Official CAG Destiny Thread - Rise of Iron

I've had next to no desire to play Destiny lately.  But dang, my wife snagged a copy for the PS4 for $10 at Meijer today.  Not sure if I want to use it for trade bait or start fresh and see if I can get someone to do the refer-a-friend with me. 

*looks at backlog and rethinks that second option*

 
Another 320 Helm from racing after 5 races plus a 314 cloak, still no exotic shards to upgrade said exotic helmet...yet.

Cashed in my 1st armsday order and man...I'm lovin' this Eirene sniper rifle. "But 100xp, what about the black spindle run?" ...yeah, @#$% my ISP that's all I have to say about that."

Strange thing happened the other day, my SRL bounty that was complete 10 bounties or 9 bounties auto completed itself. I just entered a race and the animation for completing a bounty popped up and I said, "huh...okay." I would expect that to happen a few days before the end of the event in which it would be impossible to complete but, no complaints here.

 
You need exotic shards???

I just learned this trick the other day:
If you already have a Heavy exotic, go to the kiosk and buy another using an exotic shard and some glimmer.
Equip your new exotic and consume about 6-7 Motes of Light. Your new exotic should be leveled up...now go ahead and dismantle it and you will get two shards . Dismantling an exotic that is fully leveled gets you two shards, and Heavies take the least amount of Motes to level up. I guess it would work on any exotic, but like it said, go with Heavies if you can.

I had been just buying a piece of armor from Xur to dismantle for the shard, but this way is much cheaper and easier.


Got back into town last night and jumped on to do some racing. Unfortunately, it looks like my bad luck has returned. Didn't get anything from 3 of coins, nor did I get anything I could use from the end of race rewards.
 
You need exotic shards???

I just learned this trick the other day:
If you already have a Heavy exotic, go to the kiosk and buy another using an exotic shard and some glimmer.
Equip your new exotic and consume about 6-7 Motes of Light. Your new exotic should be leveled up...now go ahead and dismantle it and you will get two shards . Dismantling an exotic that is fully leveled gets you two shards, and Heavies take the least amount of Motes to level up. I guess it would work on any exotic, but like it said, go with Heavies if you can.

I had been just buying a piece of armor from Xur to dismantle for the shard, but this way is much cheaper and easier.


Got back into town last night and jumped on to do some racing. Unfortunately, it looks like my bad luck has returned. Didn't get anything from 3 of coins, nor did I get anything I could use from the end of race rewards.
Ooo...I know you get extra materials from a leveled up engram but seeing as I've only dismantled one exotic, I had no idea you get 2 shards from a leveled up one. Before I got 320 helms I bought 2 helms from Xur the other week so I could dismantle one and make the other one 300 from 280. Thanks for the tip.

Now I just need a HVY exotic to do said trick.

No luck with exotics but so far the quest rewards from TTK and armsdays are slowly starting to prove to be promising. Still at 295 light but that should definitely change when Xur returns. Maybe he'll have a hvy to buy.

Someone beat me last night for 1st place in SRL by .010 of a second. It was lame...

 
I've had next to no desire to play Destiny lately. But dang, my wife snagged a copy for the PS4 for $10 at Meijer today. Not sure if I want to use it for trade bait or start fresh and see if I can get someone to do the refer-a-friend with me.

*looks at backlog and rethinks that second option*
I have hit the wall too. Have barely played the past two weeks. Didn't even touch Oryx challenge mode and the only times I logged in were to check xur and pickup my Chaperon and Final Word after reset/armsday.

SRL was amusing for a few days to get my Chaperon quest done, but its not a mode I will go back to even with the chance at 320 helm and class item drops. Skipped the last Iron Banner so will probably do the same this week even though it might be easy pickings with all the new players starting the game up.

Not sure what is going to bring me back this time. Y1 had set release dates and a considerable amount of build up leading up to the expansions. Now they have moved away from that model, but claim they have a number of similar events to the SRL and Halloween event to keep things interesting. I feel like each expansion pack has kept my interest a shorter amount of time than the previous one, and considering how much more content they added in TTK compared to the Y1 expansions that is saying something. Maybe these mini-events can be fulfilling, but I feel that they keep them too low under the radar. Releasing a new event via a couple lines in the weekly update doesn't seem like the right strategy to keep people interested.

Speaking of that the Weekly Update is taking a month off until Jan 21st... what the? They are giving out an exclusive emblem if you play between Jan 7th and 10th so make sure you do that if you are trying to collect everything in the game.

 
Another 320 Helm from racing after 5 races plus a 314 cloak, still no exotic shards to upgrade said exotic helmet...yet.

Cashed in my 1st armsday order and man...I'm lovin' this Eirene sniper rifle. "But 100xp, what about the black spindle run?" ...yeah, @#$% my ISP that's all I have to say about that."

Strange thing happened the other day, my SRL bounty that was complete 10 bounties or 9 bounties auto completed itself. I just entered a race and the animation for completing a bounty popped up and I said, "huh...okay." I would expect that to happen a few days before the end of the event in which it would be impossible to complete but, no complaints here.
Mine I picked up on Tuesday had 7/10 complete when I only turned in the three bounties. A couple others I was racing with said the same thing happened to them.

 
You need exotic shards???

