https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/45354/

• max light increasing to 400
  
• some activities will return up to 400-light items
  
• nightfall increased to 380-light recommended
  
• more Artifacts and Ghosts from Archon Forge, up to 400 light
  
• More Ghosts from Faction packages and more artifacts from Eris
  
• Update 2.4.1 at 10am on 10/19/2016 (pacific)
  
• Heroic raid at 2pm on 10/18/2016
  
• some stuff is broken, some is fixed, etc

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I am apparently not hardcore enough for this game anymore. My single character running at 369 is incredibly behind. I haven't even bothered with the nightfall yet, guess I should do that before the changes.

Don't like the new "time sink"-ness. I'd be less worried, but I feel content is dropping way way too quickly. I'd have to be playing 15-20 hrs a week of destiny to even come close to keeping up with their aggressive schedule.

I don't understand why they don't stretch the content out a bit longer. Maybe they have more planned as they go, but TTK kind of went this direction as well, with a few months of very little after challenge modes dropped. Seems like a mistake, but maybe statistics say otherwise and I'm no longer their target market.

I'm not sure I understand what the issue is, aside from the Nightfall, all the other content is the same difficulty, but just happens to drop higher light level gear. This will actually speed up leveling up your character.

This will also be most likely be the last light increase for at least 3 months, and could possibly be the last light level increase ever for Destiny 1. The most we know about after this is Festival of the Lost (probably next week or the next) and SRL in December, both of which your light level won't matter for. So your level 369 Guardian is fine, should barely notice a change when you turn on the game after Tuesday, he has an abundance of time to get to the right level to play hard mode.

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"Archon’s Forge, the Heroic SIVA Strike playlist, and Legendary Engrams will now provide rewards up to 385 Light".

So after running any of these activities a few times, your light level should fly up. Legendary engrams seem to be in an abundance since RoI dropped in my experience.

T

It took me a minute to figure it out, but then I realized the guy setting everything up is Rick and the guy asking questions and being generally amazed is Morty. Weird, right?

I am apparently not hardcore enough for this game anymore. My single character running at 369 is incredibly behind. I haven't even bothered with the nightfall yet, guess I should do that before the changes.

Behind what? You're not behind, you just have a smaller number. I guess that matters for hard mode raiding and trials, but that's the only place I can think of where that would really matter. Even IB is super forgiving of lower light levels. Nothing else in the game really cares about your light, and you shouldn't either.

Don't like the new "time sink"-ness. I'd be less worried, but I feel content is dropping way way too quickly. I'd have to be playing 15-20 hrs a week of destiny to even come close to keeping up with their aggressive schedule.

There's nothing new about Destiny being a time-sink for bigger light level numbers. If anything the new content is the fastest they've had, even though it's still super slow. Enjoy the journey!

As for "new content" you're saying hard mode raid coming 1 month after normal mode raid is too quickly? Because there is no other new content being dropped here. I think you're being distracted by the bigger numbers and forgetting that there's very little of actual substance going on here.

I don't understand why they don't stretch the content out a bit longer. Maybe they have more planned as they go, but TTK kind of went this direction as well, with a few months of very little after challenge modes dropped. Seems like a mistake, but maybe statistics say otherwise and I'm no longer their target market.

Please no. There's so little content in this xpac that stretching it further would be horrible. Was TTK slow as hell with months of nothing? Yes. But making the existing content fill that gap is not nearly the same as making enough content to fill that gap. Either way you slice it, the game lacks content. Front load it or slowly drizzle it out, it's still not enough to cover the ground it needs to.

I am apparently not hardcore enough for this game anymore. My single character running at 369 is incredibly behind. I haven't even bothered with the nightfall yet, guess I should do that before the changes.

Don't like the new "time sink"-ness. I'd be less worried, but I feel content is dropping way way too quickly. I'd have to be playing 15-20 hrs a week of destiny to even come close to keeping up with their aggressive schedule.

I don't understand why they don't stretch the content out a bit longer. Maybe they have more planned as they go, but TTK kind of went this direction as well, with a few months of very little after challenge modes dropped. Seems like a mistake, but maybe statistics say otherwise and I'm no longer their target market.

Yeah, along with the others who've replied, I read that as making the game a little less time-sinky (and I'm only playing because of how much less time-sinky it is compared to the olden days).

