Upcoming Destiny events – new multiplayer modes and Queen’s Wrath

(Checkout this link for the announcement from Bungie)

As with the Halo series, Bungie is doing a great job of adding unique content to its latest shooter, Destiny, to keep the experience fresh and exciting. Each weekend there has been a unique multiplayer mode and along with the recently released raid, Vault of Glass, there is going to be a new mode coming next week.

This weekend, Sept. 19-21, the multiplayer mode “Combined Arms” will be active. A team deathmatch mode, Combined Arms focuses on vehicular combat and also, heavy ammo drops will occur more frequently. I can’t wait to try out this mode and see if there’s a vehicle or two I haven’t gotten to drive yet. So far, the only vehicles I’ve found with weapons are Pikes and those larger speeders on Mars the fire rockets. It’d be really cool if there were larger tank vehicles or ones that allow two or more players to operate it – something like a Warthog from Halo, maybe.

On Sept 23 – Oct 6, a new feature called “The Queen’s Wrath” will be active. It doesn’t seem like this is an entirely new mode all to itself, but rather an extended event which will feature new bounties and more challenging missions which will be rewarded with Rare and Legendary gear. There isn’t a whole lot of specific info about Queen’s Wrath, but I would guess these missions will take the place of the Daily and Weekly Heroic Strikes/Missions and feature more intense stipulations. Luckily, it seems that these missions will guarantee Rare and Legendary gear so the reward will be worth the challenge.

Last weekend, the unique multiplayer mode was Salvage, a 3 vs 3 mode where teams battle for control of a relic. It was an interesting mode, not just because it pitted one fireteam against another (instead of 6 on 6 like Clash) but because the objective-based mode required a bit of strategy. For one, you’re able to revive fallen teammates in this mode, unlike Clash or Capture, and your respawn in a little longer than those modes as well. In Salvage, relics appear on the map frequently (one at a time) and to win it, you must first find it and set your Ghost to scan it. But, you get more points for completing a scan or stopping an enemy scan than just starting one, so it’s in your best interest to only start a scan if you know you can defend the relic. Salvage should be making a return to the Crucible playlist, especially since they still issue bounties for it occasionally. According, to the above link, I would guess Salvage will be next weekend’s unique Crucible mode.

In October, an entirely new Crucible mode will be active – the Iron Banner. Normally in the Crucible, players compete on a level playing field, meaning that regardless of levels, weapons and armor, each player has the same stats and weapons do the same damage. In the Iron Banner, players will be able to compete with their weapons and armor at full power. It will definitely be interesting to see just how many high level players come out of the woodwork to dominate in Iron Banner and those below level 20 without rare and legendary gear will probably just want to avoid it completely (unless you’re really confident or have a death wish). There isn’t any mention of the rewards from playing Iron Banner, though I’d bet you have a higher chance of getting rare gear by competing in this no-holds-barred battle.

But the best part about all these new modes and activities? They’re totally free. It’s great in this day-and-age of $15 map packs and microtransactions, companies like Bungie are committed to supporting their titles with unique content to keep the experience fresh, for free.

Destiny – Light, Factions, Farming and more

Destiny is an interesting FPS console experience, one that hasn’t really been presented before. It’s more of an MMO than a straight up shooter and a large reason for this has to do with Destiny’s “end game,” that is to say, what you’ll spend your time doing once you reach level 20.

It doesn’t take very long to reach level 20, especially if you’ve been playing as much as I have. But beyond level 20, Destiny changes up the formula and it can be a bit confusing to figure out at first. I went over this briefly in my earlier review, but now that I’ve had more experience with the end game myself, I can speak to what you’ll need to do once you max out your experience levels.

Destiny is designed to keep you playing and to maximize your abilities, levels and gear, there are several important factors you need to take into consideration.

Light level

Once you hit level 20, you have the capacity to earn armor pieces with Light attached to them. Light is a stat much like Intellect or Strength on armor pieces but what it dictates is you level past 20. Until 20, XP earned from kills, mission rewards and bounties dictates your level but at 20, Light is the only thing that will level you up meaning – you’re going to have to really work for your levels past 20.

