Destiny Alpha Thread: Impressions from the wild [Code Begging=ban]

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Holy crap if true

Well Earth alone has a couple of locations. Like Mumbai Push, Old Chicago, European Deadzone and The Twilight Gap. I also expect more explorable areas within the main city.

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Love the game I just hope the crappy AI is a symptom of the alpha.

It probably isn't. It just isn't the way combat is set up, mobs are quite literally tethered to their spawn location. Now, I'm hopeful that as we level and progress to more difficult enemies they will flank a bit more. With that said, don't expect to be chased if you leave their area...cause that isn't likely to happen at all.

How do you know this? The lore seems barely in the game at all. I've put just as much time as you into the game and my biggest gripe would be lack of lore and variety. Granted this is just an alpha but I've been through this plenty of times before to know from here on out its small changes not big ones.

Lore/story is all but non existent in Alpha, no clue what people are talking about. I explored all over the place. Fully maxed out my Warlock, 100+ weapons with all scopes etc. Green gear maxed and tied to the rifle I'm using (except legs for w/e reason).

There is no lore/story to speak of. You aren't told much of anything, which is done on purpose I would wager.
 
After getting two characters to level 8, time for some impressions;

+ UI design is outstanding. No really, the menus, the HUD, it all just looks amazing.
+ This feels like the original Borderlands + Mass Effect.
+ Guns feel good.
+ Despite the lack of context in this Alpha, this world and it's lore already interest me.
+ Old Russia map was surprisingly large and I keep finding new areas.

- Boss characters, and specifically the Devil Walker, are pretty much just huge bullet-sponges with high-damage (or even OHK) attacks and can get quite boring some times.
- The respawn-timer on enemies in free-roam is insane. They respawn the instant you turn your back to the place where you killed them and it kind of gets in the way of the exploration.
- Voice chat doesn't seem to be working at all for this Alpha...
- 'That wizard came from the moon!'

Overall I'd say this Alpha definitely reinforced my decision to get this on day 1.
 
Dumped 9 hours into this small slice of the game... It's everything I had hoped for. I need to stop now before I burn out.

You dun good Bungie. You dun good.
 
After getting two characters to level 8, time for some impressions;

+ UI design is outstanding. No really, the menus, the HUD, it all just looks amazing.
+ This feels like the original Borderlands + Mass Effect.
+ Guns feel good.
+ Despite the lack of context in this Alpha, this world and it's lore already interest me.
+ Old Russia map was surprisingly large and I keep finding new areas.

- Boss characters, and specifically the Devil Walker, are pretty much just huge bullet-sponges with high-damage (or even OHK) attacks and can get quite boring some times.
- The respawn-timer on enemies in free-roam is insane. They respawn the instant you turn your back to the place where you killed them and it kind of gets in the way of the exploration.
- Voice chat doesn't seem to be working at all for this Alpha...
- 'That wizard came from the moon!'

Overall I'd say this Alpha definitely reinforced my decision to get this on day 1.

I'd agree with you here. The thing that saves the game for me is it feels good as a shooter. I get some seriously fun Co op vibes from this game at times. Its like a mass effect visual style but with really good combat lol. The exploration is not really a plus since the why is missing. Stuff I find like broken ghosts don't matter and I don't even know why I would find them. The story is just not there at this point.
 
I know this is a "serious" game, but I wish they would go crazy with the weapons, I mean, it's fucking sci fi and we still have the machine guns, rifles, rocket launchers.

GIVE ME CRAZY SHIT, Cerebral Bore, Nuke Weapon, whatever, this is not call of duty, you can go make whatever the fuck you want Bungie.
 
- Boss characters, and specifically the Devil Walker, are pretty much just huge bullet-sponges with high-damage (or even OHK) attacks and can get quite boring some times.

i feel like i'm the only one who digs how long it takes to kill bosses. doing the strike from lvl 6 with the gear i had then, compared to lvl 8 with the new gear i had found showed me just how much easier it got to take them out. and i liked that it was a long battle and you had to be on top of things or you could easily get consumed by the darkness and have to start all over.
 
i feel like i'm the only one who digs how long it takes to kill bosses. doing the strike from lvl 6 with the gear i had then, compared to lvl 8 with the new gear i had found showed me just how much easier it got to take them out. and i liked that it was a long battle and you had to be on top of things or you could easily get consumed by the darkness and have to start all over.

