Destiny Common Gamer

A blog for fans of Bungie's Destiny franchise and players of Destiny 2.

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Master Vault of Glass and “Artificial Difficulty”

2021-07-18 /

We are now two weeks in to Master Vault of Glass.  I still have not cleared it with my regular raid team (or otherwise), though I believe I could find a team to get a clear if I really wanted to.  But I’ve played enough to have an opinion based on my playing experience.

Master Vault of Glass differs from regular Vault of Glass in two ways.  First, there are additional champions throughout the encounters.  Second, the power level of the enemies is set to 1450.  In Season of the Splicer, the power cap including pinnacles is 1420, which means that to be on par with the enemies you have to have 30 levels of artifact power, which is a little over season rank 463.  Needless to say, only a small minority of the population will reach 1450 this season.  This has led to predictable complaints.

One complaint is that the rewards are not worth the struggle (the rewards are a single timelost weapon available each week from the challenge and the possibility of higher-stat armor).  In general players that are more loot-driven than experience- or completionist-driven have this complaint.  As I am not loot-driven and I haven’t completed the seal yet the loot is not yet an issue for me.

Another complaint category is the 1450 power level.  Generally people object to artifact power to making Master mode easier either because (1) they think it should be easier generally; or (2) they think it should be at a set difficulty for all players.  Often this category of complaints is dressed up in the label of “Artificial Difficulty.”

A good example is this Youtube video from Fallout, in which he gives this “loose definition” of “Artificial Difficulty”:  “Making things more challenging not by improving the enemy AI or by adding more complex in-game mechanics but by stacking the deck in other areas.”  He appears to be firmly in camp (2), because his complaint about artifact power being useful is that it rewards “the wrong thing” in that he “[doesn’t] want to beat a challenging end-game activity through bounty farming” because “that doesn’t make [him] feel accomplished.”

Curiously, he also says this is an “accessibility” issue in that players who have reached 1420 and also gone well above rank 100 in the season pass are still finding master mode too difficult.  Fallout contrasts this with “contest mode” which he says is an example of power-level difficulty “done right”.

Contest Mode caps a player’s power level at 20 levels below each encounter, regardless of their actual power level.  That’s 1430, or 10 power levels above the pinnacle cap.  Fallout praising contest mode as having better “accessibility” doesn’t make sense to me, because the people he described as finding master VoG too hard despite having played a lot had to be all over 1430.  So it’s not a day one accessibility issue.

And having contest mode apply for all time to Master VoG is worse for accessibility.  In general, all Destiny content except for Grandmaster nightfalls can eventually be overleveled, making it easier.  This season 1450 is a reach for all but the most dedicated players.  Next season 1450 will be only 20 artifact power levels which is not at all uncommon.  And the season after that it will be only 10 power levels (or less, if the power cap increases by more than 10 for the Witch Queen release).  Thus, over the long term, setting a power level rather than using contest mode makes Master mode more accessible, not less.

I don’t think it’s useful to use pejorative terms like “Artificial Difficulty” to describe some methods of making content more challenging than others.  Champions add mechanics.  Power level makes enemies tougher and therefore requires different tactics.  At least some of that would be necessary even if more complex mechanics were added.  At the end of the day master mode is hard, and it is intended to be hard, and people will just have to play more carefully than they are used to in order to clear it. I think that is good and what I want from a “Master” mode.

This Week in Destiny – July 13, 2021

2021-07-13 /

Review

Because there was no new story mission this past week, the week was focused on Solstice of Heroes with a side of Grandmaster and Master Vault of Glass.

Solstice of Heroes is much improved from last year, with the grind substantially shortened and with many steps involving older content having options (e.g.,Wrathborne hunts or blind well completions).   The EAZ activity has gotten some quality of life enhancements as well, with little “lifts” all around the arena to assist with jumping and, most significantly, chests that stay visible throughout the ‘chest opening’ phase.  I got the armor sets for all three characters done and never felt like it was a chore.  

That said, there is a triumph that requires killing 100 EDZ bosses on “Prism” days.  That is *a lot* of EAZ and it can only be done every fourth day.  That *does* feel like a chore and is not something I am looking forward to completing.

I did one master VoG attempt with the regular Wednesday night team.  We didn’t even get the door open, which was disappointing, but everyone stayed chill which is an excellent sign for working through difficult content.  Hopefully we will all be a little more leveled up this coming week and make better progress.

Fallen S.A.B.R.E. Grandmaster was a fun challenge to get through, once. 

I did not spend as much time in Crucible playing after the sandbox changes as I hoped to, except for struggling through my trials cards.  We had three resets on Titan before getting flawless, got flawless on Hunter on the first try, and had two resets on Warlock before running out of time.  Trials population seems so low that carries are increasingly hard to do and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to keep playing Trials for much longer. So far it does seem that there is more weapon variety in the crucible.

Preview

This week the last of the seasonal weekly challenges are available, and I intend to finish them.  I’m also hoping to get further in Master VoG.  I have 16 bosses killed during prism days; I plan on doing 28 on each of the next three prism days to finish off the triumph.  I also hope to get more time in the crucible.

What Kind of Destiny Player Are You?

2021-07-11 /

Earlier this week, dmg04, one of the Destiny Community Managers at Bungie, tweeted out a thread that started with this tweet:

I’m pretty pleased to see this expressed by someone at Bungie, because it is not something that is obvious from online discussions about Destiny 2.  I love Destiny and I love to talk about Destiny, so I’ve participated in a lot of public and private discussions about the game.  And I’ve come to realize that the game is vast enough and deep enough that many people play differently than I do.

