Thorn, and how it taught me to play Crucible (Destiny)

by Up North 65 , Tuesday, January 20, 2015, 20:02 (3384 days ago)

So I finally finished the Crucible portion of Thorn today. Overall it took somewhere between 15 to 20 games to finish. This was my second time rolling the bounty, the first time I gave up due to a craptastic K/D and no real experience in PvP. But over the past two weeks Mr. Banana has had his Circle of Slaughter Crucible Destructo-Fests and I slowly started learning. I still play par, sometimes sub par, with a K/D that floats between .8 on a bad slide up to 2 if I get teamed with a good team or a map that I can work with. So with my green void Nox Cantor and void Cure I set out on my journey. On the gun selection, I wasn't about to go buy a shotgun as I definitely can't play with those, and I didn't want to go buy yet another machine gun just for the bounty.

I definitely started slow, telling myself to just play one gamest a time, and depending on the outcome go again or drop out. It definitely was the right mindset as I pulled in a weak first game and finished with 13 points toward the gun. So instead of continuing and start sliding down the doubt slope I played one game using my usual load out and playing conservatively, just getting the PvE out and rebooting the PvP. It worked and I went positive which always makes me happy. This started a streak which took me all the way to the midpoint of the bounty. Then the slide happened. I didn't manage to lose any points thankfully but progress was really slow and the anger was affecting my play style.

Thats when I quit. No reason to continually beat your head against a wall when its completely detrimental. I went and looked at the pretty things in the game and shot some aliens in the head till I calmed down and felt comfortable. The second half of the bounty went smoothly, even if I went negative I managed enough kills to progress relatively quickly. I finished my second to last game at 479 out of 500 and then Blind Watch rolled. Now playing my way with a scout rifle I really like this map, but I never really played it inside at B. It started well, and then I started steam rolling. I finished with probably my best game ever and won't be a long while till I get another The Best...Around.

Some lessons learned for those plagued by the Crucible portions of the bounties:
- Take your time, both in game play and overall with the bounty itself. Anger leads to piss poor performances.

- On each map pick your home base. I really like Point A at Rusted Lands, I know the entrances really well and can maneuver inside it. You might not get the most points on your team but the bounties aren't abut points so hang back and be patient.

-Watch your radar. I don't know how many people got vaporized jumping through the windows at Delphi because I timed the charge with the radar.

-Pick your battles and recognize the limitations of your chosen weapons. Don't be cross-mapping with a fusion rifle.

-Dont be so focused on void kills you pass up an easy melee to finish him and get smoked in the process. Ya the kill doesn't count, but you don't lose 3 points as well.

So if you have given up on the bounty before and get it again, give'r a little time. Play some Crucible with others to pick up on different play styles. Go in with a mindset that you'll play till it starts going pear shaped and then back out and cool off a bit. I seriously did not think I could finish the bounty the first time I got it and had doubts going into this try but it paid off in the end.

Now I'm off to finish Xyor with my shiny new Black Hammer (thanks again Beorn) and get started on the Invective bounty that has been taking up a slot for a while.

TLDR: Take the bounty slow and don't skip the whole post just to read this:)