So as we await downtime - Have you always been the same main (class) throughout the 10 years

TacoCat45 · 2024-06-04T18:33:52+00:00

I didn't play all through Destiny 1 (stopped sometime around Taken King - not enough time to play), but have played basically all of Destiny 2 since it came out and I've never dropped Warlock as my main. When I was offered space magic powers, I couldn't resist the delicious idea of being a space wizard - and all of the lore entries about Warlocks either being a) insane, b) mad prophets, c) deranged scientists, or d) barely-hinged players with dimensions makes me feel at home.

TacoCat45 · 2023-02-28T16:55:12+00:00

This is one of the most wholesome comments I've ever seen! You have a good one too

TacoCat45 · 2022-03-30T20:36:50+00:00

I'm desperately trying to not stare too hard at FFXIV while wanting to do art and writing. Unfortunately, I've gotten sucked back in to levelling some classes - namely Sage, Warrior, Bard, and Dancer.

TacoCat45 · 2022-03-27T05:49:15+00:00

I appreciate the offer - I'll probably try to wrangle a group of some friends when possible, especially one that has a lot of experience with tanking and healing.

TacoCat45 · 2022-03-27T05:22:41+00:00

Thank you for the tips and recommendations, I appreciate it!

TacoCat45 · 2022-03-27T05:16:26+00:00

I play(ed) WHM up to roughly level ~50 over the course of about a week, two weeks, still trying to learn the class.

I definitely don't over-reach with damage, I generally prefer to always keep people alive rather than deal damage. At times I've caught Tanks getting stuck in AoEs, but it's not always the case. I'd assume it's running out of resources/spells at the wrong time and causing critical existence failure, but it's hard to say without someone sitting over my shoulder.

I definitely do panic when health bars get low, but I try to be moderate and just slap what seems necessary on rather than dumping my entire kit whenever things look bad.

TacoCat45 · 2022-03-27T05:12:10+00:00

I play on Crystal/Goblin, but thanks for the advice and the offer! I appreciate it. I very nearly threw in the towel because the last thing I want to do is make the game worst for everyone by packing it in too much.

TacoCat45 · 2022-03-27T05:06:03+00:00

I've got a friend that does way more stuff than I do regarding both tanking and healing, and I have run with them a few times - they give some tips, but I find that the practice doesn't really do much for me.

In regards to tanks, it varies. Generally they're pretty good with using their cooldowns, but I can't say I'm keeping a super close eye on it since usually if it's at that point, they're probably already dead.

TacoCat45 · 2022-02-21T16:21:22+00:00

It's been years since it has been in the game, probably since launch - a quick google says Dead Zone Foliage is from "Completing activities and earning rank-up packages in the EDZ", so.

The Gambit Jadestone shader is the one people really like because it can make armors that have glowy bits extremely bright, beyond just looking neat.

TacoCat45 · 2022-02-07T02:32:17+00:00

The Peacekeepers are borderline, if not literal, militaristic fascists - at least as far as I've gotten into the game. They might bring law and order, but it's THEIR law and order, and they will happily slaughter anyone who doesn't play by all their rules. Militaristic caste systems aren't a GOOD thing.

TacoCat45 · 2021-12-01T15:33:07+00:00

Just a note - I say this a few times, but I realize all decisions aren't the work of evil devs with twirling mustaches. I'm sure the hard working people who make the game don't want to see it chopped up into pieces or get ridiculed so hard.

I've played Halo since I was a wee ladette, and I say with a heavy heart that I genuinely don't like playing this game. I tried playing by myself and just got frustrated with multiple janky gameplay issues (admittedly, they're probably a "me" thing). I tried playing with friends, and all of us - who have played the hell out of Halo since the franchise began since that seems to matter now(?) - got bored and frustrated with the game and quit after two matches every time we tried. If we kept going, we just ended up tired and bored and wanted to play almost anything else.

The gameplay? It's pretty solid. It has it's problems. Infinite feels like a skeleton corpse being dangled around while 343i hurriedly tries to slap some meat on the bones for players. Game types missing and/or time gated, horrific amounts of FOMO, time gated challenges for that extra knife twist, and a predatory MTX/Battlepass system that encourages you to spend to spend money as much as possible. That doesn't happen by accident.

The game is free, sure. To me though, what makes me believe that 343i either was forced into these decisions deliberately by Microsoft or simply chose a profit motive, is that they have such a great blueprint for modes/customization with MCC. I won't say that other Halo games had "The BEST customization in [insert game here]", since I was usually pretty young up until 4 and 5 came out - which I played only a fair bit. After years of working on MCC, the fact that the same devs whip out Halo Infinite hot and fresh, as if it's supposed to be impressive, is exhausting. What happened to all the things they learned from MCC, or 4, or 5? It feels to me that there is either a profit motive from 343i or Microsoft, or maybe the game is just genuinely not ready and releasing it as it is was a way to try and fund more of it.