Here are some differences in the way people play, both well-known and obscure:

  • PvE main vs PvP main:  The granddaddy of them all, because many players who primarily play PvE dislike PvP and many PvP mains look down on PvE players.
  • Loadout perfecter vs Dabbler:  Some players like to find the best weapon in each slot for them and then use those weapons almost exclusively.  Some players like to use different weapons as the mood strikes.
  • Social vs. Solo:  Some players play primarily alone; some players play with others as much as possible.
  • Armor is fashion vs Armor is stats:  Some players care primarily about the look of their character’s armor.  Some care primarily about the stats the armor provides.
  • One class vs. Three classes:  Some players play exclusively or primarily on one of the classes.  Some players play each of the three classes more or less equally.
  • Enjoys difficult content vs. Doesn’t enjoy difficult content:  Some players really like to be challenged by the game.  For others the learning curve on some content is so steep that it is not enjoyable for them.
  • Loot driven vs. Experience driven:  For some players a major part of the enjoyment is acquiring a sought-after piece of loot.  For others the loot is secondary to whether the gameplay itself is enjoyable.

I’m sure there are many more I could list, and of course these are not binary (all players love loot, for example, and all players change weapons sometimes).  But it bears keeping in mind if you discuss the game with others or even just pay attention to the Destiny Discourse that other players will likely have different desires and opinions that you do if they don’t play like you play.

I’m a PvE main that loves PvP, and a loadout dabbler.  For me, armor is more stats than fashion.  I play and love all three classes.  I enjoy difficult content.  I prefer playing with friends though the majority of my time is solo play.  I am more experience driven than loot driven:  I can only “farm” for so long because I don’t enjoy doing the same thing over and over even in pursuit of tasty loot.  On the other hand I can enjoy playing PvP for hours with basically minimal rewards.

What kind of Destiny player are you?

This Week in Destiny – July 6, 2021

2021-07-06 /

Review

This past week in Destiny was primarily about Iron Banner.  I usually try to do all of the weekly bounties on all characters every Iron Banner and this week was no exception.  I decided to track my games to see if my impressions of Iron Banner matched my actual experiences or if a couple of outlier experiences were having an outsize effect on my opinions.  I tracked my games in a Google Docs spreadsheet, which you can see here.

I played on each character only until all four of the weekly bounties were done.  The four bounties this week were Defeats with Zone Advantage, Matches Completed, Ability Final Blows, and Weapon Final Blows.  All of my matches were solo queue except for a few matches on PC with two or three friends.

In all, I played 78 IB matches:  27 each on Titan and Hunter, and 24 on Warlock.  More than a third of those matches ended in mercies, 11 where my side won and 17 where my side lost.  So my impression that mercies are common is correct.  On the other hand I only ran into four stacks (defined as a fireteam of four or more), and only two of my matches were Freelance, so 66 out of 70 Xbox matches in the regular playlist did not feature a stack.  With respect to the bounties, the Weapon kills took the longest on every character, needing six additional games on Warlock and ten additional games on each of Hunter and Titan after all other bounties were completed.

Overall I enjoyed my IB experience this week, despite losing more than I won (I went 36-42).  I had some games where I totally got destroyed as well as some games where I did well.  It was not overrun with stacks, and while there were a lot of mercies those games were usually over quickly enough that they did not feel like they dominated the experience.

Preview

This week Solstice of Heroes returns, with the European Ariel Zone (EAZ) activity, with new armor and glows on offer.  In addition the Master difficulty for Vault of Glass launches, and there are changes to 120 RPM handcannons, shotguns, and Dead Man’s Tale that will affect how crucible plays.  The Grandmaster nightfall is Fallen S.A.B.E.R.

I am most looking forward to the Master-level raid and getting a first look at Timelost weapons.  I also plan to spend more time than usual in the crucible trying to understand the weapon changes. I see Solstice of Heroes/the EAZ as an activity to be done over time.  My usual weekly Destiny routine this season can be found here.

My Weekly Routine – Season of the Splicer

2021-07-06 /

Destiny is my main hobby, which means that I have the luxury of a lot of time to play.  I play at least a little bit almost every day, and have a routine I follow every week that changes season-to-season.  This is my weekly routine for Season of the Splicer.

Start of Season (until reaching the power cap (1320) on all characters)

  • Story Quest on every character
  • All PvE pinnacle drops available on every character
  • Vanguard, Crucible, Gambit, and Gunsmith 8-bounty challenge on every character
  • Trials to flawless on every character (paid carry)
  • Weekly challenges completed

After reaching the power cap (1320)

  • Story Quest on every character
  • Grandmaster Nightfall once each week until Conqueror seal completed
  • Seasonal seal tasks until complete
  • VOG every character every week including challenges and Master on at least one character until seal completed
  • Vanguard, Crucible, and Gunsmith 8-bounty challenges on every character
  • Trials to flawless on every character (paid carry)
  • Weekly challenges completed

Welcome

2021-07-06 /

Welcome to Destiny Common Gamer!  I plan on a twice-a-week posting schedule, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with an occasional bonus post as the mood strikes.  Tuesday’s posts will be a review of the past week and preview of the upcoming week of my own Destiny 2 gameplay.  Saturday’s posts will be on a variety of topics about the game.

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