Bungie's Destiny

Finally finished up the final bounty for the bounty board in the Enclave. These are the bounties that you need to finish in order to start the quest step for the new exotic glaives. It is a pain in the ass. The first few bounties of the quest aren't that hard. But the final 3 requires you to run Wellspring and collect specific weapons to craft. The drop rate is bugged right now and they do not drop as intended. But my dumbass spent most of the day in there yesterday to be able to finish up the final bounty for the quest. The new exotic glaive is supposed to become available either after someone wins first place in the worlds first raid completion or at reset on Tuesday. I didn't want to wait and have to do all that farming once it becomes available. You have to do multiple days of farming Wellspring and I didn't want to wait. So I finished it. Once you finish all the steps your bounty board should look like this.



Last step of the quest (that you can do right now ) is reshape a weapon with "enhanced traits". So I picked my glaive and put the enhanced perks I wanted on it.



One week and three days to hit 100. Raid ready for tomorrow night



My Osteo Striga is by far the best new exotic in the game. It will melt everything. I've got 16653 kills on it so far. I masterworked it the day I got it with the barrel options, perk options, and the stock. It shreds entire groups of adds.

 

How goes the raid?

 

Fun. Well thought out

 

Well... All that grinding paid off. Was able to get the Exotic Glaive Quest completed tonight. After all the bugged loot drops in the Wellspring I was still able to finish it. Not many have this right now. It is no less than a four day process if you haven't completed the bounties since the weapons are on a daily rotation. The drop rate is supposed to be adjusted for DSR weapons this coming Thursday. But as of now? It still sucks. Glad I did it but wouldn't want to do it again. One good thing is I don't have to re run the quest on my other characters. I just have to run Wellspring and it will drop for my other characters there.

 

One other thing... I mentioned this last night. But if you aren't farming the living shit out of the NF on Hero right now you are fucking up. The double XP gains for Vanguard ranks is bugged and it is giving 10X's the XP as it should. One run with a 5 streak = 1 Vanguard level. I've leveled up Zavala at least four times now and I'm overflowing with materials and exotics. This will never happen again with it being bugged the way it is right now. So get on it before it goes away. They will patch this out on Tuesday and I can promise you the next time a double XP weekend for Vanguard comes around, it will be just that... Double. No more 10X's XP.

 

Well... I can say that the Exotic Glaives are meh at best. Finished the one on my Hunter last night and got the pattern to drop for the Titan today. Crafted it for the Titan and neither one of them are worth using. The Legendary Glaive is better honestly.

The issue with the Exotic Glaives is the amount of set up that you have to do just to activate the Exotic perk. And neither one of the Exotic perks on either Glaive is worth the trouble. The Hunter Glaive (once you kill 7 enemies with the range attack) will allow you to shoot the ground in front of a group of adds and it will chain to others. But what I've found so far is it has a hard time just taking down general red bar adds with the lightning chain effect. What's the use? There are so many better add clear weapons why would you ever us it? The Titan Glaive is slightly better but still the same amount of set up time. Once you get it set up you can shoot the ground wherever you want to create a small Titan bubble. All the bubble does is add a place to hide. It gives you no other benefit. So again... What's the use? I haven't crafted the WL Glaive yet and I'll get it done tomorrow. But it's still the same set up time and the only thing you get, is you can shoot the ground and place a healing rift that will send out orbs to heal you and your team. Sounds good in theory. But there is no way you could use these in any sort of end game activity. They are just a wasted exotic.

Did get the Dead Messenger and I have to say that I really like this weapon. Wave Frame Grenade Launchers are my favorite Grenade Launchers in the game. Dead Messenger actually lets you change damage classes with the press of a button so when Match Game is active? This might be a go to weapon. Does pretty damn good add clear since it also forks out in three directions instead of just one like a normal Wave Frame. The quest to get it isn't really that hard. I just hate being on a timer and you're on a timer twice in this quest. Hunter makes it simple though since you can basically ignore the adds all while invis.

 

So the Hunter glaive is a longer proccing trinity ghoul.. and the titan glaive is a longer proccing rally barricade. You're right.. whats the point? A good arc build can keep Trinity ghoul procced 98% of the time.. and the titan rally barricade regens crazy fast now.

 

Pretty much yeah.

I'm sure someone will come up with a build for them. I just don't see it right now? I reshaped the Hunter Glaive and it still is subpar to any other add clearing weapon. The set up time is the downfall of these weapons. If it took two shots to completely fill up the meter then they "could" be viable. But as you say, Trinity Ghoul will outplay it every time for add clear. The only benefit is they do a lot of up close damage. But so does the Legendary Glaive. But either version of the Glaive are unusable in high end content.

Like you said. Any class ability will recharge faster than the set up it takes to use the Exotic perk of each Glaive no matter the class. So what's the use? The only disingenuous part of the Witch Queen trailers was the usage of all the different Glaives. They made them look like they were going to be amazing when in reality most any weapon will out play them.

