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

[Weltall]

Can I get a matchmaker party somehow for Devil's Lair? Sorry, but I feel like I can't figure out a lot of basic stuff in this game.

Thats because that is absolutely 0 introduction to any of it except "You can now do this at level X!".

[Obsidian]

Can I get a matchmaker party somehow for Devil's Lair? Sorry, but I feel like I can't figure out a lot of basic stuff in this game.

Yeah, when you queue a Strike you get put into matchmaking to fill out your Fireteam.

Edit: Don't do them before the recommended level though. Your damage takes a nosedive even if you're only one level short.

[Celeras]

This is a lot of fun but I find myself wanting more variety in the world. Does it ever come? Or is it all Fallen and Thrall and Fallen and Thrall.

[Adajer]

Yeah. I kinda expected, i dont know, a huge zone if we are talking about...a planet. Needs more open world. I guess this is what makes it not an mmorpg.

[Moss]

Moon strike was a lot of fun, aside from when you inevitably wipe

[Moss]

fwiw, just saw a dude at level 24. his armor has 51 total light

[Wulfgang]

I don't understand why there are invisible hunters in LV 8 PVP. Probably 60% of my deaths are going to capture a flag and having an invisible hunter come out and knife me. Doesn't seem to show up on the radar if invis?

[-Zer0-]

Gonna be late to the party but, I'll have a new tv next week if broboxers on XB1 want to add me, Slade QP.

[Dngnhack]

Hit 23 tired of joining strikes and having people leave right as it starts. Second the not doing them until the right level, up until exactly 22 everytime i joined the "Hard" wolf strike list it was annoying. Then i hit 22 and facerolled entire thing.

Finally got a purple drop and the damn decrypt guy gave me a blue... Going to be running strikes thursday and friday afternoon/most of the night if anyone wants to team up add "Dngnhack" ps4.

[Adajer]

Everyone who beats story gets strangers rifle right? this thing is so badass in pvp. I havent used a pulse rifle since beta. The enhancement i have on it t o make it full auto isnt enabled in pvp either btw.

[Dngnhack]

Yeah i got a pulse rifle i think its damage is based on level you get it as well i picked it up and it has 203 damage. (finished last mission at level 22)

[Adajer]

same here at lvl 20 though

[Teknique]

The enhancement on the rifle was working last night. Its just burst full auto. its not straight full auto

[Serra]

Gonna try to answer as many things as I can before calling it a night.

This is a lot of fun but I find myself wanting more variety in the world. Does it ever come? Or is it all Fallen and Thrall and Fallen and Thrall.

There are a total of four enemy races, and I think each race has five or six different types. The Vex and Cabal are both very distinct compared to the Fallen and Hive, so I think when you see them, you'll have some variety. As far as the size of the world, I do wish it was bigger, but I feel if you just go straight through the story, you're missing a lot and there is still a lot to explore. I barely went off the path at all during the Mars missions because I wanted to finish to start getting motes of light (which I don't know if I'm getting yet -- will have to check tomorrow). I think I found one dead ghost on Mars as a result and plan to really delve into the planet tomorrow. Also because the Cabal are awesome.

Can I get a matchmaker party somehow for Devil's Lair? Sorry, but I feel like I can't figure out a lot of basic stuff in this game.

As others have said, when you go into the strike, you're automatically matched up. I did one with a friend earlier and it was the two of us and a third random person. I was level 20, my friend was 9, and the random person was 9, so not sure how it does the matching.

1) Does LVL / stats affect PVP? I just did my first crucible match and just got rocked. 2nd to last with a 0.5 K/D ratio. These two LV 20/21 dude would just one shot me with auto-rifles every time they saw me. Could just be that they're very good as well.
2) Basic PVE strat question: For boss fights where there are just a shitload of adds, how the hell do you survive in the main room? Inevitably I end up behind a box, popping out to try to clear random adds, then like 2-3 will run up next to me on my platform and I have to do a frantic knife/doublejump/dash out of the room to charge my shields. For example, I just did Resist the Fallen on hard at LV 6 (rec is LV 6 on hard). I cleared the first set or two alright, but then ~3 of the purple floating orbs spawned and it was just impossible to stay in the room anymore. Ended up going back to the stairs and doing hide and seek until I could run in and kill the rest.

I really feel like shit would be 5x easier in a party; it's really hard to watch your back when aiming gets rid of the radar and thus enemy proximity meter.

So, in the basic PvP matches, everyone is normalized for their attack and defense. As far as I understand it, it isn't that all the weapons do the same damage, but that attack and defense are essentially removed from the equation. So, let's say you have three guns: a level 8 Cydonia, a level 18 Cydonia, and a level 8 Shingen. Just looking at the two level 8's, the Shingen has a faster rate of fire, but lower impact. Each shot is going to do less damage, but the rate of fire is faster. The Cydonia will shoot slower, but do more damage per shot. Now, compare the two two Cydonias. When people have been saying PvP is normalized, they mean that the attack on the weapons is normalized. So if you take the two weapons (and if I hadn't hopped in bed already, I'd take a picture -- if pictures would help, send me a PM and I'll try to do it in the morning if I get up in time), their stats are going to be the same. What's different is that the higher level Cydonia will have a higher attack rating. However, if you go into PvP, both guns will do the same damage.

