So a bunch of us went and did the challenge mode on hard last night. First off I'm gonna say thanks to all the guys who did that. You guys made my first hard raid feel easier than normal mode.

To all you others, we steam rolled the opposition. We actually killed the warpriest in two totems, which I've never done before. Needless to say, we didn't actually notice the challenge at all because there was really only one chance for us to fail when we did it. We even decided to do gorgy and downed him on the third attempt. Which would have been only once but I learned two important lessons: One, corrupted light goes boom and secondly, enemies like bubbles too.

Anyway, on to the loot. So this was my first Hard Raid and I started it at 297 Light. What I got from the first three sections:

310 Sniper
320 Machine Gun
319 Rocket launcher
310 chest piece (upgrade from 303)
306 ghost (upgrade from 300)
320 artifact (upgrade from 300)
310 artifact

And now I'm at 307 Light. I'm told I was pretty lucky with my drops.

Extremely lucky with those drops. I got only 1 311+ item on my first and only run, it did not seem worth it after that.

You hit near the max roll on everything you got except the ghost.

But yeah, challenge mode is well worth it. I liked it a lot! Normally, even on hard, we fuck around a lot, or at least I do, but challenge mode kinda made us take it as serious business. Good stuff!

Nice!! Hopefully my xbox character will be up enough soon to play with some of you guys. I look forward to doing this on PS4 Friday. Hopefully everyone just wants to do warpriest 3 times instead of the entire raid. based on the guaranteed 320 drops, you get more bang for your buck.

I joined a group from the100.io last night. We finally got it on our 4th try. On one run, the aura holder got disconnected on our third aura and it switched someone that already had it. On two other runs, we had two aura holders die on the first one.

On the last run, we got him on the 2nd aura but everyone started dropping like flies. We were already down a man (someone died on the first aura). The 2nd aura holder dies, and it switches to me. We get the war priest down to a sliver, and there is only me and 1 other guy left. He lands the kill shot right as the war priest's boomer shot hits him. They kill each other, and I'm the last guardian standing.

Bonus vid:

Clutch self revive on totems a few weeks ago. Only me and one other guy left on the other totem. I was working the right totem, but everyone had died on the left, so i rushed over there. I died and self-rez'd. I start to head to center to recapture the aura, but the dead guy at center screams at me to go back b/c it's almost done, so i stay on my totem, and we barely make it.

Yes and no. You get a 320 artifact, yes, which is nice. But the guns are either the machine gun or rocket launcher. After one go, all you're really getting is the artifact on subsequent characters. Unless you don't get the machine gun, it seems like running the raid to the sisters at least is a good move.

Eh, I prefer the guarantee that I will get 320s rather than not. I already have a 320 MG and could care less about the rocket launcher, so I will just use these for infusion (Sleeper Simulant, Truth, Sword)

Yes and no. You get a 320 artifact, yes, which is nice. But the guns are either the machine gun or rocket launcher. After one go, all you're really getting is the artifact on subsequent characters. Unless you don't get the machine gun, it seems like running the raid to the sisters at least is a good move.

well, you can run it on all three characters and use the extra heavies for infusion. 320 Truth? yes please!

also, if they follow the same paradigm, you should be able to get 320 armor at golgoroth, and hopefully a 320 helmet from Oryx.

Thanks to challenge mode I ran the raid twice last night. Ugh, I'll be regretting it in about 5-7 hours from now.

SO! The reason I ran it the 2nd time was because 2 of my friends needed help with it. They had just dropped out of a LFG that was headed south with the leader starting to throw around blame and make it an unhappy place to be because they were unable to complete the challenge the right way. Either they would wipe or the aura holder would die & it would swap to someone who had already held it. After I joined up with those 2 friends we LFGed for 3 more we tromped through the challenge mode in 2 rounds & decided to see how far we could go quickly. We ended up giving Oryx a few tries, but never got him over 1/2 way down.

Anyway, the point is that Datto & his ilk can take their elitist whining and shove it. It may be true that 'spinning an extra plate' may not be very hard, especially if you're good at spinning plates, it is proving difficult for some. The challenge mode this week has likely done exactly what bungie was aiming for, giving people a reason to try it a specific way and to serve as an excuse to grant some specific & generous rewards.

Now, lets see what Golgoroth is like next week. I expect there to be sweet salty cry babies again, but from the other camp. "Multi-gaze method is too hard!"

edit: english is hard.

Yes and no. You get a 320 artifact, yes, which is nice. But the guns are either the machine gun or rocket launcher. After one go, all you're really getting is the artifact on subsequent characters. Unless you don't get the machine gun, it seems like running the raid to the sisters at least is a good move.

Thanks for taking over my event last night. My coworkers roped me into an early Raid (my son was otherwise occupied - not normal).

I'd love to run it again tonight if anyone wants to join. I WILL be there!

Walking is hard, but that jump is like a top 5 Destiny jump of all time for me.

For those who don't play with me who watch this short video, I like to think this is my Destiny play in a nutshell. Amazing feats of unbelievable prowess and skill (for which I should receive at least a daytime Emmy or Hugo Award, IMO) followed by deaths caused by almost cartoonish incompetence.

