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The "time-lost" side of destiny- the tower invite I almost didn't take- and why I'm so happy I did (long post)

FIRST OFF...NOT A HUMBLE BRAG: I did everything a normal lvl 34 does, used the same weapons, took as much damage... this isn't about what I did, because I did nothing fancy or special. I just played the game like every other 34. This is about the experience I had, and what I learned!

The invite came twice. The first time I awkwardly tried to escape... run off and activate my ghost where the player inviting me couldn't see me as I spurned him. But the next one made me hesitate.

I popped open menu and checked the player out. A level 23 All blues, no purple, low grim score. Something made me go home (xbox one) and physically search through my notifications to manually find the invite. I hit accept and started flying in, still dubious.

At first I ignored the guy, I still had stuff to do in the tower. However as I received my millionth shingen-E from the cryptarch (There aren't many of these left anymore) I noticed the little green dot trailing me. So I switched off mute and tried to talk to the other player. Nothing. So this was how it was going to be. Then the party invite game in. This worried me, because I wasn't trying to sherpa/carry a raid with a 23 (didn't have that much time).

They were squeakers, two of them, but they were the type of squeaker who didn't instantly make you hit go to orbit . One was the kid in the tower with me, we'll call him Pokey (part of his name). The other two were working on a PoE 32... the other squeaker (squeaker #2) and the strange part of the team, an older guy who I didn't expect to find in a party of two squeakers (we'll call him captain)... but then again, I was there too, so what did I know.

Pokey needed help with a strike, the way he asked was so unassuming, I almost felt like he had been rejected way too many times, and that wouldn't surprise me either, hell I almost had. I didn't have a lot of time, but I figured "sure, I can run some dragons with him, get him some quick legendaries"

He was way too low a level, I wasn't even thinking. Dragon strikes were way out of his league. I explained to him how to manually pick a strike. And he did, I wasn't paying attention as he selected and flew in... but the next thing I saw...

The spire is forming

"Buddy this isn't a strike, this is Bungie's most complex raid to date"

Captain and I chuckled over that as we pulled out to orbit... this time we ended up with a strike. Mars of course, everyone's favorite Rockets Mc[redacted]face.

I normally run through these, but I hung back, to see how Pokey wanted to experience the strikes ( I got the impression he'd never run them before, or if so only enough to have completed them, but not remember how they go). He wanted to kill everything...

Wanted to. He was dead in the first few moments.

He seemed shocked that I didn't leave and apologized profusely. I felt ashamed.....that should never be someone's reaction to dying in game. Were we, as a community, so (3 max gally's only) intolerant of new players that a quick death had this effect on him?

Whatever. I rezzed him and we scanned the door and started heading through towards the first cave. Well I did...he had a speed lobster (my name for the interceptor, within my clan) ... and was loving every second of it! "It kills them so fast!!" He quipped "LOOK AT HOW FAST I GO!!" He squeaked as he soared towards the enemy filled cave. His excitement turned to panic as his vehicle took damage. I assured him there were more "Speed bugs" as he called it, ahead. He died several more times, apologizing way too much each time.

"You do some much damage" -You'll do just as much someday

"That gun is awesome, where did you get it" -This is fatebringer, its from the vault

We get to the tank phase (he rocked his speed lobster all the way through the first generals, and tore up a centurion with it, by physically running it over, he loved that) and he headed down to 1V1 the tank with his speed lobster. We know, on reddit, that's a bad idea, if you don't understand how the tank works... and to his credit he survived for quite a while. Then I realized the other guy went down with him.

last guardian standing

Now pokey was worried, it had easily killed them both. "Don't come get me, it'll kill you, it's too powerful"

"What's that gun? -This is blackhammer

"Does it ever reload, where did you get it??" -Only if you miss a shot, it comes from crota.

The tank was a joke but still, I was cautious, that cannon blast was still tough enough to cause a team wipe, if I wasn't careful enough, ... even with me being a high leveled god in his eyes. Black hammer ate it up.

Then it happened... the best part of the strike wasn't the boss... it was the room right before it. We killed the random adds and I was about to head into Sir redacted's chamber when I heard it.

"Oh my gosh!! It's a legendary engram!! My very first one!" hype intesifies "I GOT MY VERY FIRST LEGENDARY GUN!!!"

He's pumped now and we head in to take on the boss... I'm last guardian standing again before I know it, after just straight dumping yallerhorn down mr. bigbad's throat. I go to rez him and the other guy, facing every single unit in the room.

"Are you even taking any damage?" -Some, but you'll be this level too soon!

Long story short (not really, not even the end of this post) he somehow lands the last shot on the boss. Now he is even more excited.

