Bungie's Destiny

Played a few matches this afternoon and the last match was pretty damn sweaty. But @TenBeers (Rich) went off. @Pchop also did a good job. It was a pretty damn good match and got some nice snipes off and so pretty hair escapes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwr1SUI4Mxw

 

So @Pchop and I went in and played a couple Survival games tonight after I finished my Trials cards. Won both of them soundly and it was a lot of fun. I like survival because it isn't quite as punishing as Elimination since you share a pool of lives. So someone that isn't quite ready to take the leap headlong into Trials can get their feet wet and learn the callouts we us and how 3v3 just works in the competitive play space.

I try to record most every match that I can (good or bad). But I don't record them all (partly because each match is well over 1gb) and then to try to go through and edit each one and try to figure out if it was just a regular match that we either won or lost or just a match that was a normal match that nothing much happened in. So I usually only record matches where something really cool happens like the "no scope" Snipe in the video ^^ above ^^ or if I just completely suck it up. That way I can go back and look and see what the hell I did so wrong that I only got a couple of kills when that isn't the norm. Sometimes it just happens and you can't do anything bout it.

This was the second Survival match since I didn't record the first as nothing special happened in it other than we won.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDkM67O3lo

I recorded this Control match because we got fucked in the ass by Bungie's matchmaking the Control match before. It never fails that at least half the Control matches we load into we are always at a disadvantage of not having 6 players on our team. That entire match was 4v6 and it sucks when that happens. Still did okay but we lost by a pretty large margin and I'm surprised we didn't get mercy'd. My "personal" opinion is with SBMM, the game doesn't know how to properly populate a lobby when you have a high skilled, high ELO ranked player along with a lower skilled, lower ELO ranked player on the same team. So it just doesn't populate it. I wish the game would just throw some bodies in the lobby if that's the case. Fuck... anything is better than going against 4v6.

Anyway.... here is the match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhij13jI0kI

 

Watch the one above labeled survival. Then watch this one.
Same match two different perspectives. Gotta say, when Britt and I are meshing we can destroy it.

https://youtu.be/J3C8ZTWwRS4

 

I know a few people still read these posts so I'll keep on posting in here in case it helps someone else in the game.

Well, even though it took a very long time to convince you to play PvP, I think you understand why it is so much fun now? Hell, I can't get you out of it lol (which is great).

The reason (for me) that PvP is so fun is because no two games are alike and you have no idea what to expect going in. Sure, you are playing in the same sandbox, but the people that populate the PvP space are not static like in PvE. And you are always leaning and improving in PvP. There are still times that I get my ass handed to me and that's okay. It happens to everyone and I think that's the big fear with people that say they don't like PvP. It happened to me when I first started playing. No one likes to get beat. I know I sure didn't. But I just kept at it and learned all the nuances (still am learning learning all the nuances) and eventually learned how matches would play out within the first minute or so of a match. How tight the opposing team was playing, what class a certain person was using, what weapons they are using, and what subclass they are using. Using that knowledge and knowing how to counter it. Knowing when to push and when to just hang back for a few seconds and look for pings on the radar is key for "my" play style. I play a pretty unorthodox subclass in PvP but it fits my play style. Top Tree Nightstalker isn't the most popular but it's what I've become very proficient at playing. That said, I still fuck it up from time to time because it leaves you very exposed if you pop it at the wrong time. It's an extremely neutral game and no, you don't get all the kills that you can get with a roaming super. But you can shut down almost any super. Time it right and you can get almost as many kills as a roaming super just because everyone that is in your tether is taking damage spread across the the tether from person you are shooting. But don't expect to get a 7th Column. That can really only occur when playing Arcstrider.

During that survival match we both posted there were two thing that happened that we did wrong and I didn't communicate it very well. I should have said I was going to use my tether so you could have held onto yours during the first tether. I didn't notice that you popped your tether at almost the same time and place until I watched your video and that is something you never want to do in the same spot or the same time. So we wasted one of our tethers we could have held onto for later. My fault for not communicating that. The second thing is at the end when the Titan popped his Sentinel Shield. I said "back out now" because it is a low probability circumstance defeating that subclass unless one of us had saved a tether (see previous point) to shut him down. Even if we team shot him all he had to do was hold up his shield and it builds more super energy for him which is extremely counter productive. He ended up killing you both and luckily I had backed out. Then it was just a one on one at the flag and from that point on I wasn't worried at all about who was going to win that fight.