Almost all existing activities are raising the max gear level for dropped gear and leaving their difficulty the same. Makes it easier to get higher level gear. Essentially you should either keep ascending at the same pace as before or faster, depending on where in the curve you are at any given time.

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Here is how it went for me

Read first line
"If you consumed your dose of developer commentary last week"
stop reading
Think, did I miss a separate special web post of some kind last week?
Click link
Strangely last weeks THAB pops up
Search last weeks THAB for any Developer Commentary, which I may have missed, find none.
Scratch head
Shrug
Go back to reading this weeks THAB

So we are calling the THAB developer commentary now???????

When Senior Designer Victoria Dollbaum was introduced, pertaining to engrams, I was foolishly hoping we were going to get word of an update or menu toggle that was going to halt green engrams from delivering to the postmaster. Nope

Do we know what the recommended Light Level is for the Heroic Raid? Seems like an essential detail, but has not been publicized as of yet I don't think?

Who is The Archivist?

Anyone that attended the Twitch stream know what this is talking about?

2. Never tease a secret code without alerting the community to the fact that not all amusing Easter Eggs hatch to reveal Exotic Weapons.

This is a great line

There is no playbook [for this] We’re writing it as we go along. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

I believ the Archivist they speak of is Tyra Karn.

I am apparently not hardcore enough for this game anymore. My single character running at 369 is incredibly behind. I haven't even bothered with the nightfall yet, guess I should do that before the changes.

Don't like the new "time sink"-ness. I'd be less worried, but I feel content is dropping way way too quickly. I'd have to be playing 15-20 hrs a week of destiny to even come close to keeping up with their aggressive schedule.

I don't understand why they don't stretch the content out a bit longer. Maybe they have more planned as they go, but TTK kind of went this direction as well, with a few months of very little after challenge modes dropped. Seems like a mistake, but maybe statistics say otherwise and I'm no longer their target market.

Try not to worry about it :)

Leveling up during the early days of RoI sucked. It was purely a time-sink. Between Trials & IB, and now these new updates, it is steadily getting easier. We're in the crappy post-release zone right now, where light level is a constant point of contention. Another month or two down the road, everything will start to even out and none of this will feel like much of a problem anymore :)

Leveling up during the early days of RoI sucked. It was purely a time-sink. Between Trials & IB, and now these new updates, it is steadily getting easier. We're in the crappy post-release zone right now, where light level is a constant point of contention. Another month or two down the road, everything will start to even out and none of this will feel like much of a problem anymore :)

Speaking of which who wants to play trials this weekend?

Anyone that attended the Twitch stream know what this is talking about?

2. Never tease a secret code without alerting the community to the fact that not all amusing Easter Eggs hatch to reveal Exotic Weapons.

Nope, but it has something to do with this and a PvP map.

https://twitter.com/_mantis_/status/786588963616149505

Derek

I'm not sure I understand what the issue is, aside from the Nightfall, all the other content is the same difficulty, but just happens to drop higher light level gear. This will actually speed up leveling up your character.

True. I'm sure this is the developer coming out in me. There's not a great reason that I can see that LL changed once at RoI release and then again so soon, other than artificially keeping people low for a few weeks so the normal mode raid was "more challenging". They could have changed the caps in different places and allowed a 400 LL system without having to bump it twice like this. To me this is just airing the underpinnings of the system a bit too much, and showing the treadmill. There are better ways to go about it. Bungie is better than that. IMO. No need to change the cap on blues and legendaries like they have been from what I can see.

I guess I feel like LL should progress with the content, and with RoI anything but is happening for me. I'm not one to "grind for gear", yet I feel forced into that with this expansion.

This will also be most likely be the last light increase for at least 3 months, and could possibly be the last light level increase ever for Destiny 1. The most we know about after this is Festival of the Lost (probably next week or the next) and SRL in December, both of which your light level won't matter for. So your level 369 Guardian is fine, should barely notice a change when you turn on the game after Tuesday, he has an abundance of time to get to the right level to play hard mode.

I've felt behind most of this expansion actually. I've gotten in the habit (for avoiding spoilers for RoI) to ignore news, so I had forgotten about Currently on a consistent basis I generally raid, run IB and run trials. All of which my light level matters for. Just to feel "raid ready" probably half my time was -not- enjoying the new content. Rather it was running old strikes looking for light level upgrades, and hoping exotic engrams dropped, again mostly for light level. I've gotten very little gains from a few hours spent in the archon's forge.

