Destiny – Page 5 – Destiny-Guide

Destiny: Vault space and Raid fixes

In its weekly blog update about Destiny Patch 1.1.2, Bungie has said that it will be addressing a number of player concerns in the future update, including more Vault space and Raid fixes, to further improve the game.

Earlier this week, Bungie had released a 1.1.1.1 hotfix patch to Destiny that was meant only for back end improvements to help the game’s developers monitor the game. Bungie will be releasing the next patch, Destiny Patch 1.1.2 sometime in the next several weeks, ahead of the launch of The House of Wolves expansion pack.

In the latest blog update, design lead M.E. Chung has discussed how the team identifies the improvements and features that need to be added in their updates. After listening to their community feedback and brainstorming with the research team, Bungee follows a process for selecting and developing new features for its updates. Apparently, time constraints allow the developer to limit the number of features and fixes they can work on for the update.

Bungee has not provided any clear details on what can be expected in the Destiny 1.1.2 update, though it has listed these five features as a priority on its blog:

Vault Space – We know you need more space to collect all the treasures you gain from your missions, and more gear is on the way.

Raid Fixes – There are times when Atheon and Crota can be uncooperative, so we’re tackling their worst bugs.

Destiny: Iron Banner offers multiple buffs an Armour Shader

This week in Destiny marks the return of the fabled Iron Banner PvP playlist, which in turn brings with it a series of armour pieces and weapons that have Raid-level stats – a must-have for any player looking to expand their current inventory. What follows is a guide in order to avoid grinding your hours away, and tips on how to quickly reach Rank 5 to get the best gear.

Personal Destiny power leveling, plus some helpful tables from Reddit, suggest that the best way to complete the Iron Banner is to spread your hours of playtime evenly across the week in which it’s available. This piece of information is, of course, a no-brainer; but it’s the math behind it that’s interesting.

Destiny‘s Iron Banner offers multiple buffs – an Armour Shader, an Emblem, a Class-item, a purchasable ‘Tempered Buff’, and a multiplier for every day it’s available. Basically, if you equip all these and play later in the week, you’ll rack up experience faster than you will earlier. The trick is knowing when to play, and for how long.

Just as a start: The best method to achieve Rank 5 is to either play 1 hour per day for the whole week; or 2 hours per day over the last 4 days.

The following table, as provided by Reddit user GenericDeadHead, offers stats based on the following variables:

You play 6 matches per day
You have the Shader, Emblem, and Class-item equipped
You have the Tempered Buff
You win 50% of your matches
You turn in 3 Bounties per day

Although it may look confusing at first glance, the data shows that if you play roughly 6 games of Iron Banner per day, with all the buffs active while winning at least half of your games, you will achieve Rank 5 by the end of the week. The chart shows how much Rep you gain from handing in your Bounties and winning your games for each day, and shows how far along that gets you towards each rank.

If you aren’t available earlier in the week, or you need to catch up on lost time, there’s another chart to calculate how long you need for the last 4 days of the week.

The following table offers stats based on the following variables:

You play 10 matches per day
You have the Shader, Emblem Class-item equipped
You have the Tempered buff each day
You win 50% of your matches
You turn in 4 Bounties per day

This chart shows that, by starting on Friday, you only need to put in an extra 4 games per day on average, and you should be able to hit Rank 5 by the day before reset.

All of this information is based on the variables presented, and is certainly up for change depending on how many of the buffs you have, or how many games you win/lose. Ultimately, it provides a guide to how many games you should be playing per day, so as to avoid mindless grinding.

You Need To Know About Xur Stock From Destiny

Over the last couple of months, Reddit user Megamanexe4 has managed to data-mine Destiny and successfully leak Xur’s stock over a number of weeks. This prediction fell flat a couple of times when Bungie changed Xur’s stock at the very last minute, right before he was due to arrive in the Tower. ‘How does this work?’, you may ask; Megaman has posted a Q&A to answer all your Xur-and-Destiny-related questions, revealing what really happens during those changeovers, and hinting at possible future stock.

