Thank you.
This is at the top of the OP and I do stand by it, though when Bungie makes progression easier gamewide in just over a week it will be pretty irrelevant itself.
Here are some things I would stress:
The people who very rapidly made it to a raid-friendly level right at launch and furthered to 385 likely did invest a ton of hours into the game after RoI dropped as well as doing specific things in advance to prepare for certain boosts that helped a lot at particular LL thresholds.
At the same time, maximizing efficiency with community knowledge did make it possible to ascend to ~370+ quite rapidly with very targeted acitivites and limited playtime, especially once the first weekend of Trials and now Iron Banner were introduced.
Ocean hit the nail on the head when he noted that the people most attuned to the min-maxing strategies also happen to be the sort that enjoy playing Destiny frequently for extended hours, which compounds the effect to an observer.
I do still stand by my note at the bottom of the guide specifying how unnecessary it is to rush and how irrelevant having done so will eventually be, if being "firstish" wasn't actually something you were aiming for in the first place. The community won't leave anyone behind and it will become easier, not harder, to progress the longer you wait.
Just in case it is still news to anyone, Bungie is actually codifying this sentiment so it will soon be true in the mechanical sense as well as the philosophical sense:
All this said, here are some practical things I would mention to anyone who still feels like they're struggling in the here and now and want to get further quicker:
- If you're in a ~350-365 position and are finding drops completely anemic (and only coming at +1 your current gear from blues), you're likely being hamstrung by your Artifact, Ghost or both. Sadly these slots are something you can't specifically target for progression which makes them big bottlenecks even into higher light levels. You can get them from decrypting Class Item engrams (ALWAYS check the LL if you see something become an artifact), ranking up Crucible/Vanguard/Faction in the case of ghosts, ranking up Eris in the case of Artifacts, and most reliably, from a certain checkpoint in the raid described below. This bottleneck is likely to be much less important when Bungie implements their stated changes.
- Don't neglect your Daily Heroic Story or a Public Event per character per day. That's 4 guaranteed legendary engrams per day which can both pop up to 365 or become Exotics which can go well beyond that. And indeed Class Item engrams can even become high light artifacts. Remembering to do this can get you over some tougher humps.
- While the grind feels (and is to a certain extent) pretty onerous getting from 350 to around 370, it can't be overstated how much having one character over 370 enables your other characters to reach the same level rapidly and trivially. Having three characters at this level then reciprocally makes it easier to focus on raising an indvidual character even higher. Because of this factor, it is my opinion that the status quo is actually the most generous Bungie has ever been in terms of progression, at least when a raid was involved.
- The next-to-last checkpoint in the raid offers a guaranteed (or nearly so) Ghost or Artifact. Frankly, this checkpoint can be cleared at LLs as low as 350 with knowledgeable members in the group. If all others in the group are 370+, two 350s could be taken without issue. With one or more 380s, the lowest-end members become even less of a hindrance. This is an incredibly relevant method of getting past that snag with low light artifacts holding you back. Coming back in to that final boss checkpoint when you'd raised your light a little more and readied yourself for the fight is also damn satsifying.
- Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner both provide a ton of avenues for progression without requiring extended successes. In particular, the bounties directly reward high-light loot. Trials bounties require only round (not match) wins and can technically be completed for progression without even once scoring a card better than 0-3.
- All of the raid drops, which are generous to start with compared to previous raids, begin at 365. The raid is also fun, quick with a knowledgeable group, and repeatable (even by the same character) for shots at progression thanks to a much-improved shard mechanic called SIVA Cache Keys, which are used by choice for additional rolls at the particular loot from an individual checkpoint- so if you know you need, say, a Heavy Weapon or Class Item in particular to progress, you can save them for the relevant checkpoint. Watch for newbie raid sign-ups to get a shot at all of this in a stress-free environment.
I could go on but it's an absolutely beautiful day in NYC and I'm walking over to Central Park.
