Part of this is my personal playstyle, so keep that in mind.

Here's what I did the first time. Play Control, since you have a general idea of where enemies will gravitate toward. Avoid running to an objective gung ho, look for teammates. Clash can be good for assists, so long as the team sticks together. Don't bother with Rumble, Skirmish or Salvage.

If you see your team getting squashed, leave. It's very hard to have a good KD ratio if the rest of your team is getting pounded. Also, watch out for games where the other team has one guy just racking up kills, and has far more points than anyone else. If you see that, just leave.

If you get the Bastion Map, leave. It's hard to do well on that map, and when you get killed you usually have to travel a great deal to get back to the action. If you're solid with a sniper...maybe you can try this map. Or you could be the ass that grabs the vehicle or mans the turret.

On the Moon, stick to objectives A and C. B has that turret looking over it, plus is right open to people on vehicles. C can have this problem too. If you're a good sniper, the moon is probably the best map to use it, as there's lots of open space. Or you could be the ass that grabs the vehicle or mans the turret.

Pick the right subclass for your character. Titan Strikers can rack up kills with their super, as well as the running shoulder melee. Warlock Voidwalkers can rack up kills on the objective with the Nova Bomb, though if you prefer Sunsinger the 2 grenade upgrade can help. For the Hunter, just use the bladedancer. It's overpowered, and as long as you don't start it right in front of 3 guys, you should be good.

Other than that, get to know the maps, some give you chances to be sneaky and avoid the major battles. Use a fusion rifle and get to know the charge time. Most of the time it's a one shot kill. Auto rifles are still king. If you're a decent shot, an upgraded Suros is still going to win most auto rifle battles. If you're not a good shot, then use a bullet spitter like the Doctor Nope.

Finally, watch the bounty carefully. Know what number you're at when the match starts, and check after each death.

It's Nightfall tonight for me with two characters. Anyone looking to run let me know.

OK, so after experimenting a bit, I have found a way to carry Raid progress over for a second week.

Basically, if you play at the 2AM reset on Tuesday with someone, they can leave the Raid, log out, log back in, and rejoin your game. Once they do that, they have a save point on the new week. Then you can leave, log out, log back in, and boom you have the save point again as well.

I had a save point for the Hard Raid at the Atheon battle, and we did this method. Not too long after, we managed to beat him by knocking him off the edge (with 3 guys). And I got one hell of a haul:

Vex Mythoclast
The Last Word Hand Cannon
The Raid Ship
And the Raid Helmet for my Warlock.

Not bad at all. And now I'm glad I got the Sunbreakers over the weekend, as I'm now one step closer to having a level 30 character.

Also, the Weekly/Nightfall this week is The Nexus strike on Venus. Void Burn on both. So bring your Epilogues!

Are you going to be on early today? I should be able to hop on around 1pm est if you want to knock one out.

Yup. 3 dailies and at least a couple of Nightfalls tonight...hopefully all three. Will keep an eye out for you.

Anybody check what the strike is this week? Edit...nvm, saw Scott's post.

If you run the hard raid again, I want in!

I might be on but it could be earlier. With the nightfall it's a bit more creep along and takes more time. If anything try to get on around 5-5:30 central. If I get on around 12 central I'll probably do my Public Events with all three characters and get them out of the way.

19K and I just ran through the Nightfall on 2 of our characters and the daily once. Phew!

The daily is not too bad, pretty quick.

Nightfall is rough! There's void burn for both the Heroic and Nightfall this week, and the biggest enemies all have void weapons (Servitors, Minotaurs and the Nexus itself). It's certainly manageable, as long as you use the wall down in the Nexus area to take him out.

I got the Dead Orbit auto rifle on the first Nightfall, but on the second with my warlock, I got the Skull Of Dire Ahamkama Helmet, 19K got the Heart Of The Praxic Fire Chest Armor, and our third guy got Sunbreakers. I won't get much use out of the helmet and I already have a 30 Light Exotic Helmet, and now I have the Raid Helmet. But 19K seemed pretty happy with his gear.

Good then...I'll make use of that Atheon Epilogue Auto Rifle big time and bring the Ice Breaker to

I don't like this .... I understand the rational when it comes to the exotic bounty but don't approve

The hotfix just went live. Should make the raid more interesting. No more knocking Atheon off the cliff. Also he teleports 3 random targets now, not the furthest 3 (which I don't think should have been fixed since that actually involves team strategy, but whatever). Everything else in the patch notes seemed to just be stability improvements.

It takes so long to load the next match that I will not leave a match. I don't have the patience.

I hear ya. And part of that is my personal hatred of the Bastion map

But that 25 k/d spread is probably the toughest requirement of all the exotic bounties. At least if you're not a regular PvP player. The second time I did it, it went smoother as I had the experience and skill to pull it off. I think I also did it during Iron Banner, which helped even more.

But when you get that spread to 13, 14 and then get stuck in a match with someone who seems vastly superior to everyone else, or a team of them, and you see that number creep down to 8,7,6...it can be very deflating.

Wow, I really got my Hard trophy and items in the nick of time!

Also from the patch notes are a look at future possible updates:

Oh please let me hold more bounties!

was just coming here to post that info about possible extra bounty slots in the future
that would be a good enhancement

also be on the lookout for the Jackolyte consumable (at the Postmaster)
turns your guardian's head into a jack-o-lantern

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Can't wait to see what they do for Christmas! Maybe Santalyte...

Will it be flaming if you finish the Nightfall?

I assume it is only visible in the Tower and not during gameplay ... meaning can't headshot a bunch of pumpkins in the Crucible

Updated it this morning but I've yet to finish a Control match due to the network logging me out. Twice. If I want to report it the error code is: monkey.

Starting to get a bit frustrated. In the past 2 days I've done close to 20 public events, and only 1 of them has paid out. On the plus side completed the raid on normal and got a chest piece that I needed.

I'm opposite having good luck with the Public Events but absolute terrible luck with the Cryptarch getting Blue Rare Engrams about 98% of the time. I get more from doing six Public Events than six Cryptarch rollovers.

I got that Jackolyte earlier and didn't have a clue to what it was. based on the description it sounded more like some special bonus when fighting the Hive. Pretty fitting it's for the Hunter.

I'll be on right around 7pm eastern. If your fire team isn't full I will join you.

Ive got that problem too. I havn't had a legendary drop since before the patch, and all blues stay blue. Used Jackolyte earlier and nothing happened.

Wow... I'm glad they fixed a lot of the network issues...

Gettin monkey error

I have some days where I get one material total and some days where I get 5 materials from three events.

RNG is mysterious.