the portal. It was crazy. Oh, and if you don't beat the boss in 8 minutes, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose as he gets enraged and crushes everyone. We managed to go through the rotation several times but we never could do enough damage before losing, or a little mistake by someone cost us a wipe.

I think we just weren't lvled up enough. I was lvl 28 but I think everyone else was 26 and maybe one 27. That just isn't high enough. Also, nobody had any exotic weapons or even legendaries. We just couldn't do enough damage and couldn't stay alive easily enough. We gave up for the week but I am very confident we will beat him next week, and then I can finally say I've beaten everything Destiny has to offer. It was a ton of fun and I can't wait to do it again, and I hope they make many more raids. I just love the coordination and planning that is required as well as the new mechanics you don't run into while playing the regular game. I highly recommend finding 5 other people and giving it a try.

Destiny Exotic Bounties

So I finally got an exotic bounty. These things are uber hard bounties that net you an exotic weapon. There are many different kinds so I recommend looking up up which quest gives you which weapon so you can make sure you get what you want.

If you get the chance at an exotic bounty (it is completely random), you will be able to choose 1 out of 3, chosen from a pool of 6 different exotic bounties. Mine was called "A light in the dark", and the reward was the Thorn.

It looks so beautiful! My first task was to complete the "Summoning Pits" Strike on the Moon. I hate this Strike but at least I can do it on any difficulty and passed it with flying colors. I now had the Depleted Hand Cannon but needed to harvest the energies of the Hive on the Moon in order to activate it. This meant 500 Hive kills. This wasn't too hard as I need to roam around the moon looking for Helium Coils anyway.

I then had to go to the Crucible, however, and get 500 points. I had to use a Void damage weapon to do this and every kill netted me 5 points, but every death gave me -2 points. I was not happy about this as I don't usually play PvP. I nonetheless gave it a try. I tried it on control and regular deathmatch but the games were too chaotic and random and I'd die in really stupid ways so I knew that wasn't going to work. I then did the 3v3 mode and that worked much better. I was able to stay with my team and knew where my opponents would be so I just had to be good enough to kill them. Enter the Fusion Rifle. With this amazing weapon I was able to get my required kills fairly easily. I also used a Void rocket launcher in case any heavy ammo dropped. But after a while of doing it I finally completed the objective.

I now infused the hand cannon with the horrible darkness of the kills I made and had to go to the Speaker and buy an Infusion of Light off him for 1 Mote of Light in order to cleanse myself. Then I took it to Ikora Ray (Warlock Vanguard) and she gave me my final task: Kill Xyor the Unwed. This great annoyance of Light is found in the Hive Moon Strike again (Curse the Destiny gods!). I had to get to Phogoth but not kill him, and after killing tons of knights and wizards and such Xyor would eventually show up. With some help from my clanmates were were able to accomplish this and I returned to the speaker and was rewarded with my Thorn!

I really enjoyed the bounty, mainly because it allows you to get an exotic weapon, but also because it really is a long journey and when you get to the end of it you have a big feeling of accomplishment. You had to work hard to get this. Now watch me find it on a random drop tomorrow!

Fun Destiny statistics so far

I saw this infographic courtesy of DestinyDB and thought it was pretty cool:

I find it very interested the nearly equal spread between all the classes. That is awesome. I love variety and after playing with people who were using the other classes I must say I'm even more excited to try them out. I can't seem to leave my Hunter though as there is so much more to do. Soon though.

Also, see that graphic with how many guardians there are at the various levels? I'm not sure when this was taken but there are only 177 people at lvl 25. I'm at lvl 26 and almost 27, they didn't even make a graphic for us. That's pretty cool. I must be in the small minority (although it will probably quickly become a majority). Nonetheless I find it cool to see stuff like this.

Destiny Weekly Nightfall Strike Adventure

Wow last night was a long one. I set out to try and beat the Nightfall Strike as I heard that the rewards were really nice. I am lvl 26, almost 27. I have an exotic helmet and all legendary armor except for boots. However, I am stuck and can't level my equipment without various ascendant materials. You apparently can get more from raids but obviously it isn't out til today, and I will be very lucky to figure out how to beat the raid anytime soon. So, in the meantime we attempted the Nightfall Strike.

