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As a Warlock, the only platform I use is the second one. I can make it the rest of the way from there.

I've also once made it from the lower ledge to the right of where you respawn, using no platforms.

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i've gotten to where i don't use any platforms as a warlock. I go to the right down to the second ledge on the cliff. From there i run and jump (not glide). I can then give myself a slight boost, then cancel it, fall a bit, another boost/cancel, then a final boost/cancel. The landing hurts just a bit, but i can make it without touching any of the jump puzzle pieces.

Im also a warlock. I jump down the cliffs to the right as far as possible and I can 1 time glide and land juuuuuust on the last little corner of the wall

I have no idea what y'all are all talking about.

ill try to remember to take a vid next time i do it

Hoping to go pick this up today on Xbox One - not super high level, but hoping I can start doing some raids and such with some Ags!

XB1: TNilli

Just got a ps4 and psn account, but I'm not new to gaming.

Psn: DiehardAg14

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Just got a ps4 and psn account, but I'm not new to gaming.

Psn: DiehardAg14

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FriendlyAg's PSN handle is DiehardAg14. Quite funny.

welcome aboard!

psn: crow_bar08

I may have been Diehard14 on TA

I'm so lost hahah. I think I'm entering the first mission and I don't know if they will give me help though. Awesome game so far

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Hoping to go pick this up today on Xbox One - not super high level, but hoping I can start doing some raids and such with some Ags!

XB1: TNilli

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Not super high level? If you haven't bought it yet, aren't you level one?

EDIT: Oh, you're the guy who was playing on 360 before. Well, welcome to the world of XB1. Add Fedaykin98 if you like.

Bryan98. Forgot to reply the other night. Got your message, but we were already in the middle of the raid with a full group. We'll surely run it again sometime this week. Maybe even tonight. I'll send an invite if I see you online when we do.

XB1: JRyder05

Add me, guys. JDAggie06 and I run the raid weekly on normal and hard. We welcome people who have never run the raid and are happy to help people learn how to run it. We also do the nightfall and weekly challenge every single week on Tuesday night to get a full week of bonus XP. I have a level 30 titan and 28 hunter (still waiting on even one raid piece for her, ugh). JDAggie06 has a 29 warlock, 29 hunter, and 28 titan.

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Bryan98. Forgot to reply the other night. Got your message, but we were already in the middle of the raid with a full group. We'll surely run it again sometime this week. Maybe even tonight. I'll send an invite if I see you online when we do.

XB1: JRyder05

Add me, guys. JDAggie06 and I run the raid weekly on normal and hard. We welcome people who have never run the raid and are happy to help people learn how to run it. We also do the nightfall and weekly challenge every single week on Tuesday night to get a full week of bonus XP. I have a level 30 titan and 28 hunter (still waiting on even one raid piece for her, ugh). JDAggie06 has a 29 warlock, 29 hunter, and 28 titan.

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Thanks. I'm usually on shortly after 8pm (after the kids' bedtime), but certain nights are reserved for quality time with the wife. If you know when you're going to do it, let me know and I'd love to come if I can. I also organize weekly runs on normal with a regular group of friends, mostly Aggies.

Myself and The After1ife got an Oracles cp last week and together with some friends took down Oracles, Templar, and Gatekeeper. Stymied by Atheon. It would be a heck of a lot easier if we could get the drops to hit 30. We had two 30s on that run, neither of whom we usually run with, and one wasn't comfortable holding the relic.

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. We had two 30s on that run, neither of whom we usually run with, and one wasn't comfortable holding the relic.

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Recipe for disaster.

When there are only two 30s on Atheon, it can get dicey.

I ran Atheon HM with 6 29's for 2 hours last night. We got Atheon down to 10% 4 separate times(each taking 3 portal trips). But each time we went for the victory 4th portal trip, it freaking fell apart everytime. Still though, I feel that I have that fight mastered. A group of 29's getting that close, in my opinion, is exceptional, considering we are playing against atheon AND BUNGIE(Stupid freaking glitches and bugs!).