Meanwhile as we head to orbit our other two party members are fighting their way through PoE 32 and not having a good time. They are stuck at quodron (don't we all know). I politely asked how long Captain had been playing (he sounded experienced but was struggling with quodron). He said he'd had it for a year, but hadn't played much, he was barely the right level for the 32 even. They couldn't find the eye, to kill it in time, and didn't have guns tough enough to break the bubbles (even my 365 found verdict cuts it close.) Squeaker #2 didn't have as good equipment as captain (aegis of the kell) and that was his sole 365 gun. So I suggested that two of them focus on the boss, one track the eye. This is old old news for us here on Reddit... but it blew his mind. He'd never thought about that. They swapped to that strategy, as Pokey and I hit the tower, and were at least having a less frustrating time.

Pokey ran off to decode his engram, I knew bungie had fixed the cryptarch, but for a second I was worried that my little buddy was about to get a blue or a green.

"OH MY GOSH, MY FIRST LEGENDARY!! Look at this!! Its sawtooth oscillator!!"

I inspected him and that purple was there, exalted on a field of greens and blues. We all wanted him to roll a gally... but for him, that legendary decode was the best thing ever. I agreed to run another strike and he was on cloud 9, ready to play with his new toy. It was Nexus and totally standard... he ran around killing everything with an unleveled version of an HMG that I didn't even personally like. But it was his FIRST. He will always remember that legendary. By now Captain and Sqeaks #2 had come to the conclusion that they might not actually have the fire power to do quodron. They invited me in, but I didn't have the time. I offered them all a spot in the clan I'm an admin in, and we all friend-ed each other.

This was a long post, but it really opened my eyes to the hidden statistic out there. We on reddit are the 1%... lots of players have never equipped a legendary, let alone an exotic. I watched one player leave that statistical set last night. A large portion of destiny players (not a portion I'd EVER seen) had never set foot in a raid... none of them had.

I know I was almost done with destiny before I met the guys I would eventually start our clan with, so I think what caused me to accept that invite, was knowing that the player sending the invite, could have been me. Almost done with the game, struggling with the fist of crota (my story), and not sure how to progress alone (I didn't know about lfg).

I know people accept tower invites and have terrible experiences. This is my two cents worth! Take the risk, if its a 3-max-gally's -only-for-VoG-easy-only set of squeakers, hop out. But if, on the off chance you run into a group like Pokey, Captain, and Squeaker #2... it may change the way you play destiny. I was a little burned out, a little bored waiting for the next DLC.... and then I watched a kid take his first big step in the game, and let me tell you that was so far beyond worth the time I spent running two strikes and the risk I took accepting that invite.

Destiny's special moments come in the most unexpected places.

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Formatting in progress. Robot at work. Thank you for your patience.
This week at Bungie we’re paving the last mile on the road to launch. Your questions are the cobblestones. Our answers are the mortar.

Before The Taken King commits his Dreadnaught to an incursion into our solar system, we know you’re eager to prepare for the next series of missions. We can’t have our first and last lines of defense operating with an incomplete intelligence package. You have gear to prioritize, weapons to itemize, and maybe even a few triumphs to immortalize. It’s going to be our pleasure to bring you up to speed – and then boost you to escape velocity.

We’ve been tracking curiosities across multiple forums, feeds, streams, and convention halls. While you’ve been speculating, we’ve been putting the finishing touches on your next theater of war. With a few waves of information out in the wild now, we’re in a better place to demonstrate in first-person how Destiny is about to change. Would you like to know more? We hope you do.

The information you crave will come straight from the mouths of the creators during an on-site inspection of their creations, and we’ll do it live! We’re planning a series of broadcasts to brief you on the rising Taken threat and show you what you’ll need to know to survive the next evolution. It’ll be fun to look you in the eye again and show off what we’ve been working on.

Scott’s downright giddy about the chance to dust off our set.

Here’s the lineup. Set Destination for Twitch.

DESTINY YEAR TWO - 19 AUG 2015 - 11AM PDT

Subject Matter Experts: Executive Producer Mark Noseworthy Senior Design Lead Tyson Green Community Questions sourced live by Cozmo

How will your own personal highlights from the first year of Destiny translate to the second? What will your Guardian's lifestyle be like in the new and improved Tower? How will your Guardian become a more powerful snowflake over the course of your next journey? Is it true that Character Level and Light will rise in exciting new ways? All will be revealed and explained.

Pro-Tip: Don’t dismantle anything until the full developer briefing.

STRIKE THE DREADNAUGHT – 26 AUG 2015 - 11AM PDT

Subject Matter Experts: Design Lead James Tsai Fruit Nation Ambassador Mr. Fruit

What’s it like to infiltrate the Dreadnaught? What surprises do the Taken have for us in combat? How are boss battles different in The Taken King? Join us for a new Strike against a rival Cabal invasion force. See the new Guardian sub-classes in action. Witness the action that will begin Year Two.