I just learned this trick the other day:
If you already have a Heavy exotic, go to the kiosk and buy another using an exotic shard and some glimmer.
Equip your new exotic and consume about 6-7 Motes of Light. Your new exotic should be leveled up...now go ahead and dismantle it and you will get two shards . Dismantling an exotic that is fully leveled gets you two shards, and Heavies take the least amount of Motes to level up. I guess it would work on any exotic, but like it said, go with Heavies if you can.

I had been just buying a piece of armor from Xur to dismantle for the shard, but this way is much cheaper and easier.


Got back into town last night and jumped on to do some racing. Unfortunately, it looks like my bad luck has returned. Didn't get anything from 3 of coins, nor did I get anything I could use from the end of race rewards.
Just to add to that, you don't need to actually "buy" the upgrades. Just get the ring around the circles filled in. Save your weapon parts and planetary mats.

 
Another 320 Helm from racing after 5 races plus a 314 cloak, still no exotic shards to upgrade said exotic helmet...yet.
Damn, you are having some good RNG. I don't know how many hours of sparrow racing I've done at rank 3+, but I'm probably guessing at least 30-40. And I have yet to get a 320 helm. I've gotten two 319's and I've gotten one 320 class item. Otherwise it is a lot of 311-314 junk it seems. I'm even at rank 4 on my Warlock. That should at least get you a better chance of higher drops but that does not seem to be the case. Well at least I've gotten much better at it and can usually pull out a win here and there.

Just to add to that, you don't need to actually "buy" the upgrades. Just get the ring around the circles filled in. Save your weapon parts and planetary mats.
Hah. So I was so low on armor materials (which can't be bought anywhere) due to all the infusion I've been doing that I leveled up 4 garbage armor pieces this way. Of course on those it takes 30-40 (or 50) motes to max them out (or something like that - didn't really keep track). When you break them down you get 5 armor materials instead of 2-3. So, yeah, I spent 40 or so motes just to get maybe 8 extra armor materials - not even enough for one infusion. But then again SRL gives out so many motes it is ridiculous. I had nearly 900 just on my Warlock. I spent that down to 700 levelling stuff up just 2 days ago and now I'm back near 800 again.

At this point I'd love a one-to-one exchange on motes, or even legendary marks, for armor materials. Hell, I'd even trade like 3 legendary marks for just 1 armor material. I have nothing else to use those for (other than the 3 marks needed per infusion). Why they provided weapon parts via a vendor and not armor materials is beyond me. Weapon parts are basically free now (250 glimmer, which I'm constantly maxing out anyway, for 5 parts).

I have all these mid-310's helms and class items from SRL and basically I can't do anything with them - it is kind of frustrating.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks to the Meijer deal, I am starting fresh on the Xbox One (already have a RAF...sorry). Looking to add some fellow CAG players to my friends list for strikes, raids, etc when I get my toon up.

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:19008]

I hit 320 on the PSN so I figured my time spent in Destiny will likely change from PSN to Live.

Shoot me a Friend Request on Xbox Live. Gamertag: NJMane

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Did another 15-20 races tonight.  I got 2 helms and a class item.   Helms were 314 and 319, class item was like 312.  I've gotten 3 319 helms but no 320's.

 
Xur has some good stuff today. Buy it quick in case Xbox Live gets taken down again.
Got myself Bones of Eao, already had the MIDA & and figure I'll probably get the Titan Chest from an engram at some point.
Happy about the Bones though, been wanting those since I've been enjoying my Hunter so much.
 
I've gotten 2 Bones from engrams recently.  But the one Xur is selling has a great stat roll that beats the ones I have, even though they are 30 light higher (so Xur's will only get better when infused).  The Titan chest is Armamentariumn in case anyone is waiting on a year 2 version of that.  He also has The Ram for the Warlock.  Xur is far left over by the speaker.

And I finally got a 320 helm late last night (or really early this morning for Christmas ;)).  I have nothing worth infusing at this point but I hear Iron Banner will have helms this time so I'm hoping to get some good ones there and I'll save the SRL helms for infusing those.  Would love to get Trials helms as well but it just doesn't seem to be in the cards for me this time around.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Are these "while in a fire team of at least 2 members" bounties pre made fire teams as in your friends. Because I can't seem to get any credit for the dozen assists I've gotten last few matches etc.

Man...such a noob question. Lol.
 
What's with all the noobs on LFG lately wanting to do 8 and 16 orb strategy cause they think the bombs are difficult? Destinys full of Noobs!
I have been playing this game since day one and would say I am more than competent in this game to say the least and yet I personally think the 16 orb strategy is the easiest anyway. With the 16 orb strategy you eliminate the possibility of a stupid death. No need to worry about a random effing up the bombs each time or someone missing their running phase, all you have to do is do your job and it is over.

However doing the 8 orb strategy to me seems stupid. If you are saving the bombs just save them all, if you are detonating the bombs just detonate them all; don't do half and half that is lame hah.

Regardless at this point there is little purpose to fight Oryx in my mind. Hell the only worthwhile battle for me anymore is Golgoroth. I have my 320 ghost, I have plenty of 315-320 special and heavy weapons, solid class armors from all the SRL ones and then a handful of 320 primary weapons and 315-320 helmets again from SRL. The only thing I want then is the chance at 310-320 arms, chest and leg armors from good ole Gologoroth... of which of course he rarely delivers.