I love it too. Did a strike at five and it was grueling, then played again at 8 on legendary with gear and a compentent team, flew through the thing in like half the time. Swapping aggro on the devil walker from two sides of the map and unloading heavy weapons when he exposes his neck is a blast.
 
i feel like i'm the only one who digs how long it takes to kill bosses. doing the strike from lvl 6 with the gear i had then, compared to lvl 8 with the new gear i had found showed me just how much easier it got to take them out. and i liked that it was a long battle and you had to be on top of things or you could easily get consumed by the darkness and have to start all over.

You aren't the only one I assure you. Full grp with gear at lvl 8 it takes 5-7 mins, which is perfect for being overgeared/leveled. At level 6 it should take 10-12 mins, so long as each strike has no more than 2 'bosses'.

IF everyone in the group knows how to down the devil walker it takes no time at all. Problem is people roll into it thinking no big deal, they all group up in the same spot and each shot from the walker takes out two people. Spread out, he will only shoot at one at a time.

I'm curious, was this alpha supposed to go live this month? Is it possible that they did this to quell some of the negative criticism (most of which it has)? Or was this something they planned to do for E3 specifically? I mean, I know testing has been going on since forever, but they made a big deal of Playstation getting Beta access first; yet, I never thought I'd be playing Destiny in my home 3 full months before it released.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was a PR move. Very good one at that.
 
I'm curious, was this alpha supposed to go live this month? Is it possible that they did this to quell some of the negative criticism (most of which it has), or was this something they had always planned to do for E3 specifically? I mean, I know testing has been going on since forever, but they made a big deal of Playstation getting to play first, just not by this much. I never thought I'd be playing Destiny in my home 3 full months before it released considering how closely to release they put the Beta.
 
Really enjoying it so far. The UI is very slick.

The ammo disappearing from your special weapon when you swap is annoying.

Apart from that it is a solid game. The enemy AI has been pretty good.
 
So after playing for .. probably 7 hours now there are a few beefs which I would like to see fixed.

When I select a new primary weapon from my small roster of great ones, the ammo gets depleted. So when I have my pulse-rifle, and I switch it out for a more long range rifle it comes without ammo. When I then switch back to the pulse-rifle, the ammo I had in it disappears. I would like to have a shared ammo pool between all primary weapons. (this also happens with secondary weapons)

Other things are the lack of mission variety.
No way to see my ship in for example the shipyard. I got a nice new one and I want to walk around her and capture some cool shots.

other then that its been a very smooth experience, from playing alone to exploring the lands on our speeders with 2 friends. Its been a wonderful experience and I can't wait to play the full game.

There is enough lore and areas to fill 10 games and I can't wait to find our what they have planned for the sequels*.

* pretty much confirmed that this is a 10+ year project that will be expanded upon.

i agree completely with the ammo thing. it's been a real pain in my ass. i'll be using my sniper rifle in the steppes then go into a complex and switch to shotgun for close quarters and i won't have any ammo. definitely need a shared ammo pool for the weapons.
 
Was anyone able to get this chest open? If so, how?

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if your a warlock or a titan, you can use your jet pack to like float uo and quickly open it before you start falling. If your a hunter.........i feel sorry for you. the hunters double jump is extra lame compared to the other two classes.

Was hitting 2.5-3k crits with my lvl 8 Warlock using the sniper rifle.

Same here, my sniper is a fire sniper that does 109 damage(has upgrades), Be head shoting level 8 captains even with their shields at full bar.
 
Wouldn't surprise me if it was a PR move. Very good one at that.

That's for sure. I'd always been interested in the game since the first info was released, but that interest had been dwindling steadily in the face of ridiculous hype juxtaposed with lackluster presentations. Most of my concerns are still there, but I'm fully on board after playing it.

