I played Crucible today... (Destiny)

by stabbim , Des Moines, IA, USA, Sunday, June 07, 2015, 03:54 (3555 days ago)

And it was... well, it was actually kind of fun. Still not something I plan to do as a general rule, but good. This is not a bragging post. I'm just happy that it was an enjoyable experience (PvP often isn't for me), and I know that some people around here know how much I stay away from PvP, and might be interested to hear that this happened.

As a result of my distaste for Crucible, I've generally had a personal rule against doing any exotic bounties that have Crucible components (with an exception for Bad Juju because there are several factors which make that one comparatively easy).

But a few days ago, the old missive game up, and it occurred to me that A) I would really like to have an Invective, and B) a 25-kill gap isn't THAT big. Maybe if I played conservatively and had a few lucky games, it would be doable...

So, I kept that bounty active on my Hunter and just played Destiny like I normally would. Before long, I'd survived a few strikes (got the last one Friday night) and was ready for the Crucible part. Hoo boy.

Saturday morning, I went into Control. I felt like that was the best place for me to snag kills from teammates or hit people who weren't looking for me. I went in alone, because I sometimes have anger issues when it comes to PvP, and didn't want to embarrass myself. Also (and I know this sounds a bit cynical, sorry) I didn't want any encouragement if I just decided I was done with the attempt! :)

I knew the main thing was not total kills, but to go positive. As long as I stayed alive as much as possible, I'd be progressing. I decided to keep my usual Bladedancer/MIDA combo. I know it's not the typical Last Word loadout, but I was intending to stay out of the fray whenever possible, and MIDA is what I'm most comfortable with at range, since I almost always use it on my Bladedancer. Plus, I thought that being able to run away might save me sometimes (it did). I also equipped for maximum cloaking. Cloaking on the super, blink strike, and crouch, with Don't Touch Me just in case. The whole idea being to strike before I'm seen, and if I do accidentally wind up being in close, hopefully confuse the enemy. Not maximize kills, but minimize deaths.

I am terrible with snipers and didn't really want to be at shotgun range for my purposes, so I used the sidearm from HoW. Aside from those factors, I'd also heard that special ammo has become scarce since I last played Crucible, and thought the sidearm's ammo supply might be useful.

My heavy was HoC, though that almost never came into play.

All of this worked... pretty well. I got it done in 4 games, going positive every game. I am by no means a great PvP player, and given how little I play it's possible matchmaking threw me in with newbs and/or terrible players, but I really felt like I played smart, stayed safe, and got it done. The last game went particularly well:

The keys to success were, in order of importance:

• Cloaking/the element of surprise: In most confrontations, I was cloaked at the beginning, found a target at a good range, and laid into them before they knew anything was up. In the rare instances I was in melee range, I was almost always able to hit them once (which cloaked me) and follow up before they knew what was going on. Don't Touch Me helped a couple of times, but overall Blink Strike seemed much more important. I grabbed this clip because it's when the bounty finally popped, but it happens to be a good illustration of how I was playing: http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/stabbim/video/3123737
  
• MIDA: In PvE, I've always maintained that MIDA is one of the best all-around primary weapons, but now I'm even more impressed with it. I wasn't necessarily expecting it to be great here - I mostly used it because it's what I'm familiar with. But at its optimal range, it's really a beast. I never came across anyone who I felt I couldn't out-shoot, at the right range. Not other scout rifles, or hand cannons/pulse rifles. I don't know if it's the knockback effect, the rate of fire, or the quick ADS time, but it felt dominant. Might be the movement speed, too - strafing faster surely helps? Speaking of which, I'd say there were 5-10 instances where I just BARELY escaped a bad situation with a sliver of health, and I know I wouldn't have escaped if not for the speed boost.
  
• Sidearm: Not much to say, it just fit my needs in this instance. I have to say, it worked quite well. At the ranges where MIDA's TTK starts to feel lacking, that thing really puts people down quick.

If you actually read this far, thanks. :)