So the Raid was both Amazing and utterly frustrating for me. I am so glad that I went into without any spoilers of what it contained. Figuring out our way through it was very difficult but immensely satisfying. The teamwork and coordination needed was fantastic. However, there is one big piece of advice I wish I had gotten before I went into the Raid. Let me explain.

When the Raid was first unlocked for everyone, I was a level 12. It was made perfectly clear that you needed to be a level 26. At first I just figured that I would get to 26 eventually and then play the raid. But then I started seeing people post about how great the Raid was and how much fun it was. I saw numerous posts from people declaring that figuring out the Raid and working together was the best part. And then I watched as the average time to beat the Raid dropped from 10 to 12 hours down to 2 to 4 hours. I decided then that I really wanted to go into the Raid fresh and unspoiled and with a team that was equally unspoiled. And for me that meant that I needed to get to level 26 as quick as possible, so that I could play the raid while there might still be people who hadn't done it already to play with me.

So I finished the story mode and had gotten to level 20 and set my sights on level 26, which meant I needed at least legendary level armor. I got lucky and got two pieces of legendary armor from the Queens wrath event and I had enough strange coins to purchase an Exotic chest plate from Xur, then spent my vanguard marks to buy the last piece i needed from my Vanguard. Got everything leveled up to 26 and then got a team together and went after the Raid.

It was a blast, but I must admit, I spent a majority of it very frustrated. And about halfway through the raid, I realized my mistake. I had been so focused on just getting to level 26 by getting armor, that I had completely forgotten about my weapons. I should probably mention that I have yet to get a single purple engram or exotic bounty of any kind. EVERY weapon I had was Rare or Uncommmon. And even maxed out, they were basically useless in the raid. This hit me really hard during one of the fights when it took two full clips of my hand cannon to down an enemy. Then moments later I watched my teammate one shot an identical enemy with his hand cannon. I watched this happen over and over. For every critical hit I got on one of the bosses, I was dealing 298 damage. My teammate was dealing several thousand.

So while I could definitely help with strategy and figuring things out. I was basically useless at taking down enemies. And I am sure my teammates were getting tired of me constantly asking for help to take down every enemy. So, If you are almost ready for the Raid. My advice is this: Stay unspoiled, you won't regret it. But make sure you go in packing firepower. Get yourself some legendary weapons first.

Tl;dr Legendary armor will get you to level 26 and into the raid, but Legendary weapons will get you through the Raid.