This wasn't the big scoop because this was an Alpha map, but I was interested to hear the time of day explanation for multiplayer maps.

I remember being surprised the first time I noticed time of day in multiplayer and just kind of assumed it matched Destiny's overall world clock (oh, I also assumed the existence of an overall world clock). It turns out they've picked particular times of day that look cool and the game randomly selects one when it loads the map. It makes sense, to maintain quality, but I also liked the concept of consistent time of day throughout the Destiny universe.

It makes me wonder if Strikes/etc will have similar discrepancies from other game modes, like Explore.

I learned many new things:

- I didn't even know the maps had different times of day!
- I like the grenade and maneuver flank demonstrated.
- The movement options around the map look awesome.
- I really wanted him to Super the idle red team. :(

One of the more amazing things I liked about the Alpha was not only that the massive spaces seemed to continually open up into more previously undiscovered spaces, but areas you knew were transformed depending on the time of day. It's nice to learn about how that works in PVP.

This map reminds me of one of the Titanfall maps that I love to play on. I hope we see a healthy number of PvP maps in Destiny with good verticality like this... but it will be hard to go back to an FPS without wall running after enjoying Titanfall :)

Enjoy! http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/09/destiny-multiplayer-earth-rusted-lands-developer-walkthrough-ign-first?watch

I'd be lying if I said the gameplay doesn't make me all emotional. I...want.

I have some questions regarding the beta:

• Death looks like it comes quick. How did it feel in the Alpha? Most of the deaths looked to be one-shots, with most exceptions coming via mid/long-range machine gunning. Was that the general experience in the Alpha?
  
• Are there shields, and can they be augmented?
  
• How important was team interplay/support activities? Like, did buffing teammates really help?
  
• How was melee combat? Viable? Last resort?
  
• Is "vertical" movement pretty important? I've barely ever jet-packed in Halo, for example.
  
• I registered my pre-order/beta entry on Bungie.net quite a while ago. I'm assuming that when it comes time, there will be a relatively obvious way to tie my Bungie.net account to my XBox?

Thanks in advance for input.

• Love that time of day will change in PVP.
• Control is the only game type for PVP in Beta, looks fun and with the short beta will probably not feel like I'm really missing a true "slayer" arena.
• That Warlock glide looks interesting, can't wait to see how to use it
• These maps are all looking great to me! Can't wait to see some bigger ones!

I liked the part where the shadow might give away an enemy, but wondered if I'll get that on my 360. Obviously not a huge deal since if I don't get it no one I'm playing will, but I wonder where the line gets drawn in terms of non-critical graphical parity.