Stop playing it like Halo. (Destiny)

by DerekT07, Tennessee, Saturday, July 26, 2014, 08:58 (3773 days ago) @ bluerunner

From my own experience and from talking with other people, I think this is the biggest reason people are having a hard time. People may not be doing it consciously, but habits are hard to break. My biggest advise: slow down. If you're sprinting a lot or running off by yourself straight at the enemy, you're going to die.

This has definitely been something I've discovered as well. Sometimes it seems like it pays off in Destiny to just hang back and watch for a minute to see what the flow of the match is and wait for a few teammates to die and respawn so that you can join up with their next assault from an advantageous position. You'll also get to see approximate locations of the enemy from your teammates' deaths.

Second biggest: study the sight lines on the map. Positioning is huge in this game. It'll take a few games, maybe quite a few, but if you learn where you can be seen when traversing the map, you know where to avoid and where to get the drop on people.

Again, this seems spot on for my experience. This used to be something I did when I played Halo actually. Back when I played Halo 3 with friends every single day, I would go into the custom games by myself just to run around and look at what I could see from different places and where I could jump to and whatnot. It makes me wish I could explore these Destiny maps by myself since it can be really hard to try to discover new paths or strategies in the heat of battle.

Third: Find a weapon that works for you. What you use in PvE might not be the best for you in PvP. I love hand cannons, but I do better in PvP with a scout rifle. And don't just go for the weapon with the highest impact rating. Stability is way more important if you're still struggling with dropping the Halo mentality.

I can understand the wisdom in this. Personally, my Scout Rifle has been performing admirably well for something I just chose for PvE, but I immediately noticed that I die to auto rifles a lot at both short (expected) and medium (less expected) range. I haven't been diving into the stats on my weapons much, but it seems like that will be crucial for both Iron Banner and the regular Crucible. Even if damage is equalized, your gun still definitely nuances your play style, so it needs to match you while still having certain aspects to make it competitive.

I struggled for my first dozen games or so, but when it clicked that I needed to play more conservatively, I started doing a lot better. Now I really love it, and so far have been doing way better than I ever did in Halo multiplayer. It's a totally different game and you need to treat it as such. And I'm glad that's the case. I don't want another Halo. I want Destiny to be it's own thing, and so far it definitely is.

Your words ring true. Destiny should stand as it's own game, not as Bungie's new Halo in disguise. I like that it is definitely doing this. To add just a little to your good advice, sometimes it is better to not use the ADS. You will be a little less accurate, but if you don't use the ADS, you can monitor more of the battle as you fight an enemy, and it's easier to compensate for the Guardians' high jumps and fast movement. Don't stick around really close to control points. Instead, take an overlook position or behind cover a short distance away. You'll still know when the enemy team gets there from the control point icon, and you can then get the drop on the group by using a super if possible or just poking out occasionally to take some shots. They'll be anchored down on the point trying to capture it while you'll be mobile. I've been able to perform as best on my team some doing this sort of thing, but I'm not a great player in the first place, so I vary quite a lot as to how I do. Oh, and if you get heavy ammo, use it immediately but conservatively.

That being said, I do feel like the Crucible could use some work. The time to kill (or time to death, in many cases) is very, very short. I don't like this. I much prefer the ability to respond in battle, rather than just being devastated by a few shots. Instant deaths are also very common. I've found that the Crucible has made me more exasperated about how I die rather than just feeling like I missed an advantage, like I did when I used to play Halo. Assuredly, this will get better as I play the game more when it comes out, but right now it just feels like so many deaths have come because I was attacked from behind and died before I could even turn or when facing someone, they just got those first few shots off before I could. I'd rather it feel like they showed better skill in gunplay, but this sort of thing is just a part of FPSs. It would even happen in Halo. Time with the game will allow us to get better at map knowledge and strategy. Teamwork seems like an absolute necessity for doing well. I guess I just need some friends to play with! Haha