Now the next thing you need to look into is build crafting your armor to fit your play style. And that all depends on how you like to play. I like a high discipline build so my grenades can come back up fast as they get me out of a lot of trouble. As long as my resilience is above 60 I just leave that alone because that is enough. Mobility is next and as long as it is over 50 then your dodge comes up fast enough to get you out of sticky situations. Intellect? I don't really care about because it comes pretty fast depending on how many people I kill. I can have a super within a couple of mins of a match so Intellect isn't high on "my" priority list. Strength is another one l like to have so I can through smoke and disorient so I like that to be above 60 minimum. Weapons? Simple with me in this meta. Hard Light, Revoker for sniping on 90% of the maps, Astral Horizon for small maps for shotgunning, and Tomorrows Answer with Tracking and Cluster Bombs. One thing you will notice is I rarely pick up heavy. I only pick it up if I happen to be by it when it pops or someone dies with heavy and I just happen to run over it. Heavy is generally overrated. Yes, it can get you one to two kills but it's not worth camping heavy just for that. I can kill so many other people during that time instead of camping heavy. That's just my play style.

 

I'm back... Again.

Let me know if anyone plays regularly.

 

what platform? All it takes is one look at the posts above you to see we still play everyday

 

If we play regularly? Seriously? Lmao

Watch our two videos of the same match we played together and how we move together, aught to tell you pretty quickly we play regularly.

You need to be on PS4 to play with us.

 

Back on PC. Last played during Season 8, I think.
Don't get YouTube at work.

Haven't done PS4 since D1.

 

Hope you don’t play PvP on PC. It’s almost unplayable with all of the cheaters on PC. Trials is a nightmare over there.

 

Too casual for trials. Plus I'm so behind on quests. I played vanilla D1 on Xbox and then around RoI, I played on Xbox and PS4. Once D2 came out, I briefly had it on Xbox (while I waited for my PC version).
Then I was on PC until Forsaken. Came back for some of Season 8, got busy with work/life and left again.
Back yet again. Trying to get caught up with the ongoing events and quests..
Regular PvP is fine with me but I was never one for Trials, even on D1. Only ever played a handful of times when we were sick of the raid grind/couldn't get a full 6 for a proper pubstomp.

 

The cheaters are out in force in regular Crucible on PC also testing out their cheats. I really feel for the people on PC that just want to go in and play without having to deal with cheaters. As far as PvE goes right now? It isn't in a good state at all.

 

I haven't had any issues with PvP the few times I've played this past weekend. PvE has been alright. Just been trying to do some of the newer quests and the event so I've just been busy with that I suppose. Haven't been back long enough to get into the politics of it all. I guess we'll see how long it takes for me to get bored/stuck with the stuff I have going on now.

 

Per Bungies last TWAB, cheating on PC is up over 50% since Trials was introduced back into the game. It's bleed over into normal Crucible where the hackers are trying out their new cheat systems then charging for them. Bungie is updating the cheating policy for the next season but right now? You couldn't get me to go into Crucible on PC. Luckily console hasn't been hit with hackers. I haven't even noticed hardly anyone lagging with the exception of a few games. So consoles seem unaffected which is why I'll end up sticking to console even if the framerate and graphics are better on PC.

 

Yeah. I mean if you're sweaty enough to pay for cheats.
I just play for the fun and every now and then I'll pop off so that's nice. If someone's tanking the fun levels of a match from cheating or whatever, I usually just report em and find a new lobby.

 

I understand.

That seems to be the problem right now is Trials and PvP are free to play for anyone. Bans are up by 75% right now which is a good thing. But it's not a good thing when you are in a match with a cheater. Being sweaty enough to pay for a cheat doesn't make much sense to me. It just means they aren't good enough to play with the top ranked players. I live in Trials each weekend and either do account recoveries or carries. But I've yet to see any cheating going on in Trials on console. Not even lag or DDoSing which plagued D1 Trials. One trip to youtube will make someone think twice about even going into Trials on PC it's so bad over there. I really feel sorry for the people that just want a fair game against other skilled players without the worry of someone just cheating their way through.

