Thoughts of Dark Below So far (No spoils)

The new story content will last about 2.5 hours. It's generally very good. Most missions are shorter than Destiny's story missions, but not all. The strikes are cool, and are an improvement over the current ones for sure. Bosses are more interesting, but they could still be even better. It's a shame the xbox people don't get the Vex Mars strike, since it's very good.

I'm sure the raid will be fun, and we're going to tackle it tonight.

The biggest thing I notice is that there really isn't any new level geometry. Two of the story missions take place areas that you could glitch into in the beta. There was no additional geometry in the Dark Below. What you saw in the beta was what you played here. In fact, I didn't have to download any data when the expansion hit, which means it's all on your drive. Bungie has committed the sin of having you pay to unlock content you already have on your disk.

Most of the other story missions are on re-used geometry.

It seems to me like a few guys with a level and script editor could easily have created many more of these missions in short time. The fact we only got 3 real ones and a few mini ones was disappointing. In fact, the missions are the type of thing that I had expected the Queen's Wrath to be. They were fun, but given their nature (same level geometry just new enemies), I would have expected a ton more. Am I wrong to assume that artists and designers building the spaces takes more time than placing enemies and scripting encounters? For 20 bucks, I feel like we should have gotten a shit load of these missions, not just 3.

The nightfall on the new strike was fun, and I got myself a Gjallarhorn starting at 302 attack. Woohoo!

With regard to Legendaries - it appears that if you acquire old legendaries during the dark below, they will get the higher max attack stat of the new legendaries. I got Prestige IV, and it topped out at 331. So it appears that you can still get and use old legendaries that are beefed up, but you simply can;t upgrade your current ones, and they are harder to get since they only come from engrams now.

In addition don't throw away all the blue guns you get. I got a rare hand canon that had more impact than Devil you know, and as many rounds with a mag size upgrade. It tops out at 297 attack. Should be good in crucible, or even in older PvE content.

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I was curious what you thought of the story missions.

The fact that we only get three missions built from existing geometry and re-used assets is a travesty, but in terms of quality they were executed much better.

I ran them on hard as a 29 warlock with a 28 titan and they felt like an actual entertaining challenge, which is not something I can say for most of the game.

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The fact that we only get three missions built from existing geometry and re-used assets is a travesty, but in terms of quality they were executed much better.

god I wish they would just give you all some poorly designed mountain that would take 10 hours to run up so everyone would stop making value assessments based off of some notion about the basic desire for more.

Hey Bungie, keep taking the massive spaces you delivered so far and putting awesome stuff do in them, thanks.

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The missions we got, while fun, are short by just about any standard.

I understand that encounter design and scripting aren't as easy as sitting down with a proprietary editor and dropping in some enemies, but Destiny's story missions are the fast food burger of gaming. They're gone quickly, they're smaller than you'd expect, and some of them are really well-done but more often than not they're bland and recycled.

I give points to whoever did the encounter design for the new missions. Why is it wrong to want more of that?

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Am I wrong to assume that artists and designers building the spaces takes more time than placing enemies and scripting encounters?

Yes. Mostly in part due to the assumption that they built those spaces and that all that has happened between whatever you saw in the beta and what you played was some people placing enemies and scripting encounters. Only someone on the inside can confirm, but from my experience, a lot of effort can go into those minor tweaks in the environment at the end.

Also I thought that there was a hefty download that happened in preparation for this. If you're going to be a broken record about DLC, at least be straightforward about your theory that they are somehow ripping you off.

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The biggest thing I notice is that there really isn't any new level geometry. Two of the story missions take place areas that you could glitch into in the beta. There was no additional geometry in the Dark Below. What you saw in the beta was what you played here. In fact, I didn't have to download any data when the expansion hit, which means it's all on your drive. Bungie has committed the sin of having you pay to unlock content you already have on your disk.

Each story mission features "new" geometry / previously "inaccessible" geometry.

The first and second story mission feature new geometry that tricksters have accessed using glitches. The third story mission features new geometry that I have never seen before anywhere; I don't think anyone glitched into that space. It was quite a nice space, felt like it could easily accommodate a Strike.

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The biggest thing I notice is that there really isn't any new level geometry. Two of the story missions take place areas that you could glitch into in the beta. There was no additional geometry in the Dark Below. What you saw in the beta was what you played here. In fact, I didn't have to download any data when the expansion hit, which means it's all on your drive. Bungie has committed the sin of having you pay to unlock content you already have on your disk.

