Destiny – The latest expansion packs draws near

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Fans on the Xbox and PlayStation platform get their hands on House Of Wolves later this month and will have two new endgame activities to try out instead of a new raid.

 The latest blog from the studio has given a recap on the latest reveal on crucible event, Prison of Elders, where teams of three players can take on waves of increasingly difficult enemies to earn destiny power leveling legendary and exotic rewards.

Higher difficulty challenges are available and will include even greater rewards for those Guardians ready to test themselves. The Trials of Osiris meanwhile introduces a weekly 3v3 elimination event that tracks your team’s wins and losses.

The more wins your team accumulates in each Passage, the greater your rewards, which include Osiris-themed, endgame gear. Bungie have spent a lot of time focussing on the worth of the two new activities and look set to continue on that trend until May 19.

“Respect your elders, they say. The cold, hard fact is that they won’t always respect you back,” the latest Bungie blog opens with.

“That’s what we learned yesterday during the Prison of Elders reveal. Three Guardians who had never played Destiny together took on one of the most challenging activities that you’ll experience in House of Wolves.

“The results were amazing. Our enemies cowered in fear as we swept each cell clean. We emerged victorious to enjoy a shower of riches. “Okay, we got our asses kicked. Think you can do better in the new endgame? You’re invited to go serve your own sentence after May 19th.”

Destiny: The quest to get Gjallarhorn and other Exotic weapons

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The question on the best way to get the coveted rocket launcher is a frequently heard one. This is a guide on the most efficient way to pick up Exotic weapons.

First, you’ll need to accept that you are completely at the mercy of Destiny‘s Random Number Generator (RNG) when it comes to Exotic loot drops. One of my friends that I regularly play the game with didn’t get a Gjallarhorn to drop until he had passed 1,300 hours in the game. It became a badge of honor of sorts for him after a while.

Now compare that with my son’s friend, who only picked the game up at Christmas. His luck was much better and picked up not just one Gjallarhorn but two in a relatively short time frame.

While getting Gjallarhorn as a loot drop is annoyingly random, there are ways to be more efficient about trying to obtain it. The non-matchmaking activities in Destiny are the best, and you will need certain checkpoints for the Raids. Seek checkpoints you need via Looking for Group (LFG) sites like Reddit Fireteams, the100, and DestinyLFG.

Here are the best methods to obtain Exotic weapons in Destiny ranked from easiest / most likely to result in an Exotic weapon to least likely to result in an Exotic weapon. Obviously, running through these activities on multiple characters will increase your chances.

Obtain the Gorgon Chest checkpoint in Vault of Glass. Hunt down someone on a LFG site that has the Gorgon Chest checkpoint for the easiest chance at an Exotic. There’s usually at least one or two available at any time. Just be sure to give the person holding the chest a big thank you.

Complete the Deathsinger and Crota checkpoints in Crota’s End. These back to back checkpoints in The Dark Below raid provide a decent chance at an Exotic weapon. Defeating the Deathsinger is relatively easy.

Defeat Atheon in Vault of Glass. Bringing down Atheon is a tougher chore than Crota and requires a good fireteam. But, it can be just as rewarding.

Complete the Weekly Nightfall and Weekly Heroic. Running through the Nightfall every week should be a given for Destiny players. The same is true with the Weekly Heroic. The former is more likely to result in an Exotic drop it seems, but both are relatively easy to complete.

Play Crucible and Iron Banner. The chances of an Exotic weapon dropping are pretty low for Crucible and Iron Banner, but it is entirely possible. Gjallarhorn and Truth have both dropped while playing multiplayer. The 1.2.0 update for House of Wolves expansion is supposed to improve the drop rate for Crucible, but we’ll have to wait and see if that includes Exotics.

The House of Wolves isn’t out yet, so it’s not clear where the Exotic drops will fall here. That said, you should expect them to be part of the loot table for Prison of Elders and Trials of Osiris. This article will be updated once the drops for both are better understood.

Hopefully, this was some help for those trying to obtain the Gjallarhorn or other Exotic weapons. There’s not much you can do to get around the Destiny RNG.

Destiny Share Xur’s Gear And Upgrades Of May 8

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Happy Xursday, everyone! We’re coming up on the release of House of Wolves, which means these weekly updates should become a bit more interesting.