 
Are these "while in a fire team of at least 2 members" bounties pre made fire teams as in your friends. Because I can't seem to get any credit for the dozen assists I've gotten last few matches etc.

Man...such a noob question. Lol.
Double post because I missed this sorry.

Yes you have to go into the match with a fireteam, as in a friend, otherwise it doesn't count. If it was just your match-made team then ther would be no point in having that text included even! : P

 
Double post because I missed this sorry.

Yes you have to go into the match with a fireteam, as in a friend, otherwise it doesn't count. If it was just your match-made team then ther would be no point in having that text included even! : P
Bah garbage...I think I picked up a dozen assists because I pulled back and let someone else get the kill for a bounty that doesn't work that way.

I was getting jack squat for shotguns now I have 3 plus a fusion rifle from drops and quests in a day of crucible. Party crasher +1 is a funny name.
 
Bah garbage...I think I picked up a dozen assists because I pulled back and let someone else get the kill for a bounty that doesn't work that way.

I was getting jack squat for shotguns now I have 3 plus a fusion rifle from drops and quests in a day of crucible. Party crasher +1 is a funny name.
If you want to run some Crucible let me know. I have the stupid weekly bounty of having to compete 5 matches in a fire team - it is the only one I have left on one character so I might as well get it done.

Was there someone here who was just starting up and needed a Refer-A-Friend vet? I have a non-CAG friend who is looking for someone to team up with - just send me a message if so.

I've seen a lot of Christmas noobies in the tower the last few days - so there are definitely people just starting out.

As for me, I'm losing interest yet again. I'm sure I'll participate in Iron Banner and this week's Golgoroth challenge (for the same reasons Broly mentioned). But beyond that, meh, I'm not sure. SRL kept me playing a lot the last few weeks but when that ends I don't see playing daily any more, that's for sure.

Regarding SRL: I'm so close to hitting rank 5 on my Warlock I might just do that just to do it ;). It sucks I missed out on one of the weekly 10 bounty bounties though - that would have been a big chunk of what I needed right there (that plus the 5 days of bounties I missed in the beginning would probably have put me there already). I did manage to get that 320 helm on Christmas and then not two races later I got another 320 class item. So my Hunter now has a 320 wolf's head cloak all ready to go for IB. I really hate that they end things like IB (and presumably SRL) at midnight but then don't start them until 10am. I remember back in the day it used to start right at reset and I could jump right in on Monday night during my prime playing time.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yay crucible with not randoms!

I'll be on my normal time and hopefully long enough to iron out everything that needs ironing.

Getting decent runs with RDM and MIDA with my not fully unlocked blade dancer...of course it depends on the map too.
 
Pretty happy,
Got my Titan up to 310 this weekend, thanks to SRL and using 3 of coins with SRL. Also now I don't have to worry, all exotic engrams will be 310 going forward.
Gambled on Friday and didn't buy the Armamentarium, because I thought it might drop from a 3oC and it paid off, just got one at 310.
So, not a bad weekend.
 
Got my first Exotic drop doing the daily strike last night (and 2 Havoc Pigeons), I was thinking...we're smoking this strike and that's a gate lord. Popped a 3oC's and saw a glowing yellow drop. Gloves...glad it was gloves mainly because I already bought 2 boots from Xur. Is it safe to say I should wait til 300 light to decrypt it? Not sure if I can wait til 310 unless I everyday this week I get an upgrade in crucible & strike runs.

Currently 297.

I'm really enjoying the Nightstalker in PVE so far.

Not a good night to race for me last night.

Normally I don't crash but trying to do the wear out the shiny bounty took like 10 races. A couple races my controller I guess crapped out on me. One race my battery was low and I can only assume the signal between the controller and the console had a hiccup because I saw my sparrow not boost for a couple portions of the race and I was in first. Worst part it crapped out 3 times in 3 races right over the large ravine in Mars and once over the small jump on Venus. Changed the batteries and still noticed it crapped out once. It's like the vibrations on the controller would interrupt the boost (LT) and I'd have to hit it again. Cost me 2 - 1st place races.

Here's some strange lag.

I was experiencing that no power mid air crashing mentioned earlier, then I can only guess I had a near flawless race after. Caught up and held 2nd place for the last 2 laps with the leader way ahead...like I never caught up to him so far ahead. After I finished, it said I came in first even though my place said 2/6 on the bottom...no complaints. Gimmie dat 318 helm.

Blink struck and then melee'd a guy 4 times in Salvage, then the rest of the game caught up to me. I wish I had video of that because apparently I was stabbing a wall of where he was standing and the rest of his team gave me some shotgun to the side of my face.

 
I turned the vibration off on my controller. I feel like it was better for racing, plus it gives your batteries a little more life.

I'm ready for racing to be over after today. I've just been grinding races over and over, not even caring where I finish. Just hoping my 3 oC works, or I get some decent end of race loot. I have plenty of helmets, just need a couple more class items.
 
Yeah, I'm considering doing that. Sometimes it's nice for the effect when it seems to be appropriate, a few times during the strike I just thought my controller was bugging out.

Are you trying to get exotics from racing w/3 oC's? I seem to get legendary helmets and hunter cloaks often enough.