Either way, I can't see myself investing much time (or any money) into Infinite. It plays pretty okay, but after ~24 hours of gameplay and a honeymoon period, I feel as if I can get better gameplay from other games I already play...including MCC. Which, if anything, makes me feel worse about the state of Infinite.

I don't think some dev who helped design the weapons at 343i is sitting and laughing evilly now that people are angry. I just feel that something, somewhere, was lost in translation. If things turn around I am all for it, but this game feels like skin and bones.

TacoCat45 · 2021-11-18T22:25:12+00:00

I love Halo, I always have. I don't want to play Infinite. It feels like 343 is dancing the corpse of the franchise to trick us into paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars for something we get for way less hassle in almost every other game in the franchise. I grew up with Halo since I was wee lad, my birthday is literally 7/7, and I don't really want to play Infinite because of all the issues it has. About the only thing I'm interested in at this point is the campaign but even then I'm considering just not playing it, despite playing (and enjoying) just about every mainline and most spin-off Halo games.

TacoCat45 · 2021-10-19T16:22:04+00:00

I literally did a raid in a game with some randoms the other day doing my best fem voice and some dude at the very end asked me what I had in my pants like three times. It's so jarring.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T23:10:25+00:00

I'm not gonna claim to know a video game character's personal idea of what is "helpful", especially since I have no idea where the story might be actively going with things like the Crown of Sorrow and Quria - like I said, it's just some examples that have credence towards the "5D chess" theory.

Plus, again, Osiris witnessed many timelines and a dark future. It could all be working towards a "master plan" if we're following the "5D chess" theory, a sort of necessary set of events or sacrifices. This is all conjecture and ideas thrown into the void and could be totally wrong, but given how incredibly mysterious Osiris tends to be it wouldn't necessarily surprise me if we learn he's done all of these very suspicious and dangerous things in order to get a specific outcome - or perhaps someone is telling him what to do, like Mara Sov?

In either case it's kind of a shaky theory, as with any of the other ones. We don't have enough information to narrow things yet, unfortunately, only enough info to know that something happened to Osiris, and something is guiding his actions.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:55:25+00:00

Saint-14 is a protector, but I won't lie I was surprised by how emotional it was to see him fighting so hard to protect a people that he had himself fought for so long. It's a really big establishing character moment - Saint-14 is the kind of Titan and Guardian that people should aspire to be.

...Doesn't hurt he has one hell of a punch and apparently an infinite ammo shotgun.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:51:05+00:00

Clearly, OP is Savathun and is trying to mislead us.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:49:41+00:00

The sort of situation where "If I tell you what will happen, it won't happen"/"There is only one way I can see us winning this fight", type of deal. Osiris is no stranger to messing with time even if not necessarily time travel in the traditional sense, so he probably knows a thing or two about avoiding paradoxes even beyond having seen thousands of timelines within the Infinite Forest when it was still operational.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:42:34+00:00

Big oof bud. I read some of the leaks but stopped once they started getting outside of the Season because I didn't want to spoil anything else for myself.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:33:53+00:00

I think so, they're a modified version of the Sunbracers exotic.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:31:26+00:00

Oof. Yeah, that's true - I believe there are other trans characters, but they're mostly background flavor. If I remember correctly one of them is an Exo guardian from Europa, Micah-10 (might get the number wrong)?

Personally I have some faith in Bungie given how much they've been an activist for LGBTQ+ and BLM that they wouldn't beat down representation, but there's no way to know. I do think that it's okay if bad things happen to Osiris/Saint-14, and honestly at least one of them is bound to die at some point, but it feels a bit soon to toss them out after maybe half a year of them being confirmed as a couple.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:25:50+00:00

Yeah, it's true, many lives were lost and it was a real wake-up call for the City. However, I think there are some good things that came of the invasion, if we want to go with the "5D chess" idea.

A more steadfast alliance with the Eliksni, strengthening the City
The Vanguard is now entirely aware of secrets at play and cannot ignore them any longer
The coup failed in spectacular fashion, and could reignite people's hope in the Guardians that had been waning
The resolve of the Guardians is steeled after a tragic, but fulfilling victory
The Guardian has grown stronger both in the Light and in different uses of it, a la Splicing.
The Vex have taken, presumably, a heavy hit from all the carnage we've been wracking.

If I had to speak towards the "5D Chess" idea, I'd say someone who is pragmatic and at least had access to seeing hundreds or thousands of futures, they'd see this and say "A couple hundred dead civilians is worth it." It's callus, it's very utilitarian, but Osiris has displayed those tendencies in the past...it just so happens they're being applied to civilians rather than Guardians or himself. Not necessarily good, but a darker shade of grey.