Each story mission features "new" geometry / previously "inaccessible" geometry.

The first and second story mission feature new geometry that tricksters have accessed using glitches. The third story mission features new geometry that I have never seen before anywhere; I don't think anyone glitched into that space. It was quite a nice space, felt like it could easily accommodate a Strike.

Apologies, I confused the first story mission with the strike. The first story mission does not feature new geometry.

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You do know that remember that Bungie release a very large patch (I think it was 5GB?) not very long ago in preparation for the release of the dark below right? So not everything was on the original disc...

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You do know that remember that Bungie release a very large patch (I think it was 5GB?) not very long ago in preparation for the release of the dark below right? So not everything was on the original disc...

i think it was a little over 2 gigs, but yeah, I was going to make this point as well.

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I really liked it. I played on L28 and it was good challenge. I thought the final "boss" was a very interesting encounter and I wonder if we'll see that mechanic used in the Raid. It made it really difficult...

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Hope you don't mind me joining in. Megathread form up on Cody?

- Commendations are rubbish. I thought maybe they would be an alternative to Marks; a weapon might cost 1 Commendation instead of 150 Marks. No, they cost 1 Commendation AND 150 Marks. Commendations are just meant to slow progress, nothing more.

I took a brief tour of the Vanguard and FWC vendors this morning and wasn't impressed, but I don't think vendor items are meant to compete with Raid gear. So, meh.

- Eris' ship is okay. Not as impressive as that of the Queen's Emissary. It just doesn't feel like an impactful addition to the Tower.

- The story missions felt like an appetizer for Crota's End, especially with the introduction of new mechanics that I expect to encounter again in the Raid (for which I am avoiding spoilers). Some of these new mechanics can really ruin a guardian's day, especially the one at the end of the first story mission.

I was playing hard solo and was fighting for survival in the final encounters in the first and third mission. The third mission has hints of The Last Array, minus the chance to catch your breath. The second had a more forgiving arena, where I was able to set up a defensive position. Nice music, though.

- Regarding new geometry, the second story mission and strike feature spaces already revealed by tricksters during the Destiny Beta. The third story mission features a very nice linear space that I enjoyed exploring and had not seen before--it felt like it belonged in a strike. It made me even more excited for taking on the Raid.

- There doesn't seem to be a way to replay these missions from the Director, which is odd (unless I'm overlooking something?). The Quest design, returning to the Tower constantly to talk to Eris, just slowed things down and didn't really contribute anything to the experience or seem to add any value. I guess Bungie was trying to give the community something that felt like a cohesive story through this linear design, but I was happy with the original Director approach to mission availability. These missions felt as disjointed as everything else in Destiny; one didn't lead into the next, they could have been done in any order.

- The strike was a blast. As a level 30, the first playthrough was only available at level 26. There seemed to be a significant increase in the numbers of enemies compared to other strikes and between my Firefly/Explosive Rounds Calling, Hezen Vengeance, and Nova Bomb, things were blowing up everywhere. Very fun; I never felt like I ran into a bullet sponge wall like the Devil's Lair's. Just Fallen and Hive and explosions. The thralls pouring out of those doorways made me excited for the Raid, again. I was throwing Nova Bombs and hiding inside their vortex just to catch my breath.

- The target patrol bounties Eris gives were fun. I would love to see the bounty experience become a kind of scripted patrol, where you're given bounties like the planet harvest, XP goal, and a few kill targets. You land on the planet and then work your way through all of the bounties in a single session.

- Does Eris sell anything worth buying? Looks like I might need some upgrade materials from her after Raiding, but that's about it. Nice that there's an exchange for Raid upgrade materials, from one type to another. Again, there are other solutions to that problem, like not requiring materials, but hey.

- I got Murmur. Absolutely underwhelmed.

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Very good, thanks for the impressions.

I think it might be possible that the folks at Bungie we're surprised at how quickly so many players hit the ceiling with the shipped content. They did make lots of changes since the game released to what we have now, so perhaps things we're underestimated.

(The first time we got queens bounties I shot from 20-26 just from that gear alone, and that was what, 2 weeks after it came out? I never needed blue-item anything.)

I would say you are correct in that you are seeing the pace being set artificially, to extend the life of the content. Be that adding in new currencies, commendations, trading in old gear so that you have to re-level it, mark caps each week- these are just speed bumps to slow you down to hitting 32.

I understand the logic behind that, but there has to be a better way.