I think I finished all the story missions for House of Wolves last night, beating Skolas was kinda of a joke w/the Nightstalker and being lvl 40. They gave me my 1st key to a strike or something.

 
Yeah, I bought a ton of 3oC on Friday, and have just been grinding them out on races since then. Down to about 19, so once I use them up I'll be done with racing.

That key you got is for Prison of Elders,
The good news for you is that your first time you run a character through, you wil get an exotic. Now, it will be a Year One exotic, but if it has a year two version, you'll be able to buy that from the kiosk.
Let me know if you want to run through Prison of Elders, I like running that for Strange Coins. Level 28 POE has matchmaking, so thats usually what I do.
 
I ended up hitting rank 5 in SRL last night as I went on a huge winning streak.  I think over 15+ races (Edit: probably more like 30+ based on my 3 of coins usage) I only didn't place once or twice and I won probably 2/3 of them.  I've finally gotten the hang of this thing and now it is going to end.  Of course I got no more 320 helms.  I've gotten one in what has to be well over 100 races since I've hit rank 3.  So much for my RNG.

By the way it doesn't even cap out at rank 5 - now I am making progress towards 6.  I guess it never ends.   My reward was the same as for the other ranks - a piece of no-light armor (gloves in this case).  And it doesn't seem like the drops are any better at 5 just like they were no better at 4 than 3.  Oh well, it was something to aim for while trying for those 320's.  I have a TON of helms in the 313-317 range so whatever I get from Iron Banner is good to go.  After that I'll level up all my exotic helms to the 315 range.

Also, 3 of coins seems broken to me.  I used at least 20 last night (which means I did way more than 15 races as I usually only use them every other race!) and only got ONE exotic.  I've never had that low of a drop rate before.

I'll probably cram a few more races in for the drops before midnight tonight.   I guess I'll pass on the weekly crucible since I never could find anyone to run regular crucible matches with (sorry 100xp, I didn't get on till after 10 Pacific last night and you were done by then).  I really wished they'd start IB at reset like in the good ol' days but I'll probably have to wait till tomorrow night to play.  That is if it is happening at all this week - did we ever get confirmation of that, or was it just some time after SRL ends?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Swapped controllers after another mid race power failure, the Master Chief (controller) hasn't let me down since...going to see if my controller is still under warranty or hope Gamestop has another controller trade in deal. Every race seems to be 5 other racers are closely packed together or 2 racers who obviously know the track like the back of their hand and 1-2 racers that just do 1 lap and then idle til the end. I somehow managed to pull a 1st place last night but no 320's anymore, it's all bee 311 - 314ish. W/my play schedule I think I'm not going to be able to do the SRL bounties today or make it to rank 4 which I'm probably 3 bounties away from hitting.

Did 1st PoE w/Flacksguy, went pretty smoothly w/the 3rd random...and as the portal down to the chest for my guaranteed exotic was opening.

"You must be connected to the internet to play Destiny."

(B) Dismiss

So basically last night's PoE was a playable Demo w/the only tangible reward being faction rep. Reminds me of Fire Fight in Reach which I played a lot of trying to max out FF medals, i'll be doing that now that racing is coming to an end.

So I think what's happening aside from my ISP in cahoots w/Bungie to wave exotic carrots in my face is not to ever ever open my inventory screen before something loads. For PoE, that'll be me walking back to the air lock and not sprinting, and not looking down at the portal. (if it works, that's what I'll be doing haha).

...at least I still have my key and Io finally typed my name right this time. :D

 
Yeah, poor 100xp got disconnected right as we were dropping down to get the chests.
I can run another with you tonight if you want, I can use the strange coins.

Now remember, the exotic you get will be a year one, you just have to hope it has a year two counterpart, because that will unlock from the kiosk. So if you get a year one Red Death, you'll be able to buy the year two.

I reached Level 5 yesterday in SRL also. I teamed up with a group that was trading wins, and since I was only farming 3 of coins, I was fine with coming in last every race. Didn't get anything yesterday that was new, except for the Stag, but I hadly use my Warlock. I did get like my fifth Dragon's Breath, so I'll infuse that into something.

SRL has been awesome, on the one hand I'll be sorry to see it go because of all the great loot, but on the other hand I'm sick to death of those same two tracks.
 
Whatever exotic pops out of the chest will be sitting in my vault until I hit 300+ light but I'm down for another PoE run.

What is this kiosk that you speak of re: y 1 and y 2 counterparts? I understand about the exotic having a y 2 version, but not the other thing. Do you mean once you find an exotic you unlock the blueprint and can buy it whenever you want? assuming you have the coins or marks for it?

Had a great start in Crucible daily last night, MIDA/RDM's and long lanes were going great...then one of my offspring started crying so I had to go AFK somewhere and then it was all down hill from there. Ran out of shotgun ammo without knowing it and running into your enemy doesn't do any damage apparently. The moment she stopped crying and settled down for a minute, boom double kill, overwatch, narrow escape, enforcer, all that jazz. It's like they took the inhibitor off Jet Li in that movie. Then I had to make a bottle while the vultures were probably headshotting me w/banshee gunsmith weapons for data collection.

