It might be a personal thing for me though. I'm not a huge fan of the control game type. It just feels like I'm so distracted with the announcer telling me which zones are lost or gained. A lot more on the HUD as well. I prefer the CTF or slayer games, and maybe the 3 vs 3 hopper will work out well.

I was told by a Bungie employee that there is no skill matching at all in the beta. I really hope that improves my experience. And there aren't custom games in the shipping game (though they will try to add it later like TitanFall) - still a bummer.

Overall, I love the concept of this game. All the little things to do and discover and such a great mix of all the things I enjoy about other types of games. (On the moon today I veered off from the mission and found endless areas to explore...very exciting to find out what's around the next corner).

I'll play a lot of the full version of Destiny. But if the crucible doesn't improve it will feel like a let down.

I've stuck it out, gone back again for more because I'm some sort of glutton for punishment - I can't put the words together to express how negative my MP experience has been. Yikes.

Because you can die so fast, positioning and sight is really really important. You'll learn after a while which places on the map conceal you, and which give you good vision of others. You have to think about that much more often, and really pick your engagements and not go so gung ho.

I third this...

After I "got" the gameplay flow, my K/D shot up through the roof. I regularly escape with my life and have had several games with 5 or less deaths.

I feel like I am better than I ever was at Halo, but at the same time, the people I beat the most are the ones playing the game wrong...

Some common mistakes I see (and have taken advantage of):

1. Failing to realize how quickly you will die. You can't even eat 2-3 shots while trying to get a shotgun on someone. You will lose. Way different from Halo.

2. Ignoring slight grenade damage. I play a Warlock and use the vortex grenade. I throw it at doorways to keep guys out, yet people will rush in thinking they can just run through it... It makes them 2-3 shots easier to kill, and gives me all the advantage. If you get hit with a grenade, get out, or get them with yours.

3. Use the right weapon, especially primary. Scout Rifles when at long range, Pulse are better mid-longish, auto rifles do best close-mid. I run auto rifle because all the current maps have tons of close-mid areas, but I am getting killed a lot more by smart guys with scout and pulse rifles.

4. Not running from the Golden Gun (or expecting it to make an appearance). Run from the Golden Gun. Run. Just get out. Use grenades and take advantage of a Golden Gun player's overconfidence. When they throw that gun in the air and turn gold, drop a nade and RUN! Watch for the golden explosion as you are tracking guys on the radar, dead giveaway. I probably die half as often from this Super because of these things.

5. Ignoring Heavy Ammo or Guys who have heavy ammo. Pick it up, I have played 2-3 matches where I am the only getting BOTH drops - and I go on tears. Although, Scout Rifles win against Heavies at range. Also, watch for the drops to disappear (if your team isn't there... it's the other team), and get your team around the ammo when you pick it up. The best matches I have had (close matches) were when we all fought and used heavy ammo.

There are more, but those are some common ones.

I play Warlock and suck with the Nova Bomb, yet I am still 2.5+ on K/D after 23 games.

It the games where I have had good runs (2+ k/d) I've done a lot of what you've noted above. This means that on Venus (for example), I'm chilling in room A, crouched near one entrance and sighting with Auto Rifle through the other. I can hold there forever. Dude runs in, auto-rifled to death. Grenade other entrance and plink the dude who ran through the Vortex, get heavy ammo and rocket a few poor, misguided souls, and then nova bomb the living hell out of anyone else who dares to enter.

Successful, yes. But it's camping. Every time I do it I have to take a shower to feel clean again. ;-)

It's more of a defense game, but I will point out again - first seen, first dead. I absolutely hate that - I love moving around the map. I love team shooting. I love skirmishing.

Where in the world do you find enough room to use a Scout Rifle? Maybe the moon, but the outside is usually death by vehicle.

I am always on the move. I might stand in a room after a cap in defense, but defending and camping are quite a bit different. A camper is expecting the person to not realize they are there and take full advantage of the situation. A defender is known, but is trying to get a strategic advantage. I don't always win in defense, it's all about the situation.

On the moon for instance, I run between A and C playing both offense and defense, and doing equal on both sides, using the same or similar strategies. If I could upload some video of Rusted Lands - I could show you my play style in action. It's definitely far more offensive than defensive.

This game is all about taken advantage of the power they give you: heavies, grenades, supers, and guns. It's far more strategy and approach than twitch skills. IMO of course. I do think you can be seen first or shot first and still win. If I figure out how to upload some clips, I will post them as examples.

http://teamschoolyd.org/filenames/balls%20of%20feel/schooly%20was%20right.mp3

If not... well, that is weird!

And about your Nova Bomb, there's an upgrade that makes it track your enemies. It's not really obvious, but if you try to overshoot people with it, works wonders.

