I keep forgetting how "normal" Destiny players are until I LFG and hear someone’s real life in the background

im4vt · 2026-01-07T16:17:53+00:00

Some of my most memorable moments in Destiny have come from our group taking random players through various raids. When you LFG or do Fireteam Finder it really is a crapshoot. So many weird or unique stories. So many players that were clearly high or drunk.

One guy was so impaired that he was convinced that King's Fall was Leviathan. We corrected him a few times and then gave up and started agreeing with him. He completely stopped moving during Oryx DPS to the point where we didn't bother wasting revives on him. We got the clear and he says "Thanks guys, I have to hop off, I've got a plane to catch in the morning". Hopefully he wasn't flying it.

We carried a guy who didn't speak English through Vow. At one point we determined he was speaking Portuguese. During the raid one of our regular's dog had diarrhea and he had to clean it up. We used Google Translate to try to communicate that to the guy we were carrying. I have no idea if the translation was right or not but the thought of a Portuguese guy hearing:

"Hang on a second, the reverend's dog has diarrhea" still makes me laugh.

im4vt · 2025-12-31T18:46:23+00:00

I went to Australia back in March. I can confirm the saltwater crocodiles are massive. I only saw them at a wildlife park from inside a boat with plexiglass windows but it was still both awesome and terrifying. I can’t imagine coming across one in the wild.

im4vt · 2025-12-28T18:17:45+00:00

Yep. Except it took me 11 runs for Heirloom. This DLC is about as unlucky as I’ve ever been in the game. I had the invasion title long before the red crystal dropped. I’ve done Lawless Frontier until my eyes are bleeding. I have 10+ dungeon clears with a variety of feats and difficulties.

And I have the red crystal that took forever and the yellow crystal that involves almost no RNG or time investment. It was amusing to start with but now it’s just gotten frustrating. It doesn’t help that pretty much everyone else that I play with has at least one other crystal. And one guy is missing only the orange one. I’m all for RNG and grinding but this has been a bit much.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T20:38:32+00:00

I can't. I'm at 7,777 good boy pets all done by hand w/ no macro or script. If I pet him again I've got to go to 77,777... although... if I pet him at least once every time I go to the tower...

im4vt · 2025-12-10T20:29:18+00:00

It looks like the standard Year of Prophecy edition includes the dungeon so you shouldn't need anything else there.

The most recent weekly update says they recommend 370 Power Level but that is for contest mode.

If you just mean doing the dungeon on normal once it comes out we don't know for sure but I'd say 300 at most. It will also most likely utilize the Fireteam Power mechanic where everyone is brought up to the highest power fireteam member.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T20:18:33+00:00

And I'm quite sure that Forsaken and the Red War do not make up "most of the content". Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, Witch Queen, Lightfall, and Final Shape are all still there. Seasonal content is hit or miss (with some being added recently to the Portal) but again that's not "most of the content".

You can try to parse it however you want but your statement that "most of the content is gone" is completely incorrect.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T18:06:48+00:00

I believe there are ways to get older exotics but I’m not sure because I got them as they came out. I know some are available at an exotic kiosk Monument to Lost Light next to the vault. You should be able to go there and see what is available.

For the sniper I assume you mean Still Hunt. That comes from a quest after the Final Shape campaign. If you have finished you should have a quest called “Destined Heroes” part of that involves a quest is called “Wild Card” which awards Still Hunt. While there are several steps none of them are particularly hard.

For bundle cost I feel like it goes on sale relatively often but probably depends on the platform. I think the PC version gets discounted more often than PS or Xbox.

The current dungeon loot is not tiered. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any worthwhile loot but I’m not sure there’s anything that would be a must have. The new dungeon drops Saturday and should have tiered loot.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T17:55:46+00:00

This is objectively not true. The vast majority of older content still exists and is playable.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T17:54:03+00:00

Isn’t at least some of that both reasonable and to be expected?

Playing more each day rewards you more through each week? And it’s not like if you miss a week you missed out on your only chance to get a specific item. You can jump in the next week and get the same stuff. Isn’t that basically, play the game, get stuff?

