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[HawksWinStanley]

So did anybody test how much super energy you get from Bad Juju's perk?

I remember on Monday people were claiming that with that perk enabled they were getting as much energy towards their super as an orb. Seems too good to be true considering the weapon is actually formidable now.

 

[Byron Bluth]

In addition, the story missions and strikes introduce gameplay mechanics that become important later. For instance, one story mission applies a condition called “A Dark Burden,” which eliminates my guardian’s ability to use their vertical movement mode during a challenging fight – this same mechanic shows up later in a much more dangerous situation. Another story mission battle puts damaging energy circles down on the ground, forcing players to navigate carefully. These little additions to story missions provide some of the interesting dynamics previously exclusive to raiding; I’m happy to see Bungie drawing some of those engaging mechanics into the content being played by small fireteams and solo players.

I am really happy they are adding raid like elements into the regular story missions. Every time I did VoG for the first time with people everyone always said "why wasn't the rest of the game like this".

Hooray!

 

[Hawkian]

the interesting/scary part of this is that xur picks what you can and cant upgrade, presumably randomly. maybe you'll never get to upgrade that hawkmoon for a while ;___;

You know the Ghorn will either never show up, or be the first, forcing everyone to do the new raid with an unleveled Ghorn.

*shrug*

I hope everyone will bear in mind that a currently maxed exotic will still be eminently more damaging, than, for example, one of the brand new exotics with higher base damage before being upgraded.

Unlike armor which will be entirely obsoleted in one swoop due to requiring more Light, weapons with slightly less-than-best-in-slot attack value will remain viable. To elucidate, you can complete the hard raid without fully maxed weapons right now; it's not a gate.

 

[hydruxo]

the interesting/scary part of this is that xur picks what you can and cant upgrade, presumably randomly. maybe you'll never get to upgrade that hawkmoon for a while ;___;

I don't get why they don't just give us the option to do it to any exotic any time. Like, if we're going through all that trouble to upgrade it twice then just let us do which one we want to upgrade. Dumb that we have to wait around for weeks until the one we want to upgrade is available at Xur or whatever.

 

[MagnetoWasRight]

I want to run the new raid as early as reasonably possible on Tuesday the 9th. Maybe I want to dabble in some of the new content first, but no later than 10 AM EST. Who is with me?

 

[zewone]

Nice, keep that Exotic shard screw job coming, Bungie.

 

[DrDrizzay101]

Interesting. This all generally seems okay .

You really think that sounds like a good plan for the exotics?

-You can only upgrade some of them based on whichever ones Xur/Bungie decide to allow once a week
-All progress is reset, have fun with the glimmer and XP grind again.
-All the current raid/legendary gear will be useless going forward, except for maybe Crucible

They really need to raise the glimmer cap but even then this is a seriously lame way for them to go forward. The only thing I've ever really complained about before was the raid glitches, but this is a serious misstep for them.

 

[hydruxo]

So did anybody test how much super energy you get from Bad Juju's perk?

I remember on Monday people were claiming that with that perk enabled they were getting as much energy towards their super as an orb. Seems too good to be true considering the weapon is actually formidable now.

Somebody on reddit tested it out

 

[E92 M3]

Yeah, vex is nice if you have it maxed out right now since its got a jump start over every other weapon (when it has ammo)

I don't know why people have ammo issues with the Vex. Sure it doesn't have a ton, but I never run out and it kills very quickly with crits.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Looking ahead to 2015, players can expect that new raid primary weapons will only be available through the hard mode of the Crota’s End raid – set for launch in January.

Wait soo the hard mode of the Crota’s End raid is available in Jan?

 

[scarletham]

Are you guys going to stock up on exotic shards when Xur next shows his ugly, albeit masked, face?

 

[purg3]

This exotic upgrade thing makes me crave a second Ice Breaker even more... so I can leave it blank and upgrade it from there, and always have my 300 one while upgrading it... ^^

yup that's a good idea. No point in pumping any xp into my most recent exotics now until these changes take place.

 

[Johan Liebert]

Level 30 Weekly and Nightfall eh. wonder if the rewards will be worth it. 12 Strange coins + 5 rare engrams for weekly maybe. Nothing about DLC strikes entering the strike rotation.

Is the level 28 Strike playlist coming?

 

[realcZk]

*shrug*

I hope everyone will bear in mind that a currently maxed exotic will still be eminently more damaging, than, for example, one of the brand new exotics with higher base damage before being upgraded.