This week's was for the Devil Walker strike. Spider Tank!!!! I actually love this strike. I find it fairly easy to do and I just enjoy the steps more so than some of the other strikes. The Nightfall Strike, however, made it extremely difficult. I first attempted it solo like I did for the weekly Epic Strike but quickly found out that would have either been impossible or taken too long for my liking. So I replied to posts in the bungie.net forums and managed to find some people to play with.

So with a Nightfall Strike all the enemies are lvl 28 and a lot of them have the yellow health bars (indicating they are very powerful and are called majors or ultras), as well as some kind of shield. These shields are weak to a certain element and you take a 50% damage penalty if you try to hit them without using the element. The AI is much smarter than normal and constantly will dive around avoiding shots, as well as retreat to regain shields and work together. There are also various skulls that are active and are listed when you view the Strike. It is similar to Halo. Here is the chart:

Skull	Effect
Juggler	No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
Anger Issues	Minions of the Darkness display heightened aggression.
Angry	Minions of the Darkness won’t flinch, even after massive damage.
Arc Burn	Arc damage from any source is greatly increased.
Solar Burn	Solar damage from any source is greatly increased.
Void Burn	Void damage from any source is greatly increased.
Lightswitch	Minions of the Darkness deal much more melee damage.
Nightfall	You will face a relentless army that has never known defeat. If all players die, you will be returned to orbit.
Heroic	Enemies appear in greater numbers and are more aggressive.
Mythic	Heavily shielded and highly aggressive enemies appear in great numbers.

The biggest issue with the Nightfall Strike, however, is that if your whole team gets downed, you have to start back at the beginning! No respawns ever. If you get downed, you are downed until someone can revive you. If you win you get some nice rewards, an xp bonus for a week, as well as a sweet blue flames animation around your head for the week as well.

So we set off on our adventure....and promptly died. The hardest part of that strike is the area where you have survive a couple of waves of enemies while your ghost tries to remove the barriers. It was really tough. We adopted the heroic strategy of hiding down in the tunnel on the one end of the map near the train gas car, poking our heads out to snipe before diving back into cover. We still got sniped in the head by vanguards and dropped all the time, but someone was standing behind to revive us if needed. We still got eliminated lots of times because of those stupid homing bullets the Fallen captain's guns have.

We had 2 hunters and a warlock in our party. I think it was a decent combination. Us hunters were blade dancers mainly for the various stealth abilities. We could crouch or use our ultimate and stealth, then go out to attack or gather ammo. The warlock was awesome but it would have been better if he was a sunsinger I think so that he could have the ability to revive himself if he died (he wasn't lvled up enough for that). The strategy was decent though, but still hard.

We finally managed to beat that first part, and promptly died against the Spider Tank due to stupidity. We finally made it back to the Spider Tank after about another hour. This time we crushed it pretty easily by just staying back and shooting. Sure I had to stealth and run around to revive people a couple of times, but it wasn't too scary. We were then ready to take on Sepik Prime.

Since we really didn't want to do it all again we decided that I would stand in a corner in the side room to the left and revive if needed. Everyone else stayed in the room but were constantly taking out the enemies. I of course couldn't just do that and would poke out a window to snipe and attack Sepik. It worked perfectly and after a long firefight we managed to kill him!

For all my trouble I was awarded with this little gem

Our warlock got a legendary heavy machine gun and the other hunter got 7 strange coins. We of course got our xp bonus and awesome blue head flames, even though it would only last for one day (since the world reset today). It was an awesome experience though. We had a ton of fun and although it was really hard, it's nice to get some sweet gear. I love auto rifles but the legendary I had had no impact and it was very inaccurate. This one seems much more like my style.

I can't wait to see what this week's one will be. But hopefully I will be playing the raid this week at some point. Today I plan on at least getting my last legendary armor with Vanguard marks, and we'll see about the raid!

Day 3 and Destiny Events Inbound!

