I've got bits and pieces that bother me about Destiny, but overall I absolutely love the game and think it's a fantastic start for Bungie's next 10-years.

The one exception... is the Crucible.

It just... I don't know. It's just not doing it for me either. :(

LOL. This has been my experience, too. The story/explore/campaign mode is really fun -- almost too easy -- but multiplayer has been brutally unforgiving.

One thing to consider -- have you been playing a lot of Iron Banner? The IB playlist retains bonuses from upgraded gear, so somebody with top-tier armor and weapons can steamroll you if you're unprepared.

If you're talking regular multiplayer, I don't know what to tell you. I've shotgunned people in the face point-blank and still managed to die first. The only thing I can say is that maybe the beta matchmaking is not capable of reliably sorting people by skill given the short timeframe -- I've seen some awfully unbalanced teams and outcomes so far, even after just a few games.

(Also, is it just me or does the shield system seem much weaker than in Halo? There seems to be much less time to react once attacked before you're dead.)

Except you can't talk to your teammates...

I absolutely love the crucible. I've been spending so much time there recently and will be really sad to see it go. In the beginning, I tried going the Pulse/scout rifle route and was getting slaughtered left and right. I then found my GLORIOUS auto rifle, fully upgraded it, and it has been a completely different story since. I have been getting 20+ kills consistently and even got the "10 kills without dying" Iron Banner bounty in my first game.

Destiny has been an extremely different multiplayer experience. I have been taking advantage of the vertical movement in order to throw off people that are chasing me in order to gain the upper hand and I've been destroying people at medium range with my auto rifle.

This isn't meant to be a "I'm really great at this game" reply, I only mean to explain that you can't play this game in the same way that you played Halo. It's a completely different experience. For me, I take things slow, pay SUPER close attention to my radar, and I never sprint into a fight. I will sprint until I see a blip on my radar, and then slow things down in order to insure a kill. I had to completely change the way I play multiplayer and it has really paid off. Also, map knowledge is key. Knowing where that blip on the radar corresponds to which area of the map has really helped me start putting bullets on people almost before they even round the corner.

If a gun isn't working for you, try something else.

Other than the above, I don't know what to say. The only frustrating thing that has occurred to me during the beta are the seemingly invincible people that you run into every once in a while. I would unload an entire clip into them at medium range, and their health wouldn't budge. Stuff like that bugs me, but at the moment I am in love with the multiplayer.

I still hate the Moon map though.

My first few games were so awful I immediately came here to complain about it, but I've gone back a few times with a different mindset (and a Titan! Because christ the other two classes have no health) and have been having a much better time.

I'm still fluctuating wildly (anything from 1.9 to 0.7), but at least In having fun now.

The moon map is so much better once all the cehicles have been destroyed though. Or if you're sitting in that ridiculous Interveptor monster.

I am not good at multiplayer - I never have been. I am like the worst handicap for my team in the Crucible. The best I can hope for is to draw some fire away from the rest of them. It is deeply unenjoyable.

I've played 10 Crucible games, and lost them all, some by large margins. In the Iron matches there were two guys with auto rifles that would kill me in one or two shots every time even at medium range where my pulse rifle should have the advantage. I didn't get a chance to see their gear, but no matter my weapon setup I could not compete. I only killed them when I could get the drop, snipe or super them, and sometimes the super just gave a simultaneous kill. About half the games I was the #1 or #2 on my team, so I don't think it is solely due to poor skill.

It got very frustrating and tedious by the end of the night.

It is a much faster paced game than Halo, which isn't good for me as I find myself getting "task-saturated" (too many things happening too quickly to decide upon, so no decisions get made) and losing my bearings. I'm having a heckuva time telling friend from foe, too; all too often by the time I realise that a target's hostile, the guy's already through my shields. The weaker shield mechanic doesn't help me there.

My experience in the Crucible wasn't too bad, at least no worse than my other multiplayer misadventures; my K/D is pathetic but at least I could help with objectives and draw fire away from allies long enough for them to do so some damage.

However my performance in Iron Banner matches wasn't even comedic for bystanders... just piteous. Show up, shoot, miss, die, respawn, lather, rinse, repeat. Either I have a lot of Halo habits to unlearn, or that playlist is absolutely not for me. I won't be going back.

-- Steve thinks this is massively aggravated by the complete dysfunction of party chat in the game over Xbox Live. Totally useless as-is; this must change before release.

PS: I love the story and explore modes to bits, though. Still considering a pre-order for one of the limited editions. (Not the one with the statue, though.)

Right?

Every match has winners, so 50% of the time there must be happy players?

It's like, these days many people feel they have to be the hero they once were, for a game to be good.

I remember my first MM of Halo 2 where I literally hid in the bases just so I could live long enough to throw one grenade. Seeing an opponent was instant death. This went on for months. My friends always new where to find me because I was behind a box. I kid you not. Crucible is kind of like that for me now.