For those who don't play with me who watch this short video, I like to think this is my Destiny play in a nutshell. Amazing feats of unbelievable prowess and skill (for which I should receive at least a daytime Emmy or Hugo Award, IMO) followed by deaths caused by almost cartoonish incompetence.

i ALWAYS forget that you can't glide with the relic. ugh

- No text -

Instead of patching the game to force you to play it the way they intended, they give you an incentive to do it the "right" way.

Anyway, the point is that Datto & his ilk can take their elitist whining and shove it. It may be true that 'spinning an extra plate' may not be very hard, especially if you're good at spinning plates, it is proving difficult for some. The challenge mode this week has likely done exactly what bungie was aiming for, giving people a reason to try it a specific way and to serve as an excuse to grant some specific & generous rewards.

I completely understand that we are the 1.7% (that's how many people on PS4 have finished King's Fall on Heroic according to trophy data). However, I am sympathetic to the view that this particular challenge wasn't exactly challenging.

Could both camps of people have not been satisfied had there been separate challenges for normal and heroic? The normal mode challenges provide drops to help you in hard mode, and the hard mode challenge… well maybe that should be cosmetic only?

Part of the problem is that the loot system is messed up in the end game. If you didn't have to play the hard mode raid to get ready for the hard mode raid, the drop issue from challenges would be negated.

As an aside, I went from 311 to 314 last night. That's the biggest jump since I started playing King's Fall.

I completely understand that we are the 1.7% (that's how many people on PS4 have finished King's Fall on Heroic according to trophy data). However, I am sympathetic to the view that this particular challenge wasn't exactly challenging.

Yeah, I agree, it wasn't very hard for us, we usually run it close to the challenge way, and while some of us don't love taking the aura, all of us are capable of doing it. So, yeah, I too certainly understand the view that this wasn't challenging. However, it was interesting that in the LFG I ran with later last night there was much concern over who could handle taking the aura, this was surprising to me as it's pretty easy. After trying it once or twice you should have the hang of it. Anyway, add in the fact that my 2 friends had just come from a group that couldn't handle 3 (or 4) different people taking the aura w/o dying and I'm convinced that this can be fairly challenging for much of the Destiny community, at least until more get experience with taking the aura. I think this is really a big part of what Bungie is trying to accomplish with these, challenge people to tackle different roles in the raid.

Could both camps of people have not been satisfied had there been separate challenges for normal and heroic? The normal mode challenges provide drops to help you in hard mode, and the hard mode challenge… well maybe that should be cosmetic only?

Yeah, Bungie certainly could have made the hard mode challenge different than the normal mode challenge. That could have soothed the tears of the professional streamers. It sounds like some were expecting Bungie to alter the mechanics of the fight, but Bungie didn't implement it that way, and I don't think they have the hooks in place to do that at the moment, so they're just attempting to alter the execution of the team which I think is a fair first step. But yeah, having different challenges for normal and hard would be interesting. I would like to see two or three different challenges per boss, so that perhaps next time we encounter the Warpriest challenge we find we have to take our time killing him and use each pillar for cover. It would give more longevity to the challenge modes.

As an aside, I went from 311 to 314 last night. That's the biggest jump since I started playing King's Fall.

Same, except I made some poor infusion decisions and am at 313. I should have checked to see how high my blackspindle would go before infusing it with one of the snipers I got.

edit: added bit about tackling different roles being one possible reason for Bungie's choices.

However, it was interesting that in the LFG I ran with later last night there was much concern over who could handle taking the aura, this was surprising to me as it's pretty easy. After trying it once or twice you should have the hang of it.

i don't mind running aura. but since i have a black spindle and 320 machine gun, i woudld prefer not to.

I have yet to run relic on Oryx though. probably something that i should practice. Most groups that i have played with always have a designated guy, so i don't mess with what works.

Same thing as sisters, really.

Go as fast as you possibly can, take the ball, jump to the place where the ship shows up. If you're good you will be there before the knight spawns. Dunk on him, then chase him to the middle. Then, stand in the middle.

Instead of patching the game to force you to play it the way they intended, they give you an incentive to do it the "right" way.

Given that the encounters are the same because the challenge is not a different activity selectable in the director, I think it's going to limit the options fro challenges…

What's left really?

Golgoroth: Never missing an opportunity to take his gaze?
Daughters: 1 round of damage per daughter?
Oryx: Different runner each time? Not letting a single Taken into the pocket dimension?

Oryx: Thriller dance while activating platforms

Oryx thoughts:
Don't allow the same person to grab the relic more than once
Don't allow anyone to jump on the same platform more than once
Detonate four light bombs every cycle (Don't allow knights to remove them)
Kill the shade of Oryx before all fireteam members have entered the Thunderdome

Same thing as sisters, really.

Go as fast as you possibly can, take the ball, jump to the place where the ship shows up. If you're good you will be there before the knight spawns. Dunk on him, then chase him to the middle. Then, stand in the middle.

It is. Oryx is the only raid I like running relic on.

- No text -