COURT OF ORYX – 2 SEPT 2015 - 11AM PDT

Subject Matter Experts: Designer Ben Wommack Scarab Lord Luke Smith Cool Table Ambassador Laced Up Lauren

What mysteries lie in wait within the cavernous hull of the Dreadnaught? How can Guardians plunder the treasures secreted away in its hideous labyrinth? Come along with us on a Patrol of the newest destination in your Director. Learn how Guardians can instigate Public Events. Behold the challenges and the rewards that await you on board the capital ship commanded by Oryx.

Mark your calendar for the next three Wednesdays. Be our guest and let us show you where you’ll be going this Fall.

Security Guardians

Earlier in the week, there was this:

Today, they’d like to share with you some notes on their process.

Security Response Team: In protecting the Destiny player experience, we have two major types of enforcements: Restrictions and Bans. A Restriction temporarily prevents someone from playing one or more parts of the game, whereas a Ban permanently prevents a player from playing the entire game.

Restrictions are issued to disruptive players to give them time to reform. Depending on the severity of the infraction, first-time offenders are typically restricted for a week or two, but repeat offenders can receive a restriction that lasts months. Bans are only issued to the players we never want to see in the world of Destiny again.

Please be advised that you are the company you keep. If a cheater is a member of your Fireteam, you may well get caught up in the dragnet we have weaved to ensnare them. Be suspicious if someone guarantees you a flawless run in Trials of Osiris. No matter how skilled the player, victory in the Crucible can't be guaranteed. Be extra careful of people advertising their services, especially for a fee.

If your Internet connection is consistently unstable, you may not be considered a worthy adversary. It may happen that you’ll be temporarily restricted from Crucible activities until your Internet connection improves. We only make these types of Restrictions in the most extreme cases, so don't be concerned about the periodic Internet lag that is common to everyone.

The mission of the Security Response Team is to protect the landscape of the game from people who ruin the game experience for other players. Our servers track statistics about every player, every second. We analyze the player statistics and corroborate the results with player reports to take action with statistical certainty. We manually verify the results before we issue Restrictions or Bans.

Lastly, we always monitor the Bungie.net forums to survey the results of a series of Restriction or Bans.

Play nice, Guardians!

As the Hot Fix Cools Down

Cooking up game updates is painstaking work. When we serve up new content, there’s always a chance that we’ll scorch your table. Fortunately, Destiny Player Support is on hand for flame suppression.

DPS: Tess Everis has left the tower. Fear not, all your Special Order items can be found at a new kiosk located in the Tower. If you haven’t seen it yet, this Help article can help you locate the new Special Orders kiosk.

Thanks to the Destiny community last month, we noticed the Husk of the Pit was no longer dropping for Guardians who felled the Blades of Crota. This issue has now been resolved, and the Husk of the Pit is no longer as common as Unobtainium.

Also, we are aware of an issue affecting some users who are unable to retrieve Red Bull Focused Light (or other consumable items received via email) from the Tower Postmaster. We are actively investigating this matter. Stay tuned to this Help forum post or the @BungieHelp on Twitter for updates on the matter.

Lastly, if you’ve encountered any issues applying the HotFix, this Help Article contains steps for manually applying an update to Destiny.

If you need to ring the bell and clear the firehouse, visit the #Help forum.

Best in Show

Who is the toastmaster who illuminates the community legends who rise to the top of the Creations page? It’s this guy…

Cozmo: Montages, dance-offs, funny parodies – these are just some of the different types of videos we have been watching all week on the Community Creations page. There have been some great submissions being passed around here at Bungie. Some made us laugh, some made us cry. In the end, winners were chosen, and those winners are getting a sweet emblem to show off to other Guardians in their Fireteam.

WINNER: Dance party crasher.

Honorable Mention: Meh ¯_(ツ)_/ ¯

Honorable Mention: For impressive Peggle shot

Honorable Mention: Because DeeJ gets drunk on Nova Bombs

We know how much you love the weekly updates in which we talk about what we’re going to talk about… Soon. You’re detecting a necessary transitional period between gamescom and Twitch. We need these moments to get back on PDT and clear our heads of the punishment we relished so happily overseas. Hang in there, because our streams should deliver. In the meantime, GameInformer is still saying some pretty exciting things about the time they spent as our guests.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank everyone who visited our booth in Germany. Meeting people who love Destiny is the very best thing about serving this community. Seeing excited, smiling faces lit by a battle with a Taken boss on a new story mission was a total rush. We hope the show we put on was worth the hours you spent standing in line, warmed by that balmy Koelnmesse air.

The show must go on. Next week. The theater will be stateside this time, and it will accommodate all of you at the same time.

We’ll be sure to remind you when you can tune in.

DeeJ, out.

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