DESTINY 2 September 8th....XBOX,PS4 and PC!

[Peppermint Lounge]

I've still yet to sample any dungeons or raids. I'm fine with it. It will come together one day.

Visited Lance for my exotic sidearm and have started reading the lore. Yeah, heavy.

An odd thing though. I headed to Tangled Shore to buy some glimmer and the Forsaken campaign kicked off for me again despite my having finished it long ago.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Just can't get into Destiny.

Finished the campaign, and I've been trying to plough the content that's going to be locked away for some reason, but I just don't find it all that enjoyable

[Rorschach]

Lost all interest in it a few months ago and haven't gone back to it.

[Gamma]

An odd thing though. I headed to Tangled Shore to buy some glimmer and the Forsaken campaign kicked off for me again despite my having finished it long ago.

Are you on a different character now? Campaign progress is separate for each character, or at least it was when I did it. Otherwise, it's been possible to launch it from the Tangled Shore since New Light even if you'd already finished it. I think it's unique to that campaign, normally you have to start them by talking to Amanda in the Hangar (of course ), but Last Call has a massive icon on the Director for me and I've nearly loaded into it accidentally a few times now when I'm in a hurry.

The easiest way to tell is when you visit Spider, if Petra was hanging out in there with her hoodie on then either you or someone in your fireteam hadn't completed Forsaken on that character. I think she bugged out a bit during the last event where we baked cookies.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Same character I did Forsaken with (my main) and no Petra alongside Spider. Dunno. I played through Last Call again anyway given it was in front of me. I'd forgotten how gorgeous it is.

[Gamma]

Hmmm, that is odd.

Last Call is an amazing mission, one of the best for sure. I keep meaning to keep an eye out for the opening Red War mission being the daily heroic- the final one was up the day Traveler's Chosen was released, and everyone was running it in there.

[Gamma]

I'm 99% sure I'm going back to maining Warlock for Beyond Light, but some of this Titan gear looks pretty cool:

The little portal thing hovering around No Time To Explain is apparently pulling additional bullets from other instances of the gun in alternate timelines. Rad. I've managed to stash three exotic engrams in my postmaster, I don't know if it'll work but I'm hoping to get my mitts on some of the cool new stuff on day one.

Today is the last day to start the quests for Jotunn and Le Monarque and still have time to complete them before Beyond Light. Le Monarque's a bit of a novelty but Jotunn is very handy, would recommend grabbing them.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Hopped in last night after some time with other games. I love Destiny but do not like the Festival events. None of ‘em. Do not like the Mrs Doubtfire-like character hosting them. Do not like any of the levels you must run again and again just to accrue yet another currency item. Boo.

[Peppermint Lounge]

The easiest way to tell is when you visit Spider, if Petra was hanging out in there with her hoodie on then either you or someone in your fireteam hadn't completed Forsaken on that character. I think she bugged out a bit during the last event where we baked cookies.

Oh and Petra is there with Spider. I dropped by to kick off the Haunted Forest and suddenly she piped up. Destiny 2 is so dark with HDR on I didn't see her. Ended up turning HDR off because it's really not right. A shame because while it's generally off or broken it does work in some scenes and when it does it looks glorious.

[Peppermint Lounge]

HDR update. There's been a bit published about the state of Destiny 2 HDR. This may be old ground for some but I followed recommendations in the video below and it's i) much better and ii) looks glorious as mentioned. Tl;dr - ignore the in-game black slider instructions and leave at about 50%.

Think I'm going to start playing my Warlock too. Took her for a run last night and enjoyed it. I really have just stuck with my original Hunter since starting with a small Titan campaign dabble. She looks awesome too - female Exo because nothing screams Warlock less.

[Gamma]

Haha, so Petra was hiding in the HDR? Sneaky. My display doesn't support it anyway, but I'm glad those issues have been fixed up. Bungie also confirmed recently that the next gen console versions will be 60fps, 4K and have a FoV slider (with the exception of Xbox Series S which is 1080p). Good stuff. I'm just going to pleb along on the PS4 for now, it's looking like a PC isn't too far off, and I'll likely get a PS5 later next year.

