- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
So the new DLC for Destiny, The Dark Below, is coming out, which seems great, since the game's been pretty spartan for content for quite some time. Unfortunately, it's also coming with a fucking massive battery of problems with it - problems so big that about half the boards are up in fucking arms.
Let me elaborate. Since Destiny came out, there's been enormous amount of bitching (almost-entirely justified) about the game's absolutely fail leveling system.
This is such an issue that it requires its own fucking section, so I'll write this up here:
So this Tuesday, there's a big DLC coming out, and it's finally managed to push the playerbase too far. You may think to yourself: "How the hell did they pull that off? If the playerbase managed to deal with the bullshit under that spoiler tag, Jaimas, surely they have the patience and/or autism to slog on further, correct?" But you would be, surprisingly enough, wrong on this particular circumstance, for the changes they announced via their press-release indicates some ghastly issues.
Apparently, Xur, Agent of the Nine will now be central to upgrading exotic weapons and armor in preparation for the upcoming DLC.
Essentially, Xur arrives each Friday - only now, you need to talk to the fucker to upgrade your exotics to the point where they're actually usable in the new DLC. Each week, he'll offer some (but naturally, not all) exotic items to be available for upgrading.
You need three things to upgrade an item: First, you need the exotic weapon in question, and it needs to be fully-upgraded. Now, you also need an exotic shard, acquirable either via buying it from Xur or dismantling another exotic weapon. Finally, you need to spend a lot of Glimmer - around 7000, according to Game Informer. With all three of these, Xur will upgrade the item, giving it a higher defense/attack cap and enabling it to be stronger - essentially resetting its progress so you can go for a stronger version of it down the line (After more fucking grinding, of course).
The fact that it centers around Xur, of course, is by far the biggest issue. Players of Destiny have put up with its awful random drop crap for months, but Xur has been by far the worst kick in the face in the entire game thus far. Players have literally been waiting for him to carry one or two items that he never fucking does for well on three months now. From Tuesday onwards, this unequivocally means that players will very likely have to wait extended periods to even get the chance of buying an upgrade for their existing gear. This is not an idle thing to worry about, either, because Xur is fucking notorious by now for carrying duplicate items. "Armamentarium/Sunbreakers/Crest" has been on Xur's rotation so often as to become a more-infamous meme than "that Wizard came from the moon." And since Xur stopped carrying exotic engrams, this only makes the problems worse.
There's other issues, too. The amount of time it takes to upgrade an Exotic Weapon or piece of Armor even once is ridiculous, and bear in mind getting to level 28 alone is an act that can take several weeks under ideal circumstances (multiple characters to farm Ascendant Materials, going straight for Raid equipment), so this is only going to piss off a playerbase that is already straining at the end of an ever-weakening leash in regards to how much of a godless grind it's turning into. Seeing an Exotic take 2 weeks or longer just for the XP involved is far from unheard of, to say nothing from the materials one would have to farm from it. Making that suddenly take 4 because of the change has the playerbase as close to a mass-exodus as I've ever seen, and this is, without exception, one of the biggest internal community shit-storms I've seen in recent memory.
Just thought that Destiny players be aware of this change, and non-Destiny players can eke some entertainment value over what's going on, whilst thanking their lucky stars that they dodged a fucking magazine of bullets by never getting into this game in the first place before Bungie had their shit together on it. You guys now know why I've given Destiny my personal nickname of Dysentery. And for those who, like me, have been soldiering through this fuckheap, here's to hoping this shit improves.
Let me elaborate. Since Destiny came out, there's been enormous amount of bitching (almost-entirely justified) about the game's absolutely fail leveling system.
This is such an issue that it requires its own fucking section, so I'll write this up here:
You eventually level to 20 in the traditional RPG manner, and from there, gaining additional levels requires items that provide Light. The blue-rarity items in the game will only get you to 25, and to get any higher, you will need Legendaries.
Legendaries, which are purple, require enormous amounts of resources and XP to upgrade so you can get their benefits. Each one requires tons of XP, special materials called Planetary Resources, which are found on various planets in Destiny and aren't too annoying to get, and Ascendant Materials, which only drop from the Daily Heroic Story (which awards them at random; there's two kinds to get), rarely from in-game events (and only about once a day), extremely rarely from chests, and from Raiding (which requires you be hugely leveled). Your average piece of armor requires about 72 Planetary materials and 18 Ascendant - and ten fucktons of XP to max it all out.
So you do it. You go through the process of getting all the cool unique gear for your character and max it out. Maybe, if you're foolish, you wind up buying the Faction-based gear, unaware that it's going to essentially give you no statistical advantage over its counterparts, but whatever. You go through all of this, and level it all up.
You are now level 28. What gives?