Am I expecting too much from my Party Crasher +1 shot gun w/full auto? I keep thinking it should fire as fast as the Saiga shotgun from MW:2...it doesn't seem to fire full auto, it just seems to fire normal if not slower than expected.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Its going to decrypt to a 170 no matter what light level you are, but yes you are correct, you'll unlock the blueprint of the year two version if it has one.
The year two version will be available to buy for like 150 Legendary Marks.

Any time you find an exotic, it unlocks from the kiosk, so yes you will be able to buy it again. Comes in handy if you want a second one for another character, or if you accidently dismantle an exotic. If you are buying a year two exotic that you already have, it only costs an exotic shard and 2500 glimmer.
 
Its going to decrypt to a 170 no matter what light level you are, but yes you are correct, you'll unlock the blueprint of the year two version if it has one.
The year two version will be available to buy for like 150 Legendary Marks.

Any time you find an exotic, it unlocks from the kiosk, so yes you will be able to buy it again. Comes in handy if you want a second one for another character, or if you accidently dismantle an exotic. If you are buying a year two exotic that you already have, it only costs an exotic shard and 2500 glimmer.
170?! - I guess I'm decrypting dat @#$% as soon as I get back to the tower.

Oh snap...that's how you get exotic shards, find a year 2, level it up, break it in half for 2 shards, upgrade what you're working on, rebuy it for 2500 glimmer!

damn this logic.

Edit: it still costs an exotic shard + 2500 glimmer...I'm thinking there is a formula to make this worth while, i.e. the hvy exotic/mote of light trick.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Also, 3 of coins seems broken to me. I used at least 20 last night (which means I did way more than 15 races as I usually only use them every other race!) and only got ONE exotic. I've never had that low of a drop rate before.
Mine during the initial launch of them was on average 1 for every 12 I used so really 1 out of 20 is fairly accurate for how poor my luck is with them. Consider yourself just lucky all the other times!

And damn I thought I was doing SRL a ton and I was a little over a quarter to Rank 5 and I still never got a 320 class armor : /

That being said after the event went away it still showed my standing when I went to go talk to Amanda. I wonder if we will keep our rankings into the next event or that is just a leftover piece and they will reset it when it comes back again with tracks presumably on the Cosmodrome and the Moon.

I did one quick Raid last night up until Oryx and as expected freaking Gologoroth dropped another pair of 320 boots for my Hunter (what I got last time from his Challenge mode). I suppose I can infuse them into others just annoying still. I did luckily get a 318 heavy drop from Warpriest so I was finally able to max out my Bolt-Caster. Had it sitting at 313 and I had a 320 waiting to infuse so I just was waiting on a filler to get it up a bit so I could max it at 320.

 
170?! - I guess I'm decrypting dat @#$% as soon as I get back to the tower.

Oh snap...that's how you get exotic shards, find a year 2, level it up, break it in half for 2 shards, upgrade what you're working on, rebuy it for 2500 glimmer!

damn this logic.

Edit: it still costs an exotic shard + 2500 glimmer...I'm thinking there is a formula to make this worth while, i.e. the hvy exotic/mote of light trick.
I did this with a secondary (one of the sniper rifles, I think). Used a special weapon telemetry. Pop a few motes of light. I believe it took 12 to level the sniper. Dismantle for two shards. Pocket one and use one to buy the gun again. Rinse and repeat until poor. It would be harder to do if you actually had to use mats on the weapon, hopefully Bungie doesn't patch that, but may as well take advantage while I can.

Thanks to rewards from racing I managed to get my character up to 310. I may have to try a full run through the hard raid. Only did it the one time when a couple CAGs did the warpriest challenge. My week is somewhat busy, but I might take a stab at it next week.

 
Getting an early start on Iron Banner, was on right when it went live.

I'm guessing I should hold my weekly bounties until tomorrow or Thursday at least, to get a little more rep.
 
Did 1st PoE w/Flacksguy, went pretty smoothly w/the 3rd random...and as the portal down to the chest for my guaranteed exotic was opening.

"You must be connected to the internet to play Destiny."

(B) Dismiss
Damn, you have the worst luck with those disconnects right at the end. I was going to say we should run through the level 35 PoE, but I could see you getting disconnected at the end of that as well. Anyway, it was so incredibly easy when I ran it the other day compared to how hard it used to be. More significantly, it is much faster now. That wave 5 Servitor boss, for example, used to take 20-30 minutes to down. I think we did it in 2 or 3. Then that Skolas bastard was cake. The whole thing used to take us 3-4 hours and now it is less than an hour.

Mine during the initial launch of them was on average 1 for every 12 I used so really 1 out of 20 is fairly accurate for how poor my luck is with them. Consider yourself just lucky all the other times!
When I was farming exotics early on by doing one of the Black Garden bosses over and over (and over, before they added the hidden cooldown timer) it was pretty uniformly an exotic every 4 or 5 Three of Coins. It only occasionally went to 6 or 7. Same with most of my racing up to then. That's why I was shocked to go through 10+ races using coins and not getting one.

Keep in mind there's a 6-10 minute timer so using them in consecutive races might be wasting the second use. The races are about 5 minutes apart depending on loading screens so I think it was best to use one every other race. But still, when I did that, it took 10+ uses (or 20+ races) during that one stretch which was just odd.