Very much agreed that the FotL event is shit. I like the design of the Haunted Forest, but it's getting old, and the structure of the event is garbage. Adding Cipher Decoders was bone-headed, their drop rate still stinks even after Bungie bumped it up twice in response to complaints and you can't get them from the event itself. A lot of players are going AFK in the firewalled version to open the chests. RNG to get the ciphers, RNG to get the event weapons, RNG to get perks that don't suck. FYI if you've got Braytech Werewolf or Horror Story at all (whether it's a shit roll from this year or an old one from previous years), you can pull a fixed roll of each out of Collections that's pretty much as good as they get, and capped at 1360. I just did that and called it a day, 450 rpm auto rifles are pretty forgettable at the moment anyway.

Only three weeks to go until Beyond Light. I'm in housekeeping mode, just pulling the remaining stuff out of the season pass and trying to tidy up my vault enough that I can avoid inventory management for at least the first ten minutes of the new expansion. Going to drop a hunji on the Digital Deluxe and get all of the bells and whistles, particularly after learning that the season passes work across platforms. Might even just go the Game Pass route on PC if Beyond Light is added reasonably early next year.

[Peppermint Lounge]

You won't know yourself with increased FOV.

Been having a lot of fun with Stormcaller Warlock, until I got to the Crucible that is. Nah that was fun too but damn I got some hidings in solo quickplay Control last night. These are my first matches since Bungie did away with matchmaking and it was noticed. I've barely touched Crucible but for quest steps. Might spend some more time there because I was enjoying trying not to die. Again, mates required as Crucible is a harsh mistress for soloists.

Yes I'll front for the Deluxe pack. I hope Beyond Light's campaign is as sustantial as Forsaken's for content and duration. Forsaken is amazing.

[Gamma]

I'm bracing myself for a Shadowkeep-level campaign just in case, but I really hope you're right. New trailer came out today, I'm getting Forsaken Barons vibes:

Crucible's absolutely gone to shit recently. I'm guessing the population's dwindling again as the season's getting on, and below-average players are realising how little fun it is to just have your shit pushed in 24/7. Everyone's either a hardcore PvP player, or a normal person who's clearly just in there to get their weekly bounties done and get back to PvE. I've never considered myself particularly good at it, but when SBMM was first removed I actually did alright for the first few weeks. Now you just consistently face stacked teams, they're usually sporting emblems/titles from Trials, and do absolutely everything in their power to avoid an actual gunfight. It's just one shot kills all over the place. I probably set myself up for failure to some extent as I refuse to use snipers or shotguns, they're just cheap. It's an unpopular opinion but I much preferred the emphasis on primary weapons that we had when D2 first came out, though I'll admit it was a bit too easy to just disengage and run away, which leads to stacked teams team-shotting everyone.

There's just no game mode left where you can have a fun Crucible match, it's like trying to have a muck-around game of basketball in your driveway but members of the NBA keep turning up. At first it was occasionally, now it's the norm. Hopefully when the overall player population goes up with this new expansion, Bungie might dial the SBMM up a bit in a few more playlists. At least until the hardcore PvP players and streamers complain loudly enough that they're having balanced matches again and have to actually try like the majority of us.

I take solace in the fact that in a worst-case scenario, weekly bounties are completed in five matches, even if you get completely bent over.

[Peppermint Lounge]

With Cyberpunk delayed I'm hyped to give Beyond Light priority. Need to decide on which character to main though. I've been all Hunter with a splash of Titan but I've been 100% Warlock these past few weeks or so and am enjoying it immensely. Will finish off the current season with her. I've been tracking Triumphs to sign off on as much Titan, Mercury, Mars and Io stuff as I can and it's been a fun way to play. I've found a bunch of excellent content I hadn't seen playing this way.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Did you get Whisper of the Worm, Gamma? Guessing certainly yes what with your clan mates and all. I should make an effort. I've yet to nail the platforming.

[Gamma]

Yeah I got WotW pretty early on back when my clan was active, picked up the catalyst and ship too. The ship's sweet but I can't say I ever use the gun anymore if I'm honest... it melted bosses for a while there but there aren't many places left where it's much chop. I'd still try and play through the mission before it goes though, it's one of the best. Epic soundtrack too.

The good thing is you can practice the majority of the platforming solo, it's quite a way in before you're forced to fight enemies. I'd even suggest practising the very start of it in Patrol, just head to Grove of Ulan-Tan and nail the jump from the entrance up to the lost sector chest, that alone saves a good chunk of time. Would recommend Transversive Steps, your favourite sword and whatever solar subclass has Icarus Dash, really helps with the platforming. You can switch over to your preferred subclass after the first big encounter with enemies and have plenty of time to get your super back for the bosses.