Bungie has suggested that they might implement a 100 hr minimum playtime per account before you can even step foot into Trials. I think that is a good idea as it would limit the people that sell the cheats to have to play on an account for 100 hrs before they can even sell the account. That make sense. But I'd also take it one step further and say that you MUST have purchased Shadowkeep and all expansions before you can enter a Trials match. If that was the case, there would be no more cheaters. Or if there were, the prices would be so high that no one would pay for them.

 

Do you have criteria for who you help or carry in trials? I've gotten to 5 wins and went flawless a few times in D1 but this time around its just so sweaty around 5 wins.

 

What platform do you play on?

My usual criteria is $50 for a carry (because carries are harder) or $40 for an account recovery. But I'm willing to help anyone on TW for free.

I started by joining a group on the100.io (the same website that we use to set up our runs for our own clan). I'm on two different groups on the100. One for just our clan and then the other one where we do the carries or recoveries.

 

The main issue with Trials right now is the way rewards are given out. That is why a lot of people reset their card at 3 wins just to keep trying for the god rolled Astral Horizon Shotgun when it was available for 3 wins. I'm just as guilty as I did the same thing to get the god rolled Shotgun. I reset my card I don't know how many times that weekend so I was part of the problem I'll freely admit. Anything after 3 wins that weekend was easier than the first 3 matches of Trials. The issue with Trials at the moment is there is no real incentive to go Flawless as you don't really get any unique rewards for doing so. If they would have just added Adept weapons to differentiate themselves from the standard weapons then it would be something to chase. But in reality, all you get is a piece of Armor, an Emblem, and a glow on your Armor for one week. That's it. I've gone Flawless on my own account 12 times so at least once or twice per week on my own account. But I'm just doing it to farm for the god rolled Sniper with Snapshot and Moving Target (it can't roll with Quickdraw which is a shame). But my reward pool is so diluted that I doubt I'll ever get that specific roll.

 

Still on the subject of Trials. The weapons that dominate in Trials (on console) right now are without a doubt Hard Light (with a completed Catalyst) along with either the Revoker Sniper, Astral Horizon Shotgun, or the Dust Rock Blues Shotgun. 90% of the time I'm using the Revoker and the rest of the time (depending on the map and who I'm playing with) I'll use the Astral Horizon. Every once in a while early in the card you might see someone using a non meta weapon on console such as Thorn, Spare Rations, etc... But they get quickly weeded out by the 2nd or 3rd card assuming they make it that far. I've not had one match on the 6-7th match of the card where the entire opposing team isn't using Hard Light and either a Sniper or Shotgun. I know it's different on PC and I wish that the meta hadn't shifted away form Hand Cannons on console but they just can't compete in the ttk dept. I hate this new Auto Rifle meta because I consider Auto Rifles a no skill weapon. But that's just my opinion.

My go to load out when playing Trials (or pretty much any PvP)





I'll play a lot of Survival during the week along with a lot of Control matches just for a break and to fuck around. Plus it allows me to go for "We ran out of Medals" which I love doing. I decided to break out the Suros and the Monte Carlo last night just to see how they would fair in this new meta. And... it allows me to use this.

My favorite Sniper (even more so than the Revoker)

Snapshot, Quickdraw, with a Handling Masterwork.




Played with the Monte Carlo first and it really surprised me how well it actually competes in Control. It's stable as fuck and I like the ability to get your melee (smoke in my case) back upon a kill. Then switched over to the Suros and holy fuck was I surprised just how fast it melts people. It will delete them from existence in a fraction of a second. If you are in a 1v1 and they aren't using the Suros. You will win that dual. Spinning up is ridiculous. The problem with Suros is, it burns through the clip so fast because of Spinning up that you can't take on more than one opponent at a time like you can with Hard Light. So you have to pick your engagements carefully. But 1v1? You will melt them.

Played two matches last night with it and got 33 kills just with the Suros. That's not counting the Sniper kills. So it will take me a day or so of playing with it to complete the catalyst.



That said... I would never take the Suros or Monte Carlo into Trials. Hard Light is just too dominate on console and has so many benefits going for it right now that nothing much can compete with it.

 

Lol, my loadout right now is a bunch of older, irrelevant weapons that I'm used to and a mishmash of gear to max out my lightlevel.