If you play to your strengths and open engagements on your terms, you'll be dropping teams in no time! ;D

That's great advice. Somebody should put that in a book and call it "The Art of Fighting" or "The Art of Limited Engagements" or something like that.

I don't even hate it in that game, it seems like a good trade off in that game for all the other things it does, and forces you to not get in such a situation in the first place.

Halo/Destiny has that thing with the mutual kill result, which is far more common than you would think given the speed of ordnance, but since we have had this since H2 I have grown used to it (Solutions tend to result in more "I totally won that why am I dead!" situations).

In Destiny the only time I get suspicious is when I go 1v1 (which I normally try to avoid in any case, but this is futile!) and someone with an AR, takes me down faster than I take them down with BR/DMR, at med-long range. Yes, sometimes it is my aiming, but I go down SO fast that I feel like the server/enemy client must be seeing something I am not.

I am not trying to make excuses, I am crap at shooters. First to admit it. I lose to better playing in Halo all the time. But this behavior seems downright bugged/wrong.

I understand how hard it is, the internet is not made for reflex/split second timing games, regardless of how awesome they seem to work on it. It's a form of inaccuracies that the best games, which I hope/believe Destiny is one of, get around by making positioning/communication/tactics more important than the 1v1 head on duel.

Not only do you have to roll auto rifle, but you have to roll with the correct auto rifle. This really breaks with the Story-Mode side of the game in which play styles may vary dramatically. I trained with the Scout for all of my missions and stuff, only to find that it was a death sentence in MP.

Aye, the game modes of different beasts. But this is natural. Players behave very differently to AI. You have to select weapons that benefit your playstyle and play to your strengths! It's a little awkward, as you have to dive in and test weapons... but when you find what's good (and follow many of the tips in this thread) you'll be coming out on top.

I've mostly been holding a 3+ K/D with the scout rifle in the crucible. In The Iron Banner game I just finished I had a K/D of 4.5 as a squishy Warlock.

For me scout rifles are all about holding strong lines of site. If you play to your strengths and open engagements on your terms, you'll be dropping teams in no time! ;D

M finding the more I play, the more Im enjoying myself. Think I just needed to get into the right mindset. The vheap kills are still painfully cheap, but they don't seem to be happening as often any more, as Im learning not to put myself in as many vulnerable positions.

Really not enjoying the vehicles, but have been lucky enough to have the Interceptors take care of each other the last couple of games in First Light.

Not writing it off, venting - Krakatoa-style. Regarding the vehicles...sure, I'm not dying as often, because I'm freaking huddled indoors like a coward. I'm not dying, but am I really living?

I'm guessing they'll be trying to balance the following:

- Vehicles/anti-vehicle strategy
- Mid-range rifles vs short range rifles for short, mid, long range fighting
- ?

Where in the world do you find enough room to use a Scout Rifle? Maybe the moon, but the outside is usually death by vehicle.

Venus. In the area between B and C there are two big objects sticking in the ground. From the one closer to the cliff edge you can cover B and people usually don't look that way. From the other you can cover C. Both are a grenade throw away, so it's easy to grenade then head shot. Plus the heavy ammo spawn there.

Control is by nature a defensive game. Grab 2 locations and force your enemies to spawn at the other. Once you control 2 areas there's no reason to move. You know the direction they're coming from. If you want running around then regular slayer is what you want.

Not only do you have to roll auto rifle, but you have to roll with the correct auto rifle. This really breaks with the Story-Mode side of the game in which play styles may vary dramatically. I trained with the Scout for all of my missions and stuff, only to find that it was a death sentence in MP.

Yeah, it grates on me a bit, considering my play style is to hang in the back and snipe. So far, I haven't had a lot of success with that in the Crucible. I did roll one match in Iron Banner just now with my newly minted Cydonia, and while my stats still weren't great (I'm still working on adjusting my approach), I had better luck against other auto-wielding Guardians. I tend to think the Crucible's just not going to be my favorite play to be. I suspect I'll roll into there only when I'm looking for a particular piece of gear.

I for one am enjoying it! It mostly seems fair in that, if I get someone in the back, I win!

However, I keep losing DMR and BR battles vs AR (The sweet higher damage at lower clip one, I always inspect my betters!) at ridiculous mid-long ranges. It seems like I go down in 2 hits, under half a second. I might get one or two bursts off to little effect. Not sure if I am doing something wrong or if it's a severe case of the client-side prediction blues ala Battlefield.

BF4 has the excuse that it's 64 people on a map, whats Destiny's excuse? I have a fat fiber optic pipe, surely the dedicated servers sort this out?

How is MM done anyway? By PSN account region, IP, locale settings in the console? Anybody know?

What is this "client-side prediction blues" of which you speak? Surely my terrible DSL connection does not make me susceptible to such tomfoolery?