On the blind raid, my first, I had just hit 360/361. The raid gave me I think 1.5 LL's (without aksis, we didn't get done that first week). IB + trials took me up to being right on the line at 367/8 and a full raid run Tuesday night took me to 369. I very much felt my LL when running against 380+ players, in both IB and Trials last week. (I've only played Monday/Tuesday this week, including IB/Trials/raid)

So I guess LL is just in my face way more than it is for other people because of the activities I want to be participating in.

I am apparently not hardcore enough for this game anymore. My single character running at 369 is incredibly behind. I haven't even bothered with the nightfall yet, guess I should do that before the changes.

Behind what? You're not behind, you just have a smaller number. I guess that matters for hard mode raiding and trials, but that's the only place I can think of where that would really matter. Even IB is super forgiving of lower light levels. Nothing else in the game really cares about your light, and you shouldn't either.

See my above post. It does matter in some contexts, though to be fair, all content is indeed playable at my current light level.

Don't like the new "time sink"-ness. I'd be less worried, but I feel content is dropping way way too quickly. I'd have to be playing 15-20 hrs a week of destiny to even come close to keeping up with their aggressive schedule.

There's nothing new about Destiny being a time-sink for bigger light level numbers. If anything the new content is the fastest they've had, even though it's still super slow. Enjoy the journey!

As for "new content" you're saying hard mode raid coming 1 month after normal mode raid is too quickly? Because there is no other new content being dropped here. I think you're being distracted by the bigger numbers and forgetting that there's very little of actual substance going on here.

I'd have preferred the raid come out a month after release and the HM raid 6-8 weeks after the normal raid. I don't want the content super fast and then have 3-4 months of whatever. I'd like to enjoy the ride of moving through things rather than rushing to try and raid with my fellow DBOers that play more than me. With HoW I moved to only maintaining one character. I missed out a little due to not having extra etheric light and such and felt behind because I wasn't running 3. TTK largely fixed that, and I felt I could progress very well with only 1 primary character. I really liked that. I feel like things have again regressed, I am "behind" because I'm not running more than one character actively. My other characters could be 365 likely no sweat with what I've amassed with only one, but that doesn't help much -- since drops are now a range based on overall LL's a few low items can keep your drops in a range where most drops are barely upgrades until the key pieces go up. And to be fair, they are acknowledging and fixing that with increased ghost/artifact drops in this patch. Anyhow, point is, previously I had choices in what activities I could play in both PvP and PvE to be "smart" about LL. Now it seems totally time-based -in addition to- playing the right activities. Which is where the grind comes from.

I don't understand why they don't stretch the content out a bit longer. Maybe they have more planned as they go, but TTK kind of went this direction as well, with a few months of very little after challenge modes dropped. Seems like a mistake, but maybe statistics say otherwise and I'm no longer their target market.

Please no. There's so little content in this xpac that stretching it further would be horrible. Was TTK slow as hell with months of nothing? Yes. But making the existing content fill that gap is not nearly the same as making enough content to fill that gap. Either way you slice it, the game lacks content. Front load it or slowly drizzle it out, it's still not enough to cover the ground it needs to.

Destiny is a MMO, as much as people don't want it to be. Too much content too fast leads to burnout. It's designed to be social. Which is great! But gating with LL needs to be carefully done or you risk breaking up one of the huge draws -- playing with your friends. Deliberate pacing will keep a larger playerbase around more consistently. IMO. Bungie obviously doesn't agree, or at least they're not doing that for whatever reason. I kind of touched on this above... I don't think they are losing anything by slowing it down a little. If anything I think some content is getting rushed past depending on what the player wants to do.

They're in this weird middle ground of staging release content, but I guess I think they are doing more harm than good by the current pacing. I suspect they are staging it for development reasons as opposed to being intentional about it -- and their primary goal is to get things out ASAP. I think it's more nuanced than that, but overall that's what it looks like from this side of things.

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Destiny is a MMO, as much as people don't want it to be. Too much content too fast leads to burnout. It's designed to be social.

Only a few parts of Destiny are designed to be social. I would say the majority is not. Trials, Raids, and a few specific quests are all social elements. Everything else takes zero advantage of the social aspect of things.

