It wouldn't be random (Destiny)

by yakaman, Tuesday, January 13, 2015, 06:32 (3400 days ago) @ stabbim

I have MIDA Multi-Tool, but I can't figure out what supposedly makes it better (Exotic) than many legendary scout rifles.

MIDA's an odd one because it doesn't have one outlandish perk that makes it behave differently in a major way. Its excellence is a combination of little details:

• It makes you move faster. Note that this isn't just an agility buff like most guns, but actually increases sprint speed (and consequently, jump distance - horizontal, I mean). As far as I know, it's the only thing outside of the Blade Dancer's "fleet footed" perk which does so.
  
  
• The scope zooms extremely fast, and seems to have excellent target acquisition (tendency to hit criticals). Combined with the movement speed buff, you're able to move into position and nail headshots before the enemy knows what's happening.
  
  
• Reload speed is maxed. With an armor piece that buffs reload, or chain of woe, reloads are so quick they barely factor in.
  
  
• It has a tendency to stagger enemies frequently (this isn't a perk that unlocks later, it's right out of the box, ever since the great exotic buff of '14). As long as the Angry skull isn't on, you can stun-lock most enemies on your own. In fact, the "troll smasher" part of its flavor text isn't just fluff - it's quite possible to face down Ogres on open ground just by shooting them in the face. It's also easy to stop melee attackers who get in your face.

All of these things combined work out very well for a player who wants to move about the battlefield quickly and efficiently. I find that it feels just right on my Hunter - makes her feel like a Ninja. When I'm using it, I always feel like I have the edge in terms of movement/positioning and ability to react.

The two problems MIDA does have are that the range isn't very good for a scout rifle, and the scope is a little weird, not in its functionality but in the way it looks. It doesn't bother me after having used it for a while, but that upside-down V thing takes some getting used to.

Maybe it comes down to personal preference. I value crowd control more than I do 'major foe impact' (or however you want to refer to great against big baddies). For such, the Firefly perk available in many legendarys absolutely rules - single head shots can take out (or greatly diminish) huge groups of thralls or goblins.

Reload speed almost doesn't matter in PvE...I just don't find myself ever limited in this way. In PvP I can see why this would be valuable, but until a scout rifle has a real mid-range advantage over an fully automatic auto-rifle, I'll stick to my hand cannon.

Movement speed is the same. Now, I can understand that it feels awesome - that's probably the trait most likely to make me use it...but as far as real impact?

Yeah, I guess play style probably factors in. But, why does 'The Swarm' (legendary machine gun) seem to perform so much better than 'Super Good Advice'? I have 'Invective', but it fails to impress every time I use it. In PvP it does alright, but in PvE it's pretty mundane.

Maybe I don't have the right Exotics? But even that shows the failing...if some Exotics are more exotic than others, then really, there are only a few true exotics. Which in turn means that there's really only a few guns worth pursuing.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy the variety of weapons available in Destiny; I'm only saying that I kinda don't give a shit about any Exotic except Gjallerhorn, and that's probably not what Bungie was going for.

I'm probably doing it wrong.