Well, to gain levels beyond this, you need at least an Exotic piece of armor. This rare, yellow-rarity item is so powerful that you can only equip two - one armor piece, and one weapon. So you go through the trouble of getting an Exotic, likely through Xur (more on this motherfucker below), and level it up in a process that is exactly the same as the process for leveling Legendaries, only takes even longer, about twice as much XP, and requires even more materials. And you better hope to GodJesus BearChrist that the item you got was a helmet, because if it wasn't, you're screwed later and you don't even realize it. On December 1st, Exotics were streamlined, no longer requiring Ascendant materials, but instead requiring Exotic Shards, which are acquirable either via Xur or by dismantling a piece of Exotic gear.
You are now level 29. To get to level 30, you must acquire Raid Armor, which is identical to Legendary gear except it's only found in the retardedly hard you-can-only-do-this-shit-once-a-week Vault of Glass Raid. If the random number generator smiles on you, you can finally get this gear, which you then need to do exactly what you did with the first set of legendary gear, and spend more time, XP, and materials on it. Provided you do all of that, you can finally get to level 30.
Unless you were unfortunate enough for your Exotic armor to be anything but a Helmet. Because the Raid Helmets only drop on the level 30 hard mode Raid. Either way, you go through the trials and tribulations, and after infinite bullshit, you are now level 30. How does it feel? Now you can finally start the DLC content that's coming out on Tuesday. Now with even more grinding!
Legendaries, which are purple, require enormous amounts of resources and XP to upgrade so you can get their benefits. Each one requires tons of XP, special materials called Planetary Resources, which are found on various planets in Destiny and aren't too annoying to get, and Ascendant Materials, which only drop from the Daily Heroic Story (which awards them at random; there's two kinds to get), rarely from in-game events (and only about once a day), extremely rarely from chests, and from Raiding (which requires you be hugely leveled). Your average piece of armor requires about 72 Planetary materials and 18 Ascendant - and ten fucktons of XP to max it all out.
So you do it. You go through the process of getting all the cool unique gear for your character and max it out. Maybe, if you're foolish, you wind up buying the Faction-based gear, unaware that it's going to essentially give you no statistical advantage over its counterparts, but whatever. You go through all of this, and level it all up.
You are now level 28. What gives?
Well, to gain levels beyond this, you need at least an Exotic piece of armor. This rare, yellow-rarity item is so powerful that you can only equip two - one armor piece, and one weapon. So you go through the trouble of getting an Exotic, likely through Xur (more on this motherfucker below), and level it up in a process that is exactly the same as the process for leveling Legendaries, only takes even longer, about twice as much XP, and requires even more materials. And you better hope to GodJesus BearChrist that the item you got was a helmet, because if it wasn't, you're screwed later and you don't even realize it. On December 1st, Exotics were streamlined, no longer requiring Ascendant materials, but instead requiring Exotic Shards, which are acquirable either via Xur or by dismantling a piece of Exotic gear.
You are now level 29. To get to level 30, you must acquire Raid Armor, which is identical to Legendary gear except it's only found in the retardedly hard you-can-only-do-this-shit-once-a-week Vault of Glass Raid. If the random number generator smiles on you, you can finally get this gear, which you then need to do exactly what you did with the first set of legendary gear, and spend more time, XP, and materials on it. Provided you do all of that, you can finally get to level 30.
Unless you were unfortunate enough for your Exotic armor to be anything but a Helmet. Because the Raid Helmets only drop on the level 30 hard mode Raid. Either way, you go through the trials and tribulations, and after infinite bullshit, you are now level 30. How does it feel? Now you can finally start the DLC content that's coming out on Tuesday. Now with even more grinding!
So this Tuesday, there's a big DLC coming out, and it's finally managed to push the playerbase too far. You may think to yourself: "How the hell did they pull that off? If the playerbase managed to deal with the bullshit under that spoiler tag, Jaimas, surely they have the patience and/or autism to slog on further, correct?" But you would be, surprisingly enough, wrong on this particular circumstance, for the changes they announced via their press-release indicates some ghastly issues.
Apparently, Xur, Agent of the Nine will now be central to upgrading exotic weapons and armor in preparation for the upcoming DLC.
For the uninitiated, Xur swings by the tower about once a week, where he hangs out for about 2 days. During this time, he carries 1 Exotic piece of armor for each class, 1 exotic weapon, and, until December 1st, Exotic Engrams (the type chosen at random). Xur himself carries items completely at random, and has, as of this post, sold duplicate items approximately 47 times. Xur is notorious now for the following acts of complete Faggotry:
* Carrying the same items over and over. The Armamentarium, Voidfang Vestments, Sunbreakers, and Crest of Alpha Lupi have been carried by Xur so many fucking times that it's become a fucking joke on the Bungie Forums.
* Never carrying quality weapons. Xur has, as of thus far, carried a useful or interesting Exotic Weapon exactly THREE times out of about 16 - Week 1, when he carried the Gallajhorn rocket launcher, in October, when he carried the Ice Breaker sniper rifle, and 2 weeks ago, when he carried the Suros Regime auto rifle. Every other week has seen interesting/potentially-useful-but-nowhere-near-as-good-as-other-options weapons like the Plan C fusion rifle, Red Death pulse rifle, MIDA Multi-Tool scout rifle, Truth rocket launcher, and Patience and Time sniper rifle. None of these are anywhere near as good as their counterparts, though they're at least quite usable. Plan C has been available three times, Truth five, and Patience and Time twice. Players who actually wanted the Red Death or MIDA have been pretty much left to rot, since Xur only carried them once.
