Thursday, August 6, 2015

World of Warcraft: Legion

So, WoW just announced its next expansion.....and I have to admit that I am pretty hyped!

To me, there were a couple of major problems with WoD as an expansion. The first is that I am no longer really a raider, and that really felt like the only content available. Ashran was completetly broken, and nobody even goes there anymore. I liked Garrisons, but they feel a bit like you have to do them every day, and then there is the issue that it is instanced. It would be nice to see other players wandering around in the garrison from time to time.

I am excited for some of the stuff coming out.

As an avid Dwarf fan, the new that Magni Bronzebeard will be back is awesome.

The Demon Hunter class will be pretty cool. Apparently it will have a double jump to get to even further away areas.

New level cap will be 110. Meh, I dont care about level caps, just the content that gets us there.

The artifact system looks promising. Being able to customize and level your weapon will be pretty good. Plus you can wield Ashbringer!

PvP will also be doing some kind of prestige system much in the same way as Call of Duty. This will give the pvpers a lot more content to grind over time.

There was a lot of other things announced, but I will post more about them when I know more.

I actually resubbed to WoW last night and got my Dock up and running as well as getting to Tanaan for the first time. Guess I will be spending a bit more time in WoW than I have been recently.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Destiny: Cheaters Get Wrecked

All I have to say is LOL.

Bungie has finally decided to go out and actually ban some people who have been cheating.....and the forums are salty as fuck right now. WHY WAS I BANNED ERMAGEHRD. Because you are a cheating little piece of shit, thats why.

Destiny does not have dedicated servers. It is all peer to peer. Basically, it has one of the worst overall connections I have seen in any FPS.

There have also been a decent number of cheaters. The most common kind are the lag switchers, but there have been people as well who have DOSed people.

These are fairly uncommon to come across, but I have been noticing quiet a lot of people randomly teleporting around, not taking damage, and shotgunning people in the face.

Bans for cheaters is always a good thing.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Inferno Control: Titan Playground

I love the Inferno game modes in Destiny Crucible......none more than I love Inferno Control. For those who dont know, Inferno is basically the same game mode....only with no radar.

As the title of the post says, this is where I LOVE to play my Titan. As a Striker Titan, you have an ability called shoulder charge. It is a one hit melee, but it takes a bit of charge time, and the charge only last for 5 seconds before you need to charge it up again by sprinting. The biggest problem with shoulder charge is shotguns. There are a lot of shotguns running around crucible, and with radar on, people can easily just blast you mid charge.

Inferno is a little bit different. If they dont SEE you coming, they dont know you are coming. This makes shoulder charge and amazing weapon. The key is to flank around the outside of the maps and then pinch in to the positions where most people are generally going to fight their gunbattles. Sneak up behind them and charge them in back of the head. It is pretty common for me to get at least a triple kill right from the start by flanking around and taking them unaware from behind. Thats right, I take dat booty.

My prefered troll loadout for Inferno on my titan:

Shouldercharge and Transfusion: Shouldercharge has already been explained, and Transfusion heals you when you shouldercharge. Sweet.

DOUBLE SHOTGUN ALL THE WAY: My ultimate troll move is that I run Universal Remote (shotgun) as a primary and Felwinter's Lie (Shotgun) as a secondary. That way I never run out of shotgun ammo if the blueberries keep pulling it.

MK 44 Standasides or Peregrine Greaves: I prefer the Standasides as my exotic piece because it increases the duration of the shouldercharge.....charge....to 8 seconds. It give me more uptime where I dont have to start my sprint over again. The Peregrine Greaves are another great choice, and they are outstanding for killing bladedancers and sunsinger in their supers. If you do the mid air shoulder charge, they will both be one shot as the Greaves make your flying shouldercharge do triple damage.

No go forth you thirsty Titans....quench you thirst on the tears of you enemies.

Destiny Weekly Reset (taken from the Reddit Thread)

Weekly Crucible Modes

  • [HoW] Inferno Control
  • [HoW] Doubles
  • Salvage

Prison of Elders Level 32: Broken Legion

The Reef, Asteroid Belt Valus Trau'ug seeks to prove his might by crushing all who challenge him.
RoundEnemyObjectiveModifier(s)
1CabalNo ObjectiveJuggler - No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
2HiveDestroy MinesLightswitch - Minions of the Darkness deal much more melee damage.
3FallenDismantle MinesCatapult - Grenade recharge rate is greatly increased.
4HiveKill BossBrawler - Guardian Melee damage is greatly increased.
5CabalKill Boss - ValusJuggler - No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
Rewards
  • House of Judgment x200
  • Armor Core x1

Prison of Elders Level 34: Urrox's Grudge

The Reef, Asteroid Belt The Flame Prince Urrox vows to burn the Light until all that remains is Darkness and bone.
RoundEnemyObjectiveModifier(s)
1HiveNo ObjectiveTrickle - Recharge of abilities is significantly reduced.
2CabalDismantle MinesSmall Arms - Primary Weapon damage is favored.
3CabalKill The TargetExposure - Guardian shields are increased but do not replenish.
4HiveDismantle MinesArc Burn - Arc Damage from any source is greatly increased.
5HiveKill Boss - UrroxSolar Burn - Solar Damage from any source is greatly increased.
Rewards
  • House of Judgment x300
  • Weapon Core x1
  • Etheric Light x1