It returned a little more to normal late last night as I got one from Golgogorth and then again from a race not too long after. Of course both were useless (secondary and gloves, I think) - the most disappointing slot is secondary since I've had them all for so long and 310's aren't even good for infusion there. I did pull a Tarantella from one late last night (was from regular Crucible though) with a great roll - I immediately leveled it up with a buttload of motes and will be using it in Iron Banner. I just need more 310+ chest armor to max some of this stuff out. It seems so wrong to use lowly 310 armor ;).

Also, just to demonstrate the vagaries of RNG, I see you were disappointed with 320 boots. I'm hoping beyond hope to get those from the Golgoroth challenge this week. I have yet to get any, and on my Warlock my best boots are currently 314 - by far my lowest item slot.

As for Iron Banner, I'm excited to get started, though I do kind of wish there was a break with nothing happening in the game this week after all that SRL. And I have to do the Golgy challenge as well - which just seems like work at this point (but I want those 320 armor pieces!).

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Getting an early start on Iron Banner, was on right when it went live.

I'm guessing I should hold my weekly bounties until tomorrow or Thursday at least, to get a little more rep.
I'd hold them as long as possible until you can turn them in to hit rank 5 in one fell swoop. The increase in rep in the later days is huge if you wait. If you are staggering all 3 characters you will get even more rep from the 2x catch-up bonus. I always just focus on the daily bounties and turn them in every day. Usually only have to play a couple hours a day to get them done on all 3 characters.

I actually never even had to turn in the weeklies during the first iron banner after TTK dropped I hit rank 5/4/4 so easily. I know the rewards have changed since then though so it might be best to rank up to 3 ASAP and hope for drops now, especially if you know you are just going to play a ton, but my goal was always to get to 5/4/4 by playing the least amount of time possible and then stop for the week. I never wanted to grind game after game for a slim chance at RNG loot drops.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I actually never even had to turn in the weeklies during the first iron banner after TTK dropped I hit rank 5/4/4 so easily. I know the rewards have changed since then though so it might be best to rank up to 3 ASAP and hope for drops now, but my goal was always to get to 5/4/4 by playing the least amount of time possible and then stop for the week. I never wanted to grind game after game for a slim chance at RNG loot drops.
I think you do want to hit rank 2 or 3 a least as soon as possible.

I have completed weeklies (and some dailies) on each of my characters left over from last time. I'm trying to decide when to cash them in. The 2x catch-up bonus is a big deal, though. Last time I got one character to the next rank ASAP, then played the other 2 to catch up - then went back to the first one for rank 3, etc. I remember turning in my weekly stuff pretty early and I still ended up maxing rank 5 on all 3 with a few days to spare and with leftover weeklies to save for this time.

Then again, I was intentionally grinding IB to get the 320 ghost shells last time, so I wasn't concerned with minimizing my path to rank 5 necessarily. I've seen so many people complaining about ghost shells holding them back and yet they were so easy to get last IB. I think the ghost was my first 320 and I got one for each character even. I did way less grinding of IB to get 3 320's than I did of SRL to get just 1. It's just frustrating now because everyone wants to run the tedious Totems part of the Raid (for a very slim chance at a high level ghost) instead of just starting on War Priest checkpoints. Had they just taken care of their business last IB I wouldn't have to waste my time there ;). (And yes, I realize 3 320 shells was probably super lucky but it took minimal effort to get at least a couple of 315 range ones).

In any case, I'll be on in a bit if anyone wants to run IB (or the Raid).

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Picked it up today, made a new Hunter and used my level 25 boost. Realizing that I have to grind out all of the upgrades still. Very lame. Turns out my Warlock is only 20. I went on a House of Wolves mission and keep dying because I'm not killing glowy squares that aren't even fucking there. I got pissed after like 10 deaths and quit. I think I might go back to the Warlock...

 
Picked it up today, made a new Hunter and used my level 25 boost. Realizing that I have to grind out all of the upgrades still. Very lame. Turns out my Warlock is only 20. I went on a House of Wolves mission and keep dying because I'm not killing glowy squares that aren't even fucking there. I got pissed after like 10 deaths and quit. I think I might go back to the Warlock...
Is that the Oracle mission in the Vault of Glass area? I had to help 100xp100 with that as well - if you haven't done them before it is hard to know what you are looking for. Add me and I'll help you there. And hey, if you need a Refer-A-Friend partner I know someone who is looking for one.

 
I think you do want to hit rank 2 or 3 a least as soon as possible.

I have completed weeklies (and some dailies) on each of my characters left over from last time. I'm trying to decide when to cash them in. The 2x catch-up bonus is a big deal, though. Last time I got one character to the next rank ASAP, then played the other 2 to catch up - then went back to the first one for rank 3, etc. I remember turning in my weekly stuff pretty early and I still ended up maxing rank 5 on all 3 with a few days to spare and with leftover weeklies to save for this time.

Then again, I was intentionally grinding IB to get the 320 ghost shells last time, so I wasn't concerned with minimizing my path to rank 5 necessarily. I've seen so many people complaining about ghost shells holding them back and yet they were so easy to get last IB. I think the ghost was my first 320 and I got one for each character even. I did way less grinding of IB to get 3 320's than I did of SRL to get just 1. It's just frustrating now because everyone wants to run the tedious Totems part of the Raid (for a very slim chance at a high level ghost) instead of just starting on War Priest checkpoints. Had they just taken care of their business last IB I wouldn't have to waste my time there ;).