One of my friends who is about 15% better at Halo than me was playing 50% worse than me in his first two Crucible matches. If he sticks with it, he will be beating me again. I hope he tries it more.

No, I am not enamoured with Crucible yet but I'll wait for the full game before writing it off.

I'm actually enjoying the Crucible. I usually play with friends and the snipers haven't been killing me as much as I thought they would. I just run from vehicles unless I have Super or Heavy. Vehicles definitely need some more weaknesses, though. But I can see that it's not for everyone.

Let me count the ways:

1. Super fast death because cool effects.
2. How many times can I die without seeing who was even shooting?
3. First seen, first dead.
4. God help you if you run into someone in a vehicle.
5. I need to get spawn killed more on the moon. It amazing fun.
6. People complained that ordinance drops in Halo 4 created rolling momentum - holy balls, this is 15 times worse.
7. I think snipers should be more one-shot somehow. Like, maybe if you get sniped you die, respawn, and then die again.
8. I love the Scout Rifle. Too bad everything under the sun (or moon) is one-shot. It sure sounds nice and feels satisfying until I take a sniper bullet to the chest and die super-amazingly.
9. More blowouts than I can count. I'd love to have a close game.
10. I've dominated a few games by camping with shotgun, waiting for heavy ammo, waiting for super. Rinse, repeat. And then stab me in the eyes because that's a god-awful way to play.
11. I need more sequences where I get golden-gunned, golden-gunned again, nova bombed, sniped, sniped, sniped, and nova bombed.

I absolutely love Story, Strike, Explore, etc, but the Crucible actually makes me not want to get this game. It's like they purposefully set out to make the most annoying MP experience possible. My friends and I had the most fabulous time in the Stirke, but the Crucible was like someone tossed a dead skunk into our party. That shit cleared out the room before I could blink.

I've stuck it out, gone back again for more because I'm some sort of glutton for punishment - I can't put the words together to express how negative my MP experience has been. Yikes.

I have played one match so far, on the Moon map. And I have about the same sentiments so far. Yeah, maybe it's a different *kind* of matchmaking, or something. But I have yet to understand how it's supposed to be... fun. I don't particularly understand how I am supposed to know how overpowered the enemies are in order to strategize. Plus I was horribly spawn killed 5-6 times from across the map. I shouldn't have to do research before jumping into a game and enjoying it, but after that first game I'm like "WTF, am I missing something?"

RC once had a Gozen-C,
That downed Major enemies so easily.
Into the Crucible he took it,
But soon decried 'fook it,'
For this rifle was too slow for PvP.

He exchanged it for a Pompeii-LR3
Since same-weapon swaps are free.
As a single mag made 3 brains splat,
He proclaimed, as a matter of fact,
"This is surely the Sniper for me!"

Let the Pompeii be your edification,
Should you suffer some frustration.
Halo play-styles are a dead-end,
Be like water, my friend,
As success is in adapting to the situation!

/lol, I really suck at poems but, this was fun so, whatever.

For PvE, the Gozen-C is my go-to and I have 2 of them with different damage types. It does lots of damage, has a high impact, optional long-range scopes, and my Solar one has this sweet upgrade that makes the last round in a mag do 1.5x the normal damage.

But I'm not finding any situations where it really works in PvP. It still seems to require 2 body shots to kill someone, and my aim isn't good enough to try and rely on that bonus-damage last-round shot.

One game I get frustrated and switch to the aforementioned Pompeii-LR3 uncommon Sniper Rifle I had. A weapon I had not used for PvE since it's damage was lower than the Gozen-Cs. It's lighter, snappier, has an upgrade that reduces recoil, and has an extra round in the Magazine (4 total) than the Gozen-C. Almost instantly I was doing better. I started plucking people out of the sky, doing quicker double-body shots on running targets that were impossible before.

Drop all your preconceptions about what sort of tactics and weapons should work in what situations (especially if it's from Halo) and be willing to re-learn and try things you didn't before.

I for one am enjoying it! It mostly seems fair in that, if I get someone in the back, I win!

However, I keep losing DMR and BR battles vs AR (The sweet higher damage at lower clip one, I always inspect my betters!) at ridiculous mid-long ranges. It seems like I go down in 2 hits, under half a second. I might get one or two bursts off to little effect. Not sure if I am doing something wrong or if it's a severe case of the client-side prediction blues ala Battlefield.

BF4 has the excuse that it's 64 people on a map, whats Destiny's excuse? I have a fat fiber optic pipe, surely the dedicated servers sort this out?

How is MM done anyway? By PSN account region, IP, locale settings in the console? Anybody know?

http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=23735

http://teamschoolyd.org/filenames/balls%20of%20feel/schooly%20was%20right.mp3

I've stuck it out, gone back again for more because I'm some sort of glutton for punishment - I can't put the words together to express how negative my MP experience has been. Yikes.

Because you can die so fast, positioning and sight is really really important. You'll learn after a while which places on the map conceal you, and which give you good vision of others. You have to think about that much more often, and really pick your engagements and not go so gung ho.