Prison of Elders Level 35: Skolas's Revenge

The Reef, Asteroid Belt Skolas and his crew challenge the Guardians who captured him. Face him with a Fireteam of three. End him.
RoundEnemyObjectiveModifier(s)
1HiveNo ObjectiveExposure - Guardian shields are increased but do not replenish.
Brawler - Guardian Melee damage is greatly increased.
2VexDestroy MinesGrounded - Players take more damage while airborne.
Airborne - Players deal more damage while in the air.
3CabalDismantle MinesCatapult - Grenade recharge rate is greatly increased.
Arc Burn - Arc Damage from any source is greatly increased.
4FallenKill The TargetSpecialist - Special Weapon damage is favored.
Juggler - No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
5FallenKill Boss: Pilot ServitorTrickle - Recharge of abilities is significantly reduced.
Small Arms - Primary Weapon damage is favored.
6BossKill Boss: SkolasBrawler - Guardian Melee damage is greatly increased.
Juggler - No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
Rewards
  • House of Judgment x500
  • Armor Core x1
  • Weapon Core x1
  • Etheric Light x1

Nightfall: The Shadow Thief

Ocean of Storms, Moon Board the Fallen Ketch above the Moon and defeat the notorious Taniks, the Scarred.
Modifiers
  • Epic - Heavily shielded and highly aggressive enemies appear in great numbers.
  • Nightfall - If all players die, your Fireteam is returned to Orbit.
  • Arc Burn - Arc Damage from any source is greatly increased.
  • Juggler - No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
  • Brawler - Guardian Melee damage is greatly increased.
Rewards
  • Radiant Light Buff - Increases all XP gains untill the weekly refresh.
Possible Rewards
  • Etheric Light
  • Exotic Weapons
  • Exotic Armor
  • Legendary Weapons
  • Strange Coins

Heroic Strikes: Winter's Run

Ishtar Sink, Venus The Darkness gathers as the Fallen prepare the return of one of their Archon Priests.
Modifiers
  • Heroic - Enemies appear in greater numbers and are more aggressive.
  • Juggler - No ammo drops for your equipped weapon.
Rewards
  • Strange Coin x9
  • Vanguard Marks x10
  • Vanguard Reputation x400

Variks Inventory

Armor:

ClassNameTypeStatsPerks
HunterKellhunter's SightHelmet58 Intellect, 59 Discipline---
WarlockKellbreaker's MindHelmet66 Intellect, 58 Discipline---
TitanKellslayer's HelmHelmet63 Intellect, 67 Discipline---

Weapon: Servant of Aksor

Cost: 1x Armor Core

Friday, July 24, 2015

Getting Better in Crucible Part 3: Heavy Weapons

Well, heavy weapons is a pretty easy one because the meta right now is rocket launchers.

If you are running with machine guns, you are either playing in a group or playing against a lot of bad kids.

There are some great exotic heavy weapons for crucible, but as previously stated, that takes away from having the best exotic primaries.

The Truth is probably the best heavy weapon in the game. It has aggressive tracking as well as proximity. It also has three in the chamber, which is very nice to have.

Gjallarhorn is very good as well. It has weak tracking, but it has a hidden perk of grenades and horseshoes, so it will also detonate on proximity. It also has wolfpack rounds, which get kills in PvP that they have no business getting.

Thunderlord is a great machine gun, and both looks and sounds cool. It is still a machine gun though.

As far as Legendary rockets go, there are several really good ones. You can get Tommorow's Answer in trials, which already has a very good pvp roll on it. Other good choices are an Ash Factory, which drops in crucible or maybe a Radegast's Fury, which drops in Iron Banner.

You mostly want the same thing on all of them. Warhead Vaneers in the first slot. Either clown cartridge or tripod. In the middle section you will want Javelin. In the final slot you of course want Grenades and Horseshoes.

Proximity is so powerful right now that not using it is gimping your game during heavy round.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Destiny: Huge Weapon Tuning Incoming

Well, we knew there would be some nerfs and some buffs, and they have confirmed what will be going on come September. I will post what was said by Bungie, and will give my thoughts in bold.

From the desk of Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski:
Hello everyone!
This update has been a long time coming, but I’m very happy to be here again to talk about some pending weapon changes. This time around, we’re hitting a lot of stuff so I hope you’re wearing your reading pants.
First and foremost, I want to personally acknowledge the community for their resounding feedback on a variety of the items that we plan on addressing here. At times, we looked into rolling out one or two of these changes in advance of the 2.0.0 update; addressing Shotgun perks when Felwinter’s Lie became popular, addressing Thorn when it became the popular choice for Trials of Osiris. We heard your voices and we felt your pain, but plucking a few meatballs out of this massive plate of spaghetti proved to be very risky. These changes are all very dependent upon each other to be successful, and after careful consideration we decided the best road ahead was to present them all together as a full update.
Thank you for your continued patience! I mean that very sincerely.

