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On Friday, October 23rd, Bungie had the excellent timing to release the hard mode version of their latest raid in the Taken King DLC, King’s Fall. Of course, most of the more avid players in Destiny’s audience tried their hand at beating it, thinking that their relatively high levels and good equipment will see them through to the end with relatively little trouble. Whether that’s true or not depends on an individual basis, but for the most part most groups had at least some shared experiences. Here are three that you too might have encountered.
1. Curse you RNG!
Before the Taken King was released, Bungie acknowledged that there was a problem associated with the loot system, particularly in regards to the pre-DLC version of Destiny. To reach the highest level, you had to run the Vault of Glass raid, which could give you one of 4 armor pieces that would help you reach level 30. Unfortunately, many only received one particular item over and over again, or perhaps even more agonizing, never receive that singular piece that was needed to boost them to level 30. In King’s Fall, this problem returns in greater force.
Not only do you have to be lucky enough for a boss to drop a raid item, but it also has to be of a significantly higher level than what you are already using. Add in the fact that there are now more than double the number of item slots that contribute to your level, and that the raid likes giving you the same item over and over again, and you can see why some people are becoming either desperate or frustrated at how there are essentially 3 rolls of the dice every time you beat a boss; once to determine if you’re getting something, once to determine if it’s for the right slot, and once to determine if it’s the right level.
2. Infusion: great in theory, terrible in execution
With the new Infusion mechanic, theoretically you can keep your favorite piece of armor or weapon with you without sacrificing your level. Great for those who want to wear a particular set of armor (i.e. the Iron Banner set, once Bungie eventually decides to release it) or if you like the stats or perks on something. Unfortunately, Infusion also had a hidden mechanic that Bungie slyly never told anyone, at least until it was too late for some. If the difference in level between the two items is greater than roughly 5 levels, then only a portion of the level difference gets added to an item. Naturally, this means that you are essentially punished for wanting to look a certain way or have a certain build. Once again, luck determines how you play.
3. But on the bright side…
True to their word, at least Bungie did improve how hard mode raids are handled. Rather than simply making enemies a level higher than you can possibly reach (thus artificially reducing your health and damage in the process), the hard mode of King’s Fall feels more difficult because the encounters have slight differences.
Want to kill the Warpriest? Then be careful of which totem you hide behind when he calls upon the Oculus, unless you want big, blinding balls of darkness to head in your direction. The commonly accepted strategy to kill Golgoroth is to cluster together in the pool of reclaimed light? Better make sure that you didn’t receive the debuff, which could cause you to singlehandedly cause a wipe unless you move away from everyone else (thus reducing the team’s overall damage). And let’s not forget the Oryx encounter, whereby enemies spawn just to prevent you from detonating the bombs that are the only way to damage Oryx.
