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Xur Week Seven: 10/27/17

October 27, 2017 by Belghast

Xur Destiny 2

This week Xur is located on Io in the Giant’s Scar area. He is off to the left side of that area inside of a cave. If you turn around and face away from Xur you should also find one of the region chests if you have not actually looted it. This week is important because it is the first time Xur is available for PC players, and I have in fact double checked that the inventory on console and pc is exactly the same. I however took my screenshots console side because I am still in the process of leveling all the things on PC and only have the Titan to 20… and even then I am not all of the way through the main story quest. I noticed that the exotics were showing as level 19 and 254 instead of the 270 I was expecting, so wondering if finishing the game is a trigger for that shift to level 20 items. I throw this out there just for folks to be careful when you spend your oh so precious legendary shards this week on the PC side of things. Xur will be available until the weekly reset instead of disappearing sometime during the night on Saturday, so you have plenty of time to grind out more shards or get through the story.

This week for the weapon we have D.A.R.C.I. or as I have referred to this every time I have decrypted it from an engram… infusion fuel. What makes this weapon interesting is that while aiming you can view the health and other information about your target through your scope with the Personal Assistant perk. This blends with the target acquired perk that causes you to have better target acquisition and precision damage while the Personal Assistant perk is in action. My general problem with the weapon however is that I just don’t like medium impact snipers. This weapon has 55 impact and the snipers I tend to use personally are in the 70-90 range. Now is the point where I start speaking out of my depth, but I always feel like this medium impact variety has to be targeted at the crucible right? It has really high stability and handling which should in theory make scoping in on your target extremely snappy. I just have zero interest in using a sniper rifle in PVP, and if I am going to use one in PVE I want it to pack a bigger punch. PC players it will probably still be worth a pick up for the power level bump if nothing else.

As far as armor goes this is a really phenomenal week and includes sort of a greatest hits collection of universally useful items. Actium War Rig is one of the options that you can get on Titan, and if you are an auto rifle fan like me… it is probably going to be what you end up using. The Auto-Loading Link perk causes ammo to loaded into your magazine when you stop firing the weapon at a tick rate of roughly one second. What this means is if you are burst firing your weapon you can greatly extend the amount of time you can put off reloading giving you way more time to mop up enemies. This works extremely well with weapons that have the rampage perk because you can keep rolling between targets without having to take the time to wait for reload, just allowing the weapon to tick once between bursts of fire. Definitely going to pick this up for the power level and to have a more current version of this item rather than the level 105 item the game gives you.

Warlocks have a similarly universally good item in the form of the Eye of Another World helmet. Similarly this is an item you can pick up on Titan and the cerebral uplink perk causes you to highlight priority targets but also improves the regeneration speed of grenade, melee and rift abilities. Its rare that an item just makes everything universally work better, but that is in fact the mission of this helm. Once again I highly suggest picking this up for the power level if nothing else, but for anyone who chose poorly on Titan… then here is a nice second chance to get that item.

I’ve talked about this item before and I am not really sure what else I can add. Knucklehead Radar is one of my favorite pieces of gear from Destiny 1 and I am super happy that it returned to Destiny 2. The upgraded sensor pack causes radar tracking to be active while you aim down sights on every weapon. This is just universally useful and is a crutch that I am not willing to give up while playing my hunter. I used the hell out of the Memory of Gheleon artifact in Destiny 1 year 3… and similarly I love this item. Again if nothing else this is a good level boost for those PC players who are just now getting started. I hope to be able to gather enough legendary shards before Xur leaves on Tuesday to purchase each of these items and have them ready for when I start leveling the Hunter and Warlock.

Xur Destiny 1

As has been the case the last few weeks, I am also doing the information about Xur in Destiny 1 lest we not all abandon the players who are still enjoying that game. You can find Xur in the tower next to Lord Shaxx. This week he brought something interesting… the Jade Rabbit which was previously an exclusive for the PS4 players. I had heard that the embargo had been lifted on selling the PS4 exclusive items, but I am guessing this is hard proof. Here is a quick rundown of what he has brought for us this week.

Legacy Helmet Engram – 29 Strange Coins
An Insurmountable Skullfort – Titan Helm – 13 Strange Coins
Crest of Alpha Lupi – Hunter Chest – 13 Strange Coins
Claws of Ahamkara – Warlock Arms – 13 Strange Coins
Jade Rabbit – Scout Rifle – 23 Strange Coins
Hawkmoon and Moonglow Ornament – 30 Strange Coins 25 Silver Dust
Tresspasser and Crucible Assassin Ornament – 30 Strange Coins 25 Silver Dust

Twenty Again

October 26, 2017 by Belghast

I do not have a whole hell of a lot to talk about this morning so the post is going to be brief. Last night I went to the simulcast of Rifftrax Live Night of the Living Dead because there was no way I was going to miss that. Predictably it was pretty great and had also been a really long time since I had seen the original black and white film. There is a group of us from work that do this was a semi regular thing and its always a lot of fun. This however meant that I was giving up play time on “night two” of the PC release to spend time doing stuff in the real world. By the time I got home I was pretty out of it, but I did manage to limp across the finish line to level 20. This morning I spent a few of the tokens I had banked up and managed to get to 211 power level. That means tonight is all about actually finishing the main story because I dropped off before the transition to the planet Io. I have a bunch of goals… not the least of which is to finish the story so I can unlock the “end game” and all of the group activities. The other goal is to gather up enough purple stuff so that I can have the legendary shards ready and waiting for Xur to arrive tomorrow. The theory is to buy the 270 weapon and armor to give myself a boost so that when I start decoding the higher tier engrams that my light level is greatly inflated. Other than that… not a whole lot to talk about this morning so going ahead and cutting this post off.

