Few may realize it, but recently I'd taken an extended break from Destiny to revisit the Mass Effect series... and then sorta accidentally stumbled into the "this would be good if only..." mess that is Fable 3... but I've returned and I'm having a ridiculously good time! Here, have some highlights:

- Something about the way Destiny's Destinations are laid out is very pleasing to me. Sure, I wish there was more to do, but just roaming about Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars, and Oryx's Dreadnought gives this great sense of artistry and place. Yes, each "bubble" is cleverly cordoned off from the next via blind turns or big hills for performance and rendering reasons, but making those turns or going over those hills into a new map section is still a little breath taking. You can go from a canyon, tunnel, or drainage ditch to seeing a line of now ancient hopeful spaceships still waiting to fulfill their mission, or a distant city buried under red-orange sand, or a giant terrifying hole drilled deep into the moon we think of as calm, unchanging, and pristine.

Often times I get so focused on gameplay and achieving objectives that I forget to really look at the scenery. When I do remember, I still can't help but say: "Wow."

- Was playing Patrol with Unoudid and... eh... someone... (sorry!) and we were hunting down Taken events and similar stuff and you know what? Rushing from one side of Venus or Mars or Earth to the other hoping I can get there in time to reinforce my Fireteam felt amazing. As did calling for their support when I found an event or a needed objective. If Destiny 2 has substantial improvements to Patrol, I'd love to see deliberate support for cross-bubble missions where a Fireteam needs to spilt up to achieve simultaneous objectives only to have to regroup to bail one member out of a giant ambush or enemy counter attack.

- Speaking of giant enemy attacks, I still really enjoy the Taken events because they can sometimes be challenging even for a full fire team. There's one in particular I've seen twice in the last few days that is very difficult. It's the combination of a Prevent Vex Suicides + Taken invasion centered around that big central hill on the Shattered Coast. Both times I "failed" the Vex event (even with substantial high level help!) and only barely beat the Taken once. And that's awesome.

Sometimes winning every time gets boring and "gentle failure" (unlike say the old " everything is unfairly stacked against you and you just lost now go back to orbit and start over from the beginning" nightfalls) due to challenging but "fair" overwhelming odds can be a blast.

- I've also been having a great time in the Crucible playing alongside DBO regulars and have been doing particularly good with my Striker lately. Here's a couple of clips from the same game.

First, just a little demonstration of a Striker vs Sniper on Skyshock:

Second, about a minute later, a seriously fun battle for Control Point B. Technically, each team lost 5 but our side had a Striker Left Standing:

Second, about a minute later, a seriously fun battle for Control Point B. Technically, each team lost 5 but our side had a Striker Left Standing:

I see that you have double mellee charges, but it looks like you keep instantly getting the charges back? what is with that?

So glad to finally see the video of you getting 5 of those people after the awesome nova bomb by the other team.

And yeah, Destiny is a lot of fun still. You just have to remember to step back a bit and not be so focused on the loot.

On Monday night I ended up exploring the lighthouse for probably two hours just looking at everything and trying to jump to places I shouldn't be able to get. I had an incredible time just being in that space with nothing to really do. It's things like this that make the spaces so fun to spend time in. With that said, I still wish patrol areas could be a little more like skyrim/fallout where you can just walk forever and explore whatever you see and can walk to.

Overload, the first option on the Storm Fist tree give 2x recharge rate + each charged hit has a chance to give back the charge. Combine that with An Insurmountable Skullfort and a bit of luck and you can string several charged melees in a row. Currently, my Crucible Striker setup is a Intellect / Discipline build because that option cuts the melee recharge time down to a fast 30 seconds... so I kinda get all three skills maxed out. :)

Second, about a minute later, a seriously fun battle for Control Point B. Technically, each team lost 5 but our side had a Striker Left Standing:

I see that you have double mellee charges, but it looks like you keep instantly getting the charges back? what is with that?

That's the beauty of An Insurmountable Skullfort. :)

Overload, the first option on the Storm Fist tree give 2x recharge rate + each charged hit has a chance to give back the charge. Combine that with An Insurmountable Skullfort and a bit of luck and you can string several charged melees in a row. Currently, my Crucible Striker setup is a Intellect / Discipline build because that option cuts the melee recharge time down to a fast 30 seconds... so I kinda get all three skills maxed out. :)

Forgot about that perk where you have a chance to insta-charge your melee... Not to mention you got super lucky on how many times you did! holy crap!

Also, well done :-D

- No text -

Then I switched to Discharge.

Watching 3+ thrall disintigrate from a single punch is pretty good.

Yep, I run Discharge in single player stuff most of the time just for that. Also, the current Overload is better than it was back during Crota since it didn't previously speed up recharge.

This thread made me smile ear to ear until you mentioned exploring the lighthouse. (Fun for thee but probably never for me :( .)

Seriously, though, I love Destiny. To me it's just gotten better with each update, and like Raga said, they nailed the part about creating spaces that feel good to be in. It's gaming comfort food for me.

I've gotten into this routine where on Saturday I seem to inevitably find a newbie roaming around the Steppes. I offer assistance, dumb down my armor and weapons, then just shadow them, showing them gold chests, not actually killing much but helping them take down the yellow bar shields now and then. It's a fun way for me to remember my first few days and weeks playing Destiny.

Had an awesome crucible game this morning. It's nice to be the star of the show once in a while. Had some super smooth Raid fights last week and some tough ones where we couldn't pull off the kill before bedtime. Enjoyed both.

Kermit

Few may realize it, but recently I'd taken an extended break from Destiny to revisit the Mass Effect series... and then sorta accidentally stumbled into the "this would be good if only..." mess that is Fable 3... but I've returned and I'm having a ridiculously good time! Here, have some highlights:

Thanks for writing this! I haven't played Destiny since SLR. I wasn't playing any other games in the interim for that matter but recently have had the opportunity to play Fallout 4 for the first time. And now I have a hard time deciding why I shouldn't quit my job, destroy my social life, and ruin my health playing it 24 hours a day.

But reading this made me excited to play Destiny again soon! Maybe once I get through some more of my backlog.