Ok I finally got to lvl 23. In the first day I beat the single player campaign and did all the strikes and such and was at lvl 20. In day 2 I started to try and get high end equipment and made it to lvl 22 early on in the day. I did a ton of exploring which doesn't yield good stuff, but then spent a lot of time in the strike playlist, which was awesome.

I just couldn't find good loot however. I kept getting green engrams and the blue ones were nothing special. I sat with 8-9 light on all my equipment and just couldn't get forward. I played the heroic weekly strike solo (didn't know you could bring a fireteam), and although it took over an hour, I finally beat it. Then on my next strike I managed to get a decent piece of armor with light on it and it pushed me to lvl 23!

Now I just need to get some decent weapons. I'm hoping to be able to move up to the lvl 24 strike playlist soon as I'm sure I'll get better gear that way. Plus it's double the marks which I desperately need to make sure I hit the 100 cap before the week is done.

The biggest news of the day, however, was the announcement that Destiny Events are Inbound! I am referring to this released article: http://www.bungie.net/en/News/News?aid=12133

 

Just look at all that new stuff! Obviously I don't care that much about crucible stuff so probably half of this stuff I won't check out, but the Vault of Glass and Queen's Wrath have me very interested. The first Destiny raid is Vault of Glass and I need to somehow get to lvl 26 and have my clan be lvled up as well. That will be tough but I can't wait to give it a try.

Speaking of, I joined a clan of like-minded fellows and we're called D3stinysChild. I'm proud of the clever name, feel free to apply! We could use more people.

But Queen's wrath also really has me interested. For one it seems like a free update, which is always great, but it looks like it will be something with single player and maybe a strike? I hope so. I would love to see more single player and I'm already bummed that we won't get some content as it is a Playstation exclusive for one year. That's a long time.

But yeah free updates, not a lot of games do that. Titanfall makes you pay $15 in order to get 3 maps, but this looks like it will be more. That's really cool. I just hope Bungie can keep getting out the news and hyping out the crowds because I'm gonna guess that a lot of the reviews for the game aren't too great. I have a feeling people either didn't play enough of it to see how much stuff gets unlocked later on, and/or don't know that this really is a first chapter to a larger game. People may want to hold off until the Game of the Year edition, but this game will probably keep getting bigger and better.

Can't wait to get home and play some more. See you starside!

Helpful hints for Destiny

Here is an ongoing helpful hints post with stuff I've found around the interwebs that have helped me so far. *This is probably more for the hardcore types that are playing end game content (Warning: Possible Spoilers):

- Pay attention to the shield type of your enemies. Although all enemies with a shield have a white bar that represents the shield, it's the color of the shield aura that you should pay attention to. The various colors correspond to a vulnerability to a weapon element type. Blue = Arc (spiky blue throwing star symbol). Orange = Solar (flame symbol). Purple - Void (purple swirl). Kinetic damage is the default that a weapon can have. If you try to attack someone with a damage type of anything other than the one they are vulnerable to, you take a 50% penalty!

- Every level you WOULD go past lvl 20 gives you a mote of light

- Save your blue engrams (and above) and don't cash them in until you are lvl 20 because they scale up to your lvl when you cash them in. Might has well have more chances to get that "light" gear.

- There is a cap on the amount of marks you can get from a faction, at 100 a week. You can still get rep but be wary. You can view how much you've gained by looking at your Bungie.net profile or in the game where the Vanguard and Crucible icons on the map are. You will see a ring start to surround the icons and when they are full you are done for the week.
 
- Although I love my single player, in multiplayer you can probably get Crucible marks a lot faster than Vanguard marks since you get the same amount from playing a Crucible control match as you do for a single player Strike, and since a control match is only 10 minutes, it will go a lot more quickly.

- If you love the stuff from the other Factions in Destiny make sure you buy the Faction piece, equip it, and then whenever you'd normally get Vanguard or Crucible marks and rep, you will instead get that Faction. Also, make sure you aren't accidentally wearing a faction item and thus getting rep and marks from a Faction you don't want.

- If you completely run out of ammo for your primary and secondary weapons, if you just stand still for like 30 seconds, it will automatically replenish. It's awesome! I'm not sure if this is supposed to happen because I don't know why anyone would bother to buy those ammo refills with this being around. It was invaluable during the Nightfall Strike. It also replenished some heavy ammo as well!