Unlike armor which will be entirely obsoleted in one swoop due to requiring more Light, weapons with slightly less-than-best-in-slot attack value will remain viable. To elucidate, you can complete the hard raid without fully maxed weapons right now; it's not a gate.

Sure, with 300 attack weapons you should be able to complete the normal raid** (apparently hard mode of Crota's End isnt launching till 2015 according to that article). I feel like the normal raid is going to have level 32 mobs though which is why the Vex will be a good option right out of the gate.

I just hope that the exotic upgrading RNG isn't disappointing man, I feel like you should be able to grind out exotic upgrades for whatever you want - if you have the time to do so and not have to wait a WEEK for Xur to decide what you get to do. Especially since upgrading resets weapon progress. Here's hoping its not as bad as it's sounding.

 

[Heel]

So when you upgrade exotics in the new DLC, it seems your weapon's progression is reset. That's a tough one - it requires a ton of glimmer and XP to go through that again.

Here's the link: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/03/stare-into-the-dark-below-new-details-on-the-destiny-expansion.aspx

Pay to reset my exotics to upgrade them again? lmao

Where do I go to get a refund on this expansion. This game is an insult to my time.

 

[Strider]

*shrug*

I hope everyone will bear in mind that a currently maxed exotic will still be eminently more damaging, than, for example, one of the brand new exotics with higher base damage before being upgraded.

Sure it'll be better at the start... but It takes waaaaaay too much time to level up an exotic weapon and for them to be inferior or having to do that process all over again right out the gate absolutely sucks.

They should have given us an upgrade path that takes a little bit of time, not the entire process over. When they say it'll be faster to level these exotics, it better be significantly faster, not the 200,000 exp+ we have now.

I put 5 bounties toward Truth this morning and for what? So I can either do that all over or have an inferior Truth to some other people? That's BS.

 

[E92 M3]

Sure, with 300 attack weapons you should be able to complete the normal raid** (apparently hard mode of Crota's End isnt launching till 2015 according to that article). I feel like the normal raid is going to have level 32 mobs though which is why the Vex will be a good option right out of the gate. I just hope that the exotic upgrading RNG isn't disappointing man, I feel like should be able to grind out exotic upgrades for whatever I want if I have the time to do so and not have to wait a WEEK for Xur to decide what I get to do. Here's hoping its not as bad as it's sounding.

If it has 32 enemies out of the gate, then at 30 we'll have a considerable disadvantage. Won't even be worth doing it until at least 31. Which would mean we have to play through the story missions. I was hoping to avoid buying replaceable legendaries and just use Crota's gear.

 

[Ourobolus]

Huh. Guess I'll be buying shards but not upgrading a damn thing until the DLC hits.

 

[hydruxo]

There's also no point in upgrading any exotics to the new max damage because the HM of Crotas End won't even be available until January.

 

[purg3]

So based of that GI article not sure how I feel about a few things they mentioned.

Raid weapons will now only drop on Hard Mode? So I'm assuming that Normal will drop armor pieces/Radiant Shards and Energies/ and maybe chances for Exotics?

Then that ties directly to upgrading Raid gear. Radiant shards and energies drop in the Raid, which can only be run once a week. So its' probably going to take forever to upgrade all your Raid gear. The article mentioned a possible exchange through Eris, but it didn't seem very clear to me.

 

[realcZk]

If it has 32 enemies out of the gate, then at 30 we'll have a considerable disadvantage. Won't even be worth doing it until at least 31. Which would mean we have to play through the story missions. I was hoping to avoid buying replaceable legendaries and just use Crota's gear.

I really won't be surprised if we see level 32 mobs in Crota's End (Normal). I doubt it's going to be at the beginning of the raid, but at the end. Level 31 will definitely be ideal for CE, especially since you'll have an even bigger damage penalty against level 31 mobs as a level 30 with a 300 attack weapon.

 

[DrDrizzay101]

When do you use Found Verdict? I assume not during Atheon portal runs and only during Templar? But even then isn't the lack of range hurting you from being able to damage more of them farther away?

Give me a reason to max my FV, haha.

FV can solo hard oracles with 2 shots per oracle. The key is just to run up close to each one and aim straight at it, boom-boom-dead. Its the best Atheon-oracle killer for anyone that has GHorn.

For Templar fight, I don't worry about killing oracles much but FV would be a bad choice due to all the running around/lack of range you mentioned. Another reason why it conversely works so well during Atheon, you're supposed to be running forward towards the portal exit the whole time anyway.