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From the TTL Party Chat interview with Luke Smith/DeeJ, Luke kept referring to "seasons". The impression that I got from him is that the Vault of Glass' reign, 9/9-12/8 is season one, with the arrival of Crota's End on 12/9 beginning season two.

From this, I anticipate every Destiny expansion to feature a level increase and a new grind.

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Hope you don't mind me joining in. Megathread form up on Cody?

- Commendations are rubbish. I thought maybe they would be an alternative to Marks; a weapon might cost 1 Commendation instead of 150 Marks. No, they cost 1 Commendation AND 150 Marks. Commendations are just meant to slow progress, nothing more.

And what's worse, you don't get any commendations for your existing level. I'm at 15 with my Vanguard, yet I have zero Commendations to show for it, so what's the point of keeping track?

I took a brief tour of the Vanguard and FWC vendors this morning and wasn't impressed, but I don't think vendor items are meant to compete with Raid gear. So, meh.

Assuming you plan to run the raid weekly for the gear, the armor is meh indeed... But not the weapons. The Vanguard sniper has Armor Piercing, which, while it has a smaller magazine, is a terrific perk that you couldn't get before outside of random drops.

- Eris' ship is okay. Not as impressive as that of the Queen's Emissary. It just doesn't feel like an impactful addition to the Tower.

She's a guardian, and one who's been living off the grid for a while. You expect her to fly the Heart of Gold?

- The story missions felt like an appetizer for Crota's End, especially with the introduction of new mechanics that I expect to encounter again in the Raid (for which I am avoiding spoilers). Some of these new mechanics can really ruin a guardian's day, especially the one at the end of the first story mission.

Super Poo Water FTW.
I was telling someone how cool it was that you had an invisible timer to do things right, as you were steadily losing ground. Can't wait to see this mechanic in the raid. These things look permanent...

I was playing hard solo and was fighting for survival in the final encounters in the first and third mission. The third mission has hints of The Last Array, minus the chance to catch your breath. The second had a more forgiving arena, where I was able to set up a defensive position. Nice music, though.

Definitely some solid missions to solo. I did almost everything but the weekly solo, and I had a blast... Can't seem to replay the missions, though...

- Regarding new geometry, the second story mission and strike feature spaces already revealed by tricksters during the Destiny Beta. The third story mission features a very nice linear space that I enjoyed exploring and had not seen before--it felt like it belonged in a strike. It made me even more excited for taking on the Raid.

Number of things I never saw before. And the ones I had seen are no less "new" to me, since the experience in them was new.

- There doesn't seem to be a way to replay these missions from the Director, which is odd (unless I'm overlooking something?). The Quest design, returning to the Tower constantly to talk to Eris, just slowed things down and didn't really contribute anything to the experience or seem to add any value. I guess Bungie was trying to give the community something that felt like a cohesive story through this linear design, but I was happy with the original Director approach to mission availability. These missions felt as disjointed as everything else in Destiny; one didn't lead into the next, they could have been done in any order.

Yeah, that's odd. Wonder how they'll address that...

- The strike was a blast. As a level 30, the first playthrough was only available at level 26. There seemed to be a significant increase in the numbers of enemies compared to other strikes and between my Firefly/Explosive Rounds Calling, Hezen Vengeance, and Nova Bomb, things were blowing up everywhere. Very fun; I never felt like I ran into a bullet sponge wall like the Devil's Lair's. Just Fallen and Hive and explosions. The thralls pouring out of those doorways made me excited for the Raid, again. I was throwing Nova Bombs and hiding inside their vortex just to catch my breath.

Agreed. Wish there were more ways to get around that final area, as verticality seems to be creeping into the gameplay.

- The target patrol bounties Eris gives were fun. I would love to see the bounty experience become a kind of scripted patrol, where you're given bounties like the planet harvest, XP goal, and a few kill targets. You land on the planet and then work your way through all of the bounties in a single session.

I did like picking up three related bounties that essentially added a new "story" mission to the game...

- Does Eris sell anything worth buying? Looks like I might need some upgrade materials from her after Raiding, but that's about it. Nice that there's an exchange for Raid upgrade materials, from one type to another. Again, there are other solutions to that problem, like not requiring materials, but hey.

Upgrade materials, which a neatly interchangeable if you need one more than the other (if only we could swap Shards for Energy... Oh Speaker...)

- I got Murmur. Absolutely underwhelmed.

Everyone gets murmur. Give it a chance to grow...

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- There doesn't seem to be a way to replay these missions from the Director, which is odd (unless I'm overlooking something?).