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I ran Atheon HM with 6 29's for 2 hours last night. We got Atheon down to 10% 4 separate times(each taking 3 portal trips). But each time we went for the victory 4th portal trip, it freaking fell apart everytime. Still though, I feel that I have that fight mastered. A group of 29's getting that close, in my opinion, is exceptional, considering we are playing against atheon AND BUNGIE(Stupid freaking glitches and bugs!).

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I have no doubt that you've had that fight mastered for some time. Finding five more 29s as good as you, that's a challenge. Another challenge is that someone who is 30 may not really have the Atheon fight down.

What were y'all asking the non-relic bearers to do inside the portals? Rocket the minotaur on Venus, grenade the Hobbies on Mars, or something different?

We made many improvements that made me feel that 29's could do it.

• Everyone has max weapons (atleast oracle killing primary and heavy naturally)
• Every time a portal is opened, a fourth person runs in and assists in killing oracles.
• Before the 2 non-relic holders shoot oracles, they send rockets to the adds ( 2 EACH at the mini on venus, 1 EACH on hobs in mars)
• Relic Holder cleanses for a last time before the 6th and 7th oracles are killed, then immediately exits the portal BEFORE the final oracles go down. This gets him in position faster for no penalty, and the outside guys can group up faster and start damage on Atheon the second that Times Vengeance come up(You can lose like 8 seconds if the relic holder is still in the portal as the last oracle goes down on my count)
• The Relic holder announces when he leaves the portal, if there are any chance of supplicants being in his way, the outside guy sends a rocket at them. Burn em if you got em.
• While in the shield on the center island, CROUCH and stay far away from that stupid little wall. That stupid little wall can have splash damage. Crouching lessens the chance your head is sticking out of the shield.
• At the conclusion of Times Vengeance, a Titan will drop a shield. NO ONE JUMP OFF THE CENTER, STAY IN THE SHIELD. This gives you more time on Atheon, and less of a panicky escape. Outside guys break out of your containment shells, and open the appropriate portal.

For every lvl 30 you have, each of these points becomes less important. But until then, I can't find a more efficient way to do each piece of this puzzle.

Bonus Notes:

• Oracles gain health from the time they spawn to the time they first take damage, the sooner you take a shot at them, the faster you go down. If you kill oracles in the wrong order, you dont get the buff.
• 4 Rockets to the MIno on Venus insta-kills it. As a result, Venus is now the easy side. We wiped more because of Mars and it's stupid hobgoblins than anything (they can 2 shot you at 29, and thier are 3 of them). BASICALLY, consider yoursleves as the relic holder's escorts, the less he does the better, he is there to mop up the adds and your vision.
• If you get behind on oracles, freaking rocket them. 1 Gjallahorn kills an oracle, all of a sudden you are back on schedule.
• Supplicants cannot take the portal. Once you have it open, get to a safer(i.e. higher) location.
• Before the fight, 3 people group up at each portal thing. That way you instantly open the portals when teleports happen. Dont look at Atheon, no good can come of it. Dont even look at him, if you see atheon, you are actively screwing up. No good comes from looking at atheon, only wipes. Dont be that guy, dont freaking be that guy.

I feel like everyone in this game is the highest level already

I found a picture to represent the difference between lvl 29 and lvl 30

I posted that exposition to reddit to see if we can get anymore comments. If yall wanna nudge it up that wouldn't hurt

http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2m0mvl/hard_mode_atheon_a_discussion/

Not sure if anyone is going to read this in the next 15 minutes, but if so, there are 4 us Normal Raiding very soon. Looking for 2 more.

PSN: AggieBones

I'd rather try here first before trying DestinyLFG.

I'm adding people from here, but it seems I'm the only noob.

Just got 3 legendary engrams from the 28 strike. Holy crap

They will all be shards or energy

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They will all be shards or energy

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you forgot gear for other classes

They were a handcannon and a solar fusion rifle (already have pocket infinity), so I turned them into energy

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As a Warlock, the only platform I use is the second one. I can make it the rest of the way from there.

I've also once made it from the lower ledge to the right of where you respawn, using no platforms.

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i've gotten to where i don't use any platforms as a warlock. I go to the right down to the second ledge on the cliff. From there i run and jump (not glide). I can then give myself a slight boost, then cancel it, fall a bit, another boost/cancel, then a final boost/cancel. The landing hurts just a bit, but i can make it without touching any of the jump puzzle pieces.