Light can be attached to Rare armor and up (Legendary and Exotic being above Rare). I’m not sure if it can be attached to weapons, as I haven’t found any with a Light rating. There are several ways to earn these armors:

-They can be dropped by enemies

-They can be earned through Crucible matches

-They can be found in engram drops or bought from the Cryptarch

-You can farm certain areas to accumulate drops or glimmer (more on this later)

-You can earn Vanguard marks through bounties and strikes or Crucible marks through the Crucible and purchase Legendary gear from the various Tower vendors

Now, if you want to go the route of buying gear through your Vanguard or the Crucible, know that it will take a long time with lots of hours sunk into playing. Completing Patrol missions will earn you 10 Vanguard rep while bounties will usually earn you 50-100 Vanguard rep. You need level 2 Vanguard rep to buy armor and level 3 to buy weapons and each level is, I think, about 1,500 rep. And that’s just to earn the ability to buy legendary armor from these vendors – you’ll also need marks.

Marks are a currency earned from the Daily Heroic Mission, Weekly Heroic Strike and the Strike Playlist. You’ll typically only earn about 5 marks per completed mission/strike and a single piece of armor usually runs about 150 marks. On top of that, you’re capped at earning 100 marks a week.

The Crucible has similar limitations, where you need level 2 Crucible rep to buy armor and level 3 to buy weapons. Earning Crucible marks is much quicker, in my estimation, as completing a mission can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes while a game in the Crucible will only be about 8-10 minutes. Winning a Crucible match will earn you 3 marks, while a loss will still earn 2.

It’s up to you to decide how you’ll want to go about earning these marks. But there are other vendors who will take Crucible marks – the factions.

Factions

Right now, there are three factions in Destiny – Dead Orbit, Future War Cult and the New Monarchy. Each faction has specific armor and weapon pieces that give you various stat increases (Dead Orbit armor gives Strength and Discipline, Future War Cult gives Intellect and Discipline and the New Monarchy gives Intellect and Strength).

Much like Vanguard and Crucible vendors, you need reputation with these factions in order to buy items from them (level 2 for armor, level 3 for guns). To earn rep for a faction, you must first purchase a class item from that faction and have it equipped when you earn reputation and it will be applied to that faction. For instance, you can complete bounties but when you go to turn it in, make sure that you have your faction item equipped when turning it in.

There’s allegedly going to be two more factions eventually – Osiris and Seven Seraphs. And speaking of vendors, there is a unique vendor who only shows up at the Tower between Friday and Sunday. Named Xur of the Agent of the Nine, he has a selection of legendary and exotic items but these must be purchased with a currency even more rare than marks. Xur sells exotic armor for 13 Strange Coins, exotic weapons for 23 strange coins and an exotic engram for 23 Motes of Light. Strange Coins and Motes of Light are rare drops and can only be obtained from rare engrams, mission rewards or Crucible rewards.

Farming

If you’ve read all the above and feel like it’s going to take a long time to purchase legendary armor – well, you’re right. Which is why many YouTubers out there have discovered several methods of farming uncommon (green) and rare (blue) engrams as well as glimmer.

There are several spots in throughout Strikes and Missions where enemies have a higher chance of dropping green or blue engrams. There are several I’ve found (which you can find on YouTube by searching terms like “Destiny farming” or “Destiny engram farming”) and they usually have similar characteristics. For instance, these locations are where a large group of enemies have a seemingly higher chance of dropping green or blue engrams. They also feature a respawn point right before this group of enemies, which allows you to farm the enemies for items, die, and farm again the quickest way possible.

I’ve also found a good spot for glimmer farming (which also sometimes drops green and blue engrams). Glimmer farming would also work in conjunction with the cryptarch. After farming for a substantial amount of glimmer (between 20,000-25,000), visit the cryptarch and purchase green or blue engrams. Decrpyting and buying engrams raises your cryptography reputation and with each new level, you’ll receive a package through the postmaster which can contain rare and legendary engrams.

If this is a method you’d like to pursue, I’d say look into them as soon as possible because Bungie will no doubt catch wind of people exploiting these methods and eventually patch them out. But for now, if you don’t mind tedious activities and don’t have any qualms about whether or not these methods are legitimately earning these items, make use of these farming techniques while you can. You can even use these farming spots to quickly complete bounties. Just this morning, I farmed over 25,000 glimmer and completed two PvE bounties (kill 10 Hive majors or Ultras and kill 3 or more enemies with your super charge 30 times) in only about two hours.