You are. You can select them from the director to play them again. We reran the third one again to satisfy the "Kill 25 Knights and Wizards" quest.

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- There doesn't seem to be a way to replay these missions from the Director, which is odd (unless I'm overlooking something?).

You are. You can select them from the director to play them again. We reran the third one again to satisfy the "Kill 25 Knights and Wizards" quest.

You're right, I was. Going back to check, I only saw icons for the second and third mission, though?

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Can't find the first one.

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I've beaten all 3 story missions and both strikes, but I only see the 2nd story mission from the director.

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Come to think of it, i guess that's how the main campaign is too. You can't replay the intro mission.

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Maybe if I get very bored later and have $20 sitting around I would get it, but it appears that the Dark Below is not what I was looking for.

Oddly enough, considering that the main things I was hoping for was more intersting/cooler gear and quality story/characters, I can get the former without buying the expansion. Sure, I won't be able to get everything, like Raid gear, but it is enough to satisfy me.

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Maybe if I get very bored later and have $20 sitting around I would get it, but it appears that the Dark Below is not what I was looking for.

I can't speak for anybody but myself, but I think I've already gotten 20 bucks worth of entertainment, and that's even before trying the raid. The main problem, is that compared to other games, you don't get a whole lot for your money. 20 dollars might be a lot to you, I don't know. It's not to me. I'm not sad I spent it, but in context of the rest of the industry I think the offering may be a little weak.

Raid excepted, and that's surely what will push it over the edge.

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$20 is 1/3 the price of a full game. Would you say it is about 1/3 the content of a full game. As a consumer, I'm not too concerned with overhead costs or supply chain issues.
"Content" can be defined very loosely here.

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$20 is 1/3 the price of a full game. Would you say it is about 1/3 the content of a full game. As a consumer, I'm not too concerned with overhead costs or supply chain issues.
"Content" can be defined very loosely here.

That's hard to say. It's not just amount of content, but quality of it. It's a value judgement.

Only you can tell yourself if it is worth the money. The game's got:

-3 story missions, roughly on par with average Destiny story missions, but better in quality in my opinion.
-Some mini missions in the form of bounties that were somewhat cool (no waypoints!)
-2 strikes, both improvements over current strikes. (One for Xbox, which is shitty).
-A raid, shorter than Vault of Glass (based on reports from friends who have already completed it).
-Added weapons and armor
-Added grinding mechanics to make shit take even longer and be more frustrating

Is that worth 20 bucks to you? 20 bucks is basically nothing to me, so it's already paid off.

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Is that worth 20 bucks to you? 20 bucks is basically nothing to me, so it's already paid off.

Yeah, I suppose the difference is that the things you listed happen to be of very little value to me, I'm just not that interested. It looks like quality stuff, and a passable amount of it, but just isn't what I'm into.

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The Season Pass is of course a few bucks cheaper per DLC, but it require more total money. Since I like Destiny, and I don't spend money on a lot of games, that felt like the way to go. I wasn't going to be able to afford it until after Christmas, but Beorn gifted it to me, and thus committed me to a life of guilty servitude towards him. :)

I'm really enjoying it, and I've only played the story and strike missions once. I haven't gotten or even seen all the weapons and armor. I haven't ventured into Crucible; I haven't done the Raid.

As a whole, compared to the going DLC rates, it fits the bill, and seems a way better value than say $5 for a new cosmetic Batman costume. It might be one or two dollars too much, solely comparing the new content to the launch game content.

The important caveat for valuing it as a good deal is that the player/payer needs to be interested in each aspect of Destiny. So if you don't like Raiding, collecting gear, or the Crucible - and only the story (or any other combination like that) it's likely not worth $18 or $20. Does that make sense? If you like 2/3 of the game... well, it's probably still a decent deal.

The last batch of Halo map packs I bought for Halo 3 and Reach cost $10 each, I believe... I know for certain the Noble Map Pack did. That had only 3 multiplayer maps. The Dark Below has that and, in my opinion, more than the same amount of content across the other modes. That's another way it seems reasonable in price to me.

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The last batch of Halo map packs I bought for Halo 3 and Reach cost $10 each, I believe... I know for certain the Noble Map Pack did. That had only 3 multiplayer maps. The Dark Below has that and, in my opinion, more than the same amount of content across the other modes. That's another way it seems reasonable in price to me.

It's an issue of quality vs quantity too. The raid is going to keep me busy figuring it out and getting good enough to run it like Vault of Glass. So, worth it.

