I'm Hype for Forsaken but honestly it's bizarre how they have no intention changing the Shader system.

"Bells and Whistles" are the following 3 expansions.

AND the extra digital goodies such as shaders, ships, gun ornaments, etc.

40 seems fair if the content equals that of Taken King.

After rewatching bungles stream it looks like the new armor perk system could potentially have a similar effect as typical RPG armor sets. Potentially. If each piece of armor in a set had perks that complimented each other, it would incite players to go out and collect them.

Another thing they need to do is set up ranks and ornament sets for all the planetary factions. Use planetary activities like adventures, patrols, and lost sectors as objectives for unlocking the ornament pieces.

Destiny 2's biggest problem from the start is that its a loot grind game where grinding half the activities in the game is worthless. They have an opportunity here to make everything in the game viable and worth the players time.

On another note, I'm not going to get my hopes up for the upcoming in game lore, but ideally I'd want to see the entire grimoire of D1 in the game as well as a new grimoire for D2. I'm a lore fiend and one of the biggest things I missed in D2 was the grimoire. Being able to read about all the major enemies I faced as well as all the cool little side stories....even back stories on crucible maps was cool.

But again, those are just my hopes. I'm not actually expecting them to go that far.

Here's hoping they're not gonna punish single players anymore.

Destiny is a social game.

Eeeehhh...they still need to implement something to allow solo players to keep up. That is why I put down D1 after awhile. They cant expect you to run with your squad every single time. Not everyone works the same schedules, or are even in the same time zone.

Once you start falling behind thats it.

It needs a solo player route.

That invisible wall gotta come down.

Matchmaking for the raid, nightfall, and escalation protocol is literally all you need to do to appeal to the casual crowd. Keep trials and prestige raids group up only as your elite hardcore modes.

No idea why nightfall still doesn't have matchmaking. At this point its easier than heroics.

I'd shake up Trials a touch by adding another mode. Keep your 3-on-3 for your hardcore/co-op.

Do a battle royale/free-for-all mode (since it's all the rage these days) with like 6-8 players, no respawn, best of 10 rounds on a small/medium size map. Top half of players get a pass on the card, bottom half a strike. Another route for single player.

Battle Royale would be a disaster in Destiny. Unless you build your subclass abilities up and loot gear in the match.

This. Just do some matchmaking for the three activities that people want to do but can't get a group up in time. That's all I'm asking.

FYI, just like Taken King , you need the previous DLC to play Forsaken.

yyyyeah, like I said in the E3 thread: Fallout 76 put the nail in the coffin of a potential D2 resurrection for me.

Eh. Its two months after Forsaken. I can get plenty of grinding in between then and fallout.

The new level cap is 60 with a Light cap of 600. If they retain how progress is handled you will not have time lol. I think that's the largest cap increase they ever did.

Wow. That's...wow. That's a huge blow to the solo players.

That depends on where the soft cap is for light level. Plenty easy to level up solo before that.

Forsaken will have 4 new strikes. 1 being a PS exclusive. Better at least release the current exclusive strike on Xbox before forsaken drops.

Let PS owners have an exclusive sparrow or something. Locking away content like strikes needs to fucking stop.

Usually the exclusives from the year before are unlocked for xbox. I don't know why they still do this given the issues they have fixing things. Nothing special about the exclusive stuff anyway.

Wow another Strike locked to Playstation owners. Just...fucking hell.

Bungie wants you to buy it to makes money. Also they pretty open about Cayde at E3. It's literally in the trailer. They're so open I'm thinking some swerve is going on.

The forsaken are undead. Your guardian will use whatever method of resurrection they have to revive cayde.

They're not killing off their only marketable NPC. Who's gonna be the face of Destiny? Zavala? Yeah, that guys a lot of fun at parties.

Beneath the ruins of the Cosmodrome...

https://www.gamesradar.com/destiny-2...or-the-future/

3-5 give me a little hope that bungie is finally getting that loot grind games require meaningful content and rewards to stay relevant. We'll see.

"Yes you can equip three shotguns."

"Well how does ammo work?"

"We don't know yet."

I've said on the Destiny forums that this is going to be a disaster and they're not making any sense of it. There was a good reason for D2's slot system and this is gonna be a case of careful what you wish for.

I'll believe #5 when I see it.

A "solo alternative". They're finally figuring this out?