What would have been bold is for every activity, from story mission to strike to quest, to be required to be done in a group as the raids are. Fireteam of three minimum. No matchmaking. Now the pace slows down and the design of the content changes… you have a truly social game that will last longer by virtue of only being able to play when you can get a group together, and because the experiences can be crafted around knowing you have a group who knows each other and can communicate.

I was thinking about how you get so much more bang for your buck in the raid spaces because it's not just three people rushing through as fast as possible to kill the one boss, collect loot, then do it over like a strike playlist. Even the current nightfalls are somewhat closer to raids in terms of this.

Everything with a fireteam. No random loot. No light levels on guns or your character. Slower paced, more dense and interesting missions. Fewer guns. That's the key to making Destiny Great again. The parts of Destiny that are social are absolutely fantastic, so it's a shame they did not double down on what actually makes the game good.

I'm a little slow :(

"With this increase, many reward sources will also increase their maximum Light. Strike Hoards, Nightfall, Exotic Engrams, Trials of Osiris, Crucible, and Iron Banner will now provide rewards up to 400 Light"

I'm a little slow :(

You can buy heavy ammo synth from Xur for strange coins.

You can then turn those in to a faction for faction rep, which earns you faction packages that can help you level up.

If you have 300 strange coins, you can buy 900 heavy ammo synth.

So every 27 coins you spend will level up a faction (I think). Saving those packages and decoding them one by one sounds like a great way to level up once the cap is lifted. I know what I'm buying tonight…

"With this increase, many reward sources will also increase their maximum Light. Strike Hoards, Nightfall, Exotic Engrams, Trials of Osiris, Crucible, and Iron Banner will now provide rewards up to 400 Light"

Stuff from the chest unlocked with a key I am thinking.

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I'm a little slow :(

You can buy heavy ammo synth from Xur for strange coins.

You can then turn those in to a faction for faction rep, which earns you faction packages that can help you level up.

If you have 300 strange coins, you can buy 900 heavy ammo synth.

So every 27 coins you spend will level up a faction (I think). Saving those packages and decoding them one by one sounds like a great way to level up once the cap is lifted. I know what I'm buying tonight…

Close. (Numbers are a little off.)

if you're wearing a faction class item, 100 heavy synths will earn you one rank. (A little less if you're wearing an exotic, I think.) This is 33 coins, minus the 4 you get back when you level - so 29 total.

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"With this increase, many reward sources will also increase their maximum Light. Strike Hoards, Nightfall, Exotic Engrams, Trials of Osiris, Crucible, and Iron Banner will now provide rewards up to 400 Light"

Stuff that no one gets from the chest unlocked with a key no one has I am thinking.

FTFY

Non-existent drops. Just saying. Literally. Literally 100% 0% drops. Worse than Hitler drops.

I have 3-4 keys among my characters right now. And have opened at least a half dozen chests.

What parallel universe is everone else from. :(

I kinda like the way SIVA Chest Keys work where you can make them out of parts you pick up along the way. It would be neat if you got one Strike Key Part for normal Strikes and two for Heroic and Nightfall Strikes and could then combine ten of them into a Strike Chest Key. Or something like that...

Avateur's hyperbole aside, he is right. The Key drop rate feels far too low and some minimum observable progress towards your next one would be very nice.

I have 3-4 keys among my characters right now. And have opened at least a half dozen chests.

What parallel universe is everone else from. :(

No clue. Maybe they're secret PS Exclusives.

Seriously though, where are Skeleton Keys even (supposedly) dropped from? The only one I've EVER seen is the first "gimme" one you get.

What parallel universe is everone else from. :(

The one where we all hate you.

I have 3-4 keys among my characters right now. And have opened at least a half dozen chests.

What parallel universe is everyone else from. :(

I always have one or two keys on me, but then again, there's not really any loot that interests me from the bosses (though I am happy with my Phogoth Hive Abomination gauntlets), so I don't usually spend them the minute I get them (Pro-tip, save them for the Spindle-class Sniper that you can get from SIVA bosses).

I always have one or two keys on me, but then again, there's not really any loot that interests me from the bosses (though I am happy with my Phogoth Hive Abomination gauntlets), so I don't usually spend them the minute I get them (Pro-tip, save them for the Spindle-class Sniper that you can get from SIVA bosses).

You had me st Spindle. Which strikes include SIVA bosses? Any new ones that were part of ROI?

I always have one or two keys on me, but then again, there's not really any loot that interests me from the bosses (though I am happy with my Phogoth Hive Abomination gauntlets), so I don't usually spend them the minute I get them (Pro-tip, save them for the Spindle-class Sniper that you can get from SIVA bosses).