In any case, I'll be on in a bit if anyone wants to run IB (or the Raid).
Are the 320 IB ghosts guaranteed drops for hitting max rank or still RNG based? I completely skipped the last one since the rewards were garbage the first one. I knew they were improving them, but I was in a Destiny rut (similar to now) and didn't want to bother playing IB. If you are guaranteed one I might mess around on one character just to get one since I have so many weeklies saved still.

 
Are the 320 IB ghosts guaranteed drops for hitting max rank or still RNG based? I completely skipped the last one since the rewards were garbage the first one. I knew they were improving them, but I was in a Destiny rut (similar to now) and didn't want to bother playing IB. If you are guaranteed one I might mess around on one character just to get one since I have so many weeklies saved still.
The first IB was horrible as you remember. It was much better with the second one. No drops are guaranteed (though you can buy the armor pieces at certain ranks). But I got several ghost shells ranging from 311-320 and I didn't play it all that much. I mean, I probably got 7 or 8 total and was lucky to have 3 of them be 320. I also got several armor drops. I think I ended up buying a piece or two from Saladin just because the rolls were better. I don't think the ghosts started dropping until rank 3 or 4 though - so the key is to get up there ASAP and then just play.

Also, the big thing is that when you hit rank 5 you get a package drop that contains an item in the 310-320 range. That's how some people got the helm last time as it wasn't for sale or a normal drop. My RNG on the package drops was pretty bad (2 of my 3 were 314-ish boots, which were one of the normal drops already). I did get a 319 rocket launcher though, which at the time was a high drop (of course since then the WarPriest challenge has outclassed that). But the hems are supposedly part of the loot table this time and they are cool enough to grind for, especially considering all the SRL helms I have stored up and ready for infusion,

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Damn, you have the worst luck with those disconnects right at the end. I was going to say we should run through the level 35 PoE, but I could see you getting disconnected at the end of that as well. Anyway, it was so incredibly easy when I ran it the other day compared to how hard it used to be. More significantly, it is much faster now. That wave 5 Servitor boss, for example, used to take 20-30 minutes to down. I think we did it in 2 or 3. Then that Skolas bastard was cake. The whole thing used to take us 3-4 hours and now it is less than an hour.

<clip clip>

As for Iron Banner, I'm excited to get started, though I do kind of wish there was a break with nothing happening in the game this week after all that SRL. And I have to do the Golgy challenge as well - which just seems like work at this point (but I want those 320 armor pieces!).
We totally should run <everything> despite the potential for a disconnect. haha.

While I'm reluctantly confident I will disconnect again at a crucial point, it's been less frequent as of late due to my controlled OCD and not having to check my quest and inventory mid loading or mid flight or after the boss id down any longer. So I'm hoping my theory of not rushing to the air lock after the PoE has ended and definitely not opening any screens should work.

Plus, if it only takes you 2-3 minutes doing PoE wave (maybe 3-4 w/my light level and you guys), I'll do it just for the fun of it...then hopefully the rep of it, and lastly the reward should my ISP hold out til then. I still only have the 1st key however, not sure if that works on Skolas' PoE etc. This game is still very new to me so I haven't experienced farm fatigue yet, so any raid, strike, nightfall, patrol, geology mission, dance dance revolution party that reps some form of progress I'm down for.

Did the daily strike last night w/2 randoms...died at the boss at the end, saw the purple and blues drop and watched my 2 teammates dance while the mission counter started to chip away. I said out loud to the screen, "Revive please." and luckily one of them ran over to do so and I picked up my nothing better than what I already have engrams.

I had a great Control match last night on Frontier, MIDA/RDM again w/the bladedancer and speed strafing ftw. So glad I bought them from Xur when I had the chance not knowing how strong the pairing would be. Even managed to complete data collection using a Banshee's armsday handcannon, and I'm not a fan of handcannons yet.

Light up to 297...hopefully by event's end that'll be over 300+ along with some of these knightly looking gears. I definitely want to Fire Team it up so I can get rid of these fire team specific bounties and of course the power of communication during a match.

Play time tonight should be as usual for the usual length of time.

 
Picked it up today, made a new Hunter and used my level 25 boost. Realizing that I have to grind out all of the upgrades still. Very lame. Turns out my Warlock is only 20. I went on a House of Wolves mission and keep dying because I'm not killing glowy squares that aren't even fucking there. I got pissed after like 10 deaths and quit. I think I might go back to the Warlock...
Yeah that mission...

Before Io helped me split the responsibility of popping glowly squares, it seemed impossible and when I finally got somewhat of an idea after reading forums and following the radar, it'd get caught up add ons and fail. After I deemed it a lost cause I just went and did other story missions in the interim. Plenty to do in Destiny in it's current state.

The irony is you & I basically started at the same point in the game. My warlock is 19 before I stopped and then picked up TTK, also used the Spark of Light on a Hunter and got stuck on the Oracle mission...while having nothing unlocked after the spark is crappy, at least the game gears you w/level decent gear once you get to the tower then vanilla story missions are cake while leveling whatever subclass you decided on.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The key is for the chest at the end of any level PoE.