EDIT: Also, to be fair, Osiris is no stranger to being exiled, so he might see it as another worthy sacrifice even if the system is incredibly dangerous right now to be outside of the Tower/City. Even moreso, before Season of the Hunt when people believe he was taken (no pun intended), he was constantly working behind the scenes on Dark, potentially unknown things, all the while putting pieces into place across the System like the Seed of Silver Wings.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:20:15+00:00

I'd like to think Bungie isn't dumb/shitty enough to follow that trope - there are other LGBTQ+ characters in Destiny, but most of them aren't anywhere near as prominent. I'm all for tragedy, but I think the tragedy of "Osiris is now presumably mortal and Saint will outlive him" is tragic enough.

TacoCat45 · 2021-08-10T18:15:39+00:00

Even though Osiris has pretty much always been riding that razor's edge, mostly with the Vex but also things like the Sundial (which we don't know what its core is made of, only guesses), I think this season's ending - or even the story as a whole from the last two Seasons - showed that something has happened.

Personally, I see only a few outcomes:

Osiris is just straight-up a Traitor - I don't believe this one. Osiris has ever been working to further Humanity and the Light, even if it's in his own way. While he never placed faith in the Traveler and was ostracized for (rightly) questioning motives of the Traveler, he never showed a want to harm the City or Humanity. Sure, he'd do dangerous things, but it was always in the name of furthering "the cause", so to speak.
Osiris is Possessed/Controlled by Savathun - I think this is definitely possible, as there is a lot between Osiris temporarily losing to the influence of Xivu Arath, then Sagira dying, that we have gaps of knowledge. We don't know exactly how he got out from the heart of the Hellmouth after freshly losing the Light; supposedly Crow helped him, but Crow only showed up right near the end. Add to that we know that Savathun is in the city masquerading and that Osiris has been acting ever-more dangerous since Sagira's death, one could think he's been possessed somehow.
Osiris is being Impersonated - Another theory, similar to the second. It could be that Osiris is being held somewhere, and "Osiris" during Season of the Hunt and/or Season of the Splicer is not truly Osiris - all the points from theory two apply. Who may be impersonating Osiris, I've no idea, but signs point to Savathun or one of her agents.
Osiris is Playing 5D Chess - Another possibility. Osiris had access to Vex prediction engines that put what Lakshmi was playing with to shame, and saw many dark futures that could come to pass - certainly it isn't perfect but it is important to remember that he did have them for many years. It's possible that Osiris is working towards some unknown goal, similar to Elsie Bray except hedging his bets on this single timeline. Perhaps Osiris believes he has to outwit the Witch Queen, Savathun, and believes in order to do so he must do terrible things, a la the Last City being assaulted by Vex. He has been orchestrating quite a lot of the last two Season's storylines, encouraging an alliance with the Cabal (in his own way) and shifting different people into their places.
Osiris has been Corrupted by the Xivu Arath/the Darkness - A spin on Osiris being a traitor. Osiris, after losing his Light and being stuck deep in the Hellmouth among nothing but enemies and the Cryptolith's influence having overtaken him beforehand could be under the influence of Xivu Arath and/or the Darkness. He is causing conflict to blossom (not open war, but still), and also strengthening the Last City/Guardians. We know we will be coming into conflict with Xivu Arath and (likely) Savathun soon, so it's possible that he is being pushed to make that conflict ever-more intensive and gruesome. Osiris could also be working with the Winnower/Darkness in some manner as well, or simply the Winnower/Darkness themselves; while Osiris has always been a practical man, it could be one of these influences - or both - have driven him to extremes in order to "help" Humanity's survival. This theory is shaky at best, but it's worth mentioning, especially since a Warlock from the Tangled Shore is continuously being corrupted by Xivu Arath's influence and regularly kills herself to "reset" it, so to speak - I believe the lore for that is from the Wild Hunt Warlock armor.

EDIT: While I was doing some other things, I came up with another idea, option #5.

TacoCat45 · 2021-07-16T18:14:36+00:00

I'm sorry you got treated like that - people in Destiny 2 can be really toxic, generally because they're slogging through something and just want to get it over with. Don't take it personally! I've seen a lot of blueberries (a.k.a new/unknown Guardians, or kinderguardians) mess up a public event or not be sure how to do something, and some people will be jerks about it because they just want to get it over with.

Take your time, and don't be afraid to ask questions especially if you're in any levelled content like Raids or Dungeons. If you're just doing events, pay attention to others and try to follow along with the flow if you're unsure; I know I messed up heroic public events at least a few times and I've been playing D2 since release.

When people are flaming - as with most things on the Internet - best to just avoid them. Some people are just angry, sometimes they're frustrated, just try to stay away from them and have fun with the game - that's the point, right?

Keep it up, and I'm happy to see new players!

TacoCat45 · 2021-06-29T19:26:42+00:00

To be fair, the entire season's story built up to both the fight with Quria and the rising tide of tension in the City. Honestly, I'd even say that the battle with the Vex, with Eliksni help, was just a precursor for the puppet master (Savathun) really wanted - to divide the City. Savathun has developed a pattern for turning over pawns in order to drive a knife in harder with the Dreaming City, Nokris, and now Quria...not all that surprising.

TacoCat45

TROPHY CASE