#aimnation

Man am I excited for the Dreadnaught. The giant “inscrutable loot filled fortress” that is under the command of Destiny’s newest bad guy, Oryx the Taken King. This Death Star sized ship is going to be orbiting Saturn in the near future and it will hopefully be bringing a ton of new ideas to freshen up our experience. Here are the things that I am looking forward to from the Dreadnaught:

PATROL My first blog post made mention of my love of patrols, specifically the Cosmodrome, but I am hoping that the Dreadnaught will be my new favorite place for Destiny patrols. Bungie says that patrols are going to become harder and challenge us with new puzzles and secrets to discover with our fire team. I am really hoping that patrol will become a Metroid style game mode where I can get lost for hours on the hunt for loot.

COURT OF ORYX Prison of Elders seemed like a fun idea on paper and I have enjoyed a number of other horde modes in other games. However PoE fell short of expectations because it just wasn’t that much fun to play. I am a member of a robust and active clan but I can never find two other people who want to play PoE. I have an easier time finding folks that run the Vault of Glass with me. The Court of Oryx is not a direct successor but it could be add some nice replicability and some really cool fire fights in between patrol missions and exploration. I hope that the Court has a little more variety and a more interesting arena design as I think that this was part of the problem with PoE.

MISSIONS I really hope that the missions live up to the hype. I could go on and on about bullet sponges and an overall lack of interesting boss battles but I will skip it for now. I want to see Bungie keep its promise of multi staged boss battles with great teamwork mechanics and an overall sense of accomplishment.

THE RAID Biggest raid ever? Oh I cannot wait. I usually try to raid once a week, but lately the clan roster has been a little light for raid teams. I am really looking forward to a robust raid experience with mind bending puzzles and over the top fire fights. I really hope that this raid is cheese proof because I really enjoy playing through the encounters as they were designed. On a side note I would also like to finally see new levels of difficulty added to the original raids to keep them relevant to the Destiny experience.

    The Cosmodrome is the first place that I experienced the world of Destiny. Last summer I downloaded the Alpha 1st look. My Alpha phase Guardian spawned into the patrol world I, I materialized the sparrow and started zooming around. The game immediately clicked with me and within the next week or so I pre ordered my copy of Destiny, created a Bungie.net account, and joined a clan. I figured this was a fitting begging for my first blog post.

    The Cosomodrome is located in Old Russia, a myriad of golden age technology strewn about. Only derelict launching pads of (and a few unsuccessful rockets remain). Seemingly frozen in time from the events of the Cataclysm that ended the Golden age and began the period of darkness. I was fortunate enough to have played Destiny on a current gen system so that I could see the gorgeous sky boxes, water pools, and rusted over signs. Even today as I have days logged into the Cosmodrome I still get that same amazing feeling. Seeing the world that a small army of people have worked so hard to get us. I still love hopping on a sparrow and cruising around that patrol area. The environment tells us the story of the end of golden age by showing us just how destructive and instant the attack from the Darkness was. The area known as the Blast is ground zero for the attack on the Cosmodrone from that massive first strike a shock wave of energy rippled through the area wiping out all life and destroying every building. The only thing that seems to have survived was Rasputin, one of the Seven Serif warminds that was designed to protect humanity from an attack. It sensed an extinction level event approaching and decided to shut down to protect itself from the attack.

[PSN: Doomstati0]

  The Destiny community is one full of opinions. I mean, it is a community that exists in the era of rampant internet opinions, anyway. And while we wait each week to hear from Deej, we spend the time in between either playing Destiny, or talking about it.

  Today, let’s talk about cheesing. Honestly, I never heard of the expression until I started playing Destiny. There is a reference to Cheesing in South Park, but I didn’t make the connection until I started writing this. And realistically the smelling of cat butt for the purposes of living a weird urine induced high isn’t the same as hiding in the back of a map trying to stun lock a Fallen boss.

  But for those of you pure of heart and innocent when tested, cheesing in Destiny is the art of completing in-game goals while using the system to your advantage. This works in many ways and isn’t an exploit as so much as it is a way to work with what the game gives you. An exploit (to me) is like fight Valus Ta'aurc from under the floor using Ammo Piercing rounds. A cheese is fighting Valus Ta'aurc from behind the boxes or on top of the chandelier.