This week, Xur is carrying a heavy weapon that has been requested quite a lot. No, it’s not Gjallarhorn. Sorry.

Location: Xur is in Tower North. Head left from the spawn point, past Eris Morn, and down the hallway. Once you’re in the courtyard, look to the right in front of the large, circular door.

Thunderlord (exotic machine gun) – 17 strange coins

  • Arc Damage
  • Attack: 302/331
  • Feeding Frenzy (Kills with this weapon increase reload speed for a short time)
  • Lightning Rounds (This weapon fires faster and more accurately the longer the trigger is held.)

Ruin WIngs (Titan arms, The Dark Below) – 13 strange coins

  • Defense: 333/366
  • Light: 30/36
  • Strength: 95/102
  • Special Weapon Loader (Increases the reload speed of all special weapons)
  • Impact Induction (Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown)
  • Seeds of Ruin (Heavy ammo drops more often, and contains more ammo in each drop)

ATS/8 Arachnid (Hunter helmet – The Dark Below) – 13 strange coins

  • Defense: 407/447
  • Light: 30/36
  • Discipline: 57/61
  • Strength: 63/68
  • Light the Blade (Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown)
  • Ashes to Asset (Replenishes super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade)
  • Arachnid Sensorium (Your Golden Gun zooms in for accuracy when aimed)

Obsidian Mind (Warlock helmet, The Dark Below) – 13 strange coins

  • Defense: 407/447
  • Light: 30/36
  • Intellect: 65/70
  • Strength: 54/58
  • Energy Projection (Increase grenade throw distance)
  • Inverse Shadow (Killing enemies charges super energy)
  • Insatiable (Nova Bomb kills reduce the cooldown of your next Nova Bomb)

As usual, he also has exotic shards (seven strange coins), the Urn of Sacrifice and bounty items (one strange coin), Sparrow upgrades (twenty-three strange coins), and telemetry for pulse rifles, fusion rifles, and rocket launchers (one strange coin), and heavy ammo synth packs. Exotic helmet engrams will set you back 23 motes of light.

This week’s upgrade list includes the following:

  • Mask of the Third Man (Hunter helmet)
  • Lucky Raspberry (Hunter chest)
  • An Insurmountable Skullfort (Titan helmet)
  • Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan chest)
  • Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Warlock helmet)
  • Apotheosis Veil (Warlock helmet)
  • Bad Juju (pulse rifle)
  • Thorn (hand cannon)
  • Plan C (fusion rifle)
  • Ice Breaker (sniper rifle)
  • Gjallarhorn (rocket launcher)
  • Truth (rocket launcher)

Destiny – Activation of House of Wolves

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On Wednesday, Bungie released Destiny update 1.2.0, which took the game offline for a few hours and prepared it for House of Wolves later this month, but the changes didn’t go live yet.

In their Weekly Update, Bungie revealed that update 1.2.0 goes live on May 12, while another update on May 19 will set the stage for House of Wolves‘ activation:

Update 1.2.0

  • Tuesday, May 12
  • Sometime after 10am PT
  • Final preparation and world changes

Update 1.2.0.1

  • Tuesday, May 19
  • Sometime after 10am PT
  • Final delivery and activation of House of Wolves

They also warned about the supposed patch notes floating around, saying, “As always, keep an eye out for official Patch Notes. The last word on game updates will be brought to you by the Destiny Dev Team. Accept no substitutes!” If you’re thinking of picking up either of the Destiny expansions on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, Bungie revealed that their Digital Upgrade Program has been extended indefinitely:

Many players have benefited from this initiative since it began. To enable more people to take advantage of this offering, it will be extended indefinitely. Please note that this extended offer is only for the Expansion Pass, Expansion I, and Expansion II. For our fans who will be entering the Destiny universe on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 we have some great news! For a limited time, whenever you buy the Expansion Pass, Expansion I, or Expansion II on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, you will be able to download the next-gen version within the same console family for FREE.

Finally, Bungie’s fundraising effort to support disaster recovery in Nepal has reached $400,000. You can learn more about the initiative over here.

Destiny: Activision Teases Fall Expansion, Calls It Biggest Ever

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The content, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said, is being designed to appeal to not only fans of the series, but people who have never even Destiny power leveling.