BASE WEAPON CHANGES

AUTO RIFLES
As a whole, Auto Rifles needed to be reevaluated from the 1.1.1 update. The goals are still the same for this weapon, but this time the approach centers on a higher base damage with quicker falloff. With 2.0.0, our Sandbox programmers have granted the ability to independently tune Range and Damage Falloff. This allows us to emphasize optimal combat range without violating some of the more intricate aiming systems that are tied into the Range stat.
When the update goes live damage falloff will be more obvious, (as shown in the following screens.
(Internal test level pictured below)
Goals:
  • Auto Rifle is optimal at close to medium range
  • Damage, Stability, and Range are tuned such that players desire Stability for reliable close quarters damage, or Range for better accuracy and increased damage at a distance
  • Elevate Auto Rifles so they are a more competitive option in PVP, and simultaneously more satisfying to use in PVE
Changes:
  • Increase base damage
  • Start damage falloff closer to the player to emphasize its role as a close to medium range weapon
  • Small reduction in base stability. Landing shots at optimal range is unaffected, but repeated precision hits require more weapon control to land consistently
  • Boost damage by 10% against AI combatants
Well, this would seem to be a bit of a buff for auto rifles. As they currently stand, they are absolute garbage. Easily the worst primary in the game. A few months back, they were the best primary. They need a buff badly. I dont know if this will be enough to elevate them above dog shit status.

PULSE RIFLES
Pulse Rifles are strong right now in PVP. We want to maintain that feeling of raw power, but introduce some subtlety to the firing mechanics of the weapon. Base damage for the mid-speed (most common) Rate of Fire is now tuned so that the victim’s Armor stat is the deciding factor in TTK (Time to Kill). Base Stability of all Pulse Rifles has been dropped very slightly, so that landing shots is still intuitive, but consistent precision hits will take more skill. Magazine sizes have been increased across the board to make them more efficient in PVE activities.
Goals:
  • Pulse Rifle is optimal at medium range, but can still effectively engage enemies at close or medium-long range
  • Rate of Fire sets a pace for players to track moving targets, and then deliver precision damage in bursts
  • Pulse Rifles should feel strong in PVP, but don’t become the only competitive option
  • Additionally increase their efficiency as a PVE weapon
Changes:
  • Reduce base damage of the medium RoF by about 2.5% PVP: Bursts-to-kill (all precision hits) is 2 or 3, depending on victim’s Armor stat
  • Small reduction in base stability. A burst should still land all shots at optimal range, but three precision hits will require more weapon control to land consistently
  • Increase magazine size on for all base inventory stats
This is kind of a weird change to me. I think that the idea is to nerf the Red Death so that it doesnt become the new meta with the huge changes to Thorn and The Last Word (see below). However, I think that this change is going to leave the high impact Pulse Rifles as the absolute best weapons in the game. Currently, the Messenger and Hopscotch Pilgrim are already near the top. They will likely see their stock go up.

SCOUT RIFLES
Scout Rifles are currently orbiting their sweet spot pretty nicely. We made a few changes to solidify their role as the optimal long range Primary choice, and to help create a delta between the Hand Cannon archetype.
Goals:
  • Scout Rifles are the best Primary Weapon for long range engagements
  • Scout Rifles perform best when landing paced precision shots
  • Rate of Fire and Optics are tuned so that Scout Rifles are a little harder to use effectively close in
Changes:
  • Increase base damage for medium to high Rate of Fire Scout Rifles PVP: Does not affect TTK in PVP on a Guardian with full health
  • Increase magazine size for all base inventory stats
  • Reduce Final Accuracy when firing from hip
  • Fast firing outside of ADS will be less accurate
  • Boost damage by 5% against AI combatants
Scout rifles are not really great at the moment. They have their niche, but I think that the Mida is the only really viable scout. The Scholar seems to be decent for a legendary, but I dont feel like they hold up to pulse and hand cannon currently. This will be a small buff. The ammo bump will be quite nice for some of the high impact scouts.

HAND CANNONS
During the last set of changes we made a very small adjustment to Initial Accuracy, Range, and Damage Falloff looking to curb the long range effectiveness of Hand Cannons. However, anyone who has been cross-map-zapped by Thorn or Hawkmoon knows this is still very possible. So we pushed this a little bit further. Landing a long range shot now requires slow careful aim, and a hit at that distance won’t deliver on the weapon’s full damage potential.
In PVE, the role of the Hand Cannon is very close to the role of the Scout Rifle. Hand Cannons do slightly more base damage, Scouts have slightly more ammo in the mag, but otherwise their functions overlap a great deal. To help separate these two we made the range changes noted above, but also reduced magazine size on Hand Cannons while simultaneously increasing the magazine size on Scouts. This should help push these two weapons apart, and make the player choice more interesting. Hand Cannons do more damage up close, but with fewer rounds. Scouts with greater range and magazine size, but slightly less damage per bullet.
Goals:
  • Hand Cannons are optimal at close to medium range
  • Hand Cannons are optimal when shots are paced, but become less effective when fired quickly
  • Rewards agility under fire, precision targeting, and snap shots
  • Hand Cannons cannot reliably compete with Scout Rifles at long range
Changes:
  • Start damage falloff closer to the player to limit long range lethality
  • Small reduction in ADS accuracy, targeted at making long range snap-shooting less reliable
  • Reduce final accuracy when firing from hip
  • Fast firing from hip is less reliable
  • Reduce magazine size for all base inventory stats
  • Reduce base Optics (zoom) for all Hand Cannons
  • ADS now grants more width in favor of depth
Hello darkness my old friend. Hand cannons just got fucked in the asshole. A lot. Worse damage at range, less accurate when aiming down site, less hip fire accuracy, less magazine size, reduced zoom. Legendary hand cannons were already not great. This change will probably render them current auto rifle status. When are the blanket nerfs going to stop. Obviously people wanted Thorn and TLW nerfed, and for good reason. They are super powerful. However, shitting on the rest of a class that is not spectacular to start with is not the way to go.