The strikes are big improvements, and the bosses never feel like a chore like the other ones do.

The story missions were cool, but more of the same and didn't really make me reach for or learn anything super new. Compare this to say, the Burial At Sea 2 DLC for Bioshock Infinite, and it was like playing a new type of game.

I think if you have no interest in the raid or crucible, then the pack is probably not worth the cost. If you do, it is.

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With regard to Legendaries - it appears that if you acquire old legendaries during the dark below, they will get the higher max attack stat of the new legendaries. I got Prestige IV, and it topped out at 331. So it appears that you can still get and use old legendaries that are beefed up, but you simply can;t upgrade your current ones, and they are harder to get since they only come from engrams now.

That's good to know. There are quite a few "old" legendaries that I like a lot, and I was worried that they'd all just fade into Destiny history. Deviant Gravity should not be forgotten, dammit!

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Looks like the Vanguard and Crucible vendors no longer sell the high-stability lower RoF rifles like Shadow Price. Wonder if that was an indirect effort to reduce their use in crucible?

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Can't say I'm surprised.

Do yourself a favor and stop playing this hollow time / money vortex.

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why don't you make like a car and drive off :p

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Destiny had problems. We all agree on that.

The fact that this DLC does nothing to address ANY of those complaints is pathetic. Longevity? Not here. Story? Nope. Geometry? Recycled.

Eris might as well not even be there for all that she does.

$20 is a joke.

If you want to keep playing at this point, you have only yourself to blame for dealing with Bungie's BS. Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice...

Can't get fooled again. [/georgebush]

The line must be drawn here. This far, no further!

Bungie had a chance to address the complaints about the game and they failed in every respect. That demonstrates something very important to me. Even though they KNOW that players have problems with Destiny and they have been TOLD repeatedly what those problems are, they simply have no intention of fixing any of them. Why should they? Destiny is a successful game. If you don't like their approach, you don't have to support them.

I don't like their approach.

This is the end of the line for me. Enjoy the game. I stopped playing a couple months ago, but I was still waiting on Bungie to get their shit together and make something great for the DLC. I guess that isn't going to happen.

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...I will simply say, "Good bye."

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What did Spec ops grunt ever do to you?

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Have a good one! See you again in when the next expansion is out and you need the attention. Glad you and Kermit are besties :)

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I won't be here for the next expansion. I was only hanging on for this one out of hope.

And with that, so as to quell any accusations that I am merely seeking attention, I request that the mods ban me from this forum. Goodbye, fellow gamers.

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This has been bothering me for a while. I need to get it off my chest.

Why are so many people okay with the fact that Destiny is an MMO even though Bungie went out of their way to advertise that it was not an MMO?

THAT is some bait-and-switch bullshit right there.

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It's not an MMO. Full stop. It's an action game that borrows elements like loot drops, raiding and grinding from the MMO genre albeit slightly tweaked. They have been saying this since the beginning and it's still true, so no bait-and-switch has occurred. You can now take this off your list of concerns about the Destiny community.

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It's not an MMO. Full stop. It's an action game.

MMOs can't be action games?

It's an MMO. They can call it whatever they want, but it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.

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It's an MMO. They can call it whatever they want, but it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.

MMO = Massively Multiplayer Online.

A sixteen player limit in any area isn't massive by any stretch of the imagination. It does, however, sound pretty common for multiplayer FPS games.

The playable area is nothing like those found in an MMO. It's not one giant game world where all the different areas are connected where you could walk from one side to the other if you wanted. It's a handful of fairly large playable areas loosely connected by loading screens hidden behind a pretty video of a flying spaceship. Again, this sounds more like a common FPS, but with less linear gameplay.

Your duck doesn't waddle or quack. I think it might be a platypus.

-Disciple

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It's not an MMO. Full stop. It's an action game.

MMOs can't be action games?

It's an MMO. They can call it whatever they want, but it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.

Bungie had an open Beta for Destiny. There was no more accurate pre-launch description for Destiny than that. You had the opportunity to evaluate the product and determine if it was worth your time and money.

Vague genre classification is absolutely irrelevant. But suuuuuure, let's argue words. I personally like your idea of calling Destiny a duck.

Best. Duck. Ever.

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That's still you, Pete.

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I've made it the same policy with his posts.

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why don't you make like a car and drive off :p

[image]

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how does Patrol work now for those without DLC? Will i only see people in patrol now that have DLC, since map assets would technically be different (open passage to the DLC area that would be blocked off for other people)?

