General Gaming Official Destiny 2 Thread - Blad's Best Friend Club, update: significant layoffs hit Bungie, including composer Michael Salvatori

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

11 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

They decided to do maintenance now for Black Armory for some dumbness reason. So it should be available for whenever that's done? 

Yeah, but I think we downloaded the bulk of it last week. This is mostly turning everything on. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

5 hours ago, Brick said:

People that got Black Armory post your impressions! 

I am pretty early in. So far it is just "kill xx enemies", "kill xx enemies with power weapon", type of stuff we have done for weapon quests. I got that stage finished and need to complete a forge...funny thing about that. 

 

The mission says it recommends power 610, and when an enemy kills you in the same activity it says recommended power is 615.  way to be consistent Bungo. 

 

Being only 601 after a couple prime engram drops I am going to need to grind my power level up before I can complete the next phase. 

[Rev]

Has anyone finished the volundr forge yet 

[Anzo]

36 minutes ago, Rev said:

Has anyone finished the volundr forge yet 

I saw on reddit that a few have. Final tier of the Forge is 630 recommended...

 

If the reaction on reddit is any indicator, people are not happy. Reddit, of course, is never happy but they are extra pissed today. “Worse than Osiris” is a common phrase I’ve seen. 

 

So temper your expectations of what you will accomplish this week. Looks like it might be more of the same grind from the same milestones for the vast majority of us until we can get to 610-615 light. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

3 hours ago, Anzo said:

 Looks like it might be more of the same grind from the same milestones for the vast majority of us until we can get to 610-615 light. 

This is why many are so pissed. They felt this first forge should have had a starting power level of 600, so it was grindable this week. Instead we have to grind the same old activities. Not really worth having new DLC for. 

 

I have to say, while not pissed I find myself very disappointed. After the grind of last season and I am still not able to do anything new. I kind of felt my motivation to play diminish. 

[ALIEN-gunner]

Imagine how angry you must be if you bought this and you aren't even at 600 yet. My hunter is like 601 power level after gaining a few poweful gear rewards. First one I got dropped at 601, then 602, then something at 607. Al the Blues and regular legendaries still drop at the same power. None of the soft caps were adjusted.

 

Then I started the Black Armory quest. The cutscene was very short. your character doesn't speak, your ghost doesn't even speak. Ada-1 had me go out and kill X amount of enemies. Not an actual quest just do stuff in old locations. After about an hour of that off to the Forge in a small but new location within the tunnels in the EDZ. The 3 player match making event that starts at 610. my random group finished the first ok but at the end it said mission complete so I backed out thinking that was it. Nope. I later learned I have 2 more waves to complete. One at 620 and then the boss at 630. Yeah that's not going to happen. The game mode itself is very very basic except for having to throw batteries at the drill. *yawn*. Isn't it just like Bungie to create a seemingly phoned in paid DLC where most players won't be able to really play it until a few more weeks worth of grinding old content. 

 

There are people that have completed the quest but those people play Destiny as a career. Us normies wasted our money. I was really hoping for new content after the dull grind that is Forsaken. Oh well.  

[bladimir2k]

That's it bois.. we've seen enough, time to pack it up and move on to something else! Yeeehaaw!

[Rev]

I got all my powerful rewards for this week (except the raid) on my hunter yesterday and got to 608 light. A few other people in my clan did the same and got less. Hopefully doing the raid will speed things up some. 

[bladimir2k]

3 hours ago, Rev said:

I got all my powerful rewards for this week (except the raid) on my hunter yesterday and got to 608 light. A few other people in my clan did the same and got less. Hopefully doing the raid will speed things up some. 

The community already figured what LL drops from each activity if you want to maximize your time:

 

 

[Rev]

Thanks! I'm just doing everything either way but it may help to do the higher drops first I guess.

[bladimir2k]

3 minutes ago, Rev said:

Thanks! I'm just doing everything either way but it may help to do the higher drops first I guess.

True, i mean besides the Clan bounty, prime engrams are the key to leveling up.. so just playing will net you the most LL I guess.

[Anzo]

So like before seems best to do the dreaming city stuff first for a bigger jump then the rest of the crap. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Well, seems Bungo heard the community (sort of) and decreases the lvl of the first Forge. They only decreased it by 5 per tier though. So wave one will be 610, wave two wilk be 620 and the boss wave will be 625. 

 

*sigh* That is better, by a bit. See, I do not get Bungo's thinking here. At most anyone getting Black Armory would be 600. The total level cap increased to 650. Were they planning to have the last Forge be harder than the Raid with enemies at 650? 

[Rev]

I'm 610 now and finding the forge infuriating. Seriously tempted to uninstall the whole game out of pure spite. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

10 hours ago, Rev said:

I'm 610 now and finding the forge infuriating. Seriously tempted to uninstall the whole game out of pure spite. 

Right there with you. I am only 608, and it is the least fun thing I have tried to do. Bungie acts like this 5 level reductions now makes it possible for everyone to do the Forge at 600 power. Which is pretty clear to me they only assumed this, and never bothered to play test it themselves. 

