Playstation exclusive strike and exotic weapon

So the exclusive strike's boss is yet ANOTHER use of the Hydra model?

Bungie are the laziest dudes on earth. Hydra, Nexus strike boss, Templar, Gatekeeper, now this guy. Would it kill them to hire a second character modeler? XD

Not that I care, I'm on XBO.

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So the exclusive strike's boss is yet ANOTHER use of the Hydra model?

Bungie are the laziest dudes on earth. Hydra, Nexus strike boss, Templar, Gatekeeper, now this guy. Would it kill them to hire a second character modeler? XD

Not that I care, I'm on XBO.

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but but but

this one has vines and **** on it!

Btw, I'm asking a little too late here, but does anyone have any PvP tips for a Gunslinger Hunter?

I've been leveling a Hunter alt (chosen because of all the random Hunter gear I've accrued from Engrams) solely using the Crucible since level 5 or so. Been having a great time, even though starting with most of the talent tree locked I felt pretty gimpy. Weapons make a difference, too. Still holding my own, though, and now I'm like 19.9. One more match and I can put all that gear on. I hope to run normal VoG with him sometime this weekend.

So, any tips on what talents to choose, etc.? Seems like that swarm grenade never does nearly enough damage. I've switched to the tripmine, which hits like a truck when it connects. Triple jump?

Also, I suck with the throwing knife.

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So, any tips on what talents to choose, etc.? Seems like that swarm grenade never does nearly enough damage. I've switched to the tripmine, which hits like a truck when it connects. Triple jump?

Also, I suck with the throwing knife.

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I like tripmine for someone coming around a corner. I typically use triple jump. Im not sure about yall- but using blink confused the hell out of me and I was always disoriented.

Nothing is more satisfying knocking a dude out with the throwing knife. Feels good

Templar is near impossible now on hard

I was hoping Undying Mind was going to be a boss fight against Rasputin

my 2nd raid ever- and I get raid boots and gloves and Vision of Confluence.

thanks to you dudes last night!

After about 10 raids on my hunter (my main), I have yet to reach level 30 (this is with even the iron banner gear).

Amazing.....Guess Ill just have to purchase my 30 from the new vendor.

BTW, does anyone know what the currency will be to buy that gear?

I am on my way, just need to level my exotic helmet. Just hit 29 for the first time yesterday. Thank you Iron Banner and the new Mat Exchange. I only have done 3 raids, and thankfully got the chest on the first raid. I don't think I could have lasted playing this game with only one character. No chance of getting what I needed. I only have enough time for one character, can't grind it out on three of them.

I still need either a raid chestpiece or raid helmet, I have exotics of both.

I would really like to get them this week, but I'm not holding my breath. I can run the raid twice with hunters.

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After about 10 raids on my hunter (my main), I have yet to reach level 30 (this is with even the iron banner gear).

Amazing.....Guess Ill just have to purchase my 30 from the new vendor.

BTW, does anyone know what the currency will be to buy that gear?

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The common guess that I've seen is that Crucible and Vanguard Marks will buy new gear from those existing vendors, and faction vendors as well, I think.

I've got about 370 Vanguard Marks across two Warlocks and over 200 Crucible Marks (thanks, Iron Banner!) on my main, although I don't need any gear to hit 30. I suspect that they won't be selling any armor with more potential Light than 30, so maybe they'll have new 323 weapons or something.

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I am on my way, just need to level my exotic helmet.