I don't really know what all has been added (I only know about the area under the forgotten shore) so my question may be moot.

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how does Patrol work now for those without DLC? Will i only see people in patrol now that have DLC, since map assets would technically be different (open passage to the DLC area that would be blocked off for other people)?

I don't really know what all has been added (I only know about the area under the forgotten shore) so my question may be moot.

The Jovian Complex door is still closed to DLC owners on Patrol. I imagine this is true of the other areas as well. You're still in the same Skywatch/etc as everyone else.

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This sort of thing has existed previously. There's that Cabal door/small complex that only opens on the Exclusion Zone mission. Or the Hive door on... I forget the mission name, but in Patrol mode it's open. In the story mission, it's closed initially and opens when you get there.

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Do faction ranks net you Vanguard or Crucible commendations?

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Do faction ranks net you Vanguard or Crucible commendations?

Do you need Crucible or Vanguard Commendations for faction gear?

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You need crucible commendations for chest/weapons/helm.

Which means it's going to be a lot harder to gear up a new character unless you have a bunch of RNG loot sitting in your vault.

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Time to wear my regular bond, it seems.

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In fact, I didn't have to download any data when the expansion hit, which means it's all on your drive. Bungie has committed the sin of having you pay to unlock content you already have on your disk.

I honestly don't understand this common complaint. Here's an alternate phrasing: Bungie has done the favor of preloading content so you can play immediately and save bandwith costs (if you are from the U.S. they are more common that you may think around the world).

I am not being an apologist. I don't actually think it's as great as all that, but I also don't understand why people are as bothered by it as they are. Destiny is largely an online game, just unplug your ethernet to try and see what it's like to play without an online connection. Given that, why is the geometry the most important aspect of an expansion? Why are people upset at this,but would be perfectly happy if they had been allowed to pre-download the content? Would this be any different if they had allowed the download of the expansion to have that data in it two months ago as a pre-download?

I'm truly Cureous. I completely understand* someone who claims that they didn't get their value is worth in the initial game. I totally understand someone who says they did not get their values worth from the expansion. How the expansion was delivered to them, though? I don't understand that.

*understand != agree personally

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The issue lies in paying for it twice. If it was on the disc when you purchased it, you paid for it once at the point of sale. If you then have to pay another $20 to access it, you've now paid for that content twice.

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The issue lies in paying for it twice. If it was on the disc when you purchased it, you paid for it once at the point of sale. If you then have to pay another $20 to access it, you've now paid for that content twice.

Except the DLC content wasn't on your disc when you purchased it. When people glitched into the DLC areas, could you start and complete any missions? Did Eris start speaking to you about the mission objectives? Did you receive any rewards at the end?

The answer is no. The rooms were empty. When you buy the DLC, you aren't paying for empty rooms. You're paying for designed gameplay encounters with mission dialogue and music. And none of that was on the disc, you downloaded it in the big patch last week.

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No, I don't think this can come down to surprise cost. Anyone who is aware that the content was "on the disk" is someone who's doing a lot of Internet reading about the game. Anyone who's doing a lot of Internet reading about the game knows that they don't get the expansions for free.

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I got up at three in the fucking morning to be one of the first to play TDB. And NO ONE here on DBO wants to do the Raid.

What the fuck.

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What are you smoking?

There are a bunch of threads for people to raid on PS4.

Oh xbox? No one seems to care! Trololololo

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Add me! I ran the missions and Nightfall this morning! GT JComboBox on Xbone

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Most of the other story missions are on re-used geometry.

I was mostly bummed about this part. I did really like the Rasputin level (not a spoiler?) since it actually had a different look and feel than what you usually encounter in the game. However I missed those moments when you unlocked a new area (or planet) and you had to stop and just marvel at those skyboxes!

Haven't done the Raid yet though, I imagine that will have some of those awestruck moments.

Also, that Nightfall Strike I found INCREDIBLY tough! Took about 2+ hours to beat it with just myself and a friend.

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Also, that Nightfall Strike I found INCREDIBLY tough! Took about 2+ hours to beat it with just myself and a friend.

What weapons did you use? We had a good set: I ran it with Fatebringer, Patience and Time, and an Arc Jolder's Hammer. If you have an arc Swarm or thunderlord, that would be good too. Praedyth's timepiece was also effective.