This is unrelated, but large branches don't sway two feet during a light breeze, Bungie. This tree I'm sitting on looks like it's breathing.
 
if your a warlock or a titan, you can use your jet pack to like float uo and quickly open it before you start falling. If your a hunter.........i feel sorry for you. the hunters double jump is extra lame compared to the other two classes.

Yeah I'm a Warlock and tried that but never received the prompt to push square to loot. Maybe I didn't hit the right angle.
 
someone here wrote the alpha is 3% of the final game..but without a source i think.

If everyone is referring to what I said a few hours ago, I pulled that 3% right out of my ass, and was basically just exaggerating that I was having a lot of fun playing this tiny snippet of the full game. I shouldn't have put a percentage on it though, my bad.
 
if your a warlock or a titan, you can use your jet pack to like float uo and quickly open it before you start falling. If your a hunter.........i feel sorry for you. the hunters double jump is extra lame compared to the other two classes.

Hunter overall feels very underwhelming. Warlock>Titan>>Hunter.

Hunter special is exceedingly weak, the double jump is really bad...it is literally just a double jump. The only redeeming factor is the wonderful knife, which is just fun.
 
The Grotto area looks awesome I wanted to go further but a ?? level Wizard was blocking the way... Nope.
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The only troubles I've run into are:
The game glitching out and freezing on me while playing with a fellow gaffer for some unknown reason.
Being in a bunch of explore sessions where I was the only player on the server.
And every single time I've been to the tower there was not a another player in sight... feels desolate in a "this don't feel right" kind of way.

I really just want to know more about the game world and its lore.. The Reef sounds like an interesting place.
 
The motion sickness when I turn is pretty bad for me. If it's not going to be fixed, no go for me although I like the game.
 
Weapons scale HARD. So these bullet spongey guys will take less bullets.

They do, but the idea that the strike bosses are bullet sponges is just wrong. People are doing the encounter incorrectly. Do people really want these encounters to take 1-2 mins for the average group? Which translates to taking 30 secs-1 min for a group that knows what they are doing. Talk about boring.

I'll be really disappointed if they alter the strike bosses/etc because of the feedback from people who are doing the encounters incorrectly.

The motion sickness when I turn is pretty bad for me. If it's not going to be fixed, no go for me although I like the game.

I don't get sick, but we need a FoV slider or something. It is zoomed in way to close.
 
It's an alpha so my complaints are subject to change come beta, but these are my worries. I'm coming from the perspective of someone who plays lots of MMOs (too many to count) and action RPGs (Diablo 3 and Marvel Heroes currently):

Loot:
The drops are rare and bosses don't always drop an item. Nothing is more frustrating in ARPGs than failing to get loot. To me, less drops doesn't make every drop feel more significant. It means you're constantly failing and even when something drops, it can fail to be an upgrade. Anyone who's played a significant amount of D3 or D3 RoS knows what I mean. Throw in PvP where I can see myself be further frustrated by possibly being lvl 20 and not getting drops while I'm getting smoked by someone with great items. I already have Borderlands/2 which gave me lots of loot and I know is fun.

Finding chests is also full of disappointment since its usually 100 credits. This could just be the level 8 chests so I reserve the right to take this back.

Respawn of enemies:
Most seem to agree. Enemies respawn way too fast. I think this is easily remedied so very minor worry.

Quests:
Really boring design. Go to area here and scan. Kill mobs for a while. It's like poor Korean MMO style quests.

Level cap:
Is it really going to be 20? Unless the later levels start feeling like Baldur's Gate/DND style level 20 where every one of them is significant, this is very worrisome to me. If it's all about loot instead of levels, I'm back to being worried about constant loot disappointment. I'm not too worried about this though because this could just be an alpha thing and the later levels are indeed significant boosts.

General gameplay:
I'm primarily PC gamer so this game feels super slow to me (just like Halo). I can get used to this though so not too worried about it. I really wish this was on PC so I could mess around with the FOV, but I can deal with this.

Wouldn't it be great if you could sprint and shoot or glide and shoot Tribes style? I guess this is a personal preference.