During an Activision Blizzard earnings call this afternoon, the mammoth publisher offered a new tease about the “major content release” coming to the Destiny franchise this fall. The publisher said the project–whatever it turns out to be–will be the “biggest content addition to date” for Destiny.

“We have a very robust content plan for Destiny starting with our second major expansion pack, House of Wolves, and then you’ll also see content being dropped throughout the summer,” Hirshberg said. “And then in the fall we will have a major release, which will be the biggest addition to the Destiny universe yet, across all modes of play.

Unfortunately, I don’t have more details than that today, but we’re confident it’s going to be incredibly appealing, not just to our current fans, but also to people who haven’t yet joined the Destiny universe; it’s going to be that big of an expansion.

Overall, Hirshberg said having a “constant stream of robust” content for Destiny is a key component of Activision’s plan for the sci-fi series.

It’s not much of a surprise that Activision would be planning to support Destiny for a long, long time, given the company’s sizable investment in the series. On top of that, Bungie has itself spoken previously of having a 10-year, Lord of the Rings-sized vision for the game.

Interestingly, just recently, Bungie trademarked the name “The Taken King.” The attorney on file for the trademark is the same attorney listed on The Dark Below and House of Wolves.

On Destiny’s immediate horizon is House of Wolves, which we learned a lot more about today. Check out GameSpot’s in-depth House of Wolves roundup for everything you need to know.

Adds New Weapon Type – Sidearm

Destiny is getting a new weapon type, sidearms, developer Bungie announced during today’s Prison of the Elders livestream. Siderarms will act as secondary weapons that add elemental damage and a very high rate of fire.

As you can see in the image above, the Vestian Dynasty sidearm, for example, also has high stability and reload stats.

Bungie today released tons of new details about Destiny’s new Prison of Elders co-op arena that’s included with the upcoming House of Wolves expansion. For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to everything you need to know about House of Wolves.

Destiny: Weekly Heroic

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It’s that wonderful time when Bungie’s regular offering of high-reward Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strike missions are rebooted (along with any raid progress made in the previous week), giving everyone a fresh chance at scoring some of the game’s sweetest and rarest loot.

 Are you new to Destiny? Don’t know what any of this means? Good news! There’s a Destiny wiki that’s packed with information. Click on through for details on what Strikes are, and how Nightfall differs from Weekly Heroic challenges.

Do things feel a bit… familiar this week? They should. Not only does the rainbow burn return for the third week in a row, but the week’s chosen Strike — Winter’s Run — is the same one that ushered in the first of these consecutive rainbow burns. Thankfully, this is an easy Strike under normal circumstances, and rainbow burn makes it laughably so. Read on for the rundown….

Nightfall

  • Epic – This is a standard Nightfall modifier. It just means there are more enemies to fight, and a greater number of Majors (the yellow health bar dudes) on the field.
  • Nightfall – Another standard Nightfall modifier. This one boots the entire Fireteam back to orbit if everyone is downed inside one of the revive-only respawn Darkness Zones.
  • Arc Burn – Big damage boost for all weapons that deal Arc damage (blue electricity symbol).
  • Solar Burn – Big damage boost for all weapons that deal Solar damage (orange fireball symbol).
  • Void Burn – Big damage boost for all weapons that deal Arc damage (purple swirly symbol).

Weekly Heroic

  • Heroic
  • Void Burn

“Rainbow burn” means that all three of the Nightfall modifiers give damage boosts — for you and your enemies — to all three forms of elemental damage in Destiny. The elements are color-coded, so it’s purple blasts for void damage, blue for arc damage and orange for solar damage. The same goes for shields; the hulking Vex Minotaurs have purple shields that you can bring down rapidly with void-infused weapons.

When it’s rainbow burn, any of the three elements do boosted damage (though shields still fall more quickly when they take fire from the same element). Bring along any primary weapons that you’ve collected from raids, as they’re the only primaries in Destiny that dish out elemental damage.

The same recommendations from last time stand. Atheon’s Epilogue and Word of Crota are handy because their void damage cuts through the many Minotaurs you encounter during Winter’s Run. And for the final boss fight, Fang of Ir Yut, Fatebringer, Oversoul Edict, Praedyth’s Timepiece and Nechrochasm are useful for decimating the arc shields protecting Fallen Captains. If you’ve got more than one of those, go with Fang or Fatebringer.