I found a nice hiding spot in the boss room, and got a huge chunk of the boss' life down very quickly with Patience and Time, however there is a knight spawn up there… so it was fun while it lasted. The knight would spawn and kill me, Munky would shoot through the wall to kill it, then I'd go back up. Repeat.

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I was never blessed with a Fatebringer unfortunately, so I had a VoC, Murmur (new fusion rifle), and an almost maxed arc Deviant Gravity. The MG would tear through most baddies, but I could never even enter the final boss room. I'm also still super conservative about using ammo synth for whatever reason. We'd duck in and out from the entrance and then jump above to dodge the thralls if we needed to. It was probably a bit too conservative, but I just didn't want to wipe and have to get through the whole thing again!

I was never able to put good damage on that crappy knight you mentioned easily, so we just let him be for the entire fight :)

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So you said they committed the sin of making you pay for content you already own since it's already on the HDD. Would you still say this purchase is worth it considering this garbage? As in, is the Raid worth giving them more money for stuff you clearly already bought when you made your initial purchase?

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So you said they committed the sin of making you pay for content you already own since it's already on the HDD. Would you still say this purchase is worth it considering this garbage? As in, is the Raid worth giving them more money for stuff you clearly already bought when you made your initial purchase?

We are on bathroom breaks for the raid right now and are at Crota.

It's pretty cool :-)

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Blargh. Just so you know, it's pretty much solely your recommendation that's going to have me buy this thing. I'm not pleased in the slightest with it already being on my HDD, among other things, but if you say it's worth it, I suppose that makes it way more likely that I'll get it. Also, good luck beating Crota!

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Blargh. Just so you know, it's pretty much solely your recommendation that's going to have me buy this thing. I'm not pleased in the slightest with it already being on my HDD, among other things, but if you say it's worth it, I suppose that makes it way more likely that I'll get it. Also, good luck beating Crota!

We called it for tonight and are resuming tomorrow. We think we are missing something because we are doing very little damage: as if you were attacking Atheon without time's vengeance.

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Blargh. Just so you know, it's pretty much solely your recommendation that's going to have me buy this thing. I'm not pleased in the slightest with it already being on my HDD, among other things, but if you say it's worth it, I suppose that makes it way more likely that I'll get it. Also, good luck beating Crota!

The DLC is something like 2GB, with new Story/Strike areas, 3 Crucible maps, a Raid, and a host of weapons and armor. There was two or three locked empty rooms in the launch game put there in anticipation for future development - they were revised and populated with interesting combat, music, etc. for one of the story missions in this DLC, as Eris revisits and connects the events of the Cosmodrome and Rasputin to the Hive on the Moon.

Saying that The Dark Below was already on your HDD is incorrect. Of course, most of it is now, as the update was required for everyone so that all players could still be compatible with each other online no matter what they've purchased.

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Saying that The Dark Below was already on your HDD is incorrect. Of course, most of it is now, as the update was required for everyone so that all players could still be compatible with each other online no matter what they've purchased.

Uh it's 0 GB. I downloaded nothing between not having the expansion on Monday and having it on Tuesday. The only difference was that Monday all the data I had on my PS4 was not accessible, on Tuesday it was.

I think it is just the fact that everybody has it, but only certain people are allowed to access it.

I am more concerned about the starting level progression. The missions start at level 26. So someone who has just bought the game, or someone who has started a new character, has to go through the same grind I had to go through to do the Vault of Glass initially to do the story missions. The Black Garden was a level 18 story mission. These Eris missions should have started at level 19.

It might be a bit easier given that the buyable armor will get you higher faster, but man come on.

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Uh it's 0 GB. I downloaded nothing between not having the expansion on Monday and having it on Tuesday. The only difference was that Monday all the data I had on my PS4 was not accessible, on Tuesday it was.

I usually agree with everything you say, but Levi is right on this point.

Because of the way Destiny works, all players need to have this content in order to interface properly with those who have downloaded the DLC.

If you choose not to download The Dark Below, but you run across someone who did, and he's wielding gear that comes with the DLC, then obviously the data for that gear has to be on your hard disk so that the game engine can render it in that guy's hands.

As I understand it, even the mission data needs to be distributed to everyone because the game engine needs it to properly display players who are running Dark Below missions while you're free-roaming or whatever.

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Uh it's 0 GB. I downloaded nothing between not having the expansion on Monday and having it on Tuesday. The only difference was that Monday all the data I had on my PS4 was not accessible, on Tuesday it was.

I usually agree with everything you say, but Levi is right on this point.