Strikes:
No guaranteed boss item drops? HAH! (see complaint about loot)

Bosses:
Agree about the bullet sponge complaints. It wasn't hard killing the walker at level 6. I was a hundred yards away completely safe the entire time. It just took a long time. Things should be difficult and fun, not long and tedious.
 
I actually found the Devil Walker Strike area while exploring around. I defeated the devil walker, but was unable to go on to find Sepik's Prime, because the door behind the Devil Walker was closed.

Also, here are my complaints/thoughts for the crucible and yes I have posted them on the bungie alpha feedback forum, but I figured I'd post them here too in order to stir some thoughts.

-The turret on the moon map should not have a shield, it is overpowered because of that, seems unfair

-The interceptor should not just spawn right at the beginning of the match right next to each team, it should be somewhere in the middle where either team can get to it

-The shotguns, especially the charge up pulse one seems overpowered. It's almost like COD where you just die super fast, one hit usually

-I don't like how you keep special ammo after you die, you should be forced to search for it once again, since snipers and shotguns are like power weapons

-The MP announcer sound alright, but it could definitely be better. Also if you could make the announcer say things like double kill and triple kill, the game would feel even more awesome and rewarding!!

-It would be nice to keep ADS accuracy while in midair to make fights more varied and "strategizable"

-It would also make the game even more fun to be able to hijack vehicles, PLEASE put this in!!! In addition, the ability to have multiple people on one vehicle would be awesome too!



My biggest complaints out of all those, is the vehicle placements, the unnecessary turret shield, and the keeping of special ammo after you die. Also, the announcer saying double kill and stuff like that would be amazing! Overall, I will definitely be buying this game and I hope these complaints do you make a difference. I love this game!
 
I really enjoyed the strike bosses.

The spider started out rough but once we figured out what to do it was awesome. If it lost any of its hp it would be a cakewalk. I know other people have complained but I liked that it has a couple of one hit kill moves. I mean the missile strike is telegraphed by the blue glow and the tank shot has a red targeting line. You shouldn't be out in the open anyways.

They eye was crazy fun with it teleporting around and us freaking out getting sucked up. The only thing I was sad about was there weren't any like "Devil Walker Rocket Launcher" or "Sepiks Fusion Rifle." I'd love to hear if anyone got anything cool from though.

Other than that the game has been awesome exploring is a blast and so is Sparrow racing. We just pick a point and race to it!

I do hope we get some bigger MP maps with cooler multi-person vehicles. I don't care much for the other map but I love vehicles, base defense, and all that good stuff. I'm hoping for a couple open world pvp zones too.
 
Anyone tiered the classes yet? Saw one person just say Warlock>Titan>Hunter, is that the general consensus? Really enjoying Warlock, dat glide, but feel like a Titan is neccessary to have in your party for raids/strikes. Does Hunter add anything to the mix for such events?
 
Just got thrown out of a Strike run after spending 20 or so minutes (during the Devil Walker) due to connection issues. Thats fairly short compared to my first time, but bit worrying should it happen in the full game. Anyone else experienced it?
 
Just finished levelling my third character to level 8, so am just about done with the Alpha. It's a shame that none of your progress carries on to the retail version, I think I might skip the Beta so I don't wind up burning myself out on the early stages of the game post-release.

I'm completely sold on Destiny. Whilst I've been a huge Bungie fan for years, so will always give them the benefit of the doubt, the stuff I was hearing from interviews and such had me somewhat wary. It's very much a game you need to play yourself for a few hours to properly understand.

After messing around with the Alpha over the weekend, it's finally clicked, and I can see why Bungie/Activision have struggled to convey what the game actually is. There's a lot of confusing stuff in there at first, but it honestly does feel like a huge leap forward for the FPS genre, and I'm excited to dump thousands of hours into the final game in September.

What class are you guys playing as? I think Hunter is my favourite.

I think i am also going to skip beta in favor of playing the full game without burning myself out. The alpha really sold me on the game which is weird because many compare it with borderlands and i hated that game.

On an unrelated note, the alpha site has the grimoire entries and they are pretty decent. I am a sucker for scifi.
 
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