There are a lot of reasons on why people cheese:

The boss is a bullet sponge

It is quicker to cheese

Members of a fireteam aren’t up to par with a scenario so this is a safe way to get them through

The Nightfall

and I am sure there are a ton more…

  The Anti-Cheesing-Righteous argue that the game wasn’t meant to be played like that. The nerf to Ice Breaker’s ammo regen was accompanied by a statement from Bungie explaining that these battles were not meant to be fought like battles of attrition. It is worth noting that there have been some pretty valid comments about Ice Breaker’s changes also being intentional for PvP, but Bungie made no comment about that. And they aren’t wrong. Put a game in the hands of thousands and thousands of people, and you get tons more playtesting in days than Bungie could have ever gotten pre-release. Crafty players found new places to stand, new ways to interact with the environment, and different ways to use weapons and abilities that Bungie never thought of. And sometimes it is boring.

  The Cheesers have a point too. As I mentioned in a previous post, the original VoG run took 16 hours. It can now be done closer to an hour, but that is still a commitment compared to the 15-20 minutes it takes to finish a strike. Arguably, the most difficult part of VoG is the Templar, for CE it is the bridge. Both of which are the two most popularly cheesed moments of the raids by far. In VoG, you could once simply push the templar off using a Sunsingers grenades. Today, the Templar has stronger footing.

  They even implemented some anti-cheesing measures for Crota’s bridge, but people find a way. As always, Warlock Sunsingers are invited to help despawn enemies while light footed Titans scale towers meant to be traversed by no man or woman. Hunters can use their amazing jumping prowess to travel to the opposing side without the bridge even existing. And all of this still can be done today.

  Nightfalls are notorious for cheesing, but the punishment for loss makes some players feel it is a necessary course of action. With being sent back to orbit after a wipe, battling your way to the nexus on a void burn Nightfall only to get taken out by the Minotaurs at the start of the encounter  would certainly cause some expletives to be shared over party chat. But the nerfing of weapons like Black Hammer and Ice Breaker make a lot of the “hanging back” cheesing strategies of Pho-Goth, Archon Priest, Nexus, and Sepiks Prime difficult when your resources start to run low.

  Raiders argue that after your first run, you’re farming. You just want the loot. And when running a raid 3 times a week hoping to get that White Whale (will I ever get a Vex Mythoclast?!), a shortcut is handy. But similarly, others argue that it is just more fun to play out the encounter as intended. And they also have a good point. Shooting Oracles from the safety of the cliff above is a bit boring compared to the hectic run-and-gun action that plays out on the ground. But it’s also nice not to get popped in the face by a Hobgoblin.

The Point:

  The Destiny community does a pretty good job when it comes to sorting the various types of players. LFG sites include listing the kind of raid someone wants to run (No Cheese Run, for example). Many people’s friends list have expanded since their foray into Destiny, as you tend to friend players who play like you. You run the content with people you like (or at least can stand) the way everyone wants to. If you don’t wanna cheese, don’t run with people who do. And if you do wanna cheese, don’t fight tooth and nail to convince your team that cheesing is a better way to do things.

  Cheesing will always be here. Bungie will update what they can if they see a problem (remember choosing to be on the away team for Atheon?). If you have a clan or tight knit crew, you have nothing to fear when it comes to cheesing. But if you’re out there looking for a team each time you pop on, remember that you have options. Heck, there is an entire internet’s worth of guardians out there looking to take out the darkness.

The Cosmodrome is the first place that I experienced the world of Destiny. Last summer I downloaded the Alpha 1st look. My Alpha phase Guardian spawned into the patrol world I, I materialized the sparrow and started zooming around. The game immediately clicked with me and within the next week or so I pre ordered my copy of Destiny, created a Bungie.net account, and joined a clan. I figured this was a fitting begging for my first blog post on the Aim Assist site.The Cosomodrome is located in Old Russia, a myriad of golden age technology strewn about. Only derelict launching pads of (and a few unsuccessful rockets remain). Seemingly frozen in time from the events of the Cataclysm that ended the Golden age and began the period of darkness.  I was fortunate enough to have played Destiny on a current gen system so that I could see the gorgeous sky boxes, water pools, and rusted over signs. Even today as I have days logged into the Cosmodrome I still get that same amazing feeling. Seeing the world that a small army of people have worked so hard to get us. I still love hopping on a sparrow and cruising around that patrol area.                