In a previous post on Destiny‘s Xur, Megaman explained that the original stock he predicted for that weekend (15th of March) was altered, and that the weapon Red Death wasn’t present in the ‘original Xur’. He also suggests in this post, and his current Q&A, that Xur may sell Hard Light, Thunderlord, or MIDA Mult-Tool some time over the next few weeks, given that they’re the Exotics he is yet to offer – as a result, some of Destiny‘s rarest weapons.

To avoid explicitly stating the list, he remains cryptic, so as not to entice Bungie to change anything in Destiny this weekend.

“If this week’s Xur (3/20) is the Original Xur, then we can assume that everything I’ve leaked in the past is true. If you go through my past posts, you can see the Original Xur’s schedule for 3/20 and 3/27. Hint: you will probably be more excited about what he has to sell on 3/27 than 3/20.”

To avoid losing any information in translation, here is Megaman’s Q&A about Destiny, Xur, and Bungie, where he discusses exactly what happens when Bungie changes the stock and how this affects any future predictions.

Q: Were Xur’s goods changed on 3/15

A. Yes.

Q. Was Xur’s list changed?

A. This was a different Xur from the “normal” Xur, so I cannot confirm any changes at this point.

Q. What do you mean “different Xur?”

A. There are 2 types of Xur. One has a standard list of goods for sale that can only be changed by patches. The other is controlled by Bungie, who can upload his data directly to the game without patches. The Xur that appeared on 3/15 was the latter type, directly controlled by Bungie.

Q. Can you get the list of the Xur that is controlled by Bungie (the latter type of Xur as described above)?

A. No. This Xur has his data directly uploaded on the day of his appearance. It is impossible to obtain data about this Xur on any other day.

Q. How did you figure this out?

A. Because a very similar thing has happened before. On January 30, the “original” Xur was scheduled to sell No Land Beyond. However on that day the Xur ended up selling Dragon’s Breath.

I tried accessing Xur’s list that day, but all I could find was the goods actually sold on that day.

I then tried accessing the list using a different method, but my access was denied and I was unable to see anything. The following week I was successfully able to access the original list.

Also, the actual appearance of Xur is always directly controlled by Bungie.

From these facts I deduced that the Xur on January 30th was different from the original Xur, in other words a Xur whose goods are directly controlled by Bungie.

The Xur who brought Red Death on 3/15 responded the same way as the Xur on 1/30 when I tried to access his data. In other words, this Xur was directly controlled by Bungie.

Q. Will you be able to get the data for future Xur’s?

A. Yes, as long as it’s the original Xur. But not if it’s the Xur that Bungie controls directly. As long as the original Xur does not appear, all leakers (myself included) will not be able to see his data in advance. Obviously, in that case all data that I leaked about Xur would basically become garbage.

Q. Can you make any predictions about future Xur’s based on the data you’ve already gotten?

A. Yes. As of the release of 1.1.1.0 I have gotten all of the original Xur’s data thru May 15. None of that data changed with 1.1.1.1, so I can predict only the original Xur’s goods, thru May 15.

Q. Can you get data other than Xur?

A. Yes. There were no signs of any changes to the data with the releases of 1.1.1.1. All Nightfall data remains accesible.

Conclusion:

I don’t know why Bungie chose this timing to manually control Xur. Was it to squash me, maimonguy, and other leakers? Was it a one-time-only thing? Was there some other reason? All I can say is that only Bungie knows the true plan for Xur.

If they only use the manually controlled Xur from now on, then there is the possibility that Thunderlord, Hard Light, MIDA Multi-Tool, Obsidian Mind, and other items will not get sold. On the other hand, that also would mean there is a chance he will sell Gjallarhorn, Mask of the Third Man, Red Death, and other items not in the Original Xur’s list.

Players Can Glitch Into Locked Areas Of The Game From Destiny

It’s no secret that Destiny players can glitch into locked areas of the game – they’ve been doing it since launch. Now, ahead of the House of Wolves expansion pack, a number of players have managed to get into the location of one of the new Strike missions on the Moon, and were kind enough to give a small tour of their findings.