I guess I could see causes death being permanent if they are serious about changing the tone. A more serious approach is definitely a better fit for the setting and lore.

They can continue by killing off Failsafe.

Oh god yes. Fucking Glados wannabe.

YOU DO NOT GET TO SAY SHIT ABOUT MY AI WAIFU!

She's fucking cringe worthy.

Easily the worst D2 character. I can't stand every attempt at her 'comedy'.

"You're gonna have to maaaaake theeeeem."

*Turn off console

In other news I joined a group on The100 and chatted with them a bit on their discord. So it looks like I might finally get in on the raiding business. Bunch of chill, cool dudes around 35-65 years old. So I don't have to worry about getting ordered around by an obnoxious 15 year old.

Damn. Got into a raid group, but most of the squad were first timers, myself included, so it took a while to get to the boss. After a few tries on Calus, someone had to leave, and we couldn't get anyone else.

Still, I got a whole bunch of powerful gear, and now I know the mechanics of the raid.

Having now personally gone through it, I definitely understand bungies reluctance to add matchmaking. You can get away with one person not being micced up. Maybe 2 if the rest of the squad are experienced raiders. Any more than that, I just don't see how it would be possible.

Given how little people communicate in this game it would likely end in disaster.

I just need the damn shaders.

You would need the prestige raid shaders. Normal one is mostly white and gold with some purple trim here and there.

Armor itself is cool looking and offers raid specific perks for future runs. Couple weapons I've gotten feel really good.

Really enjoying the lore behind everything has well. Cabal have always been the most boring enemy faction to me. Calus and his philosophies offer a completely different and unique take on the species and make them far more interesting.

The new weapon system drops tomorrow -

● The return of random rolls
● No more Elemental mods
● Reshuffling of how the slots works, Fusion rifles + Snipers return to the elemental slot

Tl: Dr they're making everything like Destiny 1 again. I give it a week before everybody's all "the new system suuuuuucks, why wont they let us customize anything anymore??? :'(" :shifty:

And speaking of a week, next week = Forsaken.

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We can apply shaders to swords and that's the big win here.

I want to find out what Petra Venj & Variks have been up to.

The whole Awoken side of the lore, the queen and the Reef and such, are my fave elements of Destiny. Love their aesthetic. If I knew I'd like them so much I'd have made my guardian an Awoken.

After spending some time with the game today, I can say the new tweaks are a definite improvement. Just the option of fusion rifle in the Elemental spot's taken lost sector bosses that used to feel like a chore, and made them something you can take out in 4-5 shots. :y: If they were going for "make the game feel like the 1st Destiny again", they nailed it.

Also, I got this today -

https://preview.ibb.co/k9o4YU/Destin...0830191832.jpg

A shader with a placeholder icon, that goes back into your inventory when you dismantle its weapon? As in, a non-microtransaction shader? What kind of of witchcraft is this?

And- The Spider is the storyline weapons dealer in Forsaken. Items are dropping early, looks like.

1 Raid at launch (WTF?) and matchmaking for it. Wait, not matchmaking, just LFG here
. Wait, no-ones actually sure.

Russian bot.

I'd figure by now some reviews would have made their way to the internet. Metacritic will probably get bombarded at midnight tonight.

"If you like Destiny you'll like this expansion. If not; won't."

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Welllll, I won't be able to play it until tonight, it's another 8gb update for the game today. I thought that was what... last weeks update was for? :wtf:

Last week's update was for last week's general sandbox changes. This update address things specific to Forsaken, like the new tabs in the start menu.

I guess things need to be done this way, if they want to keep any secrets from dataminers. Just have to order the pizza a little later :heart:

Just bought it. Gonna murder some barons tonight.

Until the standalone option is fixed we're sitting this one out.

Holding off until the "we're addressing the solo player" promise/quote/statement holds true.

Hasn't it? By all accounts, this adds a shit ton for solo players and increases weekly activities.

What is that?

Endgame, dude.

Wanna hear reports that there's a lot of stuff to do in the Dreaming City solo so that players aren't forced to do the raid to acquire the endgame gear and upping your light level. Like Bungie said so.

Hit max light without with doing the raid, finally circumventing the invisible wall, you have my attention.

The $40 option is impossible to purchase. The only options are the collection and deluxe packages from $60 to $100. The in-game link is busted and it doesn't exist on XBL or PS4 marketplaces. They said they're gonna loik into it.