SHOTGUNS
The Shotgun changes in 1.1.1 hit Range pretty hard. For almost all of the Shotguns available to players, this felt really good in our playtests. Occasionally a long range Shotgun with the right perks on it would show up and push the intended limits, but they were few and far between…
…Until Lord Saladin started selling Felwinter’s Lie! The availability of a powerful, long range Shotgun that could be Reforged until the perfect perk arrangement showed up made this combination very prevalent. In House of Wolves, we continued to allow Reforging on other ranged Shotguns. Soon after, what we thought would be exciting edge cases in our weapon population became the new normal. Rather than hit the Range stat again, we are directly targeting the Shotgun perks that push out Shotgun lethality distance: Shot Package and Rangefinder. The PVE boost to Shotguns in 1.1.1 was significant, and since then we’ve seen groups of Guardians gang up with their boom sticks and trivially roll through some pretty tough PVE encounters. The reward of gut blasting a hulking enemy is super sweet, but that close-quarters action could benefit from a slight reduction in outgoing damage.
Goals:
  • Shotgun is most effective at very close range
  • Complements melee attacks and other close-quarters class builds
  • Offensively closing on an enemy with a Shotgun is a risk/reward timing game
  • Curb Shotgun effectiveness in PVE slightly to reintroduce some risk when closing on a powerful enemy
Changes:
  • Shotgun perks that enhance lethality at range should be less effective when combined with a high initial Range stat:
  • Reduce Shot Package Accuracy buff by 30%
  • Rangefinder adds a 5% base Range increase on ADS (was 20%)
  • Reduce Precision Damage multiplier on Shotguns by 10%
  • Reduce damage against AI combatants by 10%
Ok, as mostly a shotgun user, I agree with the nerfs. They really do need it. One it range is at times completely retarded. Even with the accuracy decrease with shotpackage, I still feel like it will be the best perk. You will just have to be more accurate to get that one shot kill. The change to Rangefinder just absolutely butchers it. I think that it moves range finder from B tier to F tier. Shot package will likely still be number one, but I think that something like full auto will move into range finder's old position.

FUSION RIFLES
  • When we hit Fusion Rifle accuracy in the last update, we saw a lot of players move to Shotguns as their close range weapon of choice. For this update, we have preserved our original intent to reduce overall range, but have scaled back the nerf on close range Fusion Rifles to help them contend with Shotguns in close quarters.
Goals:
  • Fusion Rifles are optimal at mid-range, where targets are easier to track but they’re not close enough to attack while charging up
  • Requires combat foresight and the ability to predict a target’s movement to use successfully
  • It should not be easy to find and build a Fusion Rifle that can achieve maximum Range
Changes:
  • Slow charging, high Impact Fusion Rifles have decreased Range values
    • Makes it more difficult to max out Range for these weapons
  • Projectile Speed for Fusion Rifles is slightly reduced
    • Emphasizes the need to lead a targets outside medium range
  • Improve Accuracy for short range Fusion Rifles
  • Reduce Accuracy for long range Fusion Rifles
Soooo....fusion rifles already suck. And now they are going to suck more? I guess in a short range situation they will be marginally better, but shotguns fire instantly. Fusions have a charge time. Fusion should be able to take out a shotty before they are within range. Honestly doesnt make much sense to me. There was a day when fusions were the absolute best. Not they continue to be made a bigger and bigger joke.

SNIPER RIFLES
Sniper Rifles are playing into their intended role right now and we don’t feel a need to change the base behavior. However, one piece of feedback that the community has been very vocal about is the effect of the Final Round perk when combined with a high Impact Sniper Rifle.
Around the time of the 1.1.1 changes, we started phasing this perk out on Sniper Rifles and combined with the Special Ammo economy changes introduced by the Multiplayer Design team we hoped to see this perk lose its potency. The introduction of Trials of Osiris put us back on the spot to address this perk. To address this we are changing Final Round to only scale precision damage for Sniper Rifles. This change fits the role of the Sniper Rifle for both PVP and PVE.
Goals:
  • Sniper Rifles are optimal at long range, and difficult to use for medium to short range combat
  • Sniper Rifles reward thumb skill with high damage against precision targets
  • The Final Round perk on Sniper Rifles should still require precision shots
Changes:
  • Final Round on Sniper Rifles buffs precision damage only, not base damage
    • This change only affects this perk when combined with Sniper Rifles
Thank fucking god! Final round sniper is currently the most broken shit in the game. The reduction of special ammo in crucible made it slightly more bearable. Now this will put the nail in the coffin. For those who didnt know, one old snipers, you could roll a perk called Final Round. If this was on a high impact sniper, the final round would one shot you in the body. Literally killed by getting blasted in the toenail. To make it worse, the final round would often times randomly proc on other bullets as well. It was a way for no skill players to get cheap kills. This was made even worse with the addition of Trials of Osiris and the Elimination game mode . Now we wont have to deal with it anymore and the little bad kid will have to find another way.