A Smooth Landing

October 25, 2017 by Belghast

Yesterday was of course the launch of the PC version of Destiny 2. After years of rough launches I did not attempt to take the day off because I have been bit hard by that in the past. However it appears like everything went relatively smoothly and starting about noon I saw friends poking their heads into the game for the first time. Sure there were some issues, namely that the Clan roster seemed to be non-functional for all but a few people… but I remember us going through that at the PS4 launch as well so maybe that is one of the more fragile systems. There is a reported rash of bannings but I am uncertain how big of a deal this really is given that the internet tends to “memeify” everything to raise the sodium levels. To the best of my knowledge no one that I know got bit by whatever bug is occurring. It has been blamed on discord or obs or any other manner of software… but I know folks who streamed all day long yesterday and most everyone I know is running discord… so I sincerely doubt it is one of those. After years of seeing players cry foul… only to be busted by devs for doing some nefarious shit I am taking this with a giant truck load of salt.

I did not make it anywhere near as far as I had hoped to make it last night. I got a bit of a late start and then had to walk away from screen for a bit to go retrieve sustenance and consume it. At this point I am up to the start of Io in the quest chain and dinged level 14 just before logging for the night. I had visions of hitting level 20 and then potentially wrapping up the extremely long tail end of the story tonight after coming back from Rifftrax. That is just not a thing that is going to happen, however I should be on pace to at least get to 20 on Thursday night. I have to admit a lot of my evening was spent getting used to the keyboard and mouse controls. I didn’t want to simply plug a controller into my PC and continue on like I had been on the PS4. I wanted to get adjusted to playing the PC version, and it took way longer than I had hoped to begin remapping my reflexes. I was super pumped when I noticed that apparently it kept my keybindings from beta so I did not have to try and remap everything. It has been weird learning how to do things like the shield throw with a keyboard and mouse, when previously it was just so instinctive.

Everything comes out so much crisper and clearer on the PC that I noticed something I had apparently never noticed before on the console. I had no clue that Sloan had a bunch of Warhammer 40k purity seals on her left shoulder pad. At first I thought maybe this was an addition to the PC, but after checking the PS4 they are in fact there. The lower fidelity of the PS4 experience just made them not stand out nearly as well as they do on PC because the lighting is massively better. The game really feels like it was meant to be played on a PC and there are moments where you just have to stop and enjoy the vistas now that you can see clearly off in the distance. I sat and watched the ocean and the lightning storms for a few minutes while standing around idly on Titan and they were breathtaking. All in all I think it was a pretty damned smooth launch and the PC version is living up to all of my hopes. I am going to still take awhile to rewire my impulses because right now I feel way more sluggish with keyboard and mouse than with the controller. However I guess it is to be expected considering I played heavily for over three years in this world using thumb sticks.

Weapons I Will Miss

October 24, 2017 by Belghast

I cannot fully explain just how damned hard it is going to be to make it through today. What I mean by that is I did not take the day off for the launch of Destiny 2 on PC, and I know that it will be launching halfway through the day and I will start wishing I was home and able to be playing. While I have played the hell out of Destiny 2 on the PS4, the PC beta just felt better to me than the console interface. Destiny 1 was the game that essentially taught me how to play shooters on a console, and in spite of how much progress I have made in my ability to get the controller to do what I want it to do… it still feels like a foreign territory. When I sat down to play the PC beta, it was like coming home… everything that had been slightly off with Destiny was set right just by being able to use a keyboard and mouse. I realize that after the hundreds of hours that I have poured into the console version there is going to be an adjustment period, but also one I am more than willing to deal with. When trying to decide what to blog this morning I thought about what I would actually miss in the transition. It wasn’t the sets of gear from Iron Banner or the Faction Rally that I farmed up, or the fact that I had three almost power capped characters. Ultimately the part I am going to miss the most is my arsenal of favorite weapons. As a result this morning I thought I would talk a little about each of them.

Kinetic Weapons

In order for me to love a Hand Cannon it needs a handful of attributes, the primary being an extremely high impact rating and the secondary being a decent magazine size. With extended mag I am able to take the magazine to 13 rounds, and the 84 out of 100 impact definitely fits the bill as well. The fact that the weapon has another of my favorite perks… explosive payload which causes an AOE damage burst on impact is just icing on the cake. The last few nights I have been farming tokens on Io and running around with this weapon equipped and having a blast shredding mobs. This comes from the crucible so I am absolutely hoping I get an early lucky drop. While there are a bunch of other hand cannons that are vying for my attention… Better Devils keeps winding up my favorite.

