I probably won't come back to Destiny until the new DLC hits.

So meat, chess and myself ran through I think 4 Raids today together, and I did a 5th before they joined up. I did 2 normal runs with my Warlock and Titan, and hard runs with all 3. The first 4 raids got me pretty much nothing. That's not true. I ended up with an assload of shards and energy, 7 Found Verdicts overall, and I did get my second Vex Mythoclast. My Titan got no armor, other than maybe a second pair of gloves. My Warlock will need Iron Banner to get to 30, while my Titan has to wait another week (at least).

That leaves the final Raid, on my Hunter, while I am fading fast from a lack of sleep. I try and push through as best I can, but I'm dying at stupid points because I'm just not able to keep focus. But I keep pushing, and we finally put it together, I stay conscious enough to be carried through. Got Hezen Vengeance for the second time, which wasn't bad. But then we got to the final room.

From the gatekeepers, I got the chest armor. And then from Atheon himself I was blessed with the Helmet. My Hunter now has 3 Raid parts, more than my other characters. But she still needs the freaking boots! Iron Banner for her as well.

By the end of the week, I could have 2 Level 30 characters.

"OK everybody, don't die."

(2 seconds later)

"Why is Scott just standing there dying?!"

chess... did you delete one of your 30s?

So Iron Banner is going FAR better for me today than it did in Day 1. First day I had a 9 match losing streak. Today I was on the winning side 7 straight games. I'm less than 300 rep away from Level 3, and the boots that have been the bane of my Warlock's existence.

I think the real key to advancing in the Banner is once again Bounties. The first two days have offered the same 6 bounties each worth 100 Rep. I turned in 4 and got 500 Rep as the Nightfall perk or the Iron Banner perk boosted it up (maybe both?). I still have 2 to finish, and I should soon have the boots. I may even go for the gloves and Fusion later in the week after I get My Hunter to level 3 for her boots and gateway to Level 30.

Poor Titan, who sits with his gloves and boots, staring at Lord Saladin and proclaims, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"

I'm close to doing the same though I might stick my head in for a Nightfall, Weekly and Raid but playing Far Cry 4 now has given me a fresh breath of air and a feeling of actually doing something. I just felt like I'm going around in circles with everything hinging on getting Raid Armor or not, anything good out of Nightfall and adding more rare Coins to a already large stash with the Weekly. All three are basically "One & Done" per week. And the "Craptarch" has been about 95% useless....I'll just wait & see...

Classic!

We were struggling with cheesing the Templar, mostly because we had 4 hunters, but also because people were playing a little bit sloppy. I'm the relic holder, and I'm rallying the troops to "Just throw grenades and don't die". Meanwhile, Scott is standing at the bottom of the steps getting shot in the back of the head...and the quote above.

My raids:

• Warlock (normal and hard): Got a third VoC, but nothing else
• Titan (hard): Good run. Got Fatebringer, Praetorian Foil, and Titan Helm (all 4 parts now)
• Hunter (hard): Got a second Aetheon's Epilogue, so no complaints.

Also got that shader Scott was talking about yesterday.

Yup. Put all of her gear in the vault and deleted her after running raid, nightfall and weekly heroic.

I've been planning on doing it sometime, because I wasn't crazy about the character I created, and I timed it on Tues so I'd have the full week to get her back to 20 and get a second raid, nightfall and weekly. She's already back to level 9.

Hate not having a character editor. One of many dumb design decisions in this game.

IRON BANNER! RANK 3! I got my fucking boots!!!!!!!!!

And in the win that sealed my Rank up to the next level, I was also rewarded with yet another legendary weapon, this time it's the Iron Banner Hand Cannon Timur's Lash.

And it does look like the rest of the ranks are 2400. Getting to 3 took 2400, now getting to 4 is also 2400.

For next week's raids, Atheon's got a new Level 30 bastard to deal with.

Nice Scott.

I'm kind of tempted to do some Iron Banner, but I also have lots of work to do getting my Warlock leveled back up along with some new guns. And literally the only armor piece that I'm missing is the Warlock gloves, and I'll probably just use the Sunbreakers and take my chances with raids.