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I have no idea what y'all are all talking about.

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here is a vid from my vault run last night. I was a warlock and made it across the chasm without touching any of the blocks. The trick is to not use your glide when you first jump, you need to travel out a bit before activating it, and only use it for just a sec each time.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B16FFAA03B7091C0!9670&authkey=!AFDh7Y1ZDpJkkKM&ithint=video%2cmp4

Man, was so pumped to be able to finally play on XboxOne only to realize I am still way under-leveled. I will continue to run the level 24 strikes and try to get a few more gear pieces and then hopefully can get to 28 and do some of the bigger stuff. I also need to figure out what I need to purchase from the seller dude on the weekends.

Thanks for the invite last night - hopefully i can join in soon!

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I also need to figure out what I need to purchase from the seller dude on the weekends.

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if you want to get to 30, get a helmet. the raid helmet only drops from the final boss on hard. all the other parts can drop throughout the normal and hard modes.

of course, i've done the raid about 10 times now and have only gotten 1 piece of raid gear, while friends that i have helped through are now level 30s with vex mythoclasts. effing RNG.

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They were a handcannon and a solar fusion rifle (already have pocket infinity), so I turned them into energy

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I wouldn't shard a legendary weapon unless you're darn sure you'll never use it. I find fusion rifles pretty useful. Legendaries fit any loadout, whereas exotics are your one-of. Also, imho pocket infinity is not something you're going to be using at all in PvE unless you have no better options.

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Man, was so pumped to be able to finally play on XboxOne only to realize I am still way under-leveled. I will continue to run the level 24 strikes and try to get a few more gear pieces and then hopefully can get to 28 and do some of the bigger stuff. I also need to figure out what I need to purchase from the seller dude on the weekends.

Thanks for the invite last night - hopefully i can join in soon!

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Once you get to 20 the name of the game is leveling your Vanguard rep to buy legendary chest, boots, and gloves from them. Spend your first 13 Strange Coins on an exotic helm for your class when Xur brings one. If he isn't bringing one, try buying an exotic helm engram from him for 23 motes and hope you get lucky.

The fastest way to level Vanguard rep is to chain together patrols/bounties/public events, unless you rip through Strikes at an ungodly pace. Strikes are more fun, or at least they are with friends, but the other activities are more efficient. You want Vanguard Rank 2 to buy those armor pieces and rank 3 to buy a legendary primary weapon (unless you get a great primary elsewhere).

Please feel free to ask any specific questions here, because the game doesn't make this stuff clear, but this is the obvious fastest path to leveling up to being raid-ready.

It should be noted also that once you get your first piece of legendary gear it completely changes the drops you'll get from then on. Before I bought that first piece of vanguard legendary I didn't get a single rare drop higher than the gear I already had and certainly not any legendary drops.

Immediately after buying 1 legendary vanguard piece I started getting blue engram drops like mad and even an occasional purple

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It should be noted also that once you get your first piece of legendary gear it completely changes the drops you'll get from then on. Before I bought that first piece of vanguard legendary I didn't get a single rare drop higher than the gear I already had and certainly not any legendary drops.

Immediately after buying 1 legendary vanguard piece I started getting blue engram drops like mad and even an occasional purple

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Jon, I apologize, but I don't believe this is the case. The fact is, loot (among other things) in Destiny is super random, which is a big problem with the game.

People continually post that they are seeing patterns in the randomness, and it's just not so. People will tell you that you get exotic bounties by turning in a bunch of regular bounties at the same time, someone else will reply in support of this idea, and then several people (including myself) will post about how they got an exotic bounty when turning in only one. For example, to address the above, the number of blue engrams I've gotten has seemed to steadily decline over time. At the same time, my gear has improved, the opposite phenomenon that Jon is experiencing.

Any given person cannot see a large enough sample to draw any conclusions whatsoever. Random is random. Because things are random and the playerbase is large, every conceivable pattern is out there somewhere, but that doesn't make that pattern a rule. Some folks get the gear to hit 30 after one Vault run. Others never get any raid gear whatsoever. Random.