House of Wolves’ new endgame mode, Prison of Elders from Destiny

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Destiny’s second expansion, House of Wolves, will add a new gameplay mode called Prison of Elders when the add-on hits later this month, and Bungie plans to reveal more about that new endgame activity tomorrow, May 6.

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In a new teaser video, we get an early peek at Prison of Elders, which sounds like a cooperative, horde mode-style gameplay option for three players. “Prepare for combat. Fight. Kill. Survive,” the teaser says.

Destiny: House of Wolves senior design Matt Sammons will reveal more about Prison of Elders during a livestream on Twitch on May 6, starting at 11 a.m. PT. He’ll be joined by special community guest Professor Broman.

House of Wolves will raise Destiny power leveling cap from 32 to 34, and players will be able to exchange ascendant and radiant materials and redeem commendations for reputation to help them get there. Guardians will also have the chance to level up their existing gear through a process called “ascension.” The upgrades allow for maximum attack to reach 365 on weapons like Fatebringer, Bungie confirmed in a livestream last month.

Bungie revealed details on House of Wolves’ new social space in the Reef and the Trials of Osiris competitive game mode in April.

House of Wolves comes to Destiny on May 19 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Destiny Share Here are the New Weapon Perks Added with House of Wolves

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With every new Destiny DLC expansion comes a wealth of new content, from co-cop to story to gear. House of Wolves, the final planned DLC add-on for Destiny, is no different.

However, while the majority of the focus with House of Wolves will be on the two marquee cooperative experiences, the Trials of Osiris multiplayer event and the Prison of Elders combat arena, there are a ton of little tiny details to look forward to as well. Gear will get better and hopefully more useful, areas around the Destiny map will open up, and, of course, players will have more new things to do every day.

So far, Bungie has given Destiny players closer looks at the aforementioned Trials of Osiris, as well as the new Reef social space, but they’ve only seemingly scratched the surface. There are so many smaller touches being added with House of Wolves that many may not be aware of all of them.

One example is the new weapon perks that are being added with House of Wolves. Weapon perks aren’t seen as a major part of the Destiny experience, but they can often make or break a player’s loadout.

Now, the below list of House of Wolves weapon perks does not encompass the weapon-specific perks – like those attached to new exotics and what not – but appears to be from the general weapon perk pool. That’s a good thing, though, because the new Destiny DLC adds an option to re-roll weapon perks, meaning players will have a better idea of what perks they want to pursue.

All told, it looks like the new Destiny weapon perks for House of Wolves will come in one of two categories. The first offers players boosts in one weapon category (accuracy, range, etc.) while decreasing another, and the other improves a specific weapon quality when it certain scenarios. It’s obviously nothing that players haven’t seen in shooters before, but it’s nice to see Destiny bring some more variety to the table.

To that point, these weapon perks will likely present players with a little more of a choice when it comes to customizing their weapons. As it stands, most Destiny weapons, even the best guns in Destiny, have a presumed “best set-up” and most players don’t deviate from that. However, if one perk favors range while another favors reloading, the decision might be a little more difficult.

This might also be a small piece of the new weapon perk pool; there’s no way of knowing for sure. Well, at least until the House of Wolves DLC release date on May 19th.

What do you think of these new Destiny weapon perks? Are there any weapon perks you want to see added with House of Wolves?

Destiny – House of Wolves releases May 19, 2015 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Destiny Share The player breaks world record by soloing Crota in under 12 minutes

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 Destiny is a game many people have put a lot of time into, but sometimes you don’t have several hours to put together a fire team for a raid. So what’s the solution? According to speedrunner ScaRdrow, just blitz through Crota by yourself- if you do it right, it will take you less time than it takes to cook a pizza.

As you can see in the video embedded below, speedrunning through Crota, the final boss of The Dark Below expansion’s Crota’s End raid, requires skipping some combat and a good use of Destiny’s mechanics, but overall it’s mostly about knowing the layout and patterns, and using that knowledge effectively. You could probably achieve a similar – if not quite so impressive – result, if you pay attention. Of course, when I say you, I am assuming you are significantly more talented than I am, but given how awful I am at Destiny, that’s not a tall order.