You had me st Spindle. Which strikes include SIVA bosses? Any new ones that were part of ROI?

I know for sure that the Wretched Eye and Sepiks Perfected drop them. Not 100% sure about the Hive Abomination strike (though one would imagine that it would).

I always have one or two keys on me, but then again, there's not really any loot that interests me from the bosses (though I am happy with my Phogoth Hive Abomination gauntlets), so I don't usually spend them the minute I get them (Pro-tip, save them for the Spindle-class Sniper that you can get from SIVA bosses).

You had me st Spindle. Which strikes include SIVA bosses? Any new ones that were part of ROI?

According to Eurogamer, these strikes give you a chance at Devils Dawn:

Sepiks Perfected
The Abomination Heist
The Wretched Eye

(So, same list Korny gave you. ;) )

I posted the link because I've found it useful in the past.

With this increase, many reward sources will also increase their maximum Light. Strike Hoards, Nightfall, Exotic Engrams, Trials of Osiris, Crucible, and Iron Banner will now provide rewards up to 400 Light. Archon’s Forge, the Heroic SIVA Strike playlist, and Legendary Engrams will now provide rewards up to 385 Light.

SuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRE. Answer me this: will it still be 1/4th of a light level increase per high-light level strike?

For those striving to reach Heroic Wrath of the Machine or even attempt their first run at Normal Wrath of the Machine, players should find more paths and options available to them to reach the recommended Light.

Anybody 'member that page Bungie had before the April Update that had that whole table on how to get to the highest light level with all those options to get there? I guess those weren't really "more" now were they?

I still don't like the fact that Heroic strikes are the only way to advance to the raid other than the raid.

Everyone's telling me "Oh it's only a crawl once you get to 365, ooh!"

So a quarter of a light level per 2o minute strike(which is now hard as hell since I'm only one light level ahead of the minimum instead of seventy-five) isn't?

With this increase, many reward sources will also increase their maximum Light. Strike Hoards, Nightfall, Exotic Engrams, Trials of Osiris, Crucible, and Iron Banner will now provide rewards up to 400 Light. Archon’s Forge, the Heroic SIVA Strike playlist, and Legendary Engrams will now provide rewards up to 385 Light.

SuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRE. Answer me this: will it still be 1/4th of a light level increase per high-light level strike?

Yes... why would it be otherwise? Most drops you get are 2 per strike (not counting 3 of coins or chest). They aren't promising that you're going to shoot up 10 light levels in an hour, just that you can progress.

For those striving to reach Heroic Wrath of the Machine or even attempt their first run at Normal Wrath of the Machine, players should find more paths and options available to them to reach the recommended Light.

I still don't like the fact that Heroic strikes are the only way to advance to the raid other than the raid.

How are they the only way? You even quoted multiple ways! Since you mentioned Heroic strikes that means you mean to level 365/385 (before and after Tuesday) which has MANY MANY ways to get to. Such as: all legendary engrams (of which you have multiple guaranteed sources every day and week), all exotic engrams, all faction packages, all of Crucible, Trials, IB when it's active, Nightfall, Archon's Forge, Prison of Elders Elder Sigil (at least for 365, not sure if it's being increased to 385).

Anyone that attended the Twitch stream know what this is talking about?

2. Never tease a secret code without alerting the community to the fact that not all amusing Easter Eggs hatch to reveal Exotic Weapons.

I didn't realize that this type of Bungie Bounty event would be archived on their Twitch channel. I tuned into the 10/12/16 archive this afternoon

At around 1:24:00, Derek Carroll mentions the code on Last Exit. He must be referencing this code?
Fun Easter Egg - Part Deux (Last Exit)

All 3 of the RoI strikes drop it. It's the only new strike weapon.

It feels like it's as rare as the strike loot drops were in general. Do the strike items still drop randomly, though? I haven't actually thought about that.

And visible progress is pretty much always preferable for things like that. And the building keys is nice. Though I do wish there was a 100% drop of a key on your forst nightfall completion, if building keys isn't a future change.

Anyone that attended the Twitch stream know what this is talking about?

2. Never tease a secret code without alerting the community to the fact that not all amusing Easter Eggs hatch to reveal Exotic Weapons.