I'm in two minds about trying to finish the Malfeasance quest before it's removed. Still have to deposit 100 more motes, win 3 more Gambit matches, then onto the dreaded final step of 25 Guardian kills in Gambit and wiping the enemy team in a single invasion. In a week? Given it took a couple of years to get this far, I'll be surprised.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Still early Beyond Light days for me such is the obligation of full time employment and parenting young kids. I'm only a few missions into the campaign. Europa is pretty bland on the surface but so is any snowy videogame topography. I suspect it'll dazzle me once I venture below the surface. The power level requirements get pretty steep pretty quickly so I ended up spending my entire session last night grinding public events. I couldn't even get near the new Lost Sectors with their recommended 1200 power.

One thing though, I like my updated main female Awoken Hunter's character appearance less than I did before the Beyond Light character creation revamp. She still looks ok. The new system just has her looking a bit stockier and mean looking. This is less an issue for my female human Titan. My female Exo warlock looks pretty much the same. I've read accounts of ruined character appearances for some.

[Peppermint Lounge]

My Beyond Light single player verdict is positive. Europa is a good location. As per above it does dazzle the deeper you get. Fun campaign boss fights. The new darkness stasis powers look and feel good. Good amounts of content. It's jarring how much gear is now worthless. Trying to find a machine gun I could take with me to complete bounties for example proved annoying. My trusty Hammerhead - gawn. None of my old legendary machine guns would go past 1060 light (current soft cap 1200) so I had to dig up my only exotic machine gun from another character. Finished off the Beyond Light campaign and am now going through more quality Season of the Hunt quests/missions that start on the moon. Lots of interesting stuff to do.

[Gamma]

Yep, Europa is great- the music's epic and I love the dynamic weather effects. Riis-Reborn Approach is my favourite area so far, something about the style of it just reminds me of the covers of old sci-fi books. I enjoyed the campaign, though I expected Eris, Drifter and Elsie to do a bit more than sit around after how prominently they featured in all of the trailers. The actual missions were top notch. What I've played of the seasonal content so far is fun, kind of Monster Hunter lite. Lost sectors have been getting better since Forsaken and BL doesn't disappoint. Looking forward to having a crack at the 1250 versions soon to get the new exotics, but based on my laughable solo attempt at the 1250 Nightfall I still have some levelling to do. My plan to pull them straight out of exotic engrams in the postmaster didn't pan out but it's more fun this way, there's still some RNG involved but it leans far more on the side of doing a quest to get a reward vs crossing your fingers and hoping for a random drop. I'm also enjoying the shot of nostalgia that is the Cosmodrome, though it's comparatively light on things to do for now. Hoping the Rocketyards and whatnot are added over time, but it's still a great spot to punch out some bounties, especially with the increased number of enemies in areas. Shaw Han is a dick, no surprises there, but Crow makes up for it.

I didn't take to Stasis at first. On the Warlock it felt a lot like Stormcaller with extra steps, and I was a bit worried that it'd be shoehorned into every activity/bounty. There is a bit of that, and some of the steps in the quests from Elsie to unlock fragments are quite painful if you're playing solo (Stasis final blows on Champions is not a recipe for fun), but once I had a couple of the other subclass options Stasis went from "meh" to pretty damn fun. Already had a massive nerf due to PvP sadly, but I think it'll still be ok for PvE. I was also a bit annoyed that all of the perks were stripped from my carefully curated ghost shell collection, but the new system is definitely an improvement, just took a little getting used to. The changes to Hand Cannons are really good too, I've been using them quite a lot. Managed to nab Malfeasance at the end of last season despite my scepticism and that sucker's now got 20 shots in the chamber, up from 14- which was always annoying as it's unique perk procs every 5 hits. The Overflow perk is a lot more viable now too, I've got a True Prophecy that can pack a ridiculous 28 (29 occasionally due to rounding errors) shots into each clip, feels amazing to use.

Not a fan of sunset gear dropping out in the wild, I knew the gear I had in my vault would stay capped no matter what but I really expected fresh Tangled Shore, Dreaming City, and particularly Moon drops to be brought up to speed. Most of my sunset armour is gone but I've still got something like 230 weapons that I need to sort through, there are some gems that I'll hang onto for PvP (Hammerhead's not going anywhere) and a handful I'll just keep for nostalgia but it'll be good to clear most of that stuff out. What you mentioned regarding machine guns touches on a bigger problem in that a lot of the best weapons to be using right now are no longer available to current players. Bungo seem to have heard the feedback and are adding all of the S10 Seventh Seraph weapons and a bunch of stuff from S11 back into the world loot pool in a few days, as well as getting rid of all of the old irrelevant shit that's been dropping and weighting drops toward the newer stuff. Should be a huge improvement.