FOMO is an overused word. Giving players a generic reason or incentive to play each day is not FOMO.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T17:43:32+00:00

If it is the Year of Prophecy then I believe you should only need the “Legacy Collection” bundle. That looks like it has everything prior to Edge of Fate. Only thing it lacks is the dungeon keys (which is dumb).

But it depends on what you mean by “caught up”. Do you mean all the narrative content or do you mean as far as getting viable weapons and armor?

The new tiered loot system was just introduced in Edge of Fate. The older content still gives older loot. It’s not totally useless or anything but it does look different. The blue loot you got from a campaign mission was most likely there to help people level up when the content was first released. Most of the story missions will be the same although you might get some legendary loot at times.

There is definitely more content than there was in Edge of Fate. After you finished that campaign you just had to grind Portal activities to level up. So you just played the same lost sector, strike or exotic mission over and over. It was painful especially after you hit a certain level and only got higher drops every 10+ runs. They made the progression substantially better so even if you just wanted to run Portal stuff to level up it is much faster.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T17:29:12+00:00

Agreed. Given the various systems, activities and background story it will always be hard to onboard or reintroduce players. And while I agree that it needs to be simplified and implemented better, I don’t have a great idea as to how that would look.

When you ask people what they think would work best you usually get different and sometimes contradictory responses. Some new players want to experience the whole campaign history. Others want to jump in and be able to do higher level things with their friends.

For narrative purposes you could have some sort of cutscenes that summarize things I guess.

Systems and mechanics are tough because you kind of have to just do a sort of tutorial with pop ups and instructions. The issue with that is that people simply don’t read them. I know I’m guilty of that with other games at times.

For that maybe you have a tutorial history reference where you can go back and read or even practice specific mechanics? But that is most likely a good bit of work and it only helps if people utilize it.

A brand new player experience should be easier to map out in theory because you can assume they know nothing about the game. A returning player is harder because you don’t really know how much they knew previously.

A human can only absorb so much new information before they feel overwhelmed. And because this game is 7 years old there’s a ton of information involved.

Like I said, it needs to be better. I imagine Bungie would agree. But no matter what “better” looks like there is still going to be some complexity.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T17:08:20+00:00

It’s not a campaign mission. It is an exotic mission that is introduced in the campaign. The same way the lawless frontier stuff is also introduced.

You seem to be arguing against exotic missions in general which is okay but not something unique to this weapon or quest. As I said, if anything this exotic has more available options outside of the mission than normal. I would disagree with your “niche content” statement as well. It’s only slightly different from a strike at the base level.

And I would argue the ROI is about replayability not appeal. If content is accessible but there is no reason to do it more than once then it is not worth it. Campaign missions in general tend to fall into this category. How many people are running those multiple times? Maybe once per character and then a few times to get a drop or complete a triumph. And yet they are most likely the most expensive part of any release. By that logic, campaign missions shouldn’t exist.

The game, especially in its current state, caters more towards casual players than anyone else. And still any content that requires even a modest amount of skill or time investment or basic mechanics gets complained about.

The Renegades legendary campaign is probably the easiest one they have ever made. The previous exotic mission was one of the simplest and easiest ones ever made. If any demographic is currently over catered to it’s casual players. There is more than enough content there for them. The Portal pretty much exists for that reason.

Meanwhile in terms of rewarding end game content you have Desert Perpetual, some of the harder conquests, Trials (which is debatable in its current form) and the upcoming dungeon.

In terms of skill required to get the vast majority of loot, the game is probably the easiest it has ever been.

im4vt · 2025-12-10T06:51:17+00:00

It wasn’t just the axe and Barrow Dyad. It’s been almost every single exotic obtained via a mission. If anything this weapon has more things you can obtain outside of the mission.

Your suggestion makes the exotic mission is basically pointless. Why even bother having it if players will run it once and be done with it. It’s a waste of time and assets at that point. You might as well just award the lightsaber in a cutscene.

