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The Shattered Throne (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY @, Toronto, Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 13:09 (1989 days ago)
edited by CruelLEGACEY, Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 13:14

When the Shattered Throne first appeared 3 weeks ago, I was waaaaaaay below the Dungeon’s recommended level of 590 (I was ~550 at the time). Still, I spent some time in the dungeon over the course of that week. I cheesed my way to a couple loot drops, started the “Wish Ender” quest, spent a few hours getting crushed by the mid boss and final boss. I never “completed” it, but I got to see most of what it had to offer.

Last night, The Shattered Throne opened back up again. Now that my power level is up over 590, I decided to give it a proper try, solo. It was an incredible experience. I didn’t know my way around well enough for anything to feel routine. Even though I’m over 590, the enemies are still dangerous enough that I needed to play carefully, and move slowly (the checkpoints in the dungeon can be punishing... there are checkpoints, but they’re so far apart that death can easily mean losing 15-20 minutes progress, if you’re moving slowly). Nevertheless, I found the difficulty hit a perfect sweet spot for me. The enemies were deadly. I needed to take every single one of them seriously. And the encounters are often built in ways that require you to deal with them in large groups, all at once. I needed to kill them quickly, before they could overwhelm me. And THAT made ME feel powerful. This wasn’t like the “find a cheap camping spot and slowly wearing down a bullet-sponge boss” early days of Destiny. This was going up against enemies who move and attack quickly, and the only way to get past them is to move faster and to be even deadlier than they are.

This specific breed of difficulty mixed perfectly with the atmosphere of the dungeon. It’s dark, mysterious, maze-like. Simply traversing through it can be perilous, even without any enemies present. I’ve made this comparison before, but this is the first time any activity in Destiny has recaptured the particular feelings of dangerous exploration and unsettling wonder that I got from VoG. If anything, Shattered Throne might even surpass VoG for me, along those dimensions.

I solo’d my way to the mid Boss, including the secret mini-Boss encounters that require carting orbs and planting them in statues. Getting through that thrall-way while carying an orb, with no teammates to help, and the knowledge that I only had 1 chance to pull it off, was INTENSE. But I made it to the Ogre. I attempted that fight solo, and to my surprise, I did better than I thought I would. If I’d banged my head against it for a couple more hours, I think I could make it through. But it was late, and I wanted to get through the whole thing, so I went to LFG to find a group.

We started back at the beginning so we could do the whole thing as a team. With 3 guardians in the 580-590 range, the tension is certainly toned down a bit. But not as much as I thought it would be. There were moments when the 3 of us would stramroll over a particular mini boss or encounter, but even then, it was clear that we were only 1 bad turn away from getting torn apart. Every encounter felt like it could go bad at any moment. We got back to the mid Boss, and sloppily, imperfectly, pressed our way through and onward. All 3 of us got our Wish Ender bows after that battle, and took them into the final stretch of the Dungeon.

(Side note: I’ve gotta say, it was a disappointing moment for me when only 2-3 minutes after getting my Wish Ender, I put it away and re-equipped my No Turning Back bow. It seems to hit harder, and the Explosive Head perk is actually better for damaging multiple opponents than Wish Ender’s overpenetration perk. I was really hoping Wish Ender would feel special, but I can’t think of a reason to ever use it over my other bows, other than shooting Crystals. It does sound awesome, though).

Not long after, we arrived at the final boss. It was one of the most unique boss fight experiences I’ve had in Destiny. The whole thing was over in about 20-30 seconds. But in that short time, both of my teammates died, and I spent most of the fight with almost no health. It reminded me of an old samurai movie, where sword fights between masters might be over in 2 or 3 swings, and leave both fighters dead. The challenge of the fight wasn’t achieved through time-gated DPS phases or rediculously complicated mechanics. You’re in a small room with very little cover, and multiple dangerous opponents. The only way to win is to be even more dangerous than the bosses. I can’t stress enough how fun and refreshing I find this kind of boss fight, especially in contrast to the direction that raid-bosses have gone over time (imho, the recent raids are dangerously close to jumping the shark in terms of boss mechanics).

All this to say that I love The Shattered Throne. I think it’s right up there with the very best Destiny content that Bungie has made, and I really hope we see more dungeons in the not-too-distant future.


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