ROCKET LAUNCHERS
There’s not much to say about Rocket Launchers. You find a purple brick, you load up your Rocket Launcher, you blow #### up. We’re giving Rocket explosions a tiny boost to Blast Radius to help out with those glorious multikills that rain bodies.
However, the Grenades and Horseshoes perk has enabled an element of carelessness in PVP, that we would like to address. While we definitely want that perk to grant you some slop while firing at a single target, it also needs to allow agile players the slim possibility of escape if your aim isn’t true.
Goals:
  • Rocket Launchers deal massive AoE damage from a distance
  • Rockets are optimal when placed in the middle of a group
Changes:
  • Slight increase in base Blast Radius.
  • Grenades and Horseshoes proximity detonation reduced.
I am fine with this change. As it currently is, Grenades and Horseshoes is the best heavy perk on any weapon. It instantly makes pretty much any rocket launcher viable for pvp. I think that having more people using Machines guns again will be good. Rockets will still counter heavy machine guns, but it will be less of a detriment if you dont feel like using a rocket.

EXOTIC WEAPON TUNING

Unlike the last weapon balance update, we’re taking this opportunity to address a few of our Exotic Weapons in tandem with the changes to the base weapon behavior. Fair warning: Some of these changes are intended to make you feel better while killing with the weapon, and some are intended to make you feel better while being killed by the weapon.
Hard Light
Hard Light is a beloved weapon. We want it to be better. The new flexibility we have with Damage Falloff as an independently tuned value gave us a great new avenue to push this exotic a little bit harder into its fantasy.
Changes:
  • Increase base Stability to 80 (was 65)
  • Increase bounce count for Hard Light projectiles
  • Hard Light projectiles are not affected by Damage Falloff
Lol wut? So currently, auto rifle suck, and hardlight is awful. With the changes coming up, I think that this weapon has a chance to become one of the new meta weapons. It already has the highest aim assist in the game with 100. Stability is getting a boost, there will be more richochet from the bullets, and you will be able to snipe with that shit because of no damage drop off. Possible rags to riches gun.

Necrochasm
We’ve heard (and share) the resounding feedback for Necrochasm. Not only has this weapon been considered a weak reward for the monumental effort it takes to acquire it, the base archetype (high Rate of Fire Auto Rifle) happened to be tuned down with 1.1.1 at almost the exact same time it became available. The following changes combined with the Auto Rifle base changes have made a positive impact in internal playtests. I personally shrieked with joy when I got my first ever double kill in Skirmish from the Cursebringer explosion.
Changes:
  • Increase base Stability to 60 (was 40)
  • Increase magazine size
  • Cursebringer perk will always trigger on a precision kill
  • Cursebringer explosion has increased radius and deals more damage
I dont have one of these, but by all accounts, it is absolutely terrible. I think that the buffs will go a long ways to making this gun a lot more viable. I dont know if it will be any good in pvp, but it shouldnt be the worst weapon in the game maybe.

The Last Word
The Last Word is our fastest time-to-kill (TTK) primary in the game. The intent of this weapon was always to deal lethal damage up close and in style while shooting from the hip. Right now the Stability and Range of this weapon has players reliably getting ranged kills while aiming down sights, so we want to try and push this weapon into more of its intended role.
Changes:
  • Reduce Range stat to 10 (was 20), reduce Stability to 20 (was 30).
  • Reduce effective range while in ADS.
  • Increase accuracy and precision damage aim assist scale when firing from the hip. “Get three coffins ready.”Fixed bugs with Hipfire damage bonus applying incorrectly
So, The Last Word is getting one of its nuts removed. Beside the general hand cannon nerf, it is also getting a range and stability reduction. They fixed the hip fire damage when aiming down site, and maybe made hip fire even better....or they just made it the same despite the hipfire nerf to other hand cannons. This nerf is probably going to push TLW out of tier 1 although it could still remain considering the shotgun nerf.

Thorn
Thorn has had an interesting journey. It started as a weapon that was perceived as an unworthy reward for one of the most contentious exotic bounties in the game, and has slowly dug its way into players’ flesh as one of the most popular exotics among the Destiny population.
Equipped Primary Weapon Popularity (PVP)
We want to preserve the functionality that makes Thorn such a compelling weapon, but its effective range and lethality are one of the most hotly contended items by the PVP player base. The base changes to Hand Cannons and weapon stats address Thorn’s range.
Changes:
  • Reduce base damage of Thorn’s Mark of the Devourer DoT (Damage over Time) to roughly 1/3 of what it was in PVP and PVE
  • Allow DoT to stack up to 5x across multiple landed projectiles
  • This is a net buff for Thorn’s DoT, but reduces the lethality of the weapon in PVP
So, the dot is going to be useless in PvP now. It will be good for keeping shields from regenerating, but that is about it. You will need 3 head or body shots to kill. The range and magazine will already be nerfed by the general handcannon change. The Thorn had both balls chopped off. It will still be one of the best hand cannons, but that may not be saying much with how bad everything has been nerfed.