Now, the reason people think higher level players are at an advantage in PvP is not because of their weapon stats, but because of perks (class, weapon, and armor). How many of you pre-level 20 had rare weapons or armor? I have some that are below 20, but I only got them after reaching 20 (technically I think I had my body armor before 20, but let's call that an anomaly). Rare weapons have more perks than uncommon weapons, which have more than common weapons, etc (and presumably legendary and exotic will fall in the same pattern). As of now, those perks that boost damage, I do not believe they affect PvP. If someone proves me wrong, I'll gladly concede that point. However, look at what they modify (specifically, look at the changes to the weapon information from beta to now). When you get a weapon that has an attack boost upgrade, you initially have two attack numbers: the current attack, and the final possible attack. Since attack is normalized, I do not believe those benefits help. What does help is the other perks. I mentioned earlier that my Galahad is going to let me move faster while scoped up -- that is an amazing perk. More importantly though, that is its second perk (after reloading after killing grants a damage boost -- my playstyle is pretty much reload after every kill so this gun was made for me). The other thing, people who are max level have been playing longer. And I don't mean that in terms of "oh they're more skilled," but that they've had more time to look for and collect better weapons and armor.

All that said, does this mean you shouldn't play PvP till you're level 20? No, not at all. Adajer said that I was at the top of the clan list in PvP (on that note, where did you see that?), but I've barely touched the Crucible since hitting 20. What has helped me immensely is years of playing Halo and all the time I played the Crucible during the beta. Destiny (and Halo) multiplayer is different from a lot of games. Headshots are king, as is getting into good rhythms. For instance, I can't say this for sure, but I bet people aren't just shotgunning you, Adajer, but they're shotgunning and immediately following it with a melee. That has been a staple of Bungie multiplayer for ages. It takes some time to get good though. I live by the headshot (and the knife to the head). Getting better at always going for headshots will help you immensely in PvP. Even when you're using a shotgun, go for headshots. A good test, do some PvE levels and see what your precision kill percentage is and try to get it over 50%.

Gonna bold this next part because it is an evolution of a point I made earlier:
If you want to get better at PvP (and PvE), change your controls to jumper. Probably play around in PvE for a day or two till you get used to it, but once you're not accidentally using your special, I can almost guarantee you will do much better.
Quoting my original two points below -- my reservations about Titan and Warlock are gone now though. Everyone should be playing jumper.

Spoiler: show

Spoiler: show

Just gonna focus on the two relevant schemes (I've actually heard some people liked puppeteer, but I didn't use that one at all, so I can't comment on it).

It's pretty much due to (bumper) jumper. Playing on default, your jump is mapped to x, so you have to take your thumb off the right stick to jump (and double jump). This means you can't aim while in the air. With Warlocks and Titans, you can't shoot while using their movement abilities anyway, so it's not that big a loss. But with Hunter, it's such a quicker jump and can be better tuned that it's a hindrance to not have access to the right stick. Honestly, I'd almost go so far as to say to truly take advantage of Hunter's jump abilities, you need to play on jumper.

The problem with every class playing on bumper jumper is that x is now your special. With hunter, you pop golden gun and it's another weapon. With Warlock (and to a lesser extent Titan), it's important to be able to aim your special and playing on jumper is going to impact your ability to aim. How much of an impact would be debatable, but it's something to consider. I'd say it's less important because those two classes don't have the same benefits to jump.

The other changes with jumper, highlight player is now R1+L1 (what's super for default), grenades are now R1 (not a problem -- used to be melee), and clicking in the right stick is melee (previously was highlight player). The biggest one to get used to is melee, but it doesn't take long and it's not a major inconvenience.

Caveat to all this is that it is based on playing the most as Hunter, so my impressions regarding Warlock and Titan might be wrong and jumper is the best for all 3. Also, I don't know how Blade Dancer will work, but presumably the blade will be tied to one of the triggers, so this should all apply.

So, tl;dr version: if your controls are default, play warlock or titan; if your controls are jumper, play hunter; if you want to play hunter, change to jumper.

I've been thinking about this a bit, and going back to my post yesterday about control schemes, I said I was unqualified to judge whether bumper jumper is best for Warlock and Titan. I still stand by that and think there are others who are better able to talk about those two classes -- I think I played less than eight hours between the two. However, after giving it some more thought, and in the same vein as my opinions on mobility and defense, you'll always benefit from being able to jump and aim while the limitations for Warlocks and Titans using bumper jumper I mentioned only really affect your special. The more I think about it, the more I think the gains of being able to aim while jumping outweigh any limitations on using your special. But, this might also be due to how I play the game and your mileage may vary depending on your playstyle.

And that's all I've got. Gotta crash now so I can get five hours of sleep.

[Adajer]

A small follow up suggestion to get better at pvp.

Play with your sensitivity at 5 or greater.

That is pretty much standard to any FPS. And in terms of mmos, you can relate it to someone that keyboard turns. If your sensitivity is too low, you cant react as quickly as you need in certain situations and you turn to slow to track certain people up close.

[Akiyama]

So the green or whatever color items (Engrams) you guys said hold onto til level 20? I guess when you unlock em they match you rlevel or whatever?

[Obsidian]

Yeah, their level is determined when you decrypt them.

[Qalbert]

so i hit 20 last night, what/how do i start farming now/get gear with Light on it?

[Arcana]

pretty much. pray to the rng gods.

[Ratatapa]

so i hit 20 last night, what/how do i start farming now/get gear with Light on it?

Find blue/purple/crucible/vanguard gear