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not so fast, my friend. you may want to hold off until we can get confirmation on this:

gameinformer plays dark below

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Specifically, exotic items will become available for an upgrade to keep them in line with the new top-tier gear.
Here's how it works. Upgrading exotic weapons and armor is completed by interacting with the weekend vendor, Xur. When he arrives every Friday morning, he will now have a new option to upgrade one of your equipped exotic items. Each week, he'll offer some (but not all) exotic items as being available to upgrade.
You'll need three things. First, you need to own the original version of that exotic item, and turn it in to exchange for the upgraded version. It doesn't matter if this old version of the item is brand new or fully upgraded. To complete the upgrade, you'll also need to turn in an exotic shard. This recently introduced new material is available for purchase for seven strange coins from Xur, or by breaking down another existing exotic item in your inventory. Finally, each exotic upgrade costs a hefty dose of cash around 7000 glimmer as of my playthrough of the expansion in mid-November. After turning all three of these things into Xur, he'll hand you a brand new version of your item with a higher defense or attack value cap.
It's important to note that this process resets the upgrades on your exotic item, but you'll now have a new higher damage or defense cap to work towards so you'll need to decide if you'd rather keep your fully upgraded old version of a weapon or armor piece, or start over. With that said, the process of upgrading exotic items is now faster, and does not require ascendant materials. Instead, the last slot requires one additional exotic shard, as revealed in Monday's patch.

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If you want your exotic gear to have the damage/light/etc of the new exotic gear, you'll have to completely reset the progress you've made on it and start over. And it will cost you 1 exotic shard and 7,000 glimmer (not including the glimmer and exotic shard that will be required to actually upgrade it)

Noob question here, but I've only been playing for 3 days and figured id ask for an opinion here first.

Just hit level 20: What do I do know? Obviously the end game content, but should I be trying to nab any gear/rep prior to hitting Strike queues? I'm guessing I'm no where near ready for the raids you guys are running at this point.

Edit:
One more Q. I haven't read up on progressing over the soft-cap, and I'm sure it's a lot of grinding. With Darkness Below coming, should I waste my time trying to go 20+ now, or roll a new class? Haven't read about the expansion, but I'm guessing the soft cap will get raised.

Yeah, Mythoclast update is telling.

Also, there is a new incoming alert when you patrol the moon. You have to defeat a big hive guy with a sword of crota. If you beat him, you can mess around with the sword in the overworld for a couple of minutes. Probably plays a little into the expansion.

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Yeah, Mythoclast update is telling.

Also, there is a new incoming alert when you patrol the moon. You have to defeat a big hive guy with a sword of crota. If you beat him, you can mess around with the sword in the overworld for a couple of minutes. Probably plays a little into the expansion.

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not just on the moon, happens in several places on the cosmodrone as well

Actually had that happen a few times last night on the cosmodrome near almost every dead-end cave. A knight with a swarm of acolytes kept popping out while I was farming sensor mites, he'd drop the sword for pickup and the swarm would continue until the sword timer expired.

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Noob question here, but I've only been playing for 3 days and figured id ask for an opinion here first.

Just hit level 20: What do I do know? Obviously the end game content, but should I be trying to nab any gear/rep prior to hitting Strike queues? I'm guessing I'm no where near ready for the raids you guys are running at this point.

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Since you're asking about Strikes, I'm assuming you are more of a PvE player than PvP. You need to get your Vanguard faction reputation up to level 2 to buy armor (3 to buy weapons). Strikes are a fine way to do this, as they give rep and Marks (the actual currency used to buy stuff from these vendors), although combining bounties/patrols/public events can be faster and can be done solo. You'd want to use a website or app to know when public events are going to happen and where (I always use Earth for this, myself) so that you can just go from one to another, completing patrols and bounties as you can. PEs give Marks, and the other two give rep.

Since the expansion comes out Tuesday, I'd wait and see what is available from vendors then - save your Marks. It would suck to buy some 28-Light (assuming that's the number) gear this week when 30-Light gear may be available in under a week.

In any case, you ultimately want to buy legendary gear from vendors and one exotic piece (historically, easily the best choice was a helm) from Xur using Strange Coins. This will get you gear that can take you to a level high enough for the raid.

Yesterday, my Hunter alt hit 20 and immediately donned an Exotic helm I had waiting and decrypted blue engrams to get 15-Light blues for every other slot. After leveling that up a tiny bit, he's at level 25 and is close to being the minimum recommended level for the first raid (26).

Deej response inbound

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Misinformation Alert!
Sorry for the confusion. Stand by for a Bungie Blog update.