I didn't realize that this type of Bungie Bounty event would be archived on their Twitch channel. I tuned into the 10/12/16 archive this afternoon

At around 1:24:00, Derek Carroll mentions the code on Last Exit. He must be referencing this code?
Fun Easter Egg - Part Deux (Last Exit)

Possibly, yes.

Yes... why would it be otherwise? Most drops you get are 2 per strike (not counting 3 of coins or chest). They aren't promising that you're going to shoot up 10 light levels in an hour, just that you can progress.

True, but only one of them has a snail's gamble. Whenever I go through a Heroic strike, I get the one obligatory Purple(on very rare occasions, I might get another one killing enemies), dozens of useless Greens(as we're all forced to endure through now) and exactly three Blues. No less, and buff after buff after buff, no more. Two of them are always below whatever my highest is. Always. The third one may or may not be higher. By higher, I mean 2 LL. Since the first light increase, Heroic strikes have dropped one single blue that was 3 LL higher, and one single blue that was 4. All others were 2,1, or zero/negative. Combined with the fact that it could be an armor piece or a weapon, that means you have 1/10th of a chance to get something higher for an equip you need. I disagree on that as a viable option to progress.

How are they the only way? You even quoted multiple ways!

What I meant by that statement is that all those methods and options they had flaunted and displayed and showcased have all ended and are now void. I don't think that page even exists any more. All those multiple ways have basically become buried under the one solution: Heroic Strikes.

Since you mentioned Heroic strikes that means you mean to level 365/385 (before and after Tuesday) which has MANY MANY ways to get to. Such as: all legendary engrams (of which you have multiple guaranteed sources every day and week), all exotic engrams, all faction packages, all of Crucible, Trials, IB when it's active, Nightfall, Archon's Forge, Prison of Elders Elder Sigil (at least for 365, not sure if it's being increased to 385).

Legendary engrams are good, but they're a 0-4 LL difference--almost the same as Rare. Thank god they don't go negative.

Exotics are good--if you actually get them. Since RoI dropped, I've gotten two Exotics. One of them I bought from Xur. It was 350 though, so that helped a little bit.

Faction packages, I can agree with you on--I have to admit, I'm always excited to level up there. That is something to look forward to helping me with!

Crucible, single mote of light. Marks, if I'm doing the highlights.

Trials of Osiris.

Iron Banner I also agree with, but the prizes I get from that are--well, I don't remember what light level I was the last time I played that, so I'll have to take your word for it.

I'm not high enough light level for Nightfall. I can barely live through Heroic as it is--not to be rude, but that's really the whole point.

Archon's Forge is great, but so far all I've gotten from them is Class items. They are a higher light level, but if that's the only thing they offer, it's just situational.

All the activities you've suggested are decent ideas, but if they all trickle light like a dead tap, aren't they just all the same then?

All the activities you've suggested are decent ideas, but if they all trickle light like a dead tap, aren't they just all the same then?

So you're saying you'd rather play the activity you don't want to play because it gives a very small amount of extra light than an activity you enjoy? That sounds like a YOU problem more than anything (and my experience is completely different, I leveled up to 382 and have only done a handful of Heroic strikes, and only beaten the Raid once).

Also, your complaint about legendary is that they only go up by up to FOUR light?!? REALLY?!? What you want them to drop a 10 light increase on you? What game have you been playing the last 2+ years?

Edit: Also, you basically just said in your reply that Heroic strikes are a terrible way to level up after saying in the previous post that they are the only way to level up, now you've just completely confused me.

So you're saying you'd rather play the activity you don't want to play because it gives a very small amount of extra light than an activity you enjoy? That sounds like a YOU problem more than anything (and my experience is completely different, I leveled up to 382 and have only done a handful of Heroic strikes, and only beaten the Raid once).

You're right, it is a ME problem--you've gotten to 382, sounds like without any major changes to your playstyle; Claude's got more Skeleton Keys than seemingly half of DBO combined; Avateur's got so much max light gear that it takes him 20 minutes to press X(ironically, both in the same thread) and I'm getting brightly colored rocks.

Also, your complaint about legendary is that they only go up by up to FOUR light?!? REALLY?!? What you want them to drop a 10 light increase on you? What game have you been playing the last 2+ years?

Yes, but four light in an average. I'd still have to get a legendary for every other part of my body and arsenal to help make any major difference--If I get one with four light, and IF I even get (more than) one Legendary at all.