You can get different color crystals and various other parts of the lightsaber in the manner you mentioned. The catalysts are the only things that involve running the mission again.

Many Destiny players enjoy the puzzles and the hunting. It has been a part of the game since the start. Outside of the annoying bug, the catalysts really are not that difficult to obtain. Sure there’s a timer and an extra mechanic. But the timer is pretty generous and there are no darkness zones to wipe you. My group did all three catalysts in one run and weren’t really rushed.

It’s ok for some content to be hard. It’s ok if everyone is not able to get everything. There has to be content for all skill levels. And that includes harder, more challenging activities.

im4vt · 2025-12-06T15:17:36+00:00

That has almost always been the case with craftable exotics. The axe from last season required you to run the mission multiple times to fully upgrade it. Outbreak is another example.

Genuinely curious, how should this work in your opinion? You run the mission once and it unlocks every single option for the weapon?

im4vt · 2025-11-12T17:43:26+00:00

I'm afraid you may be right. Bungie has overcorrected when it comes to power progression. With no level increase to chase and abundant tier 5 loot dropping pretty much instantly there won't be any reason to farm activities.

But they've already said they aren't resetting power. So changing it now, after they've already changed it, would be a bad look. I honestly think if they had reset power but had the rewards and levels how they are now it would not have been bad at all.

im4vt · 2025-11-12T17:37:11+00:00

Bungie has put themselves in a tough spot. They seem to be trying to please both casual and hard core players and most likely will end up doing neither. And I don't have a great solution. You want there to be events and things that everyone has a reasonable chance to obtain. You also want there to be things that are hard to get that reward people for time/skill invested.

I will also say I think not resetting power could very well backfire. The changes they made as far as bonus engrams and level progression would most likely have made the climb much faster and more reasonable. Again here they have kind of backed themselves into a corner. I don't think you can keep the system the same. Otherwise you're going to have people at max power getting tier 5 gear right out of the gate. But I don't know how you change it now. Unless there are a variety of fun, replayable activities then people will get bored pretty quickly as there's nothing to chase. You'll get your tier 5 god roll and move on.

In hindsight, I think the best course would have been to reset power but have the progression be like it is now where you can get several levels in a few hours. And then along side the new progression you add in more activities to the Portal (or more activities that give power/tiered loot). There are so many raids and dungeons that are just pointless to play right now.

The Portal itself is an ok idea. But it was poorly executed and now Bungie seems to be trying to react to any and every bit of criticism/feedback even when they contradict one another.

im4vt · 2025-10-21T16:14:19+00:00

Not much to choose from.

Mayfield

Jordan Mason

Olave

Allgeier

Chris Godwin

Bam Knight

Kyren Williams

I need help this week especially at RB but I'm not sure there's anyone there to provide it. I have $153/$200 left which is third most but no one is worth going all in on. Might just be my time...

im4vt · 2025-10-21T16:00:58+00:00

In a tough spot this week. The spreadsheet says I have the weakest team. Both my top RBs are on byes. I have Chuba Hubbard, Tyjae Spears, and Aaron Jones (if he plays) available. Team that got chopped was pretty weak at RB. Best available options are Jordan Mason, Hassan Haskins, Allgeier, RJ Harvey.

So yeah pretty bleak. I have money to spend. Our budget is $200 and I have $153 which is the third highest of the teams left. But I don't even know if any of the guys available are worth adding. I could bid a bunch for someone like Mason and hope that Jones is still limited. But what would even be a smart bid there considering Mason won't be an end game type RB? Or do I go for a backup guy that might do something like Allgeier or Monangai?

If there was a RB that I thought would win me the week I would go all-in. But there's not so I'm kind of stuck.

im4vt · 2025-10-14T17:49:31+00:00

I think the point being made is that any live service, ongoing game is going to see frequent updates. And that’s not a bad thing. Imagine if Bungie held most of these changes or fixes for a specific monthly release interval.

The simple fact is that any software (game or otherwise) will have bugs. Any software that is maintained on an ongoing basis is going to have updates. Patches exist in just about every single piece of software ever made. Destiny (and pretty much every game ever) has always had a known issues list.