Hawkmoon
The elusive nocturnal bird… Hawkmoon has evaded many players for quite some time. It is one of the hardest weapons in Destiny to acquire, which probably makes it sting that much more when you are killed by it. When you get dealt a lucky mag and the bonus rounds all stack on one bullet, then that bullet will one-hit-kill a full health Guardian with a precision shot. Even though this is rare, just knowing it is possible tends to amplify the frustration for Hawkmoon’s victims so we’re taking steps to help ease their passing.
Changes:
  • Add a stack limit to Luck in the Chamber and Holding Aces so that only 2 of the bonus perks will ever stack on one round. This should prevent Hawkmoon from 1-hit killing full health players in PVP
  • Add 2 rounds to Hawkmoon’s magazine when Holding Aces is unlocked
  • Luck in the Chamber damage bonus reduced by 3%
More nerfs for the good hand cannons....and all before I can even use this Playstation exclusive piece of shit! Oh well, I will still be glad to get it when it comes to Xbox.

Ice Breaker
We’ve all done it. Hunker down in the back of the map with your lunch box, picnic table, a sci-fi paperback, and Ice Breaker. Kill all the enemies, wait for more to show up, kill those ones too, put a few shots on the boss, make a sandwich, finish the strike, and then collect your reward-that-isn’t-Hawkmoon and move on. The recharging ammo of Ice Breaker has become a staple for the PvE game. We don’t want to completely destroy that, because a really great thing happens when all of a sudden you need Ice Breaker and you’re still waiting on that next round to show up. In that moment there is an interesting tension at play; you need to think about how you spend your next few seconds while it recharges. We are going to amplify that tension by increasing the recharge duration by a few seconds.
Changes:
  • Increase recharge time for Ice Breaker rounds to 1 every 8 seconds. Was 1 round every 5 seconds
I dont understand this change. What is the point?

No Land Beyond
Sworn off by most as a waste of Strange Coins, used as a joke weapon by people who want to stack the odds against their favor, and every now and then it is the tool of destruction that wipes up a Crucible match by a slick, run and gun, sniper elitist faster than you can say “Welcome to my YouTube montage.” We built No Land Beyond for the quick sniping, PvP-minded player. However as many have pointed out since it was released, the weapon does not hold up in PvE.
Changes:
  • Increase weapon handling speed for faster time to aim, ready, and stow
  • Adjust sights to fix overlap/parallax issue while aimed
    • Increase time decay of The Master to 8 seconds
  • Add an additional 20% Precision Damage bonus while The Master is active
Anything that make No Land Beyond better is cool in my book. People who are good with this weapon are going to be even more awesome in PvP.

Black Hammer
While technically not an exotic, this weapon was chased as if it were. Currently it is the only Sniper Rifle that is more capable of ending a PvE boss faster than Ice Breaker.
Changes:
  • Increase ammo inventory to 18 rounds
  • White Nail perk now pulls ammo from your inventory
So, this sniper is getting turned to shit tier. Great!

Lord of Wolves
This weapon is a bruiser and doesn’t need help. The only element that is lackluster is the Recovery boost granted to allies from the Lord of Wolves perk. We had hoped this would inspire Fireteams to stay close and attack and defend as a unit, rallying around their pack leader. However the Recovery boost doesn’t do much to incentivize this. So we tripled it.
Changes:
  • Tripled recovery boost bonus for allies granted by Lord of Wolves
Dont have it, and this doesnt seem like too much of a change.

Gjallarhorn
If Destiny had a nuke it would be the “Ballerhorn.” We definitely intended to have a high damage Heavy Weapon that was ideal for PvE destruction. What we did not intend, and what we unfortunately saw, was pick up Raid and Nightfall groups gating participation based on whether or not players had this weapon. Gjallarhorn was so strong that for many people it had become the only answer to getting through tough encounters, and therefore they were less willing to spend time with other players that didn’t have it.
Equipped Heavy Weapon Popularity (PVE)
We strive for Destiny to be a place where a single weapon or strategy does not dictate how, or with whom, you spend your time. In the new world Gjallarhorn is still worthy of its legacy as an exotic Heavy Weapon, but we hope it promotes inclusive behavior rather than exclusivity.
Changes
  • Reduce damage of Wolfpack Rounds
And queue the babies crying. This is currently the best PvE weapon in the game. By a long shot. It really isnt even close. I have 3 of them and when I run PvE on my characters, that is almost always what is equipped in the heavy spot. Spice of life and all that jazz. Now maybe people without it will stop whining so fucking much.