Edit: Also, you basically just said in your reply that Heroic strikes are a terrible way to level up after saying in the previous post that they are the only way to level up, now you've just completely confused me.

Yeah--there's only one seemingly clear way to really level up, and that way is terrible.

Yes, but four light in an average. I'd still have to get a legendary for every other part of my body and arsenal to help make any major difference--If I get one with four light, and IF I even get (more than) one Legendary at all.

And this is everyone's experience in the game. My main point is if you expect more than that you are playing the wrong game. Destiny after year 2 is about slow but steady improvement to your character's light. It's not about big jumps in light and level. If you're unsatisfied with that, you're never going to be satisfied with the game. It's a HUGE improvement over year one progression, but it's still a process to level up you have to go through, and I SERIOUSLY doubt that will ever change.

I kinda like the way SIVA Chest Keys work where you can make them out of parts you pick up along the way. It would be neat if you got one Strike Key Part for normal Strikes and two for Heroic and Nightfall Strikes and could then combine ten of them into a Strike Chest Key. Or something like that...

Avateur's hyperbole aside, he is right. The Key drop rate feels far too low and some minimum observable progress towards your next one would be very nice.

The fact that it's a total joke that this hyperbole bothers anyone aside (literally worse than Hitler drops aside as well), I actually fully agree with you. Strike Key Parts or something similar to the SIVA Chest Keys would have been a far better system. Then again, knowing Bungie, I'm sure those drops would have been negative-odds-drops beyond even the non-existent Hitler ones.

There would be a 'bug' where every other strike completion actually removed skeleton key parts from your inventory.

I've posted this list before, but hey, why not post it again?

If you are light < 365 right now, you can get upgrades from:

Heroic Strikes (the two blue drops at the end), Archon's Forge, blue engrams that decrypt into purple items, purple engrams, faction rep packages, nightfall, raid, crucible, trials drops and bounties, weekly crucible bounty. Purple engrams will be your main source of upgrades (you get two for doing the weekly shiro-4 quest, and 1 from the first public event you do each day, plus you should get a bunch to drop just as you play). Save any exotic engrams you may get from 3oC usage until you're 365 light or higher. Save your skeleton keys until you are 365 light or higher.

If you are light 365 or greater, you can get upgrades from:

Decrypting exotic engrams from your 3oC use, archon's forge, crucible, nightfall, weekly crucible bounty, trials and trials bounties, faction rep packages, the raid, and from heroic strike skeleton key chests (set loot, look up what items drop where before opening so you're only getting things you need).

You should always wear your max light gear when decrypting engrams, and you should also decrypt engrams in order of your lowest light level pieces first, one at a time, equipping new, higher light gear as you go. At 365+ 3 of Coins is your best and fastest source of light level upgrades. You should be spending all of your strange coins on 3 of Coins each week until you're max light, pretty much. Archon's Forge is great for very quick upgrades, though it doesn't drop items for every slot, as far as I'm aware. Crucible is also great for quick upgrades and you don't need to win to get them. If you're 350 light +, you should be fine to do the raid. The very last fight might be hard on you, but up to that point you'll be okay. Iron Banner is amazing for leveling up and it's a shame you missed it last week.

The major roadblocks are ghosts and relics. If you don't get lucky with relic drops, you can always (ugh) farm eris mourne rep by running court of oryx over and over (be sure to have an empty bounty slot when you start so you get the court bounty from your first boss kill). Ghosts can't be reliably farmed but do come from almost every source.

Good luck!

PS: This game is NOT all about your light level. Because you can easily get upgrades from rep packages, I strongly recommend just playing to have fun and collecting those packages along the way.

I have 3-4 keys among my characters right now. And have opened at least a half dozen chests.

What parallel universe is everone else from. :(

No clue. Maybe they're secret PS Exclusives.

Seriously though, where are Skeleton Keys even (supposedly) dropped from? The only one I've EVER seen is the first "gimme" one you get.

They drop from strikes. Pretty dang low drop rate though.

That has a much better roll and is still the same spindle archetype

You ain't kidding. This whole time I've only gotten 2.

In theory, you'd think they'd drop at the same rate that the unique strike reward items used to drop on their own (thus keeping the overall progression the same, while allowing you some influence over WHICH items drop). But I'm starting to suspect the rate is lower.

And they can't be transferred from the app and only drop regularly with the strike playlist bonus.