The first location featured is called ‘Dusk Warren’, located on the Moon. According to user ‘Rob85M’, the trick to getting to Dusk Warrens is in its ‘perilous’ out-of-map jumps. The location itself is through the Temple of Crota, and largely accessible through the World’s Grave.

After dropping between scenery, navigating a series of tricky out-of-map jumps and drops, then landing behind a locked door, it’s just a case of exploring and finding the new area. Interestingly enough, there’s a functioning teleported that transports players to the next location within the Strike, showing that the area itself is fully-functional, and just waiting on enemies to fill it.

The second area is on a Fallen Ketch, where the Strike’s boss fight takes place. The boss fight itself, as we know from previous House of Wolves leaks, will feature a Fallen Walker (potentially as its boss). The second video shows off a room with two Walkers stored in the wall, and a platform in the middle of the room that could potentially open up to reveal yet another.

Whether both of these Walkers will animate, or one will reveal itself from underground, is unknown. The latter seems more likely, given the Strike’s description of an ‘infamous Walker’.

While this method and location are nothing new, it’s interesting to watch after learning the context behind the new Strike mission in the upcoming expansion: Guardians must go to the Moon under the Queen’s bidding, fight a ‘Fallen wolfship’, and defeat an ‘infamous Walker’, according to the Strike description at the top of the article.

Destiny‘s House of Wolves expansion pack will allegedly release May 19th and feature new missions, new weapons, and a new social area.

Xur’s Location And Exotic Goods For Weekend Of March 13 From Destiny

Destiny players who need to keep their health up should check out the wares being sold by Xûr, Agent of the Nine, this weekend. The mysterious vendor has returned to the Tower, and PlayStation and Xbox owners can grab the Red Death Exotic Pulse Rifle.

Those looking for Xûr should run straight ahead towards the Vanguard hall after spawning in the Tower. He is located to the right of the table that the three Vanguards are standing at, against the wall. Here’s where you can find him on the Tower map, just to be sure.

Xûr and his items will only be available in Destiny through the morning of Sunday, March 15. As soon as the clock strikes 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT, he will be gone.

The Red Death tops the interest charts this week, as it is one of the rare times the Pulse Rifle has been sold. The combination of its utility for the Crota’s End raid and the boost that all Pulse Rifles received in the recent Destiny 1.1.1 patch make this a can’t-miss purchase for those that don’t have one.

The upgrades are worth checking out this week as well. Mask of the Third Man, Helm of Saint-14, Light Beyond Nemesis, and Lucky Raspberry all have good to excellent stat rolls. Unfortunately, the stats on the armor items for sale are poor to average. The good news is that Xûr is selling an Exotic Helmet Engram for anyone that wants to take a chance there.

And, yes, Heavy Weapon Ammo Synthesis packs are available.

For those wondering what to get, here are a few helpful hints.

The Red Death perk is a crucial weapon in the toughest PVE encounters like Crota’s End simply because of the perk that carries the same name. This perks fully regenerates player health after each kill. The Unflinching perk also makes this a great weapon for PVP, as it helps you keep your aim steady while you’re being shot.

The Insurmountable Skullfort is the other helmet available for Striker Titans in Destiny. And by other, I mean you only want to pick it up if you don’t have the other Exotic Titan helmets or chest plates available. It is geared toward health regeneration with the Infusion perk that replenishes health when picking up Orbs. Meanwhile, the Improved Transfusion perk regenerates health when killing enemies with the Fist of Havoc. Not bad to have for the final encounter in the Crota’s End raid, but not as useful as other Exotics like Helm of Saint-14, Inmost Most, or Armamentarium.

The 108 Discipline stat roll is very average, making the Insurmountable Skullfort easier to pass on this week.

Knucklehead Radar is unique in Destiny, as it allows the radar to stay up when any Hunters sub-class uses any primary weapon. That’s something you’ll have to decide if it is worth it, as some players swear by it while others don’t feel the perk adds many benefits when there are already several weapons that come with the perk.