I brought this up in the Bungie forums and some uncle tom ass fuckboy actually suggested that I can get around it by buying the deluxe edition. Nigga please.

Well I bought the $40 version this morning so they must have fixed it.

I check every hour or so. I'm not getting it.

Several missions in, and I'm already really enjoying it. New enemies are different enough that they feel like a completely new species.

When I first got my hands on a bow, it felt a bit awkward. But after about 10 minutes I got the hang of it, and started chaining headshots, and hooooooooly shit I fucking love it. I mean, I'm a bit biased in the first place, as I love using bows in videogames for some reason, but still.....feels really good man. Can't wait to get an exotic bow.

Only real gripe is that I'm stuck in boring looking blue armor again. Kayfabe, it makes no sense. Why would this peasant armor be more powerful than my GLORIOUS EP armor with Leviathan raid shaders?

I haven't gotten to the dreaming city but already there much more opportunity for powerful rewards with the addition of daily challenges.

Got to the dreaming city and I have to disagree with Fryza. Place is huge, and is one of the most gorgeous enviornments they've produced.

@clockshot, having now finished the campaign and started the end game, I can confirm there is a lot more opportunity to level up now.

So to give you an example without taking into account raid gear....

Before you had your weekly milestones which got you powerful gear
Flashpoint
5 Crucible Matches
3 Strikes
Nightfall
Nightfall Prestige
Clan XP

Now you have two types of refreshes. Weekly, like the old ones, and Daily, which you can do every 4 days.

Weekly
3 Strikes
3 Gambit matches
5 Crucible matches
Clan XP
Bounties for Ikora
Nightfall
Nightfall with score above 100,000
Complete 3 bounties for Petra
In addition, several of Petra's bounties provide Powerful gear themselves.
The Spider has a list of targets and the last and most difficult offers powerful gear.

Daily milestones which refresh every 4 days
Flashpoint
1 strike
1 crucible match
1 gambit match
Heroic Story mission


So yeah, 17 powerful engrams as opposed to 6

There is also a new buff called Prime Attunement. If you get a random Prime Engram drop (Prime Engram is what they are calling powerful gear engrams now) you get this buff which offers a chance to get more Prime Engram drops from Yellow Bar eneies and Crucible matches.

So?

Any of you guinea pigs try the raid yet?

Didn't have much time to play last week so I'm way under leveled.

Also, thought you didn't raid.

Don't unless the band gets back together. Which is extremely unlikely.

Judging from what I'm reading/watching, Bungie went back to the King's Fall way of things. Really long, a lot of bosses.

Should join my group on the 100. A good 200+ people in it, so its easy to get people together for stuff, and everyone is a mature, chill adult. Even runs where we had to stop after multiple wipes, no one gets mad or starts throwing blame. Its all for fun.

They've got quite a few Sherpas and experienced players to help with running end game activities.

https://www.the100.io/groups/125

The first raid completion has unlocked a new mission and strike for the dreaming city.

Speaking of strikes, Warden of Nothing is the best strike they've ever made.

Are people still unable to buy the standard edition?

No. Not in the store.

You think it would be bigger news but I haven't seen anything outside of some reddit posts

I brought it up in the forums and fanboys were telling 'they'll fix it they aren't trying to push the expensive bundles' and here we are two weeks later, in game link still didn't work last I checked and inexplicably there's still no standalone in BOTH console platforms. It's fucking absurd.

I'm straight. I'm not spending a dime over $40 until it is in the store as standalone.

I don't get why its only for some people. So weird.

The Corrupted strike that unlocked after the raid completion is also really good. The boss fight in particular is excellent.

Harder to find a shader that DOESN'T look amazing on the new Iron Banner armor. Didn't take much grinding to get it done either. Probably around a dozen matches.

Big news update

Bungie will soon be rolling out more ways to get masterwork cores, so that infusing is easier.

Exotic drop rates won't change, but they will implement changes that make it far less likely that you'll get a duplicate. This is a good change imo. I think the new drop rate is good. Makes exotics feel special again. Problem is, a lot of people , myself included have only gotten Y1 dupes. This should hopefully fix that.

New Crucible mode called breakdown, with 3 new maps

Each bounty in Iron banner will now grant powerful gear. On top of that, the next time it arrives, the requirements for said bounties will be halved, making it less grindy.