 

Even streamers are like "here's how to do the forge for noobs". And basically it is 

 

1. Be 610

2. All three players have Whisper of the Worm

3. Have a warlock with well of radiance and luna faction boots. 

 

If this was also Bungie's plan, it is a shit plan. 

[Rev]

I think they should have had a kind of trial version of the forge meant for uncoordinated PUGs and had that be what unlocks the story and content. Then they could have real versions of the forge that were as difficult as this one too but hiding the story behind this is pretty shitty imo. I took a day off work for release just to find out I need to spend a couple weeks farming to even have a chance of unlocking the new content.

[ALIEN-gunner]

Yep, there should have been a tutorial forge. We can't even start any of Ada's bounties until this intro "quest" is finished. I doubt any testing was done. Bungie just slapped it together and hoped for the best. Now they lowered the light by a pathetic 5 so the shills can praise them.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

This Forge should have been recommended power 600 with the Boss wave being 615. This way we could farm this forge if we wanted to level up. And the next forge could be the 615-630 this one was. 

 

Or they should have increased the level cap last week so that last week wasn't completely pointless. 

 

Randoms are terrible at this too. They do not stick together and they don't use their supers to create orbs so the 3 of us can just chain supers and eliminated blue enemies faster. If the difficulty wasn't so high their poor strategy would not be an issue, but as it is playing through this below the power level of the enemies is so frustrating. 

 

Wave 2 enemies are so tanky compared to me that my kinetic weapon is almost useless, but there is not enough ammo drops that I can rely on my special, energy shotgun alone. 

 

I see people on Bungie's forums act like getting above 610 is easy. I've done everything but the raid, and nobody will do the raid with me because everyone looking for players only wants to speed run it with people who have 30+ clears. Of coarse even if I do Raid it is still RNG, because there is nothing in place in the game to ensure you get a piece of gear for your lowest leveled piece. You could get stuck with a class item 30 levels below your actual power level for weeks, because it has happened.

[mo1518]

They made the forge like they made escalation protocol. It's meant to be an end game activity to play as you reach the new level cap. The problem is there's no other activity bundled in this content drop that you can do - when Warmind dropped I tried escalation and got my ass handed to me. But that was fine - a little disappointing, but I had a campaign to finish, exotics to chase and a bunch of secrets to keep me busy until I was EP ready. This time there isn't that buffer. I feel like bungie probably should have communicated this fact better, it would have managed peoples expectations. But the blind well has difficulty tiers, why couldn't the forges? 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

The 610-625 current power of the Forge is not something you can use to get more powerful unless you can complete it. Grinding away at wave 1 will not help you to be able to conquer wave 2. 

 

I am not saying give me a black armory weapon or armor piece per wave. But drop a tier 1 power engram. Something that is randomly rolled Forsaken loot, 1 power level above your actual power level. Same as you get for tier one weekly/daily milestones. You won't get a big jump in power, but if you are struggling to beat a wave 2 or 3 you can keep playing and eventually get there. The most powerful rewards, the black armory rewards you get for clearing wave 3, the boss wave. 

 

That's how I felt Escalation protocol should have been. 

 

This way we can keep playing the new activity and still keep progressing until we are able to beat all 3 waves and then we can do the bounties and forging weapons to get that "god roll". Enter the next Forge at a higher level than the last, but we have at least one Forge we can use to get powerful enough. 

 

All the while you don't feel like you're beating your head against the wall. 

 

Can you imagine if the raids have only rewarded you for beating the final boss. The raid being an activity that also gets higher in level as you progress. That loot throughout which increases power level is often the thing that makes completing the raid in its first week possible due the level of the final encounter and the inerrant difficulty of the enemies.  

[Rev]

Well the forge is a pretty quick trial so I can understand them not giving powerful gear for just a wave of it, especially if it's repeatable for that gear. I really think they should have just made a trial forge that maybe gives one powerful reward a week but that unlocks the black forge and lets you finish the story. Then you can come back later and try to beat the harder forges at your leisure. Hiding the story behind content people can't do for a couple weeks is just super bizarre imo.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Well if there was a steady source of powerful engrams, weak ones mind you, maybe that would get more people to buy the Annual Pass, seeing it as a way to get more, new loot, and level provide another way to level up. They could even put in a soft cap for the engrams dropped at te end of wave 1 and 2 so that they would not exceed 610 power. 

 

That way you cannot use wave 1 and 2 to keep growing in power to max level, but you can use it to grow to the power needed to farm the Forge successfully. 

[mo1518]

42 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

The 610-625 current power of the Forge is not something you can use to get more powerful unless you can complete it. Grinding away at wave 1 will not help you to be able to conquer wave 2. 

