What makes a good raid? (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Friday, July 01, 2016, 20:22 (2856 days ago) @ Cody Miller

The best weapons and armor should be needed to defeat the hardest enemies. They should not be rewards from the hardest enemies. Rather, the rewards for beating the hardest enemies should be purely cosmetic bragging rights items, like shaders, emblems, and ships. I absolutely hate that good players who are able to beat a raid boss are suddenly given an easier time beating that boss down the line, creating a "skilled players have vastly better gear AND more skill than unskilled players" situation (which then carries over into PvP). You should also not have to be able to clear the raid in order to compete in top tier PvP (though I'm fine with it helping - I just don't want it to be necessary like it was in VoG days). Similarly, you should not need PvP gear in order to be a successful raider (hasn't happened yet, but I want to make sure everyone knows I view this as a two way street).

I also love the exploration and wonder of VoG and KF. I know you say there isn't any in KF, but I think the initial spaceship jumping puzzle is full of wonder - it's gorgeous and fantastic. Even the golgoroth maze is pretty cool that way, though I wish the doors were randomly open or closed each time so you had to find a different way through the maze every run of the raid.

I also think that raid encounters should have room for players to step up and be "clutch." I dislike the Oryx fight because if someone dies, it's a wipe no matter what. There's no cushion of time where an aware player can take action to save the day. Die on a pressure plate, it's a wipe. Die if you have the spark, it's a wipe. I think the most fun raid encounters (and most memorable ones) are the ones where something unexpected happen and someone had to break ranks and go a little crazy to save the day. I remember my first Aetheon kill, two of us were almost completely blind as we came out for the final round of DPS, and the whole rest of the raid was dead, just screaming at us to shoot him for that last pixel of health. And thank god Gjallerhorn tracked because I couldn't hit beans with my sniper rifle, but the other guy just jumped up, aimed about where he thought the rocket should go, and brought the big guy down. It was amazing.