Because of the way Destiny works, all players need to have this content in order to interface properly with those who have downloaded the DLC.

If you choose not to download The Dark Below, but you run across someone who did, and he's wielding gear that comes with the DLC, then obviously the data for that gear has to be on your hard disk so that the game engine can render it in that guy's hands.

As I understand it, even the mission data needs to be distributed to everyone because the game engine needs it to properly display players who are running Dark Below missions while you're free-roaming or whatever.

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Uh it's 0 GB. I downloaded nothing between not having the expansion on Monday and having it on Tuesday. The only difference was that Monday all the data I had on my PS4 was not accessible, on Tuesday it was.

I usually agree with everything you say, but Levi is right on this point.

Because of the way Destiny works, all players need to have this content in order to interface properly with those who have downloaded the DLC.

If you choose not to download The Dark Below, but you run across someone who did, and he's wielding gear that comes with the DLC, then obviously the data for that gear has to be on your hard disk so that the game engine can render it in that guy's hands.

As I understand it, even the mission data needs to be distributed to everyone because the game engine needs it to properly display players who are running Dark Below missions while you're free-roaming or whatever.

Correct. It's a similar situation to DLC characters in fighting games. Everyone has to have them in case you are playing against someone else without the DLC.

But can you not see how someone could feel a little peeved knowing that they HAVE the new content but aren't allowed to play it?

We don;t have to keep harping on this. I probably shouldn't be myself, since in the scheme of things it's not the biggest problem.

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Uh it's 0 GB. I downloaded nothing between not having the expansion on Monday and having it on Tuesday. The only difference was that Monday all the data I had on my PS4 was not accessible, on Tuesday it was.

I usually agree with everything you say, but Levi is right on this point.

Because of the way Destiny works, all players need to have this content in order to interface properly with those who have downloaded the DLC.

If you choose not to download The Dark Below, but you run across someone who did, and he's wielding gear that comes with the DLC, then obviously the data for that gear has to be on your hard disk so that the game engine can render it in that guy's hands.

As I understand it, even the mission data needs to be distributed to everyone because the game engine needs it to properly display players who are running Dark Below missions while you're free-roaming or whatever.

Correct. It's a similar situation to DLC characters in fighting games. Everyone has to have them in case you are playing against someone else without the DLC.

But can you not see how someone could feel a little peeved knowing that they HAVE the new content but aren't allowed to play it?

Well, if they've discovered on the internet that they have it already...can't they also discover why?

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There is a difference between have and own in our digital world. You're looking for reasons to get mad. If you don't like the way things are go make your own game.

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There is a difference between have and own in our digital world. You're looking for reasons to get mad. If you don't like the way things are go make your own game.

Believe me, if I had 150 million dollars I would at least TRY to make the best game in the universe.

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But can you not see how someone could feel a little peeved knowing that they HAVE the new content but aren't allowed to play it?

Nope, I can't see it. I can see wanting it more because the barrier for entry is so low, but why should I be peeved that I can't have something I haven't paid for? There's no free lunch.

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I think the disconnect here comes from the fact that some people believe if something was on the disc they bought, they paid for it already.

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Uh it's 0 GB. I downloaded nothing between not having the expansion on Monday and having it on Tuesday. The only difference was that Monday all the data I had on my PS4 was not accessible, on Tuesday it was.

You may have auto-downloaded it. I'm not sure how it worked on PS4, but on XB1 when I opened the game at 2AM my time there was a ~100MB download. If I had to guess I would say even that was pre-installed on PS4 sometime between the patch and the release date.

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I assumed the massive patch we downloaded last week was effectively pre-loading the DLC content for us. Seemed a bit much for the little tweaks we saw after the patch (even if they did have a pretty dramatic effect on gameplay). Pretty clever way to avoid the zero hour bottleneck you get with most downloadable content.

-Disciple

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That patch certainly had DLC content as people started pulling it apart to find out what the new weapons, armor, etc. would be.

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I assumed the massive patch we downloaded last week was effectively pre-loading the DLC content for us. Seemed a bit much for the little tweaks we saw after the patch (even if they did have a pretty dramatic effect on gameplay). Pretty clever way to avoid the zero hour bottleneck you get with most downloadable content.

-Disciple

Oh yeah, just mentioning there WAS a patch on the day it was released.

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Thoughts of Dark Below So far (No spoils) (Destiny)

Was just about to ask...

Was just about to ask...

Was just about to ask...

I wish they would impove the older story missions with patch

short answer