I feel like Origin Story is likely the best kinetic auto rifle in the game, though I am sure I would hear some logical arguments on that point. Ultimately why I love it is that it feels rock solid and stable in the slightly slower/harder hitting 450 rpm category. It has fairly good range and can take down targets at a distance so long as you are firing controlled bursts. The rampage perk is amazing especially if you are dealing with waves of enemies, and you can even leverage this extra damage if you are fast enough to get in additional burn time on bosses. The good thing about this weapon is that it will probably be the easiest to get because you get the choice of it and two other weapons from finishing a strike milestone after you hit level 20. As a result I take comfort that I won’t be going without this one for too terribly long.

Among the most fickle weapon choices in my line up is Antiope-D… one of the weapons the Gunsmith offers but is on a significantly rarer drop table. I’ve turned in over a hundred gunsmith packages and I’ve only gotten one of these in total among all of my characters. What makes this weapon so special is that while a submachine gun it lives in the slower 600 rpm bracket and as a result has significantly better stability and recoil pattern than its cousins. The end product means if feels like firing a Destiny 1 Hakke auto rifle like the Zarinaea-D, which was among my favorite weapons in year one. This is part of my base crucible loadout and does a great job of shutting down enemy players when they get too close for comfort, but also has enough range that you can chase them a little with it. I am hoping the luck is with me and I am able to find this fairly early on. If not there are some reasonable replacements… but nothing will ever tarnish the memory of this weapon.

Energy Weapons

Uriel’s Gift is a beast and there is really no other way to describe it. This is the other half of my stock crucible loadout and the weapon that does most of the work as far as getting kills from range. Much like Origin Story it lives in the more stable 450 rpm bracket for auto rifles and features quite possibly the single best perk right now in the game… high-caliber rounds. For those unfamiliar this causes your target to flinch making it much harder for them to keep the targeting reticle trained on you. Now this works for NPCs and causes them to sort of stun lock while you are fighting them… but for enemy players it is extremely frustrating because it makes it insanely hard to actually fight back. Additionally the weapon has Tap the Trigger which gives you extra stability and aim assist when you first engage a target. I fully expect this weapon to be nerfed in the near future, but for the time being I am loving using it. This one can come from Nessus, Gunsmith or an Engram because I have seen it drop from all three, so I am hoping that ups my chances of actually getting one quickly.

Generally speaking I am not a big fan of Scout Rifles and will talk at length about this fact if anyone gives me half a chance. There is an entire cult of the MIDA Multi Tool that I just do not understand because the weapon feels horrible to me. The irony is… my favorite scout rifle the Manannan SR4 is in that exact same archetype bracket. I am not exactly sure what it is about this weapon… the look, the feel, the sound and visual effects… but whatever the case I like using it. It does not hurt that it also has explosive payload that I talked a bit about earlier. Lately I have been pairing this with my Better Devils in grinding planetary content because the combo gives me nice reliable ranged kill options and up close and personal stopping power. This is primarily a gunsmith package drop as far as I am aware and I am hoping I get it pretty early. Truth be told I will likely infuse my MIDA into it when I finish that quest.

Power Weapons

While I have flirted with other shotgun options, much like its name… this is the most reliable and battle ready. I’ve gotten it from a few sources but it still remains my go to shotgun for melting bosses that I can actually get up close and personal with. Thanks to Destiny 1 spoiling me… a shotgun has to have the full auto perk in order for me to really care about it. This actually seems to be pretty damned rare as far as weapons go in Destiny 2. While I have found a few options with it, this gun seems to be the most reasonable to use and capable of dishing out the sort of damage I am wanting. Hawthorne is one of my favorite characters, so it is only fitting that her signature gun goes down on this list as well.

I’ve talked about this weapon at length the few times I have mentioned it in this blog. There are those who call this the Destiny 2 Gjallarhorn and it is maybe not that incorrect of a statement. The amount of sustained damage this thing can pump out is significant, especially when you combine it with a rapid reload ability like the titan rally shield or hunter dodge. The exotic perk Conserve Momentum causes non-lethal hits with the weapon to lower your charge time. This is significant and after a few shots it feels like an almost instant fire fusion rifle. I regularly use this to single-handedly melt the cabal gunships during public events to push it to heroic in a single round. It will oneshot most yellow bars and help you shred anything else. Its biggest negative is the relatively small magazine size at 8 and the sluggish reload speed… which is ultimately why you want to pair this with some sort of a speed reload mechanic. Regardless if you get your hands on this weapon I highly suggest checking it out. It was the very first exotic I got in Destiny 2 on PS4 so hoping I find it again quickly on the PC side.

So these are my favorite weapons so far and the ones I use in the most regular rotation. What are some of your favorites that I missed? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know what weapon you are looking forward to getting again.