A Tale From The Trials… A Story of Agony and Glory (Destiny)

by Doooskey, Kansas City, MO, Saturday, June 13, 2015, 23:35 (3690 days ago)
edited by Doooskey, Saturday, June 13, 2015, 23:51

So my Fireteam and I finally had a chance to go to the Trials together this weekend. We frequently play all forms of Destiny together regularly, and are all decent in Crucible. We figure our odds are good, and that Trials won’t be all that tough, since we are used to playing together.

Last night, we decide to give it a try. A "practice passage" was purchased by all of us, and we decide against buying any buffs from Brother Vance, because hey, “practice run…”

Practice Game 1
In our first match, we lose the first 2 rounds. Completely clueless as to the best approach. We decide to just stick together, and our best player turns it on, which results in 4 straight rounds in our favor, followed by a loss, then a win. Great! We win our first Trials match together. Huge confidence boost. We have got this… Heck, we might even get some good rewards (5 wins) just “practicing”

Practice Game 2
Next match… We lose the first 3 rounds. It’s pretty ugly. We are messy. We regroup, our best guy gets frustrated and turns it up again (seriously, this guy is one of those PVP freaks at times) and we win 4 straight rounds. We are looking like the Jekyll and Hyde of the Crucible. Surely we are about to win… After our 4 in a row, we drop the last two in the ugliest fashion imaginable. Ok, we played bad, and we lost it. We didn’t really feel like the other guys were better than us, but they beat us, so I guess they must be.

Practice Game 3
Next match, we find a team that must be on a practice run as well, and we bowl over them, it’s messy, but we manage to play less messy than the other team. We all contribute pretty well.

Practice Games 4, 5 and 6
The next two matches, we get absolutely dominated. Everywhere I go I feel outplayed. Even when I spawn. We try a different strat each round, a maybe pull off winning 3 rounds in one of the matches, and 1 round in the other. These other guys feel like Crucible Gods. When I do get a kill, it feels fluky, I feel like I am always reacting, and not being very proactive. When I try to be aggressive, I get melted. Our card gets spent. So, we get another one, and purchase our amazing rewards (Stone package baby!). We play one more match last night on the new card. We lose the first 3 rounds, win the next 4, then lose the last two, which is probably the worst way to lose in Trials - it’s exhilarating, but painful, when you are up 4-3, you just expect to win… Then you get another shot at 4-4, and it just feels so bad to lose that final round.

I have to call it a night, so we decide to play at 10am the next morning. We have gone 2-4, and we can only get better, right?

10am rolls around, we run a practice in regular Crucible. I have been Thorning it up unsuccessfully so far, so I decide to switch to Red Death. I play like crap with it in our 2 practice Control games. I switch back to Thorn.

Practice Games 7 and 8
We decide to run out the rest of our current Trials card (1 loss, no wins) and get some more Trials practice in. We get steam rolled in two matches as we all debate various strategies and what guys are doing to storm over us. We decide we must just be bad at Trials. I am OK with that. We are still having a BLAST. It’s odd, the action is just so good, and when you lose, it’s because you get outplayed. It doesn’t feel as frustrating to me as the regular Crucible can.

So, we turn in our card. So far, we are 2-6 in the Trials as a Fireteam. Not so great. We debate whether or not we should practice more or buy the buffs and just go for it. We are an aggressive team, so we buy our boons and just go for it.

Game 1 of the Fo Real Run
We are ready. We have got this. We spawn and I feel outplayed, what do I do? Who knows?! We are on A side (by the stairs), which at this point feels like the Auto-Lose side. We get steam rolled in the first 4 rounds. So much for believing in yourself, right? (I suppose that win boon can be purchased again… It just takes so dang long to fly to the Reef and back)

As the 5th Round starts, our Warlock chimes in… “Guys, we have got to get it together, let’s try something different.” I say, “You’re right, let’s go right this time” (Seriously, MLG Strategist right here). So, we don’t go up the stairs, we go right. It’s also worth mentioning that I decide to give up on Thorn here (gasp!) and go back to The Last Word. (I just started using Thorn one day before in PVP). So, I go right, with our elite PVP Hunter and my Last Word in hand. We get to the high bridge (Where the outside heavy spawns) and run into two guys. I unload my TLW and kill one guy super fast, my buddy cleans up the other guy, and we rush the 3rd guy and annihilate him (Which feels great BTW). I realize something here… Thorn is very different from TLW, and I was severely handicapping myself trying to play the Meta-game (I know TLW is technically in this category, but Thorn is easily considered the best weapon and is most common in ToO). My shots are suddenly a lot more true and deadly. It’s 4-1 now, we will probably lose our boon, but hey, we are feeling some traction finally.

We do the same exact thing as before. And the same result, we kill two, and chase the last guy. Wash, rinse repeat. It’s 4-2, and why fix what isn’t broke? We do this 3 more times. We were down 4-0 and then, it just “clicked.” We come from behind and WIN. OMG. Suddenly our card has 3 wins and no losses. We are all pumped and can’t believe that we have just won. We also have a strategy and a reason for the strategy (The high bridge by where heavy spawns outside is an amazing vantage point, especially against non sniping teams). So, I make it my goal to claim that bridge every match.

Game 2
When the match starts, we all know exactly what to do. I go to the high bridge, our strong guy supports, and our third cover the middle room. We win Game 2 5-0. Suddenly we have a 9 round win streak. We go from clueless to seemingly unstoppable. 4 wins, no losses. I am pretty confident that we are going to get the weekly armor piece, which is great news.