 

There aren't a whole lot of instances in strikes/story missions where you have 7+ enemies grouped together where you can kill them.. not before another member of your fireteam kills them first anyway. That number needs to be much lower for them to be of any use.

 

Don't disrespect my stabby stabby stick.

 

Pretty much. Glaives do work in low level activities. Other than that? They are useless (right now). There are so many other weapons that are just better at everything. It's fun to play with but if you're running high level content there is no place for them at all. Legendary or Exotic. So neither is viable. Which is why you see NO ONE was using them in the raid challenge. Honestly? I can't find a use for them.

Looking at the raid specifically. You will be swapping out weapons often to fit the challenge you are face with. But a Glaive will not be part of that loadout. You would be a hindrance to your team.

PvP? Forget it. I've seen some people "try" to use it in PvP but that is a wasted special weapon. I'll stick with my Sniper or Shotgun. You think Glaives are going to be in Trials with only 2 shots available to them? Lol... NO. Lets put it this way... other than when Rich, Grasty, and I were just fucking around in private matches? I've never once been killed by a Glaive in PvP.

 

I do actually see a place for Dead Messenger since it puts out such a wide swath of elemental damage across a given area. It "could" be a viable option during certain parts of the raid. But for most instances of the raid you will need a burst DPS weapon. Be it a Sniper, Linear Fusion Rifle, RL, etc... But for clearing out adds? Dead Messenger "might" be a viable tool.

 

Oh... and a correction to what I said earlier about the Exotic Glaives. You do not need 7 kills to set up to use the Exotic Perk. It's 6 and they do not "need" to be kills. Just hits. That doesn't make them any better since you will still have to reload the Glaive (which takes fucking forever) to get that 6th hit. "Then" you can activate the subpar Exotic Perk.

Here is a perfect example of why you don't want these Glaives. "Is what it is" is a perfect way to describe them. The Hunter Glaive with the perk active was only able to chain 2 kills against the tharl. Anything will Firefly, Chain Reaction, etc... would have wiped out that entire room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zME0qZGPiEY

 

Are all Glaives going to be in the Energy slot? Because I was hoping to run 2 of them.

 

I just assumed that the Glaives were going to be in the heavy slot. But it looks like they will all be energy.

And you're an idiot if you want to run two lol.

 

The Parasite is another weapon that requires quite a bit of setup to get the max damage out of. Ironically you want to damage yourself with it to get the buff then do damage to a boss. But why? Why would you ever want to take the time to do the setup when the GH puts out more damage (and add clear) with no setup at all? It makes no sense and I can find no use for this weapon. It seems to be a recurring theme with this expansion and the exotics that go along with it. The Exotic Machine Gun takes a lot of setup just to get the volly to proc. By the time you do all that you could have just eliminated an entire group with one shot from the GH or any Legendary RL with cluster bombs. The only stand out exotic this expansion is the Osteo Striga (and "maybe" Dead Messenger). Osteo Striga will clear out entire rooms and you never have to reload if you time it right. It will hold 108 in the mag at full stack (which admittedly isn't hard to do).

 

So my feelings so far on the state of the game.

I've been extremely critical of the "setup" time for most of the exotics (especially Glaives) because it basically makes them useless compared to running a normal exotic (and even a well rolled Legendary). I don't like weapons that require you to jump through a bunch of hoops just to get the max amount of damage out of them when there are other weapons like GH that you fire and forget and does more damage than the ones with a long setup time. The exotic Glaives are a prime example of that. In my opinion they are absolutely useless and take up an exotic slot. Usually Bungie ships things that are just way overpowered (looking at you Stasis). But this time it seems they have done the opposite. Maybe one day they will bring them up to par. But for now, any exotic Glaive, the Parasite, and the Grand Overture, just require too much to use effectively in any high end content.

But saying all that, I've almost exclusively used the Osteo Striga since I got it. I've been locked into that weapon so hard that I've leveled it up to almost 250 right now. WL running Necrotic Grips? I can't find a better build for just burning through shit. It's still effective on other classes but on the WL? It takes that weapon to a whole new level. But... I've been experimenting with different raid builds on my Hunter (Hunter for survivability) and running the Funnelweb (the new Recluse) along with Melee Wellmaker and Font of Light mods on Void. That takes it to an entire new level. I've gotten lucky with the few rolls that I've gotten on the Funnelweb. I've got a perfect PvE roll with Subsistence which basically means that I rarely have to reload. I've built in heavily to running Void Elemental Well and that build is stupid strong as once you get Volatile Rounds proc'd? Shit explodes like crazy. Witherhoard, Funnelweb, and basically any tracking RL in the raid is perfect (especially if you have someone running GH so you can get Wolfpack rounds). Took that into the raid last night and survivability was never an issue. The mechanics become the issue (which is a good thing).