 

I am not saying give me a black armory weapon or armor piece per wave. But drop a tier 1 power engram. Something that is randomly rolled Forsaken loot, 1 power level above your actual power level. Same as you get for tier one weekly/daily milestones. You won't get a big jump in power, but if you are struggling to beat a wave 2 or 3 you can keep playing and eventually get there. The most powerful rewards, the black armory rewards you get for clearing wave 3, the boss wave. 

 

That's how I felt Escalation protocol should have been. 

 

This way we can keep playing the new activity and still keep progressing until we are able to beat all 3 waves and then we can do the bounties and forging weapons to get that "god roll". Enter the next Forge at a higher level than the last, but we have at least one Forge we can use to get powerful enough. 

 

All the while you don't feel like you're beating your head against the wall. 

 

Can you imagine if the raids have only rewarded you for beating the final boss. The raid being an activity that also gets higher in level as you progress. That loot throughout which increases power level is often the thing that makes completing the raid in its first week possible due the level of the final encounter and the inerrant difficulty of the enemies.  

 

When you're 640 in a few weeks a forge run will probably be a breezy ten minute match. Handing out that much powerful gear per wave would obliterate bungies drop-feed leveling system. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

33 minutes ago, mo1518 said:

 

When you're 640 in a few weeks a forge run will probably be a breezy ten minute match. Handing out that much powerful gear per wave would obliterate bungies drop-feed leveling system. 

 

34 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Well if there was a steady source of powerful engrams, weak ones mind you, maybe that would get more people to buy the Annual Pass, seeing it as a way to get more, new loot, and level provide another way to level up. They could even put in a soft cap for the engrams dropped at te end of wave 1 and 2 so that they would not exceed 610 power. 

 

That way you cannot use wave 1 and 2 to keep growing in power to max level, but you can use it to grow to the power needed to farm the Forge successfully. 

 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

*sigh*

 

I keep getting blue berries that refuse to use their supers in any wave. Not even against the boss. There is not a participation prize. WTF are people playing it like they do not want to beat it? 

[Rev]

I only had an hour or so last night but I did a few PUG runs with me at 612 light and we got to the boss in each of them. Lowest I got the boss was about 10% though. Should probably finish it tonight I'm sure.

[atom631]

So I was scouring through Bandcamp for some new music to listen to and I came across this Black/Thrash Metal band called Imperialist from California. Their debut album just came out in October and I noticed they have a song on it dedicated to Crota. Pretty cool.....and it rips if you like metal. 

 

 

@Bloodporne also tagging you bc you need to check this album out. This is good shit. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

You know, even if this game didn't have power levels to climb or loot to farm for the thing I actually get the most consistent enjoyment out of is the Bright Engrams you earn from filling the XP bar. 

 

Each bright engram is not always a winner, but I have enjoyed getting the legendary and exotic cosmetics. And I get them more regularly than getting exotic weapon and armor drops in the wild. 

 

I just wish the activities were more interesting to be repeatable without getting boring. I love doing strikes, but everyone wants to just speed run them, which takes some of the enjoyment out of them, and they are not great sources of XP. 

 

Honestly I am looking forward to the dawning more than I was Black Armory, because we'll get 2 engrams per XP bar completion. 

[ALIEN-gunner]

When those no-lifer kids speed run a strike I hang back taking my time shooting everything until I'm forced to rejoin the group because the idiot killed himself. 

[Rev]

I got a Trust today with explosive payload and dragonfly and some third perk with faster reload. I love it so much. 

[ALIEN-gunner]

I finished the first Forge at 612, I'm about 620 now. Aside from it's simplistic gameplay and annoying ability for you to miss your battery throws, it's a somewhat quick way to earn Forge gear drops after the boss is killed. That is if people are playing it. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

On 12/11/2018 at 2:00 AM, Rev said:

I got a Trust today with explosive payload and dragonfly and some third perk with faster reload. I love it so much. 

Probably drop mag. Dangerous if you are the type that will reload after 1-3 bullets as you will lose the remaining bullets in the mag. 

 

That is a fun roll though. Great for rushing trash mobs. 

 

I wish there was a none exotic 180rpm kinetic hand cannon. Or a legendary 140/150rmp kinetic that didn't have so much bloom and recoil. 

 

I am about 630 now in power. Been able to get through multiple forge runs. I have the "PVP god roll" on one of my three Kindled Orchid hand cannons with drop mag, kill clip, rampage, and a range masterwork. Having both rampage x3 and kill clip to proc does quite a but of damage in PVE. Supposedly in PVP rampage x1 + kill clip both active can 2-tap a guardian  

[SoberChef]

Wait a sec, NO ONE has posted on here in over a week!? Does NO ONE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!? In case you hadn't already been spoiled by the leak a few weeks ago, log in, grind out some Blind Well and go see the Queen NOW!

 

Then after that, I present to you the following Byf video as a sort of catharsis to process...

 

Spoiler

#PulledPork

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Remarkableriots]

@SoberChef I haven't played Destiny 2 since 12/4 and i've instead been focused on FF XIV.

[eggydoo]

That also got data mined a week or so before black armory.