The 105 Strength stat is just as average as the stats on the Insurmountable Skullfort.

Claws of Ahamkara are the other Warlock Exotic gauntlets in Destiny, and can be used with either sub-class. The Whispers perk allows for two fully-powered melee attacks, and the Snap Discharge perk increases melee attack speed. If you want to build a melee-powered Warlock, these gauntlets are for you.

The split 55 Discipline and 60 Strength stat roll is above average for these gauntlets. Xûr has sold these at a higher stat roll only one other time, so they may be worth a look if you’re a Warlock who likes to punch.

Bungie team looking at tackling Raid bugs

Bungie’s Destiny live team has outlined its hopes and priorities for the 1.1.2 update that is currently being coded.

The team cites increasing vault space as a key objective, meaning that players who accrue items won’t need to micro-manage their inventories so much. Writing on the Destiny blog, community manager David Dague also cites Raid bugs and Strike difficulty balances as goals for the next update.

Meanwhile, further in-game display and audio options will allow players to better customise the way Destiny looks and sounds.

The list of tweaks, as written by Dague, follows:

Vault Space: We know you need more space to collect all the treasures you gain from your missions, and more gear is on the way.
Raid Fixes: There are times when Atheon and Crota can be uncooperative, so we’re tackling their worst bugs.
Audio and Visual: Not everyone wants to see or hear a game the same way, which is why we’re looking at providing more options.
PVP Ammunition: The Crucible team wants to change the way ammo crates dictate the flow of a battle.

Strikes: The numbers tell us that there are some missions that are successfully completed far less than others, inspiring us to look at why people quit.

No timeline for the update was announced. Elsewhere in the Destiny blog update, Dague talks to some of the team about how they consider and plan updates. Read about that here.

Despite dividing critical opinion upon release, Destiny has accumulated numerous awards from the industry, the latest being the BAFTA Best Game Award.

Achievements And Weaknesses From Destiny

Destiny is one of the the most polarizing AAA games of its scale in a long time. Just mentioning the game in a busy room brings up mass cheers and boos, often dividing a space and creating a huge cacophonous argument where no one gets out alive.

I’m usually in the cheering side of the room. I believe the game to be a unique console experience and if I had access to it all the time, I’d be putting in a few hours into it daily. The core gameplay provides possibly my favorite shooting on the market. It’s progression loops are addictive, but also very satisfying.

Now, I completely understand people’s complaints of there not being enough content, the story being awful or putting up a barrier to hardcore progression.

That is why I was excited to talk to Bungie’s community manager David ‘Deej’ Dague ahead of tonight’s BAFTA Game Awards. We talked about that divide between players, the successes of the game, but also the weaknesses it has. We also pondered on the meaning of award shows and the industry as a whole.

With out anymore ado, here is the interview:

Patrick Dane: Do you think awards are important to video games? They don’t seem to have as big of a public or cultural impact as they do in other mediums, i.e. the Oscars to Film. Why do you think that is? Do you hope that grows?

I believe awards are incredibly important. If game awards don’t resonate with the public in the same way that the Oscars have, it’s because games themselves have yet to become as established as film.

Also, as we’re not a passive medium, the characters and the stories in our games are driven by the player. Players are the stars of our games, so a lot of awards focus on the craft we put into the experiences we create, and that’s important to us as we take our art form very serously.

PD: Why do you think an institution like BAFTA supporting video games in this way is so important?

We appreciate the fact that BAFTA recognizes the importance of interactive entertainment. People are spending more and more of their time enjoying entertainment software, and BAFTA adds decades of credibility to evaluating the art of creating entertainment. Their traditions for assessing and recognizing quality drives people in our industry to strive for even greater accomplishments.

PD: Looking back on Destiny, what are you most proud of in terms of the achievement on the game?

Personally, I’m most proud of that fact that we’ve created a game that is best enjoyed cooperatively. I’m still playing with my friends, even after six years working on Destiny. I don’t know of another action title that has had that effect on me. Many of the people on our team are also incredibly proud of the core gameplay mechanics. The game is fun to play, and we’ve worked hard to get where we are today and we’re very proud of what we accomplished.