 

[Grimsen]

There's also no point in upgrading any exotics to the new max damage because the HM of Crotas End won't even be available until January.

Yeah, but if Xur offers you to reset your favorite weapon/armor, are you going to take the chance and wait?

 

[Daemul]

My point being some more casual players probably don't have any exotics upgraded all the way and here we are... expected to start it all over again.

It's dumb.

Yeah, I get what you mean. Having to wait on Bungie/Xur to give us permission to get a chance to actually begin upgrading our exotics again just makes it worse.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

Spoiler

clears throat

"Perhaps most importantly, the loot raid drops for Crota’s End have been refined from what we experienced in the Vault of Glass. Specifically, the game will pay closer attention to the drops you’ve already had, as well as how long it’s been since you get a “fun” drop (as opposed to just materials). While there’s still a significant component of randomness, Bungie strongly implied to me that players should have a more consistent reward experience with the raid than what has been experienced in Vault of Glass when the Crota’s End raid launches on day one of the expansion."

Clap clap clap

Spoiler

Why not do that with the existing raid though, too...

So like Diablo then?

Fuck yes.

 

[realcZk]

There's also no point in upgrading any exotics to the new max damage because the HM of Crotas End won't even be available until January.

I think you'll definitely want to. 300 attack isn't going to be doing its full potential against level 31+ mobs which will likely be in the normal raid (level 31 at least for sure).

 

[hydruxo]

I think you'll definitely want to. 300 attack isn't going to be doing its full potential against level 31+ mobs which will likely be in the normal raid (level 31 at least for sure).

We'll see what the mobs at the end are like I guess. Still a pain the ass to upgrade shit twice. Not gonna lie this puts me off because it already takes ages to upgrade exotics as it is.

 

[E92 M3]

I really won't be surprised if we see level 32 mobs in Crota's End (Normal). I doubt it's going to be at the beginning of the raid, but at the end. Level 31 will definitely be ideal for CE, especially since you'll have an even bigger damage penalty against level 31 mobs as a level 30 with a 300 attack weapon.

Well, from the get-go I'll be bringing the Vex in. Curious to see how everything plays out though.

We'll see what the mobs at the end are like I guess. Still a pain the ass to upgrade shit twice. Not gonna lie this puts me off because it already takes ages to upgrade exotics as it is.

They should have done it where if the exotic is blank, then it's a basic upgrade. If it's maxed, then second time is halved.

 

[realcZk]

We'll see what the mobs at the end are like I guess. Still a pain the ass to upgrade shit twice. Not gonna lie this puts me off because it already takes ages to upgrade exotics as it is.

I can deal with re-upgrading from scratch. But having Xur randomly deciding what guns I get to reupgrade sounds like a pain in the ass. I'll just make sure I'm on my hunter when I try to upgrade my hawkmoon since he likes fucking over warlocks so much

 

[X-Frame]

Reading that makes me wonder why Bungie can't now apply the same Smarter RNG system to the Vault of Glass? Why only Crota's End?

Guess it would have to be all re/coded or something but still, that is curious.

 

[Grimsen]

I can deal with re-upgrading from scratch. But having Xur randomly deciding what guns I get to reupgrade sounds like a pain in the ass. I'll just make sure I'm on my hunter when I try to upgrade my hawkmoon since he likes fucking over warlocks so much

You think Xur will offer to upgrade Hawkmoon before fall 2015?

 

[Shito]

Another important note for those high-level players out there: Both heroics and nightfall strikes will see an increase of two light levels once the expansion opens. So prepare for those level 30 nightfall challenges.

Heh, as a forever29 member, next week's nightfall will be back to being a bit more challenging... ^^

 

[realcZk]

You think Xur will offer to upgrade Hawkmoon before fall 2015?

lol, i really feel for you xbox guys

exclusive content is pretty lame. you really aren't missing out on the strikes but i'd be a liar if i said the hawkmoon wasnt good.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

I actually like the idea about the weapons. It makes sense lets be honest.

They've taken away the need for energies/shards and allowed us to buy mats for the exotics. Making them level up multiple times for new upgrades is fair enough imo.

Gear though is gonna be tricky, it's going to mean that you're gonna have to have 2 sets of gear if it wipes out your light levels....

Also i don't mind the changes if i get to pick what gear i want to upgrade, i don't want an addition layer of RNG on top of RNG.