Game 3
We run against a good team, and we end up spawning on the opposite side. We lose the first two rounds… Maybe we had a fluke in the last few games. I realize that I need to tweak my approach, and so do the other two guys (We haven’t spawned this side yet since we changed our approach). We discuss it briefly and make the adjustments. With the adjustments, we pull out 5 straight round wins. Game, set, match. We are starting to notice a pattern… And we are now 5-0 on this run (with a loss forgiveness)

Game 4
Another good team… We trade the first few rounds, lose the heavy round, win to tie it 4-4. And then we lose the last round. We got a little messy here, and made a few mistakes. Honestly, these guys were good though. Luckily, we had a Mercy buff… still 5-0.

Game 5
No safety net, the nerves move a little more on edge. I stay pretty relaxed though, all I really wanted was the armor piece, and we got that. There is no way we go 9-0… Especially considering our opening 8 matches went 2-6. I don’t remember much from this game, we spawn C side the 2nd time in a row, and now have a refined strategy for that side. We end up winning 5-1 and it doesn’t really feel close. This is where I notice a shift… We start to feel like we will win each match. The other teams start to feel like we did at first (confused where to be, caught off guard, and getting just a few fluky kills). We make it 6-0. Great, an Etheric Light!

Game 6
This game feels like one of the best teams we have played yet. We have a refined strategy for C side, and we lose the first 2. They are sniping, and they aren’t chumps with it. They are sniping from the outside part by A (The High Bridge is now a death trap, so my strat is crippled). We have the inside room, so we decide to switch to defense mode since the capture point will spawn with us. They are sniping into the middle from the area just above the big stairs. They are also moving a whole lot. They know what they are doing. We trade snipe pot shots (we have 1 guy with a Final Round Spear… Sorry), but since we are so partitioned, revives are easy. We manage to get a guy, and rush just right, we end up with a 1v1 (but it’s our best guy), he wins. Rounds are now 2-1 in their favor. The next round is the same. They play more defense, so it goes to the capture point. They lose 1 guy, we lose 2. It’s just me and 2 other guys now, the capture point is up. They rush, I rush. I Fist of Havoc. We win. Tied up, 2-2. We trade back and forth the next two rounds. These guys are good. We get to 4-4. Our clean passage card is on the line. We play defense. They decide to be aggressive with the sniping. It’s a stalemate until my friend gets a Final Round snipe (sorry). My super is back, so I rush. I know that they will go for the Revive and I have Unstoppable on. I am able to run behind cover, and get behind the 2 of them, fresh with revive shields… I drop that Fist right there as I see the 3rd guy… Could it be? Will I get them all? Sadly not. They all pick up what is happening and try to get away. 1 does, and kills me… But it’s 2 on 1 in our favor. My two guys rush, and we win. Check that clip here. BTW, I have no idea how the guy who killed me got so far away so fast... Anyway, here we are 7-0.

At this point, I am really thinking that we could go Flawless. Which, is pretty insane considering how poorly we started. I couldn’t have imagined this when we started this card… We just clicked, and sorted out our plan. TLW helped a whole lot too.

Game 7
We get matched against some guys who are new to this ToO thing. 5-0. At this point we have been through the crucible… haha… We are refined, our plan is solid. We are making adjustments before each round and actively in each round. Our call outs are sharp. Our shots are on. We are rolling. 8-0. Could it be?

Game 8
In the pre-game check of the gear, these guys reveal themselves to be a lot like the previous team… Not ready quite yet for a good ToO run. One guy had VoC, and another a vendor pulse rifle. We roll in round 1 (we start A side, by the stairs). I kill all 3 on the high bridge in like 20 seconds of the match. We relax and feel like 9-0 is already here. Round 2 comes. Same thing, but this time one guy sits back near the spawn (their strat seemed to be not to move from the start much…) We get the first two on the high bridge. And we go after the last guy… This is normally my favorite part of a match, but this time it went wrong… Oh so wrong. I get to the guy, and start pumping TLW shots. I am not as laser focused as I should be, and he gets a chance to run. So he does. Now, when I say run, I mean blink. This guy just starts blinking everywhere. He gets through the whole map, manages to revive his team mates, they kill one of our guys and in the blink confusion, I die. It’s 3v1 and our best guy is alive. He gets two, but then dies. Reality check. I start thinking this guy is some Blink Master. The next two rounds go like the first. We turn it back on. Aces. (3-1, us) Heavy round comes. I go high bridge. No one is there. They all 3 go inside, our best guy is in there. I get heavy, but just me. Our Hunter goes down. I get across and shoot some bad rockets… no kills. They get our other guy. Now it’s 3v1. And they have a Jolder’s Hammer. I take out 1 guy, he gets revived. I try to get one of ours. I can’t, I die. We lose. The rounds are 3-2. The heavy round can go this way. Round 6 comes and goes like all of our wins. Over quick. Ace. It’s 4-2 and we are confident we will win. We have full supers. I tell my team I am going to just rush and do a climactic Fist O' Havoc. They tell me “No, No, No!” and I run in and hesitate and die. Should have committed. We are laughing it off, but it was dumb. In the confusion, my team kills a guy and push. They revive me and I am right by the two other guys… 2nd chance at the Glory Fist? Yes please. Game over. We win and go 9-0.

I am still amazed. It was such a blast. Getting to go to the Lighthouse with my good friends especially after our abysmal start.

My big takeaways… ToO is really about team work. Have a plan. Know the map. Practice. Communicate. We aren’t that great, but by the end, I felt like we would have won all of our lost matches if we got rematches. Even against guys who are better at Crucible. Our teamwork became a force. We lost in the beginning to guys that we were better shots than, but they played better as a team. Also, revives are hugely important.

Use what you are good with, TLW is much deadlier in my hands than a Thorn. It made a huge difference.

I hope that blink guy recorded that insane escape.

This is our story. We are going for round two on Alts tomorrow night.