WEAPON STATS

For Update 2.0.0, we also took a pass on weapon stats. This has a subtle but broad impact on gun combat. As we acquired and levelled up our Legendary weapons during the first year of Destiny, we realized that it is not very difficult to find weapons with strong starting stats that you can then push into pretty high ranges simply by using the default upgrades we make available on the talent grid. While it definitely feels great to grow a weapon into a deadly killing machine, the downsides over time are:
  1. PVP lethality across all weapons gets exaggerated due to high performance guns that don’t have any flaws or quirks As you collect and grow weapons over time, they all start to feel like the same gun
  2. We took a few different approaches to stats that we hope address both of these issues, and also introduce a bit more variety into how your arsenal of upgraded weapons feel.
Reduced Base Weapon Stats
We reduced the base stat value of a few targeted stats across various weapon types. Specifically, we focused on the stats for a given weapon type that typically enhance performance the most and made those starting values slightly lower. This means brand new Auto Rifles will have slightly less starting Stability, brand new Shotguns slightly less starting Range, etc. You still have lots of options to grow those stats as you spend time with a weapon. Also, this change is only being made to weapons newly available in The Taken King, so your base stats for everything from launch through House of Wolves remain consistent.
Stat Perk Tuning Pass
The initial set of stat perks that have been on weapons since launch (Send It, Hammer Forged, Field Scout, Perfect Balance, etc.) all granted a pretty huge increase to their targeted stat. Not only did they spike their stat, but they never asked the player to make a meaningful trade-off for it on the weapon. We have gone back to all of these stat perks and reduced the amount that they buff your weapon stat, and this change was made retroactively against all year one weapon talent grids.
To compensate for the weaker stat perks from launch weapons, we added some new stat perks (which have already showed up on your House of Wolves weapons) that do provide a significant increase to a stat in exchange for a reduction in other stats. This allows players to be able to spike a stat that reinforces their play style, but at a cost. Basically, if you want to spike a stat we are asking you to specialize the weapon for what that stat offers.
Stat Perk column on Talent Grids
Lastly, we wanted to ensure that if we were introducing Stat Perks that asked you to reduce a stat, we never forced you into doing that by placing that perk on an unavoidable node. Talent Grids will almost always unlock in the order of: small benefit -> medium benefit or another small benefit choice -> large benefit with a tradeoff. The only node in that column you have to unlock is the first one. From then on it is up to the player which node they want activated at any given time.

This covers most of the weapon changes that address what you currently know about the game. We still have some surprises and twists we don’t want to spoil that you’ll get to experience when The Taken King is released. We playtested these changes every day, multiple times a day, in all activities, using all kinds of weapons. We feel pretty good about them.
However, the total amount of time we as a studio can spend on a given build of Destiny is a shred of a fraction compared to the first hour this update hits all of you. As always we are excited (and slightly terrified, to be honest) to see what comes of this update in your hands. We are reading forums, watching streams, listening to podcasts, at all times devouring your impressions in an effort to make this game better. We’re even reading the comments (shudder). Heck, some of us might even be the random Guardian in your pick-up Fireteam.
Looking forward to having this chat again in the future! Until then, see you starside.

So basically, hold onto your butts! Times they are a changing, and there are sure to be a lot of complainers out there. People like myself will just find out what the new meta is, and adapt. For PvP I am thinking that high impact pulse rifles and hard light will be good primaries. Shotguns and snipers will still be strong. Invective may make a comeback as a top choice. Proc Rockets and Machine guns will be on  a bit more even playing field.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Geeting Better at Crucible Part 2 (Secondary Weapons)

Secondary weapons are very important most of the time and can vary depending on your playstyle. Some people like to run a Last Word and Sniper Combo. Others may run a Thorn and Shotty combo. Hipsters may run Mida Multi Tool with a Sniper for the ultimate in camp.

There are two things that you will notice about secondaries. The best ones are not exotic, and ammo is a lot more scarce.

First of all, lets talk about fusion rifles. Almost nobody uses them, and for good reason mostly. They have been nerfed pretty hard from what they once were, and I tend to think that they get starved for ammo since the special ammo nerf. They used to be amazing in crucible, now they are usually outclassed by either a shotgun or a primary weapon. I only know one player who ever uses them outside of bounties, and even he switches to a shotgun when in the midst of some sweaties.

Exotic fusion rifles include Plan C and Pocket Infinity which both used to be absolute beasts back in the day. Now they are merely "good", and Pocket Infinity is hard to use with a lack of special ammo available.

Second, perhaps the most hated gun in crucible, the shotgun. The only real choices for shotguns in my opinion are the high impact ones. Felwinter's Lie, Party Crasher +1, The Judgement, and Matador 64 are all in the top tier of shotgun. Proper rolls for best effect should be aggressive ballistics in the first tree, whatever you want for a second perk (although I recommend knee pads, luck in the chamber, or final round), something to increase range in the middle tree, and the most powerful shotgun perk in the game for your final perk....shot package. Shot package is so important because it reduces the spread of your shotgun over distance giving you a much further one hit kill range. If you have ever thought to your self......"What the fuck? How did he kill me from there?", you will most likely find that it was a shot package shotty.

If you really want to try out the exotic shotguns, feel free. They usually lost to all shot package shotguns, but can be good in different situations. The Universal Remote is useful if you really want a shotgun for close range and want to use your favorite legendary sniper as well. You can also run a full troll build with double shotgun. The big advantage to the UR besides looking really cool is that you pretty much always have ammo for it.

The Invective is also outclassed by shot package shotguns, but it is amazing for one thing. Taking out blade dancers and sunsingers. The full auto fires very fast, and can take out either of those supers without so much as blinking an eye.

I am no expert on Snipers, but know what is good generally and what is not. Depending on game type, you may want a couple of different snipers. For Skirmish and other revive game modes, you will want to use something with high impact that can still headshot kill revived enemies. Her Benevolence is the best of these currently available, and probably the best PvP sniper overall right now. Another very good sniper for 6 man modes is the Low-Grade Humility. It has very good aim assist and a decent rate of fire.