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It should be noted also that once you get your first piece of legendary gear it completely changes the drops you'll get from then on. Before I bought that first piece of vanguard legendary I didn't get a single rare drop higher than the gear I already had and certainly not any legendary drops.

Immediately after buying 1 legendary vanguard piece I started getting blue engram drops like mad and even an occasional purple

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Jon, I apologize, but I don't believe this is the case. The fact is, loot (among other things) in Destiny is super random, which is a big problem with the game.

People continually post that they are seeing patterns in the randomness, and it's just not so. People will tell you that you get exotic bounties by turning in a bunch of regular bounties at the same time, someone else will reply in support of this idea, and then several people (including myself) will post about how they got an exotic bounty when turning in only one. For example, to address the above, the number of blue engrams I've gotten has seemed to steadily decline over time. At the same time, my gear has improved, the opposite phenomenon that Jon is experiencing.

Any given person cannot see a large enough sample to draw any conclusions whatsoever. Random is random. Because things are random and the playerbase is large, every conceivable pattern is out there somewhere, but that doesn't make that pattern a rule. Some folks get the gear to hit 30 after one Vault run. Others never get any raid gear whatsoever. Random.

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what loot drops is random, but the level of that loot is absolutely tied to your character.

If it was absolutely random why wasn't I getting level 20 rare loot drops when I was doing Cosmodrome patrols as a level 10? Why don't I get level 10 drops now?

I don't know if it is an even scale or if there are "toll gates," but there were definitely points in the game where the quality of drops I was getting improved or stalled.

Another example, when I was level 24 and had no legendary gear I almost never got ascendant energy, shards, motes, or strange coins in chests, as rewards, or from turning in engrams. Now as a level 28 I get them constantly.

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of course, i've done the raid about 10 times now and have only gotten 1 piece of raid gear, while friends that i have helped through are now level 30s with vex mythoclasts. effing RNG

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Gawd, I thought I had it bad. I have run it 6 times and not had one piece of raid armor drop. That said, my armory is enviable. My irritation with the game has eased up when I just decided not to try and PUG hard raid anymore. I did it once, got an awesome roll, and wont do it again until I hit 30. Not worth the irritation. You can try leveling up an alt or two to take the sting out of not being 30.

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I feel like everyone in this game is the highest level already

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Run through the main story as fast as possible, making sure you do a few bounties as they come up to keep up with the level requirement for the level. If you can do it on hard, then do it for the xp boost.

Depending on your class, once your subclass opens up to two at level 15, make the choice THEN what you want to do (so you can be raid ready as fast as possible). Titan (defender), Warlock (Sunsinger), Hunter (Gunslinger).

As soon as you clear the main story you will be around level 18/19. Start grinding bouties. Don't bother trying for RNG nonsense. Just grind bouties everyday. You are trying to level up the Vanguard. (Don't join a faction). Get to Rank 2. This should take about 5-7 days of playing doing all the bouties available for the day. If you still have more time to kill and not tired of playing...Run the highest level strike you can from the Strike play list. Also, run the daily on the highest level you can, and do a public event for the day. You need to already be thinking about ascendant materials.

Once you get Vanguard to level 2. You can buy armor. You will need marks for this. Armor costs 65 a pop, and you can only get 100 a week. So, start running the highest strike playlist you can handle, public event, daily, (and of course the bounties...level 3 is when you can buy weapons). This is going to take about 2-3 weeks if you were starting with ZERO marks.

All the while you are doing this, you will probably be acquiring some Strange Coins. These are used to purchase exotic gear from Xur, a vendor that only shows up on the weekend. If he ever sells an exotic helm for your charater, buy it. No matter what it is. (The raid helm only drops on hard, so you can essentially get to level 30 without ever doing the hard raid by getting the rest of the raid gear on normal).

Now that you have the legendary gear, level it up, get the ascendant material. When you hit level 27, go raid (though 28 makes it easier). You will be showered in ascendant material. Its smooth sailing after that in terms of materials.

Raid Gauntlets dropped last night for me while running Normal Mode. Now all I need is the boots. Cmon RNGesus.