Utilizing this info and these farming methods, I’ve accumulated enough Light to reach level 21 and am halfway to 22. Almost all of my gear is of blue rarity (weapons and armor pieces) and with new farming methods I’ve found, a legendary piece of gear is well within my grasp.  

Raids

Beginning this week, players can take part in a massive mission called the Vault of Glass. Taking place on Venus, this raid mission can only be undertaken by a group of six Guardians who are all at least level 26. Bungie has said these raids should only be undertaken by a team of players with the utmost level of teamwork as raids do not have much direction as to objectives to be completed and are hours long. Plus, there is no matchmaking for raids either and you must enter into one with a party of six made up of players you actually know.

I’m not sure what you earn from raids since they only went online this week and I’m the highest leveled of my friends, and I’m only level 21. I’m sure there will be YouTube videos of the Vault of Glass as well as people streaming it on Twitch so be on the lookout for those if you’re in the same boat as me (that boat being the one that doesn’t know enough people, or high enough leveled people, to attempt a raid).

Despite spending almost every waking moment I’m not working playing Destiny, I’m still completely addicted. I’m obsessed with trying to get better gear and weapons and I’m sure as soon as I’ve got a set of legendary gear and weapons, I won’t be satisfied until I get exotic stuff. Bungie is doing a great job of adding Daily/Weekly updates as well as creating incentives to play different modes. With DLC on the horizon and the competitive multiplayer of the Crucible, I could be playing Destiny for a very long time.

Destiny is everything I hoped - and more

Sitting on the surface of the moon, I use the brief moment of peace to take in my surroundings. The lack of atmosphere gives a perfect view of the Earth, as well as the light from other galaxies several million of miles away. As I wait for my fireteam to reach my location, I check my armor and weapon loadout and prepare for a journey deep into the Hellmouth where untold numbers of Hive monstrosities await. This is Destiny and it’s everything I’ve hope it would be.

Destiny is the newest creation from Bungie, the studio which created the Halo franchise. Destiny shares many similarities with the Halo series but goes far beyond anything it ever presented. More than just a first-person shooter with a narrative and multiplayer, Destiny represents the closest a console game has come yet to a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game. These elements aren’t as apparent during the early hours of Destiny but as you reach the higher levels and end game elements, the MMO aspects become more apparent.

But before I get into all that, let’s start at the beginning.

Destiny tells the story of the future of humanity. A mysterious being called The Traveler one day appears on Earth and brings with it a new golden age of information and technology that allows humanity to reach the stars and build colonies throughout the galaxy. But the Traveler had many enemies that followed it and eventually, humanity was pushed back to a single city on Earth, situated underneath the Traveler and protected by it. As a Guardian, it is your task to seek out lost information and technology that will allow humanity to thrive again while pushing back the enemies that threaten the human race.

Beginning Destiny, you get to pick between three classes (Titan, Hunter and Warlock) which each have numerous customization options. Unlike most FPS games, you actually get to admire your handiwork, since there is a hub world in Destiny called the Tower which you view in third person.

The Tower is where you organize your inventory, buy new gear, take bounties and other activities. But outside of the Tower, there are several ways to experience Destiny.

Since Destiny is always online, the easiest way to describe its elements are classifying them as “Players vs Enemies” (PvE) or “Players vs Players” (PvP). Story missions, Strikes and Patrol missions are all what would be considered PvE as you and other Guardians venture into the hostile galaxy to retake what humanity has lost. The PvP aspect of Destiny is represented by The Crucible, which is competitive multiplayer as most people know it, featuring game types such as team deathmatch and domination.

Story missions obviously advance the story of Destiny and many help you unlock new aspects of the game, like space travel and heavy weapons. Strikes, on the other hand, are dedicated battles for your fireteam which generally have a few phases of increasing difficulty. Patrols are the most free form, allowing you time to explore the environments of Destiny, search for loot crates and take smaller missions which often earn you experience points as well as Vanguard reputation.

However, as mentioned above, Destiny isn’t your typical FPS and in fact has many similarities to MMOs, which become most apparent once you reach the initial level cap of 20.

When I first began playing Desinty, I heard that the level cap was set at 20, which seemed incredibly low. After a few sessions with friends, I had already reached level 8 and had only just begun completing missions on the Moon, with story missions on Venus and Mars still locked. Barely into the story and yet halfway to the level cap? I figured there had to be something I wasn’t understanding – and I was right.

