Destiny - 9/9/14 (PS3/PS4/X360/XB1)

[Takiwaki]

Did anyone play / enjoy the beta who is not typically an FPS gamer? I'm pretty interested in giving this a whirl, but have not played an FPS seriously in ages.

The game is an MMO at heart, I usually do not touch FPS games, but I could not get enough of the beta. For many people that shy away from FPS games, If you like rpg and mmos, there will be enough of that in the game to totally make you forget about the FPS turnoffs.

[Yimoa]

Some site put up a video of a level 29 Titan.
Intriguing.

[Azull]

I am usually vehemently against FPS on consoles. The game is fun and plays great. I can't wait for 9/9. I do expect to get face rolled whenever I accidently enter the PVP side of things however.

[Wulfgang]

Well I guess I've found my excuse to buy a PS4 then.

[Serra]

i absolutely don't get the item reward system for crucible, it always seems completely random and arbitrary, am I just missing something? people talk about getting ships and awesome gear, but the few times I even got items they were white garbage?

As far as I can tell, it is completely random. Even with Iron Banner (which they advertised as "bring your best to get shiny gear!"), winning just made you eligible to get legendary gear. I was consistently one of the top two players on my team and I never received a legendary piece of gear from the Iron Banner. You can get uncommon gear (I'm assuming you can get rare gear too at higher levels), but in my experience, it's actually not as good as gear you'll get from engrams/random drops.

The game is an MMO at heart, I usually do not touch FPS games, but I could not get enough of the beta. For many people that shy away from FPS games, If you like rpg and mmos, there will be enough of that in the game to totally make you forget about the FPS turnoffs.

I'd disagree with this -- Bungie makes shooters and at the game's core it's an FPS. There are MMO and RPG elements, but Destiny's core gameplay is an FPS and there's no getting around that. Like I asked earlier, for people who don't normally like FPS games, it's a question of why -- if you don't like FPS games because they're typically short games that serve primarily as a vehicle for PvP, you'll have no problem with Destiny, but if you fundamentally don't like the gameplay of FPS games, I don't think Destiny will be that enjoyable. Sure, you can get gear, level up, do quests and missions, and stay away from the Crucible, but you're never going to be able to get away from the FPS gameplay of the game.

[Takiwaki]

Note I said its an mmo at heart right?, never said at its core its not a shooter. You can also say part of its core gameplay is the loot, upgrades, skill trees, classes, gear grinding, questing and raids...

Is it an FPS with rpg elements, or an rpg with an FPS combat system?

This is why the game is getting the attention it is atm. Agree or disagree its drawing in many types of players, which is great.

Also.

My brother loves FPS games, he doesnt like destiny, he said its too rpg for him and turns him off. See what I mean?

[Cantih]

I'm another non-FPS person (Serra can speak to my capabilities and lack thereof) that enjoyed the beta.
I would get the game now if I had the time, and could afford the launch retail price. But I can't, so it'll have to wait.

The only thing I can think of in regards to PvP/IB rewards, is maybe it favors people who have a string of consecutive matches?

[Serra]

I think they just haven't really worked out the kinks with the loot system.

From one of Bungie's staff in a reddit thread:

The most telling element on the screen didn't make the cut.

BETA BUILD.

Your frustration is giving us the Science we need to make Destiny better. Thank you for playing. With Iron Banner, we're testing a lot of things. Loot is one of them. The power-based sandbox is another, as is how the population responds to special events. Much of what you see on display in the rewards screen is placeholder. Remember, the Beta is a small slice of the final game.

And, thanks for playing. Sincerely.

In regard to the heart/core distinction, I was using them interchangeably. I'd say the heart of Destiny is a really good shooter. Strip away the loot, and raids, and levels, and what do you have? A really good shooter. Strip away the shooter elements, and what do you have? Loot systems, levels, and gear -- not much of a game.

[Kuya]

Actually, i think progression and collection might be a game in on itself.

[Serra]

So for those wondering about all the post level 20 leveling stuff, a nice explanation~

Spoiler: show

Edit: the image was posted on Reddit from someone who took screenshots during the video that came out yesterday(?), so that's why it has that site's watermark -- there's no problems posting it, right?

[Uzor]

I understand the criticism, but at the same time, I can see why they're doing them like this. Bungie is trying to create an MMOFPS, and this is a step in that direction. The problem is, as it stands, they haven't come out and explained any guild type structure that will let people become friends with the random people they meet in game. I don't know how many of you did the strike missions multiple times, but even in those, as short as they were, I had people quit. One of the times my group was fighting the Devil Walker, one person went over to the room on the far left (where the dead ghost was). He got killed, and neither of us went to revive him since it'd be suicidal to get that close to the Walker (at least that was my reasoning, maybe the other dude just didn't care). And of course, as soon as he could respawn, he dropped, leaving us to finish the mission with two people. If these raids are significantly longer and harder, I can understand Bungie taking steps to add culpability to players and prevent them from just dropping out of frustration. You don't want to be two hours in, have someone who gets pissed because no one came to revive them across the map, and then screw the other five people over.

Why didn't he just revive though? You only need to start over if everyone is dead. As long as someone is still alive, you don't have to. It doesn't even take all of 10 sec to run to the Devil Walker from the respawn point :/

[Serra]

He did revive, he just dropped as soon as he was up again. Like I said earlier, the Devil Walker isn't hard as much as it is tedious. I can't speak for the other player, but for me, it'd have been a waste of time to go over to him just to die since he had backed himself into a corner off in the boonies. I imagine he quit because neither of us went to revive him and weren't being team players.

[Arcana]

As for the legendary loot drops, i managed to get my legendary drop from a regular old crucible match not iron banner. like everything to do with loot drops in any game its just going to be a massive roll of the RNG dice on wether you get anything good or not.

[6souls]

Seraphim Vault

Destiny’s beta contained plenty of areas players weren’t supposed to go, usually guarded by high level enemies. Most of these looped back to other areas or ended in dead ends when brave souls managed to push through them.

However, there was at least one location that players definitely weren’t meant to explore even slightly – not that it stopped intrepid beta testers. According to Reddit, players could turn around at the start of the Devil’s Lair Strike and backtrack to the area known as the Grottos, and then use a Sparrow to enter the water without dying.

By driving towards the Forgotten Shore, players could ramp off an invisible barrier and land outside and below the map without alerting the game totheir machinations. By wandering back to the Forgotten Shore, they could then access normal level geometry hidden below the surface, gradually working around to an entirely new area called the Seraphim Vault.

This area is presumably higher level Cosmodrome content to be explored in the full game.

http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/01/see-...eraphim-vault/

[Skidz]

You know how uncommon guns had those special perks or whatever, like "Reloading this weapon grants bonus damage for a short time", is there a list of the possible perks guns can have? As the reward for the Moon mission, I had a sniper (Gozen-C, I think) with a lame one so I'm wondering what the other possibilities were.

[Yimoa]

Private eye-
"Optical zoom is increased while crouched."
Uncommon(green) Mitternacht SR3(51 Damage)
Scout Rifle

[theshun]

I had one that any ammo worked for it.

[Serra]

Mine had the ability that it could pick up ammo by shooting it. Used it a few times during the strike mission, but not much beyond that.

[Skidz]

I saw one with 'last bullet in magazine does extra damage' on a sniper, which seems awesome. I was hoping someone compiled a list of the ones from the beta.

Serra, thats the one i had on my Gozen! Shit was so lame i never really used it to get ammo.

[Gustave]

Shingen-C "RANGEFINDER" Aiming this weapon increases its effective range.

Pretty beastly for PvP.