Destiny: FIN

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Just to add, I hit level cap yesterday before finishing the story missions (2 to go I think) and that is just with about an hour of PVP and a few strikes repeated with friends.

Not grindy at all.

[Matthew Kenyon]

Just to add, I hit level cap yesterday before finishing the story missions (2 to go I think) and that is just with about an hour of PVP and a few strikes repeated with friends.

Not grindy at all.

Amen

[Radish]

It's not grindy because it isn't.

I wasn't really saying this in defence of me enjoying the game, it was more for people who haven't yet played to not be put off.

Basically playing through casually (a few hours a night) on NORMAL mode with my standard shooting skills got me up to the magic lv20 before wrapping up every mission.

Jon played a few hours less, and has usually been in fireteams with people 4-5 levels above him (so getting less kills naturally) and he'd hit 18 last night. None of us have had to grind and grind and grind to either level up or be 'strong enough' to clear a level.

Not about views matching my own, it's just straight up not grindy!

Nobody is talking about the leveling/first few hours of the game being grindy, are they?

[Matthew Kenyon]

Nobody is talking about the leveling/first few hours of the game being grindy, are they?

I thought that was the topic the last few pages — about the grind to get to the endgame

[Distinct muttering]

Nobody is talking about the leveling/first few hours of the game being grindy, are they?

Some people have found it a bit of a grind.

[Timmo]

I thought it was a grind because there was so little variation in the levels. Walk somewhere, protect Tyrion. Every time. Except for the ones where you shoot a boss for 15-30 mins.

I'd agree that it wasn't necessary to repeat levels to progress though, so it wasn't a grind in that respect. Which is the usual definition of grinding in games.

[And]

This thread is a bit like that scene in Being John Malkovich where everyone is Malkovich and all that they say is Malkovich. Except instead of Malkovich it's Grind.

Grindovich

[Smitty]

Grindovich?

[iknowgungfu]

Perhaps done people are finding the missions slightly mundane? . Not sure music though add I have yet to level up to do strikes.......

Also, what are the materials you collect in your inventory for ?

[And]

Grindovich?

Grindovich, Grindovich. GRINDOVICH!!!

[Lovelyman]

There's not much variation in the levels? I don't think that's true, even though I was worried about it at first.

There are so many lovely looking vistas, huge cavernous subterranean structures, buildings, rotting airports, tunnels, tombs etc.

Every part of every map is distinct, beautiful to look at and oozing atmosphere. I wouldn't mind if the whole game was just variants on the Sword of Crota and the other Moon missions. There's so much to look at that it doesn't matter that there are four 'worlds'.

[Timmo]

I should have said missions rather than levels.

[Uncle Nasty]

Whoever dreamt up this idiotic term "grindy" knows fuck all about games.

We all played the Halo:CE campaign (the first half anyway) for many hundreds of hours for no reward other than it was a blast to play. No reward, no unlocks, no loot, nothing but the sheer joy of playing.

Same applies to Destiny. If you're doing it right you're spending hours cruising around the amazing Venus patrol mission, camping dropship landings with your grenades, picking off enemies from miles away while you lollylag at the astounding views, or helping low level players when they're in trouble. Then you're dropping into a Friends' campaign and helping them out, just because it's, y'know, fun, or letting them return the favour in your own campaign efforts. Beyond that there's Strikes with randoms (sublime when it clicks) and PvP if you're that way inclined.

If you're "grinding" you're doing it wrong. This game is all about the long term, it has legs that will take it well into next and beyond. Just play it for fun and ignore the fucking levelling. Jesus.

GOTY for me.

[Sng]

I found Tetris a bit grindy.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

I find frottage a bit grindy.

[Pob]

We all played the Halo:CE campaign (the first half anyway) for many hundreds of hours for no reward other than it was a blast to play. No reward, no unlocks, no loot, nothing but the sheer joy of playing.

Precisely. And this was the jumping-off point for Bungie with Destiny, I reckon. Layer a load of desirable upgrades and tweaks over this satisfying core gameplay and watch people play it for years.

[Lovelyman]

I should have said missions rather than levels.

Fair point. I kind of ignore the nav marker quite a lot in mission, so the scripted bits where you scan stuff aren't one after the other for me. I like jumping about and finding other ways around the map to the part the enemies are in and stuff.

I was really, really worried that it was going to be too much of the same for me. I really love the game so far. Ok, so the combat isn't up there with Halo CE. Well for me personally, it is. I like the mix of AI and specific weak points. I like the more OTT stuff and more importantly, the environments and layouts are just sublime imo.

I also can see why people might not like it.

[Graham S]

I'm glad so many are enjoying it as much as I was. I thought my critical judgement may have been impaired by the flu, when the mood of the thread and the media seemed a bit sniffy and disappointed.

[K]

I had some truly amazing battles on a solo mission last night, where I was defending some kind of jungle research station from wave after wave of Vex; it was proper Halo:CE stuff, where you're having to firefight and strategise on the hop. The difficulty was just right as well with the mission set to the harder difficulty.

It would be good if you had the option of scaling the patrol bits to your level; it'd be difficult given that there are other players in the same world, but all they'd have to do is jack up the damage the enemies do. As it is, going back to wander round Old Russia when you're level 18 is fun, but not much of a challenge; the actual missions are pretty brutal, and it'd be good to have that in an open-world environment.