      The environment tells us the story of the end of golden age by showing us just how destructive and instant the attack from the Darkness was. The area known as the Blast is ground zero for the attack on the Cosmodrone from that massive first strike a shock wave of energy rippled through the area wiping out all life and destroying every building. The only thing that seems to have survived was Rasputin, one of the Seven Serif warminds that was designed to protect humanity from an attack. It sensed an extinction level event approaching and decided to shut down to protect itself from the attack.                 

      This is my first blog post ever.  The focus of my blog will be on story and atmosphere while adding in some personal anecdotes and an opinion or two. I will discuss my favorite aspects of the game so far and then as we enter into year two my posts will become a little more current. I would like to thank the Aim Assist crew and the community at large for the opportunity to share my ideas and experiences from the game.

Yesterday, this video got some traction on the /r/Destinythegame subreddit. The reason being was to send out hope that The Taken King’s new raid would elicit similar feelings of excitement, accomplishment, and relief. And during the down times of expansions, many of us have taken it upon ourselves to bring those who don’t know the wonders within the Vault of Glass or the depths of Crota’s End through these adventures.

When Vault of Glass was first launched, it was about a week after Destiny was released to the public. The price of entry was a level 26 guardian (though folks tried to get through as 24’s and 23’s). The first team to take the feat on were one of the many teams from PrimeGuard with each person having nearly 1,000 kills and 1,600 death, combined. It also took about 16 hours.

Since that day, the existing raids can be done with great ease to those who have been through it enough. The community of Destiny exists in a weird place. You’re at once surrounded by people with the same goals as you, but you’re also all on your own. Guardians with tight clans and friends experience a very different game than the LFG-ers, and an even bigger gap exists with those who just play alone. This is where the Sherpa’s come in.

While personally, I like to Sherpa raids, they exist to perform most functions in Destiny. As of today, you can find a Sherpa for Prison of Elders, Nightfalls and weeklies, and even the Trials of Osiris, one of the most difficult pieces of content to flourish in. But these good folks exist for a shared purpose, to let everyone in on some of the best content the game has to offer.

The origin of a Sherpa refers to a group of people from the Himalayan region of Nepal. Regarded as experts in mountain climbing and local terrain, it is common for adventurers hoping to tackle Mount Everest to be accompanied by a Sherpa. The term has taken a special meaning in the Destiny community, as one who is proficient in end game content, to the point of being able to lead those with less experience and still be successful.

An important thing to note is that most Sherpas are not necessarily in the market to carry people. Those of us who had been around for a long while may recall a time when an individual would invite lower level players into a nightfall, and request that they hang back in the spawning area of the strike so that they could solo the encounter. This was a way for them to allow new players to get rewards while personally challenging themselves with a more difficult NF.

The most similar comparison to a post House of Wolves Sherpa would be one who does this in Trials. Newer or less experienced players are still expected to participate, but the Sherpa or two in your Trials fireteam expect to be able to adjust and still win. These are top level PvP players, and honestly, more power to them.

As for the raids, the stakes are different. We are talking about a potential of hours of playtime. A new raider could watch dozens of videos and talk to a multitude of people, but when that swordbearer is coming at you, and you’re trying to stay on your totem, it can be difficult to bring up what you might remember from a YouTube video. Sherpa’s take each failure as an opportunity to progress a raiders skills. It requires patience, it requires an extensive knowledge of raid mechanics, and it takes a positive attitude to make those who feel unprepared ready to go again, even if you’ve been in the same room for an hour.

If you’re new and want more experience with raids, nighfall, PoE, or even Trials of Osiris, be sure to seek out these Sherpas. They exist on most LFG sites, and several of our favorite Destiny personalities will take a day or two out of the week to help take subscribers and fans out to beat these missions. I know it seems daunting, it seems scary, and it may even feel impossible. But we have your back. We are out there, waiting to take you through something amazing, and help you start building your own legend.

Potzer