Private matches for gambit are in development

Festival of the Lost event returning in October.

Hope they buff Thorn Jr by the time I arrive.

Still no updates on your issue? I tweeted bungie support but fuck if they ever even see it.

I stopped checking. With some big stuff coming in two weeks I'll hold off D2 for another while. Just more to do whenever I get back.

New add-on content "Black Armory" goes live in a few weeks.

Gonna focus on some of the old weapon foundries such as Tex Mechanica, Krux/Lomar, etc. from what I've been reading. New raid comes along, too.

Bigger question, any of 'yall still playing this?

They refused to add the $40 base option in the shop last I checked so I uninstalled.

depends on how engrossed I get in RDR2 Online. But I'll probably check it out. Took a break from Destiny when Fire Pro New Japan stuff dropped, and I've been distracted by other stuff ever since. Mainly getting that money in GTA Online.

Still need to get my Whisper. Fuck, I still haven't gotten my Sleeper Stimulant or a full set of EP armor.

The the only new gameplay content in black armory is the Forges. And the LL requirement for that is 640.

Since they didn’t increase the soft cap, it’s going to be quite some time before solo players even sniff that content.

I’m getting close to where I need to be to do the raid, but even with those rewards it will be a while before I hit the requirement for forges.

They've dropped the Light requirements by 5 for the forge today. kotaku.com

They also added some new weapons to some of the vendors, currently grinding out 1000 Arc kills in strikes for the Loaded Question :heart:

The Loaded Question definitely looks like a must have. I love the strikes in this game, so grinding out the 40 completions for it won't be so bad.

That 5 LL reduction on forges isn't really going to help much, but they also said thats just what they're doing right now. They have other plans and ideas on how to improve it which they will reveal in tomorrows "This week at Bungie"

All in all it's not that bad. Could of been handled better, but it's not the end of the world. People were going to grind to 650 anyway, so they'll eventually play it. Where Bungie really screwed up in this case was their lack of communication. If they would have announced the light level of the content a few weeks ahead of time, there still would have been people upset about it but the backlash wouldn't have been nearly as bad as it is. Sitting down to play newly released PAID content just to find you cant access any of it yet is pretty rough.

They announced that starting with the Dec 11 update the increased drop rate of Prime Engrams will extend to Level 600 instead of the current cut off at 550. This will actually help a lot. I jumped from 530 to 550 the last few days in large part due to the amount of Prime Engrams that dropped for me, which all dropped at 10 levels above my current LL.

Ended this week just shy of 560. With the Prime Engram drop rate increasing to 600, I should be good to try the raid by the weekend.
By the way, if you've never tried raiding or end game stuff, I reccomend joining my group on the 100

https://www.the100.io/groups/125

A lot of people in the group. Enough for two seperate clans with over 80 players each. Best part is everyone is cool. Mostly older players, who just want to have fun playing the game. No one taking things too seriously or getting toxic after wipes. Just good people. You can even get on the discord to get impromptu partners for nightfall or gambit. Lots of people on there willing to take new people through raids or help get rwards from difficult quests like The Whisper or Shattered Throne.

I definitely urge solo players to find a group like this. When I did, it opened the game up so much more, and made it a much more enjoyable experience. And that was before forsaken and all the stuff that adds.

Pretty huge plot development after this week’s shattered throne

A Fallen as Hunter Vanguard would've been amazing.

Is that supposed to be the hook to bring players back?

lol no.

Nothing but Destiny 3 being a true sequel and knocking it out of the park is going to bring players back.

I didn't think so.

I saw that video and I saw sitting here going "Really? They're going that direction?"

I'm totally down with Shadow's suggestion of a Fallen leading the Hunters. Bring back Variks, DAMN IT!

I think destiny 3 will involve humanity trying to ally with the other species, or at least factions within the other species to fight the darkness. We’re already loosely allied with Calus’ empire. An alliance that will probably strengthen with Penumbra.

None of the races are inherently evil. Not even the hive, despite looking like they were born from satan’s rectum. They became the way they are through encounters with the darkness.

Honestly, I really wish there was a Destiny comic series. Something that retells all the stories from the grimoire and lore books. Like Oryx is a very complex individual, but you’d never know that just from playing the game. The rise of Oryx and formation of the hive would make for a great mini series comic