[Matthew Kenyon]

Generally:

—People love it and can't stop playing

—People absolutely hate it and can't stop playing

[Timmo]

Same applies to Destiny. If you're doing it right you're spending hours cruising around the amazing Venus patrol mission, camping dropship landings with your grenades, picking off enemies from miles away while you lollylag at the astounding views, or helping low level players when they're in trouble. Then you're dropping into a Friends' campaign and helping them out, just because it's, y'know, fun, or letting them return the favour in your own campaign efforts. Beyond that there's Strikes with randoms (sublime when it clicks) and PvP if you're that way inclined.

If you're "grinding" you're doing it wrong. This game is all about the long term, it has legs that will take it well into next and beyond. Just play it for fun and ignore the fucking levelling. Jesus.

Ah man, can't believe I was playing it wrong :(

[squirtle]

I've decided that if I get booted off again tonight due to shit servers or whatever at Bungie's end, then I'm getting rid. I can't be doing with games where I'm beholden to tech miles away to play and in constant fear that it may fuck up and thus fuck up my play time with the game.

[Uzi]

I think some people might underestimate how some people REALLY enjoy the (admittedly shallow) concept of loot and the anticipation/excitement leading to utter disappointment/joy when you get a drop that could be a potential legendary. Or your next main go to gun or some more light armour. The fact that it is tacked on to a beautiful looking and playing shooter is great. While the loot implementation is clearly flawed (legendary emblems that can get you rare items - wtf Bungie), it just adds to the excitement for some people. I love it.

Blizzard are kings of this - in WOW, Diablo 3 (especially now) and Hearthstone - the feeling of finding something legendary is immense. I picked up a legendary set of boots the other day and it had so much light, it shot my level 20 guy to level 22 - did an actual FIST PUMP - felt goood man.

I fucking love me some loot.

[And]

The biggest gripe for me is the lack of pause. Specifically when it comes to inventory management. Came up against 2 minotaurs with purple shields but to get to my purple gun I needed to run away, hide, pull up menu , swap loadouts, then go kill them. Having an on screen weapon dial or something would help

Uzi- I know what you mean, borderlands nailed this for me, especially in 2, the feeling of sadness when your favourite gun is starting to get weak as you level up, like a faithful companion that you have to let go, then you find a newer shinier smg with double clip and acid damage and it's all good again.

And you sell the old one, the gun that's saved your arse a hundred times, one that's set fire to countless bandits, to a vending machine to buy a grenade mod instead.

So long sucker.

[NecroMorrius]

I've decided that if I get booted off again tonight due to shit servers or whatever at Bungie's end, then I'm getting rid. I can't be doing with games where I'm beholden to tech miles away to play and in constant fear that it may fuck up and thus fuck up my play time with the game.

I've put about 60 hours in since it came out somehow, and I got kicked once.During the end sequence (lol). It's your end bro!

Edit - actually I did have a short period of getting kicked back to orbit when I was playing with Banjaxed, I rebooted my PS4 and everything was OK. Was my shitty virgin router. I normally use a decent Asus router but I'd switched it off (long story) and my gaming experience immediately went screwy.

[metallicfrodo]

I've decided that if I get booted off again tonight due to shit servers or whatever at Bungie's end, then I'm getting rid. I can't be doing with games where I'm beholden to tech miles away to play and in constant fear that it may fuck up and thus fuck up my play time with the game.

What are you playing on? In 15 hours of play I've been dropped once at the very start of a mission playing on Xbone over BT, with medium NAT.

I've occasionally had issues with voice and have had to go into a part to get chat but beyond that it has been as stable as anything.

[NecroMorrius]

The biggest gripe for me is the lack of pause. Specifically when it comes to inventory management. Came up against 2 minotaurs with purple shields but to get to my purple gun I needed to run away, hide, pull up menu , swap loadouts, then go kill them. Having an on screen weapon dial or something would help

That's the point, it's to encourage your team to have a different secondary weapon element each

[And]

That's the point, it's to encourage your team to have a different secondary weapon element each

Which is fine unless you're a Lone gunman, loose cannon, solitary ninja. (Billy no mates.)

[Uzi]

The biggest gripe for me is the lack of pause. Specifically when it comes to inventory management. Came up against 2 minotaurs with purple shields but to get to my purple gun I needed to run away, hide, pull up menu , swap loadouts, then go kill them. Having an on screen weapon dial or something would help

Uzi- I know what you mean, borderlands nailed this for me, especially in 2, the feeling of sadness when your favourite gun is starting to get weak as you level up, like a faithful companion that you have to let go, then you find a newer shinier smg with double clip and acid damage and it's all good again.

And you sell the old one, the gun that's saved your arse a hundred times, one that's set fire to countless bandits, to a vending machine to buy a grenade mod instead.

So long sucker.

I've been using a level 12 (or maybe 14) shotgun up until now - it was a rare with such good stats and extra features that I held onto it for ages. Letting it go now though - served be so well in PvP too.

[NecroMorrius]

Yeah, but usually you'll only have two shield types at a time to worry about. So match those two shield types with your secondary/heavy weapon and you're all set.

There's a bit on dust palace where three enemies with different shields all spawn at once, but if you're soloing that you're a lunatic and deserve whatever you get.

I've been using a level 12 (or maybe 14) shotgun up until now - it was a rare with such good stats and extra features that I held onto it for ages. Letting it go now though - served be so well in PvP too.

Keep it, the PVP stats are flattened anyway!