When you reach level 20, you stop gaining experience toward overall levels. You still gain normal XP, which can go toward your skills and specialization, but your level is capped at 20. Now, I haven’t experienced this myself but I’ve been reading online about how to continue leveling past 20 and I’m going to try and relay it here.

Completing Strikes, Patrol missions and bounties earns you Vanguard points/reputation, which is a crucial step in the process. You can also complete Crucible bounties or earn Crucible reputation by playing that mode. Earning Vanguard/Crucible rank 2 is the first step in the process of leveling past 20.

Once you reach level 20, regular XP stops counting toward your level but it is possible to continue leveling up your character with Light Points. Light Points are attributes contained within rare armor pieces and weaponry (shaded blue or purple). Accruing enough Light points will then determine your character’s level past 20.

It’s important to know these elements first as you need Vanguard/Crucible rank 2 to buy your first piece of rare armor from the Tower. Also, to buy rare weaponry, you’ll need Vanguard/Crucible rank 3.

I keep making the distinction between Vanguard and Crucible for a reason. In the Tower, once you hit 20, you can get gear (gear being armor or weapons) from your class Vanguard (in the back room) or one of the three factions (Dead Orbit, Future War Cult or the New Monarchy – located in the wings of the Tower). Vanguard rep is earned in PvE actions (mainly from the Strike Playlist, which opens when you’ve reached 20 [or completed the story, I’m not entirely sure]) while faction rep is earned via PvP in the Crucible. In addition to reputation, Strikes and Crucible will also earn you Marks, which are the currency to buy gear. It seems that Marks are capped at 200 a week, though you can earn as much reputation and normal XP as you’d like.

TheReddit post where I gleaned much of this info makes the suggestion of focusing on PvE or PvP to obtain your first piece of rare gear. Also, how you play should determine which area you focus on. If you have a group of friends you play with often, PvE might be the way to go at first, otherwise PvP in the Crucible might be your best shot at earning rare gear.

So how is this like an MMO, you ask? Not so much because of the fact that you see other Guardians going about their business in PvE modes, but because of the grinding, which tasks you with playing certain modes (Strikes, Crucible) over and over until you’ve accumulated enough of a certain currency (reputation and marks) to purchase items to lead you to the next level. It’s also similar in that you and several players ban together to take on various raids capped off by enormously powerful boss characters.

(As I said, I haven’t reach 20 yet myself and if any of this info is wrong, don’t hesitate to check out that Reddit post and let me know)

In just its first day on the shelves, Destiny shipped more than $500 million, enough to make it the most successful new videogame franchise launch of all-time. Also, Destiny is the highest selling day-one digital release on consoles ever. This record is rather new in the grand scheme of gaming and one that will probably be outpaced in the coming years but for now, it’s a title that Destiny owns.

Obviously, Bungie is going to continue supporting Destiny heavily and fans can be on the lookout for several additions to the game in coming months in the form of updates and DLC.

Right now, there is a unique gametype available in the Crucible call Salvage, a 3v3 objective game where players collect relics for their team while trying to disrupt the enemy. This mode is online until Sunday, Sept. 14. Also, later this month, the Crucible will feature a mode called Combined Arms, which is said to be a vehicle-heavy game type. In October, the Crucible will feature the Iron Banner mode, where PvP equalizers are turned off and players compete with the full power of their armor and weapons.

As for PvE, an event called “Queen’s Wrath” is scheduled for September and though details are few right now, it could be anything from a new story mission to a new Strike. Also in September, a Level 26 raid called Vault of Glass will go online. Check out this Destructoid article for more info.

As for Destiny DLC, two packs have been announced so far – The Dark Below and House of Wolves. The Dark Below is slated to be released in December and will take placeon the moon, specifically in the Hive stronghold known as the Hellmouth. So far, almost no info is known about House of Wolves. I think these two DLC packs are also exclusive to PlayStation until at least Fall 2015, so it would be a good guess that House of Wolves would be out sometime before then.

After I’ve spent more time with Destiny (much, much more time) I’ll be back to give a more complete picture of my impressions with the game as well as any changes in my attitude toward it – as in, will I still be enamored or will all the grinding crush my soul? I couldn’t begin to guess right now, but I’m going to love finding out.