Destiny is good when it’s difficult.

INSANEdrive, Nevin, and I did a power level 1000 Nightfall tonight. Insane and I were in the mid 960s, Cruel was 980. It took us nearly an hour (and we finished with a whole 987 points!).

It was genuinely the most fun I’ve had in Destiny in quite a while. Destiny is always fun at a base level, and being overpowered is fun in its own way. But Destiny when it’s challenging is really great. Raids are one thing, but just a genuinely difficult combat encounter really shines in a way that the artificiality of a raid doesn’t really match.

This is the closest Destiny 2 has ever come to feeling like D1 Nightfalls, and I honestly think it was even better. I think the strike (Insight Terminus) played a huge part in that. That final arena is a fun space to fight in, and that boss requires that you make good use of at this high difficulty.

It was such a positive experience that I felt the need to post something about it.

EDIT: P.S. Blazerunner, you signed up for the event, sorry we left you out! Xbox was being fucky, and it would not let me add you as a friend. I tried sending a party invite, but you were showing as offline, so I don’t even know if you were around. The roster in Destiny was also broken and not showing online players.

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I love when it's at the limit of my abilities, but we still finish. (I love it a little less when I feel like I'm dragging my teammates down, but that's really a me problem; I don't tend to play with people who care about that nearly as much as I do.)

But sometimes you find yourself really outclassed... and at some point, that just stops being fun. I love it when you're CLOSE to that line... but not over it. ;)

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That is an excellent point.

The difference here is mechanical I think. I don’t like being very underleveled in a raid, because it can become difficult to discern if we’re failing because we haven’t figured out yet, or if we just can’t put up the damage numbers required.

With this Nightfall, is just a combat encounter and you don’t have to worry about Enrage mechanics. The only thing to figure out is an effective combat strategy.

I really liked it, because it was a game of constant maneuvering. The arena has plenty of cover, but no place where you can just turtle up.

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There was a certain amount of fun to be had at the novelty of hiding under the stairs in that Cabal strike in D1.

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I really liked it, because it was a game of constant maneuvering. The arena has plenty of cover, but no place where you can just turtle up.

During crimson days I found a spot in the final combat space I could leave a dummy account so I could complete the nightfall as a duo (it was late and no one was online). Basically directly across from where you enter, there's a ledge below what looks like the edge of the arena. Drop down to that ledge, crouch, and move as close as possible to the left (closer to where the enemies are spawning). A person there will get noticed (and even shot a few times), but shouldn't die. Then you can do the encounter solo and not worry about the occasional death.

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I love when it's at the limit of my abilities, but we still finish. (I love it a little less when I feel like I'm dragging my teammates down, but that's really a me problem; I don't tend to play with people who care about that nearly as much as I do.)

But sometimes you find yourself really outclassed... and at some point, that just stops being fun. I love it when you're CLOSE to that line... but not over it. ;)

If only there was a way to adjust the difficulty so you could make any activity like that… Some kind of selector that tunes the enemies' AI and / or hitpoints… Once someone figures this out its gonna change everything!

I remember seeing this in the Destiny Alpha.

[image]

I guess such a thing just too hard to get working and was dropped.

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THEY DID IT FINALLY

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THEY DID IT FINALLY

Dude, what? That menu has been in Nightfalls all the way through D1 and D2. It's longer now, but it's been there forever. (And Raids, and...)

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THEY DID IT FINALLY

Dude, what? That menu has been in Nightfalls all the way through D1 and D2. It's longer now, but it's been there forever. (And Raids, and...)

So I jumped the gun.

It’s not quite a difficulty selector. As in, you can’t choose ‘hard’ for the raid yet still have the enemies light level a sensible level if you haven’t grinded. Really close but not the same.

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I love when it's at the limit of my abilities, but we still finish. (I love it a little less when I feel like I'm dragging my teammates down, but that's really a me problem; I don't tend to play with people who care about that nearly as much as I do.)

But sometimes you find yourself really outclassed... and at some point, that just stops being fun. I love it when you're CLOSE to that line... but not over it. ;)

Fits right in line with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow (his book by that name is must reading). We love challenges that slightly exceed our skill level.

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Fun fact: I took an art class taught by his son in grad school.

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It's what slycrel said, but with an *. What we did with the 1000 light "Ordeal" Nightfall @ 970, was fun. There was room to play and room to be serious. Fails hurt enough to learn, but is doesn't feel like I lost an arm with the attempt. It's not demoralising.

The Legendary Lost Sector we played yesterday was silly though. Still fun, but really pushed the limit. Twin Shield Champions side by side (again @ 1000 power, we are in the 970-ish range) and the only thing we can use to pop'em is a SMG or Sidearm? Oof. Figuring out a method to overcome this is cool, but the game kind of fights its self here. I wish I could organize my stuff. Trying to figure out which key opens the door in a high stress moment can be... not fun. The joy is relief that it's over, and I don't think that is what Destiny is all about.

A fine line.

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Vow has been a sleeper hit for me when tackling harder content with that include barrier champs, or high health ultras in general.

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Vow has been a sleeper hit for me when tackling harder content with that include barrier champs, or high health ultras in general.

I finally completed the catalyst for Eriana’s Vow a couple weeks ago, and does it ever make a difference. It’s always been an effective weapon, but for me, it’s weaknesses (sluggish handling, small clip, painfully slow reload) made it just frustrating enough that I avoided using it whenever possible. But with the catalyst, 2 out of those 3 weaknesses are gone, making it a blast to use. I highly recommend investing the time in completing the catalyst if you’re at all a fan of the gun.

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Destiny is good when it’s difficult. (Destiny)

That sounds awesome, and completely agreed.

Destiny is good when it’s difficult -- and you finish. =)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

But I LIKE turtling up! :)

But I LIKE turtling up! :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

^ This. :)

Destiny is good when it’s difficult -- a fine line.

Eriana's Vow, my friend. Built-in Anti-Barrier.

Eriana's Vow, my friend. Built-in Anti-Barrier.

Eriana's Vow, my friend. Built-in Anti-Barrier.