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 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.