I can confirm that once you hit 1550 base power level you will come to a screeching halt in your power level grind. That isn't a bad thing in my opinion. But pinnacles are only dropping about one power level higher than whatever my highest item is. So the difference between pinnacle and powerful engrams becomes a moot point.

The new raid is exceptional. This is one of the best, most atmospheric, and mechanically challenging raids they have released since Last Wish. Let's put it this way... You have to learn and know all of these symbols otherwise you won't complete it.



Obviously I don't know them all so I pull it up on my phone sitting right next to me so I know the callouts. Until you learn these symbols I don't know of any way that you can complete the raid since this is the recurring theme of the entire raid. There is a reason the raid was easier on PC since you could type in chat. Being able to see the three symbols in chat that you need in front of you makes it much easier than everyone trying to remember three symbols. I can't overemphasize this enough. You HAVE to know these symbols.

Other than that? The general gameplay loop that you run has a purpose. There are so many god rolled weapons to chase that I've no idea what I'm going to use in PvP? I'm trying to come up with a build for Trials this weekend but since so much more is viable? I'm not sure what to use. The map will dictate that. I do know that invis Hunters will be a theme. I know that I'll be taking advantage of that. In reality, I have four ways to go invis and gain “true sight”. And some of that invis lasts for 7 secs. That gives you enough time to cross "most" maps. WL's got completely shafted on the Void 3.0 in PvP that most everyone just reverted back to using Solar or Arc. Everything the WL has in Void takes setup time and in such a fast paced environment, it becomes useless in PvP.

"Hold on and don't shoot me until I drop this rift and let my little Void buddy slowly come over to you so it can start sucking your life away"

Other than that? Aisha's Embrace is the first really good Scout Rifle to come out in a long time. I was lucky and got it to drop with really good rolls when I turned in my Trials Engrams at the start of the season. So I've been able to play with it long before it becomes available. I can promise that it will be the first Adept weapon to drop at the Lighthouse this season. It's not a do all weapon but being a Void weapon, it builds into the Void Subclass really well.

Other than the few exotics? Bungie knocked it out of the park with this expansion.

 

Oh... And I didn't even get into being able to craft weapons. That is an entire topic unto itself. I'm still looking to start crafting the Father's Sin sniper. Being able to pick and choose the perks that I want to make it the perfect god roll? Great new system added to the game since it takes RNG out of it.

 

Okay... Here is the first encounter (actually the second if you don't count getting into the encounter). This should give you an idea of just how mechanically challenging this raid is. When I say that you have to memorize all 27 symbols this is what I mean. The first symbol on the totem is what side of the room you are looking for the Taken Knight, the second on the totem is what room you go in, the third is which Scorn Knight you shoot when you go into that room. A new symbol will appear after you kill that Knight and YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT SYMBOL. There are three rounds to this part then you all have to return to the obelisk next to the totem and split up in teams of two. One person looks at one side of the totem and the other looks at two sides. Remember those three symbols? This is where you will look for them. The easiest way we have found is to just call out 1 or 2 if you see them. If the other person on your totem side doesn't say anything, it isn't your obelisk to shoot. It's one of the other teams. You get three chances to get it right or you wipe. The symbols do not appear in a straight line and could be anywhere on the obelisk. If you call out 1 and your teammate calls out 2, you know it is your obelisk. Shoot the correct symbols in a very short amount of time. If you do it right, it accepts your offering. You do this three times during this encounter. If you get it right three times? You beat the encounter. This is what I mean when I say you MUST know these symbols. If you don't? You'll never finish it. And the symbols are a recurring theme throughout the raid. So there will never be a time where you don't need to know them.

What it looks like.

One thing of note... Look how many times I'm able to go invis during this fight. I have 4 ways to go invis and also gain True Sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERcliwAtXg0

 

Well... Had my first bad encounters through Bungie's LFG last night in quite a while. Decided to play Trials and had to LFG it since pretty much everyone that was playing Trials in our clan has stopped. I fail to understand why some get so intimidated by Trials but it happens I suppose? The bad LFG experience was not that the people that I was playing with were bad or rude. Quite the contrary. But I ended up joining two groups last night that once I helped them get one or two wins I'd notice that they had been granted access to the Lighthouse and would just drop group without saying a word.

Prime example:

Can't say that I didn't pull my part






Each time was always this with no response






It's simple... If you get someone in to help you get to the Lighthouse then also help them get to the Lighthouse. They were 5-6 matches in (unbenounced to me) and all they had to say is how far they were along and they didn't want to reset their card. "No problem". Just help me get to the Lighthouse after I get you there. It's not like we aren't playing in the Flawless pool anyway. Everyone that plays on Friday or Saturday is in the Flawless pool. If we lose? They have lost nothing since they have 7 wins on their card and are guaranteed access to Flawless and The Lighthouse anyway. Fuckit... whatever... I've just gone back to playing with the other group that I used to play with before we had a bunch in our clan get interested in Trials. It was fun while it lasted.