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I'm hoping that was an old build and there will be no reset

I appreciate that summary, Bryan - especially the note on timer apps. Still a PvE player while I'm filling out my subclass, just dabbling in PvP on and off, mostly for bounties, right now.

Quick question. When you say:

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Yesterday, my Hunter alt hit 20 and immediately ... decrypted blue engrams to get 15-Light blues for every other slot.

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Did you collect those engrams on your alt during leveling and just wait until 20 to decrypt, or did you transfer them from your main (if you can even do that)?

you can transfer engrams via your vault. So if you have multiple classes, you can decrypt them with the one that needs them the most.

If i collect engrams with my level 30 warlock, i can give them to my level 15 titan. Then when i decrypt them, i will get gear for my titan.

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I suspect that they won't be selling any armor with more potential Light than 30

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It is rumored that they might due to some of the information coming out of bungie, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Actually, Deej (the bungie commuinty manager) said it is mostly correct.

http://www.bungie.net/7_The-Dark-Below-Preview/en/News/News?aid=12442

Of note, yes, the exotics that you want to upgrade past 300 will be completely reset, plus you have to buy the upgrade from xur if he has it that week. His inventory is alot bigger, 12 exotic pieces to choose from a week.

For the new non-raid armor, you also need "Commendation marks". These are given through leveling up the vanguard and/or crucible. Doubt they will be retroactive. Don't know whether they are light level 30 or 31 capable.

Looks like raid PRIMARY LEGENDARY weapons will only drop on HARD MODE raid, and that will be available in Jan.

They claim loot drops got better in the raid.

Those are the high points really.

We tried to beat the templar for 3 hours last night on hard and barely made a dent in him! How the hell do you beat him now

so strange coins will now be a something to hoard.

if you want to upgrade an existing exotic, it will cost you an exotic shard (7 strange coins). Then, once you get to the final upgrade tier, it will cost you another exotic shard (7 strange coins). So each exotic upgrade will cost you 14 strange coins and a crap ton of glimmer.

If you run 3 characters through the weekly heroic strike, you will get 27 strange coins (1 shy of upgrading 2 exotics). you generally get random strange coins from other events/engrams, so you should be able to upgrade 2 exotics per week, assuming Xur is offering the upgrades you need that weekend.

But, if you are spending your strange coins on upgrades, that means you won't have any coins to spend on new gear that Xur has.

One hidden message in that preview: Sounds like one should avoid hitting a new level of Vanguard or Crucible rep this week if possible. Presumably that will still get you a random legendary award in the mail. Starting Tuesday, doing so will get you a commendation that can be used for the new stuff.

Not sure if the new stuff requires a commendation plus Marks, or if Marks are now only useful for the old stuff.

An obvious strategy here would be to try and get your characters very close to a new rep level without going over it. Equally obvious would be completing bounties but waiting until next Tuesday to turn them in and push you up to the next rep level. Hopefully they aren't planning some unannounced rep reset here.

Also, I would bet money that the new legendary armor from vendors is Light 30 gear, no higher. This gear is to catch people up for normal Crota's End, just like previous vendor gear was appropriate for normal Vault of Glass. If you want to hit a new level, you presumably need to raid.

I'm not sure about this new exotic trade-in mechanic. I appreciate that they didn't want people to just immediately upgrade all their exotics on day one, but having to wait for RNG on something you already own kind of stinks, as does the resetting of progress.

I am cautiously happy to hear them say that raid loot will drop more frequently to address issues with VoG loot. Hopefully this means that we won't see a bunch of Forever 31s who just can't seem to get those boots (etc.) to drop.

Most of these notes actually sound okay. Now I'm going to go check my rep levels on all my characters and plan how to approach the precipice without going over.

I mean, going from a great patch on Monday, to adding another level of grind...and even worse RE-GRIND is disheartening. I appreciate being able to upgrade the old exotics (because...icebreaker and g-horn rock), but that is a very punative way to implement that process. Plus, adding the element Xur may or may not having your stuff really slows your progress.