I played way too much Iron Banner tonight and didn't get my Golgoroth challenges done.  The good news is that the helms seem to be dropping pretty frequently.  I already got 2 on my Titan and 1 on my Warlock.  One of them I got at rank 1, one at rank 2, and I'm not sure about the 3rd one.  The one that dropped at rank 2 was a 306 I think, though, so that was better than I expected.  I have all these SRL helms to infuse them up anyway but if they start dropping higher then that just makes it easier.  Maybe they are making it like the SRL ranks where they drop higher as you rank up.  It definitely didn't work that way in IB before so it remains to be seen if that was just a randomly high roll.  The other 2 that I got were in the 270-295 range so that one stood out.

My friend hit rank 3 and got a class item to drop so that seems to be the trigger for that.  I think it was rank 4 for ghost shells last time.  I certainly haven't seen any drop this time but pretty much no one is rank 4 yet.

 
The key is for the chest at the end of any level PoE.

I played way too much Iron Banner tonight and didn't get my Golgoroth challenges done. The good news is that the helms seem to be dropping pretty frequently. I already got 2 on my Titan and 1 on my Warlock. One of them I got at rank 1, one at rank 2, and I'm not sure about the 3rd one. The one that dropped at rank 2 was a 306 I think, though, so that was better than I expected. I have all these SRL helms to infuse them up anyway but if they start dropping higher then that just makes it easier. Maybe they are making it like the SRL ranks where they drop higher as you rank up. It definitely didn't work that way in IB before so it remains to be seen if that was just a randomly high roll. The other 2 that I got were in the 270-295 range so that one stood out.

My friend hit rank 3 and got a class item to drop so that seems to be the trigger for that. I think it was rank 4 for ghost shells last time. I certainly haven't seen any drop this time but pretty much no one is rank 4 yet.
Oh snap.

Let's visit Skolas if you need a break tonight from bannering.

Edit: I am more excite now knowing you get one of hose funky tripod ships from the chest assuming I can stay linked to the matrix after Skolas goes down for a nap.

If the helms are dropping relatively frequently, I'm guessing SRL into IB's drops are going according to plan. Seems logical. The stats on my best SRL helm is better for racing than for PVE/P ing anyhow. I haven't checked the stats yet but I'm hoping the hunter helm or whatever helm that I might get is worth infusing to 320 as my everyday helmet. Same w/the hunter cloak.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Got two of my Golgoroth challenges done and both dropped shitty rolled boots at 320... I was really hoping for chest or arms but whatever I used my Hunter's spare 320 on my Titans old boots I liked and then I will use my Titan's 320 gained boots on my Warlock haha. Hopefully my Warlock can score a solid chest or arms!

I did some IB last night too and damn as always with IB there is far more lag than a normal day in Crucible. Either way though it was a nice change of pace from mindless raiding. I didn't see a single IB drop however in my few hours playing so hopefully I start seeing some of that io luck soon! ; P

 
How does the taint debuff work vs. Skolas? I'm reading it and I'm trying to comprehend if you need to time passing it to the next player w/in the 30 seconds or just before the 30 seconds is up to maximize the amount of green screen vision you're experiencing. Do you run up to the next guy in line, do you hop on their head like Mario? Does it have an AoE/Aura?

I'm hoping w/Io's 2-3 minute round that it won't needed to be passed around too often.

Also, what would you recommend be the best hunter subclass for it? My guess is Nightstalker for supporting the 2 other guardians who will no doubt have light 10-15 points higher than mine.

I'll be on late tonight with a more stable internet connection. So fire teams and uninterrupted play is definitely on the menu.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
How does the taint debuff work vs. Skolas? I'm reading it and I'm trying to comprehend if you need to time passing it to the next player w/in the 30 seconds or just before the 30 seconds is up to maximize the amount of green screen vision you're experiencing. Do you run up to the next guy in line, do you hop on their head like Mario? Does it have an AoE/Aura?

I'm hoping w/Io's 2-3 minute round that it won't needed to be passed around too often.

Also, what would you recommend be the best hunter subclass for it? My guess is Nightstalker for supporting the 2 other guardians who will no doubt have light 10-15 points higher than mine.

I'll be on late tonight with a more stable internet connection. So fire teams and uninterrupted play is definitely on the menu.
Tonight may not be the best for me for Skolas, but we'll see. My Raid team is planning to Raid some time today but earlier than usual which means during dinner and such. Then I might have to hop off until late tonight (like 10-11 pm Pacific) when I'll be back on for whatever but I know that is late for you.

The Skolas taint needs to be passed (the recipient just presses 'X' I think to take it) near the end of the countdown. The problem is that you are then are immune from taking it back for a while, so you need all 3 people passing it around with decent timing. That used to be really difficult with all the adds a level above you and doing double damage (while you did half damage). The adds are still a pain when you are dealing with the taint, but much more manageable. You just have to stick together. I'm not sure about Nightstalker as we didn't have that when we ran it originally. But Bladedancer with invis ability is always useful in PoE to grab mine control points - but maybe not as necessary as it used to be.

And I'm not sure about 2-3 minute rounds. Maybe each wave in each round takes that long...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I haven't played Destiny in a few weeks, but I'm kind of itching for a raid run.  Anyone going to be on tonight for a Kings Fall or Crota's End?  I'd kind of like to get that Golgoroth challenge on hard more done. 

 
bread's done
Back
Top