Love the Fate Bringer, especially for this week's nightfall and weekly. Ultimately, I want every character to have an Epilogue, a VoC and a Fate Bringer to alternate.

Provided you don't fall asleep and get shot in the back of the head first.

my night last night consisted of mainly running Iron Banner
started the night a bit over rank 2 (carry over) and am a couple wins away from level 3
I really don't need the boots for my Warlock as I have raid boots so level 4 will be my target for the gauntlet

my early games I was getting smoked (unusual for me) but later the teams I was paired with had a long winning streak so much I couldn't stop to join anyone else in other activities

almost all level 28/29/30's playing ..... no lower 20 level scrubs and I still feel like the balancing is still off as I at one time was getting smoked by some dude with a "rare" weapon

VOC had been my recent go to in the Crucible but was wayyyy to slow in firing for IB .... once I swiched back to my Suros I was rocking a consistantly positive K/D ratio, finishing near the top, and actually having fun again

Did get the SGA bounty from turning in 2 bounties to Lord Saladin ... thank goodness for the additional bounty slots

using the IB emblem, shader, and bond .... will have to use the tempered buff at some point as well, likely on the weekend when I have more time to invest for the 12 hour blocks

capture/hold points moved in Meridian Bay map


other than that jumped in with chase on the nightfall when he was at the end .... I didn't get sh*t, he got Horny

did some weeklies/dailies/PEs with chase and gooter as well as another nightfall that I planned on switching out to one of my lower level characters at the end on but got a little carried away with P&T on Sepikis and blew him up before switching

Nightfall seemed a bit ramped up in toughness this week

Apparently, all platforms now have a true demo for this game. So those of us who didn't buy the game have a chance to check it out.

Yeah, Iron Banner is still not the concept that was presented to us. The rank differences are a joke. For example, on critical hits with my maxed Suros as a Level 29, here are the results I got:

Vs. Level 30: 35
Vs. Level 29: 36
Vs. Level 28: 37

And so on. 1 freaking hit point of difference. WTF? And yeah, instead of making it about the best gear being the key, they made it more important to max out the gear you have. So for example, a maxed out Rare gun outperforms a Legendary or Exotic that hasn't been maxed.

Why does Bungie fight so hard against the easy and obvious: People want to lay waste to lesser level people! Instead, they keep babying it for the people who don't put the time in to get the good stuff. I want the 20% boost I get in PVE when I have a level advantage. Want to beat me, get you ass ranked up like I did, or have the skill to beat me with a handicap.

And I also got the Gjallarhorn

Groan.

LEVEL 30!

Finally! My Warlock has reached the coveted level of awesomeness.

And when the DLC releases with level 32 gear you'll be un-awesome again.

But seriously, congrats.

I'm not going to bother with Iron Banner. I'll keep doing the raids with my 29. Honestly, I feel like I can hold my own enough in the hard raid. And like I said, in a couple more weeks it probably won't matter anyway.

This game really loves to give me guns.

They have now given me 3 of the Timur's Lash hand cannon. So many damn hand cannons...

Aren't they doing something to bump current raid gear to 32? Thought I read that somewhere.

I've only gotten one legendary or exotic hand cannon ever: Fate Bringer (and of course Last Word from Xur)

My Warlock is back to 15, and I just have the Mars story missions left. Hopefully will get her back to 30 tonight and be raid ready. I also still have to do all of my weeklies and nightfalls if anybody wants to team up the next few nights.

Sorry about last night's invite Gooter...I was a bit occupied in Far Cry 4 getting attacked by wolves, bitten by a snake, pecked on by a Eagle and shot with arrows by three well hidden hunters. When I got done I saw ya'll were already playing but I needed to call it a night. If a group are going to try tonight I'll go ahead and put my name in; just need a time.

No worries Buzz! Actually, I wasn't even sure if you got the message. It kept saying it couldn't send it.

Well that sucked...I got it, just running for my life. But yea...if a group is up for tonight or heck I'll even go with a Nightfall or Weekly I'm in...and thanks for the consideration...