Generally I've been impressed with the new weapons and perks. Just got my first Deafening Whisper (with Ambitious Assassin and Wellspring, fuckin' score), wave frame grenade launchers are a lot of fun and consistently having two shots in the chamber is sweet. Haven't got one yet but I've got my eye on the new pulse rifle from Crucible.

Overall, great expansion so far, and a solid start to the year of content.

[Gamma]

PC GET

Can't do much in Destiny just yet as I'm effectively f2p scum, but I've sent you a Steam friend request Pepp (I'm McGongus). Hoping there's an announcement soon regarding when Beyond Light's coming to PC Game Pass, if it's not too far away I'll probably just wait for that.

105 FOV and 60fps are certainly nice, but the improvement in load times is just phenomenal. A lot of that is the move to an SSD, but still. Matchmaking is now the biggest bottleneck. Practically no delay in accessing my inventory. Bliss.

I think I'm running Deep Stone Crypt again tomorrow on the PS4, it's going to be... interesting going back.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Sweet. Congrats on PC. I've not looked at Destiny since CP77 launch and FOMO is becoming more apparent. I think I was only at level 48 or so of the current pass with around 30-odd days of the season left? Bungie you wretched pimps.

[Rorschach]

I haven't touched Destiny 2 in a long time but if there was a crew to play with I'd take it up again. Still haven't bought Beyond Light yet though

[Peppermint Lounge]

PC GET

Can't do much in Destiny just yet as I'm effectively f2p scum, but I've sent you a Steam friend request Pepp (I'm McGongus). Hoping there's an announcement soon regarding when Beyond Light's coming to PC Game Pass, if it's not too far away I'll probably just wait for that.

Hang on. So accounts/characters are cross platform but expansions purchased on these accounts are not?

Rorschach I've still yet to run a dungeon or raid so am up for this.

[Rorschach]

To my knowledge when Bungie split from Blizzard they allowed one account transfer to Steam. Destiny 2 is actually on Gamepass now with all the DLC. Will download and see if my PC character comes across.

Absolutely down for a Raid. Should go and do the first ones again. Realistically need 4 people but could probably do it with 3.

[Gamma]

You'll just have to go to Bungie.net and link your accounts first, it should let you know about it when you log in on Xbox. Choose your PC characters and they'll be the ones you get on all linked platforms. Season passes go wherever you go, so I've got Season of the Hunt and the next three [redacted] seasons on PC, but expansions do not, so I don't have Forsaken, Shadowkeep or Beyond Light. As an example of how restrictive and annoying it is, I had a weekly Vanguard bounty to kill Vex in strikes that was on 141/150... on PS4 I would simply launch the Warden of Nothing strike that has a buttload of Vex from the Director, on PC I can't without Forsaken so I had to just stay in the strike playlist until Vex showed up.

The seasonal content is pretty much single player this time around, and even with the pass I'm only able to pick up one of Crows two weeklies as the other one apparently requires BL (?). I'm still getting a feel for what's available to me and what's not, but it seems there's not much left as a f2p player post-BL. I can run strikes, crucible or gambit, or mess about aimlessly in Patrol, that's about it. Raids are out- Last Wish requires Forsaken, Garden of Salvation requires Shadowkeep, and Deep Stone Crypt requires BL. Leviathan, Eater of Worlds, Spire of Stars, Scourge of the Past, and Crown of Sorrow all got the axe. I think the Prophecy dungeon is free so we could try that, and I'm going to make a point of running my weeklies (strikes/crucible/gambit) on PC so I'll be around from time to time.

Beyond Light, Shadowkeep and Forsaken are all on Xbox Game Pass, but none are on PC Game Pass just yet. Longer term, I'm definitely down to run raids (I've still never played Garden of Salvation), but for now it seems prudent to wait and see what happens with Game Pass. BL is definitely coming sometime this year, and I'd have to assume that when that happens they'll chuck the others on there too. Of course, if it takes too long I'll probably just say "fuck it" and double-dip. Cross-play can't come soon enough.