On most PvP snipers, I see people running with Hidden Hand, which increases the stickiness of your sights when moving it across your enemy. Most like the have snapshot in the middle column for that fast ADS, and unflinching in the final column to help reduce flinch a bit when being shot. Finally, there is the scope. Most PvPers seem to agree that shortgaze is probably the best sight as it has good added aim assist and is not too big of a zoom. Other favorites inclide Ambush (which has no aim assist and a wider view), and Longview SLR10. Try them out to find what you like best.

Again, I never use exotic snipers in PvP. Patience in Time is actually quite strong as it has a very high aim assist and very low kick. Ice Breaker respawns ammo and has a pretty good scope and high impact. It doest however kick like a mule, and I feel like there are better options for snipers that will allow you to use an exotic primary.

Next up will be optimum heavy loadouts.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Getting Better at Crucible Part 1 (Primary Weapons)

As with any game, when you first start out playing crucible, you will probably not be great. There are obvious exceptions, but those are the people who are going to be good at any shooter they drop into.

One of the things that makes Destiny a little different is that you dont immediately have access to all of the weapons, and the most powerful ones will be randomly picked up along the way. Just because you dont have a Thorn or The Last Word, doesnt mean you cant compete. It just means that you will need to find another way to win gun fights.

Step 1, Weapons: If you already have some of the top tier crucible exotics, then SWEET! If not, there are a number of decent replacements that are not too difficult to obtain one way or another.

Legendary Primaries are not all amazing. You can roll some of them to be serviceable, such as the Fulcrum handcannon that can be purchased from the Future War Cult vendor. It can be rolled into a mini Hawkmoon if you get luck in the chamber, final round, and something like smallbore.

In my opinion, some of the best non exotic primaries are in the Pulse Rifle category. The Messenger is top tier, and is two head burst kill and has ridiculous range. You can obtain this from Brother Vance in the Reef if he is selling it, or through the packages you get for winning games in Trials of Osiris. You can also get an Adept version of it in the chest after completing a flawless trials run.

One I have not obtained myself, but is apparently just as good and with the ability to be rerolled is the Hopscotch Pilgrim. This is a pulse rifle obtained through Dragon Strikes that has similar stats to The Messenger. It is apparently a pain to obtain, so be aware that you will probably be doing a lot of strikes to get it. If you are like me, that is not something I would particularly like to endure.

One thing about improving in crucible....dont let people get super salty and try to shit on you for using the overpowered weapons. You are there to dominate, and just because they think they are the White Knight Protector of Guardian Crucible Honor, you dont have to adhere to their dumb thinking. Here is a list of some of the top exotic primaries.

Thorn is an all around amazing weapon. It is a two headshot kill with the poison dot (damage over time). It is also a three body shot kill. It can be fired pretty quickly, and you can often beat out snipers over range if you can get them to miss their shots. Thorn is also the weapon that will cause the most salt for other guardians and you may receive a hate mail from time to time. The proper setup on Thorn is agressive ballistics and send it. Why dont you use the stability perk you ask? Well, first, send it increase the range by a ton. You will be getting cross map kills with it. Second, it also increases the hit box, and you will be hitting a lot more headshots with it. The recoil takes a little getting used to, but it is overall amazing.

The Last Word has one of the fastest kill times in the game. Part of it is that the fire rate is amazing. The other part is because the hip fire perk is bugged, and you often get the hipfire damage while aiming down sights. At medium range, there is nothing that can really beat it. It is also capable of defeating a shotgun user at close range if they are unable to get you with one shot. The proper setup on the last word is aggressive ballistics and perfect balance. Aggressive gives you the ability to get 111 head shot with the hipfire perk and bug. Perfect balance allows you to not shoot at the ceiling when you are firing.

Red Death is really the last of the top tier exotic primaries. If is a two burst headshot kill, and also heals you after every kill. This can be a direct counter to the Thorn dot bleeding you out. The only problem is that Red Death is a little bit worse than both of the handcannons, so you will probably have to get the first shot in to win most gun fights against TLW and Thorn.

Mida Multi Tool is a decent gun and can be fun to use, but I do not consider it on par with these other three. It is a great anti sniper weapon as it will throw off a sniper's aim. It takes four headshots to kill, which will get you killed a lot against the other weapons. It is mostly used in a more campy/support role.

Next article will be about secondary weapons.

Eh fuck it.

No need to make a new frickin blog for content I want to talk about. Games is games. I am going to post my first couple of Destiny related posts over here.

As far as other games go, I am not currently playing WoW. I was doing Garrisons until recently, but cannot muster much excitement for it honestly. Havent played much Diablo, but will probably get into it a bit with the new patch coming out.

I bought Final Fantasy A Realm Reborn which seems pretty good so far.

Overall it is mostly Destiny though.

I also stream from time to time under the name Bigjuicyhog on Twitch.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Wow

Not as in World of Warcraft, but wow, it has been over a year since I posted on here. I have been playing some WoW, but mostly doing Garrison stuff. I played a but of FF A Realm Reborn, which seems pretty good. Mostly I have been playing Destiny, and doing lots of it.

It seems weird to post about my other games here when I am not hard core into WoW any longer. I decided to create a new blog at www.thesaltyguardian.blogspot.com.

It will be focused more on crucible (pvp) tips and stories.

This blog was a fun thing for me to post on for many years, but as my enthusiasm for WoW has waned, obviously so too did my blogging here.

There may be a day when I return, but until then, see you in Destiny.