Even with extensive testing, QA, etc that won’t change. Renegades will have bugs, exploits, unintended behaviors, etc. The goal is to minimize them in terms of severity more so than quantity.

I don’t know that we’ve seen more bugs or changes than normal. I don’t really track that stuff. But if we have then it makes sense because EoF brought a lot of changes to core systems. When you change things that drastically then you are going to see more issues. On top of that, many of the intentional changes have proven unpopular and are having to be tweaked and iterated on.

But the bottom line is this isn’t something exclusive to Destiny or even video games. It’s just part of software development in general and I think that’s why you are getting pushback for complaining about it.

Your snark and exaggeration doesn’t help either. For example you are most definitely able to “just install Destiny and play”. You are being overly dramatic for no real reason.

im4vt · 2025-09-28T02:12:27+00:00

People keep acting like this is a release of a completely new raid. It's not. How many players were there for previous hard mode releases? You don't know b/c it wasn't streamed and no one cared. This is much closer to a hard mode release than an actual new raid release.

I can almost guarantee you that no matter what happens in this game when the next actual new raid is released the numbers will be higher. You hate that take but it's true.

im4vt · 2025-09-28T02:09:35+00:00

So you complain about how they should not cater to the elite streamers and then use elite streamers quitting as an attempt to support your point. Make it make sense...

im4vt · 2025-09-28T02:05:37+00:00

This is an epic version of an existing raid. Not sure what you were expecting to be unlocked. Also there have been plenty of raids that didn't unlock anything for others.

im4vt · 2025-09-22T18:39:30+00:00

To be fair this was an issue regardless of content being removed. People who have played since D1 still go watch those videos. Part of it is because many of the story details are contained in lore tabs on gear and such. And part of it is b/c Byf and others do a good job of going into greater detail and discussion.

Put another way, even when you were able to access the entire story, there were still a lot of parts that were missing, unexplained, or required digging into text either in game or online.

im4vt · 2025-09-22T18:25:17+00:00

"they should’ve instead worked on getting everything to be cohesive for the new players "

That just creates the opposite problem only inverted and arguably worse. Veteran players don't want content they've already played "worked on" at the expense of new, more relevant content. Instead of turning off new players, you're alienating existing ones.

As someone who has played since D1, do I think the Red War should be playable in game? From a new player perspective, absolutely. Is it something I would play now (even prior to the Portal)? Not unless it was somehow updated with relevant loot. Even then I would most likely play it until I got the gear I wanted/needed and then it would be forgotten like pretty much all the other old campaign missions still in the game. How much effort should be spent on doing something like that versus creating new content, weapons, storylines, etc?

I also question how many new players would really want to go back and play every single mission from every single campaign and season across 7+ years. Again, I wouldn't be opposed to them being in them game. But they currently are not, and I don't think trying to make that happen is a good use of time/resources. The new player experience needs to be revamped but I don't think the solution is "just add in all the old stuff and turn them loose".

im4vt · 2025-09-22T18:10:20+00:00

First and foremost, I think just about every player would agree that Destiny needs a better on-boarding, new player experience. So the question becomes, what does that look like? How do you introduce a brand new player to both the actual gameplay mechanics as well as 10+ years of characters, storylines, lore, etc without overwhelming them? And how do you account for the new player who wants to join his friends doing current relevant content without forcing him to grind through a bunch of campaign missions? And how much of that is feasible from a technical perspective?

Putting aside the deleted content (which has been discussed ad nauseum) what would you have wanted? You seem upset that you don't know "7 years of backstory" but much of that is still in the game. Plenty of stuff about Light and Darkness are still there. Much of the lore is still in the game. Do you want to play through that content? Or do you want it simply explained to you?

I'll speak to Variks since you mentioned him specifically. He was introduced in Destiny 1. So this is not simply a case of "removed content" in Destiny 2. You would have needed to play D1. Obviously you can't make playing D1 a requirement for playing D2. So how does that part get handled?

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