PD: It’s no secret that Destiny is a divisive title that spurred polar opinions in some people. There are those who play it for three hours every day without fail and those who had quite strong negative reactions to it. Why do you think that is?

Games inspire strong opinions. The events that transpire in the experiences we create directly involve the player. We’ve seen a player-base rally around Destiny that has a lot to say about how the game can get better and we encourage this dialogue as it informs how we change our worlds. While we always have our own opinions on the matter, we always welcome a challenge from the player to improve upon our work.

PD: Why do you think Destiny remains so strong with its core audience? There are a lot of repetitive cycles in the later portions of the game towards level 30. What is keeping players hooked?

From the start we wanted to create a hobby with Destiny. Something you could jump into for quick enjoyment or deeper participation and reward the player in both cases. To do this we believed we needed to slope the floor for people to play together, create character progression and create AI (not scripted) gameplay, so the experience was different over time. While building on the core action gameplay Bungie was renowned for. I believe that recipe is responsible for the games success.

PD: Looking back, what do you think the last year has told us about video games?

People expect an incredibly high standard of execution for console games now. You have to succeed on so many vectors. Fortunately, new hardware is giving us new opportunities we can use to push our craft for creating games. It’s also been extremely interesting to see our audience grow in a game in which the world is persistent. This has already changed how we make games going forward, on all platforms, but also makes us think differently about the desires of the player.

PD: If you had the chance to add or change one aspect of the game’s design, what would it be?

I think we’d make some different choices today on realizing our story.

Personally, I wish we could build more places in our universe faster. Fortunately, the systems we use to build those worlds is evolving right alongside the player, better enabling us to meet their demands.

PD: What should we expect from Bungie and Destiny going forward? What do you hope to see from the game’s and your own Guardian’s narrative in the future? How do you perceive the announced sequel to build upon Destiny?

Time and again, players communicate to us what they perceive to be the potential for Destiny. We’re thrilled to have captured their imaginations with something new and bold and ambitious.

This moment in time we have a great problem: too many good options in front of us for the team to focus on. Ultimately, we’ll choose the one which resonates with the studio. As we’re all gamers at heart and we’ve consumed the fire hose of feedback from the community since we launched.

I’d like to thank Dague, Bungie and Activision for taking the time to talk to us about Destiny. There is lots of interesting things in there, that as a Destiny player, I can relate too.

Seeking Xur Location on March 13 From Destiny

How many times is Xur going to offer the Ice breaker? That’s the question that many Destiny players are scratching their heads about now, as we approach the Xur location on March 13 this week.

The Agent of the Nine is a random chap and once again he has completely surprised everyone with the third appearance of the Icebreaker in recent weeks. Hopefully this week Xur will have something which is actually a surprise, by that we mean weapons such as the Hard Light, Thunderlord, Suros Regime or dare we say it – the Gjallarhorn. Either way, we’ll be one of the first to tell you where Xur spawns on March 13 and his full inventory once he appears.

What you need to know is that Xur will be in the tower at 9am UK time, 1am Pacific Time and 4am Eastern Time on Friday. It’s another new week for Destiny players, so hopefully Bungie’s RNG system will come up with the goods this time around. What exotic are you looking for, as we can imagine that most of you have tons of strange coins saved up right now – what figure are you currently on?

Simply put – what does Xur need to offer to keep you happy?

House of Wolves DLC Might Arrive in May From Destiny

Bungie’s Destiny has become an unprecedented success for the company despite several issues that have arisen since launch. Given that many gamers expected a sprawling space epic, akin to Borderlands meets Halo, the low amount of content has been a major issue.

This was somewhat mitigated with The Dark Below expansion but for a $20 DLC, it included one new Raid, a few new Exotics, three new Story missions, one new Strike, three new PvP maps and an increased Light level cap (not to mention periodic Nightfalls and Weeklies that can only be played if you have the DLC). While this sounds good on paper, it pales in comparison to what other MMO-like games have offered. So what’s coming next?