- Level up the Cryptarch. Every time you cash in an engram he gets some experience. Soon, after every level he gains, he will send you a package which will frequently be a legendary engram and you can get some really decent things. I'm even started to spend some glimmer and just bought some engrams from him, then cashed them back in in order to give him more xp. If you keep buying the same type of item the amount of xp he gets keeps increasing as well!

- Pick up any crafting materials you see. You don't want to be spending tons of time trying to farm them, and you will definitely need them all.

- Make sure you do at least one public event a day if at possible. You can get Ascendant Shards from it which are really hard to find and are needed to upgrade your higher lvl armor. Plus, if you have multiple characters that means multiple shards, and you can put them in your storage bank for anyone to use.

- Keep in mind that although it might be fun to do your Daily Heroic Story at a lesser Heroic level, if you do the top tier difficulty you can also get Ascendant Shards.

- Legendary and Exotic items can give you Ascendant Materials if they are dismantled. Have a legendary weapon you probably will never use? Break it down!

My review of Destiny so far after 2 days of gaming

Ok, so there's this new game called Destiny, ever hear of it?

Well I have and I've been looking forward to playing it ever since it was first announced a couple of years ago. I managed to play as a beta tester (who didn't?), and I had a ton of fun and couldn't wait until the final product was out. Well finally, on September 9th, it became available to the world. I managed to be off the day of the release as well as the day after (thanks son!), so I got a decent amount of hours clocked in. Bungie claims it didn't want any reviews unless the people who review it made it to the end game content. Well I am about as far as I can go (Bungie has yet to release the raid). Although there is still a lot for me to do in the game, I feel as though I am prepared to give a *brief review so far. *longest review ever

I decided to play as a Hunter as the class looks the coolest out of the 3 available, sporting that sweet cloak and brandishing a BA hand cannon for a special ability. Also, there's the double jump which I like far more than the gradual rocket pack-like jump of the other classes. And to top it all off, Nathan Fillion voices your class vendor, which is awesome (Firefly and Castle all the way!). I am currently level 22 and working on grinding to get the higher gear to keep going. The game's max level is actually only 20, but you can "gain" levels by equipping stuff that gives you "light", which can raise your level above the max. Why would you want to do this, well because Bungie has claimed that the game doesn't really even start until you hit lvl 20.

Destiny is a FPS (first person shooter) with some RPG (role playing game) elements. It is not really a MMORPG like what a lot of people originally thought. The reason I want to highlight this is because if you go into it thinking it is one thing over another, you may be disappointed. Although there are RPG elements, and although you can play online with various folks, if you are no good or don't like the FPS portion of the game, this is not for you. The various RPG elements just make it easier to play the game or make you look cooler. The vast majority of the game is running around and gunning enemies down, attempting to jump around, and not get shot. There's no just standing there waiting for your spells to cool down as you attempt to monitor your DPS (damage per second). It's fast, it's frantic, and it's a lot of fun.

When I say there is lots to do I really do mean there's lots to do, but it may not be what you're looking for. I have only played the single player portion of the game (if you were looking for a multiplayer review then I'm sorry, but stick around, you've made it this far!). I beat the single player campaign in around 8-10 hours. I had a lot of fun with it but it was nothing amazing. The story wasn't particularly gripping, there were no twists or turns, there weren't epic battles like those in the Halo series, and one could say the gameplay is fairly repetitive. In basically every mission you run around shooting things, as your AI ghost (voiced by Peter Dinklage!), tells you where to go.

You inevitably will have to try and survive waves of enemies as your AI scans something, and then at the end of the mission you will have to fight some named bad guy. At the end of it all you are rewarded with experience (experience for you and your equipped gear), reputation for various groups in the world, glimmer (currency), and the chance for various cool loot.

That's basically it. The grab is the feeling of leveling up, grabbing new gear, and making yourself just that much better against the forces of darkness. You can also unlock cool things to make yourself look BA and brag to your friends. It's a pretty simple mechanic but one that I've had a lot of fun with.