* Never carrying items advertised since launch. Players have wanted the Hard Light auto rifle and Heart of Praxxic Fire warlock armor (which is a Solaire from Dark Souls reference) since they were first teased as being salable from Xur, which is especially unforgivable given how powerful that armor is for Sunsinger builds. They've simply never been available. The Helm of Saint-14, the single most sought-after Titan helmet, has been in Xur's inventory exactly once, as has the Achlyophage Symbiote Hunter Helm, Mask of the Third Man Hunter Helm, and Light Beyond Nemesis Warlock Helm. The Hunter Knucklehead Radar Helm and Skull of Dire Akamhara Warlock Helm have never been available.
* Carrying the same items over and over. The Armamentarium, Voidfang Vestments, Sunbreakers, and Crest of Alpha Lupi have been carried by Xur so many fucking times that it's become a fucking joke on the Bungie Forums.
* Never carrying quality weapons. Xur has, as of thus far, carried a useful or interesting Exotic Weapon exactly THREE times out of about 16 - Week 1, when he carried the Gallajhorn rocket launcher, in October, when he carried the Ice Breaker sniper rifle, and 2 weeks ago, when he carried the Suros Regime auto rifle. Every other week has seen interesting/potentially-useful-but-nowhere-near-as-good-as-other-options weapons like the Plan C fusion rifle, Red Death pulse rifle, MIDA Multi-Tool scout rifle, Truth rocket launcher, and Patience and Time sniper rifle. None of these are anywhere near as good as their counterparts, though they're at least quite usable. Plan C has been available three times, Truth five, and Patience and Time twice. Players who actually wanted the Red Death or MIDA have been pretty much left to rot, since Xur only carried them once.
* Never carrying items advertised since launch. Players have wanted the Hard Light auto rifle and Heart of Praxxic Fire warlock armor (which is a Solaire from Dark Souls reference) since they were first teased as being salable from Xur, which is especially unforgivable given how powerful that armor is for Sunsinger builds. They've simply never been available. The Helm of Saint-14, the single most sought-after Titan helmet, has been in Xur's inventory exactly once, as has the Achlyophage Symbiote Hunter Helm, Mask of the Third Man Hunter Helm, and Light Beyond Nemesis Warlock Helm. The Hunter Knucklehead Radar Helm and Skull of Dire Akamhara Warlock Helm have never been available.
Essentially, Xur arrives each Friday - only now, you need to talk to the fucker to upgrade your exotics to the point where they're actually usable in the new DLC. Each week, he'll offer some (but naturally, not all) exotic items to be available for upgrading.
You need three things to upgrade an item: First, you need the exotic weapon in question, and it needs to be fully-upgraded. Now, you also need an exotic shard, acquirable either via buying it from Xur or dismantling another exotic weapon. Finally, you need to spend a lot of Glimmer - around 7000, according to Game Informer. With all three of these, Xur will upgrade the item, giving it a higher defense/attack cap and enabling it to be stronger - essentially resetting its progress so you can go for a stronger version of it down the line (After more fucking grinding, of course).
The fact that it centers around Xur, of course, is by far the biggest issue. Players of Destiny have put up with its awful random drop crap for months, but Xur has been by far the worst kick in the face in the entire game thus far. Players have literally been waiting for him to carry one or two items that he never fucking does for well on three months now. From Tuesday onwards, this unequivocally means that players will very likely have to wait extended periods to even get the chance of buying an upgrade for their existing gear. This is not an idle thing to worry about, either, because Xur is fucking notorious by now for carrying duplicate items. "Armamentarium/Sunbreakers/Crest" has been on Xur's rotation so often as to become a more-infamous meme than "that Wizard came from the moon." And since Xur stopped carrying exotic engrams, this only makes the problems worse.
There's other issues, too. The amount of time it takes to upgrade an Exotic Weapon or piece of Armor even once is ridiculous, and bear in mind getting to level 28 alone is an act that can take several weeks under ideal circumstances (multiple characters to farm Ascendant Materials, going straight for Raid equipment), so this is only going to piss off a playerbase that is already straining at the end of an ever-weakening leash in regards to how much of a godless grind it's turning into. Seeing an Exotic take 2 weeks or longer just for the XP involved is far from unheard of, to say nothing from the materials one would have to farm from it. Making that suddenly take 4 because of the change has the playerbase as close to a mass-exodus as I've ever seen, and this is, without exception, one of the biggest internal community shit-storms I've seen in recent memory.
Just thought that Destiny players be aware of this change, and non-Destiny players can eke some entertainment value over what's going on, whilst thanking their lucky stars that they dodged a fucking magazine of bullets by never getting into this game in the first place before Bungie had their shit together on it. You guys now know why I've given Destiny my personal nickname of Dysentery. And for those who, like me, have been soldiering through this fuckheap, here's to hoping this shit improves.