 

[spyder_ur]

So nothing on progression for those forever-29s in this article. It does say that exotic armor will have the same Xur-upgrade process, but the problem is that will require me to actually DROP a level or two due to the upgrades resetting. I'm assuming the legendaries bought through the new vendor will have higher light levels too, but who knows what the grind will be like for those.

 

[zewone]

I can deal with re-upgrading from scratch. But having Xur randomly deciding what guns I get to reupgrade sounds like a pain in the ass. I'll just make sure I'm on my hunter when I try to upgrade my hawkmoon since he likes fucking over warlocks so much

Wait... I don't think that the option to upgrade is based off what you have equipped.

I think it will be a global item.

Let's say he's selling the upgraded version of the Ice Breaker. You need to trade him the old Ice Breaker plus whatever other material he requires.

Hawkmoon might not even be an option since it's PS exclusive.

 

[realcZk]

Wait... I don't think that the option to upgrade is based off what you have equipped.

I think it will be a global item.

Let's say he's selling the upgraded version of the Ice Breaker. You need to trade him the old Ice Breaker plus whatever other material he requires.

Hawkmoon might not even be an option since it's PS exclusive.

oh god please no

zewone you are killing me right now

 

[Johan Liebert]

Heh, as a forever29 member, next week's nightfall will be back to being a bit more challenging... ^^

New legendary gear can be purchased by any Destiny player, regardless of whether you own The Dark Below.

Level 30 is now attainable for everyone without relying on bs RNG. This commendation thing is concerning though, does it mean that everytime you gain a rep level you will get a commendation and will it only allow the purchase of one item before having to gain an another level to get one more commendation to purchase something else?

 

[spyder_ur]

You think Xur will offer to upgrade Hawkmoon before fall 2015?

That's a great point.

 

[hydruxo]

Everything else in the article sounds really great. I like that they are adding raid-like mechanics to the story missions and strikes. Looking forward to that.

 

[Strider]

With hard mode launching later I wonder if that means they wil change some of the mechanics specifically for hard?

They may monitor the normal mode playthroughs and adjust hard accordingly.

 

[Flying Toaster]

Reading that makes me wonder why Bungie can't now apply the same Smarter RNG system to the Vault of Glass? Why only Crota's End?

Guess it would have to be all re/coded or something but still, that is curious.

Actually you bring up a good point. Yes it would take work but honestly it should be done. For the sake of the game.

 

[DrDrizzay101]

They've taken away the need for energies/shards and allowed us to buy mats for the exotics. Making them level up multiple times for new upgrades is fair enough imo..

Nobody that's been running Vault of Ass for a while needs ass mats, most of us are drowning in ass. The mat economy was awesome, but now they've just replaced that boring grind with a boring glimmer+XP grind. It makes no sense to reset people's progress 3 months after a game is released.

Add new things that are required to level up further. Don't reset character (i.e. weapon/gear) progression. That's RPG 101.

 

[EL CUCO]

Wish I hadn't dismantled that second Ice Breaker. Could've kept one maxed while "re-upgrading" the second.

Bungie!

 

[E92 M3]

It's sad I have to leave some legendaries behind. I've grown very attached to Corrective Measure and PR.

 

[realcZk]

Wish I hadn't dismantled that second Ice Breaker. Could've kept one maxed while "re-upgrading" the second.

Bungie!

EDIT: sorry misunderstood (talk to xur, trade in one) then use 300 one till you're done

 

[scarletham]

It's sad I have to leave some legendaries behind. I've grown very attached to Corrective Measure and PR.

No kidding! Really going to miss my CM.

 

[Dr_LawyerCop]

I love it all. It seems like a fair way to keep exotics relevant. Makes Xur day more interesting. Looks like I'm maxing my Vex tonight and then waiting on the DLC.

Bungie really seems to be paying attention to the feedback they've gotten. Hype levels are higher for me than launch.

 

[Namikaze1]

And now I regret dismantling those 4 Hawkmoons. I could have a maxed out OG Hawkmoon and an even stronger Hawkmoon...

Fucking dammit!

 

[JohnOfMars]

Reading that makes me wonder why Bungie can't now apply the same Smarter RNG system to the Vault of Glass? Why only Crota's End?

Guess it would have to be all re/coded or something but still, that is curious.

Why would you want to unless they also upgrade the Vault of Glass to have light level 32 weapons and gear, which I doubt they'd do since they want you in the new raid.

Come to think of it, will the Vault (much less Nightfalls and Tiger Strikes) drop 300 attack exotics or 320 attack?