GamingBolt recently spoke to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter about his thoughts on the same. Activision has already confirmed that a sequel will be happening but what has Pachter heard regarding other future plans for Destiny, especially the major content update rumoured to be happening in Fall?

“You know, Activision’s management told me that they’re – they and Bungie – are trying to keep Destiny’s revenues about flat every year this year and going forward every year until Destiny 2 comes out. It’s going to be more than just map packs and levelling up. This major content drop is going to be more like a World of WarCraft expansion, so probably more like a $40 ten level cap change as opposed to a $20 two level cap change. That’s really what they intend to do.”

Pachter also said he’s unsure about the frequency of the $20 expansions but that there may be at least a four month gap between each one. “I don’t know how frequently we’re going to see the $20 versions, but my guess is that you’ll see two $20 expansions and one $40 expansion each year, so kind of pace it out that way. Every four months, you get something like that. So I think that the goal is to keep that 3.5 to 5.5 million daily active player group spending $60 to $80 a year.

“Maybe you can sell the $40 expansion and one $20 expansion to each of them. That’s like selling them a new game every year, and Destiny maybe ends up generating 5 million units at $60. I think that’s their plan, and I think if you really like Destiny, that’s just like buying Call of Duty every year. That’s not that big a deal.

“I don’t think Destiny is ever going to be as big as Call of Duty, but I think the plan is, as people get next gen consoles – there were 3.5 million daily active players back in November, they said it was higher now, my guess is 5, like I said – and I think their goal is by year end it’s 7. And by year end ‘16, it’s 9, and then by year end ‘17 it’s 11, and then the next Destiny sells 20 million copies and then they start again.”

This isn’t exactly a new business plan that Bungie and Activision stumbled upon. EA has been selling games as a service for quite some time now with FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode. “You know, I think that it’s a smart and new business model.

I mean, it’s essentially taking the MMO subscription model and turning it into a pay-as-you-go for content model, and it might work. I think it’s an interesting new business model. You’ll hear all the publishers talk about something called “games as a service”, essentially that means subscription games. They would really love to morph into that, but none of them wants to give up that $60 initial sale.

So FIFA Ultimate Team is that. They keep selling you stuff but you need to buy the game in order to play it. Destiny is that, it’s just that the stuff that they’re selling you is in a big package that costs $20 or $40.

Destiny: The players 16 minutes finish the Crota Raid

Bungie’s Destiny is notorious for its ridiculous player-driven challenges, such as soloing Raids or taking a Sparrow where no Sparrow should be allowed to go. With this in mind, a player undertook Destiny‘s latest Raid, Crota’s End, solo. While this is nothing new, the player managed to do it in an astonishing 16 minutes and 7 seconds.

With any challenge comes a horde of players vying to be the best; not for any particular reward, but just because they can. Many players decided to take on Destiny‘s Raids with increasingly ridiculous requirements – completing it in 16 minutes, however, is equally impressive and insane.

Crota’s End has five main sections: The Abyss, The Bridge, The Hallway, The DeathSinger, and finally Crota himself. While each section is capable of a solo run, using multiple ‘cheeses’ and shortcuts, it doesn’t always make them any less difficult (especially during the latter sections).

The player in question, known on Reddit as Slayerage, used a Bladedancer Hunter to great effect, taking advantage of its Blink and Super abilities. Check out the full video below.

Allegedly, Slayerage practiced for a good 10 hours straight before recording his fastest run. While it is on Normal, the run’s time is incredibly impressive, especially considering there are a number of occasions where Slayerage could have improved the time by a few seconds per encounter (such as Blinking off the rock during the opening section).

There are a few techniques in here that I hadn’t seen used before, such as using Blink while swinging the Sword in order to cross The Bridge without even activating it, or using Blink to skip a whole section of The Abyss at the start. I’ll be taking advantage of both those tricks next time I take on Crota’s End – not speed running, of course.

Slayerage is responsible for most of the ridiculous Destiny feats you see across the internet, such as running Vault of Glass with two people, or soloing Crota’s End on Hard Mode.