Who knows how many "comendation" marks will be required to purchase the new gear. No way it will be retroactive. I'd be shocked if it were.

I love the raid stuff, nightfalls, etc., but damn, the grind is getting a little too intense.

Id also max your vanguard marks for the week as well. Just in case.

Well, now that it's unclear whether Marks are important or whether Commendations are all that matters, my strategy will be to max my rep progress to the next level without going over, rather than looking at maxing Marks, you see what I mean? In my experience Marks come faster than new levels, too, so all the more reason to manage rep level for this one week.

I am going to wait until deej comments further before freaking out

I don't even know what I would do differently given the news.

If you just do the daily and the bounties every day, you'll still likely max out marks by the end of the week and have tacked on at least 1 new level to your vanguard rank.

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I don't even know what I would do differently given the news.

If you just do the daily and the bounties every day, you'll still likely max out marks by the end of the week and have tacked on at least 1 new level to your vanguard rank.

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What I'm doing differently is, after having checked my reputations on the Destiny app just now, I'm going to avoid playing one of my two Warlocks in PvE because he is extremely close to hitting the next Vanguard level. I'll play the other one instead.

One of my Warlocks is also currently at the Mark cap for Crucible and halfway to a new Crucible rep level. If I want to PvP as a Warlock this week, I'll convert a bunch of his Marks into planetary materials and then play Crucible until I'm close to hitting a new rep level, setting me up well for next Tuesday as well as not wasting the Marks that I wouldn't have gotten due to being capped.

Honestly a little surprised so many are still grinding through this. The repetition really hasn't become boring? It did for me a long time ago. Was interested to hear the reaction about the new DLC.

Surprisingly, yes, still grinding.

I guess I should hold off on upgrading my helmet though. Incredibly stupid design decision that you have to wait for Xur to show your weapon to upgrade. That is not going to keep people playing, that is going to piss them off.

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Honestly a little surprised so many are still grinding through this.

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The raids and nightfalls are fun and worth SOME of the grind. The core gameplay is solid. But eff, Bungie just refuses to let you enjoy the game without jumping through hoops first.

Like Bryan, I will be getting all my guys close to the Vanguard rank up. I believe you can grind out some public events for just the marks if you want to get the max for the week. Also, my bet is marks still matter because it articially limits your progress for the week. You could (in theory) just grind reputation and get all your comendations in a few days (assuming non-stop playing but you get my point). My bet...comendations AND marks.

Also, upon thought, I would not be a bit surprised if the armor coming from the Vanguard (or wherever) will allow you to reach 31.

I think this for a few reasons. (1) Bungie has shown that it will dump on high level players (see, new exotic upgrades, plus, they want to keep just plain ascendant materials important...and it keeps people running the VoG), (2) the last set of armor did allow one to run the hard raid by giving you one level below the recommended (ie...level 29 playing a level 30 raid), and (3) Bungie has shown they want people to grind...So they will put both the new non-raid legendary weapons AND armor out there for everyone to grind towards.

Not exactly sure how Eris factors in all of this...There will be those bounties to as well to grind...reputation...Not sure exactly what she will have to sell, but Bungie has said that the higher level non-raid legendaries will be available for everyone, so...Im still sticking with the Vanguard selling the good stuff.

This will keep everyone playing more both to buy the new non-raid legendary weapons AND non-raid legendary armor. By not moving that light level to 31, level 30 players would ONLY grind for weapons essentially cutting their time in half to grind up to good stuff. I doubt Bungie would let that happen.

A number of people on Reddit are PO'ed that they already upgraded exotics using exotic shards, only to learn that in order to upgrade them to 323 or whatever they're going to have to completely reset their progress and invest another exotic shard.

I know I'd be annoyed. I was looking at buying 3 exotic shards this Friday and finishing upgrades on two helms and the Mythoclast. Won't be doing that now; avoided wasting 3 exotic shards = 21 Strange Coins.

Love playing this game, but constantly feel like at several of the head designers must be totally clueless.