There's still a lot more to do though even though it seems kind of bland. Each planet has an explore mode where you can do just that: Explore. You can run around and look at every nook and cranny, find golden chests that unlock special rewards, find various items that can be used to craft weapons and armor, do little side missions, and just admire the beautiful landscape that Bungie has created. There are also public events that pop up from time to time that you and the people in the area can join up and combat. They are usually a target that needs to be taken down, or a site that needs to be defended. You can get some decent rewards doing these but I really like the sense of camaraderie that accompanies winning them with complete strangers, forever creating a bond and a story with them.

There are also Strikes. These have been my favorite part of the game so far. You team up with 2 other guardians and go on a dungeon-like journey, where you fight a very hard boss at the end. They are extremely challenging, you really have to coordinate with your teammates, you get to fight some really fun huge bosses, and you get awesome loot for your inevitable troubles. Think of them like tiny raids. There are a total of 5 different Strikes currently, with more on the way. These really create a fun story with random people (or friends).

There will also be a raid but Bungie hasn't released it yet. Those will be done with 6 people that have to be on your friends list, and will most likely be the hardest thing ever done and I can't wait to give it a try. Until then here is the best we got:

There is also the whole aspect of PVP (player vs player), or multiplayer, that I haven't even tried. I played a little of it during the beta and it reminded me a lot of Halo multiplayer. It's a lot of fun, but just not my cup of tea at the moment. You can unlock tons of cool armor and weapons and looks for you same as the PVE (player vs environment).

There is a social hub of a city where you can buy various items, upgrade and unlock others, and basically show off with other people in the game. Although in my opinion this is a waste of good button use, the D-pad on the controller acts as your social interaction tool, allowing you to point, wave, sit, and dance with other players in the area. It's a cute little mechanic, but there could have been other probably better uses of the D-pad.

The game looks beautiful with actual days for the various planets. You can start during the day and pretty soon the sun has set and you are playing at dusk. The colors are very vivid and again remind me of Halo. The soundtrack is decent but hasn't struck me like the Halo series did.

The graphics have been very smooth so far and only occasionally will you stall for a second as the game loads the next section (there's no waiting screen or anything, you just sometimes pause if you are going fast on your speeder bike for a second).

I would say this game has the look and gameplay of the Halo games, with the model of Borderlands. What I mean is that you have a character and you can unlock various pieces of gear like you can in Borderlands, which also includes raid bosses and an open world. There are not nearly as many guns in this game as there are in Borderlands but that's mainly because there aren't as many different combinations. Borderlands could have many combinations because of the various types of guns and the various modifiers to all the stats as well as different elemental types. In Destiny I think it is very comparable, just not quite with the weapons yet. There are hand cannons, assault rifles, and scout rifles for your main weapons. There are shotguns, fusion guns, and sniper rifles for your secondary weapons. And then there are heavy machine guns and rocket launchers as your heavy weapons. In Borderlands, the various guns could be of the same type, but behave very differently with various mechanics contributing. In Destiny, the guns all basically feel the same. Sure, you can have different stats, but they all shoot the same way and look very similar.

What Destiny does have that Borderlands didn't are various armor types that you can upgrade. They are all modifiers of basic stats, although some will give you some abilities. But they also can look different and you can get armor dyes to make yourself look as cool as you can imagine.

Is Destiny the best game to ever come out? Sadly, no. Does it live up to the ridiculous hype? Again, sadly no.... not yet. This game could have been so much bigger and have so many more things in it. Perhaps it will but we will have to wait until they add more content with free updates and DLCs. I am still having a lot of fun though and it has already been worth the $60 price tag. It is worth noting that Bungie always talked about their 10 year timeline. So if you think about this as the first chapter it's quite a lot. I'm sure with future content we'll flesh out the world more and see more stuff. I am looking forward to seeing what they can come up with. I have really enjoyed my time and can't wait to go back in. Thanks for reading this and I hope it was helpful (nobody is ever going to read this Brad, look how ridiculously long it was). Maybe the pictures helped. I know the dancing video of Peter Dinklage helped.