I bought the exotic helm off Xur. My legendary helm and chest armor came from the Queens missions. I bought the gauntlets and boots off of the New Monarchy vendor.

I've been much luckier with weapons. I got the Auto Rifle pretty fast. I've actually gotten a couple of legendary Machine Guns but I broke the first one down because I didn't realize how awesome it was. I've also had a couple of legendary Fusion and/or Pulse Rifles but I broke them down too. Hate those weapons.

Just sell the game now and buy it back in 6 months for half the price. Maybe it will be better then.

And the last straw...

So tonight I realized that all three factions take Crucible Marks for payment. So, if you play multiplayer, you have four legendary gun vendors at your disposal. Fucking four.

But if you only play coop, you only have one legendary gun vendor (and only if you preordered).

Enough.

You can exchange materiel for crucible marks. So you don't have to play pvp if you do not want to.

Really? How brutally obnoxious is the exchange rate?

Genuine question, not sarcasm.

Yeah, it takes way too much energy in this game to get gear. Either farming or bounties. I'm done.

Also looking at your stats I've put in ALOT more time than you. I was on vacation last week and I didn't do much besides play the game.

So i did my first strike mission yesterday, the "easy" level 8 on on Earth.

I am at level 22, my brother is level 10 and we got paired with a level 11 (he was good, I assume it was his second or third character).

It was a lot of fun but if that was level 8 I can't imagine how nuts some of the higher level ones are.

Still have no legendary or exotic gear. Got 2 blue engrams (after patch) and one decoded blue, the other as coin.


Are "strange coins" and "motes of light" the same currency? Are they both currency? I know the guy that shows up on weekends takes strange coins right? What do motes of light do?

Motes of light and strange coins are both currency. The Speaker in the tower takes motes to purchase things. Xur also takes them for certain items, as well as strange coins.

Some guy on Reddit figured out a formula that shows the damage bonuses or penalties depending on how far above or below the enemy you were facing. The bold part is copied directly from his post:

4 lvl or lower below mob: 100% damage penalty
3 lvl below mob: ~52% damage penalty
2 lvl below mob: ~42% damage penalty
1 lvl below mob: ~32% damage penalty
0 lvl below or higher than mob: 0% damage penalty

Your light levels affect BOTH your damage output and how much damage you take only UP TO the level of the mobs (i.e. if you're lvl 28, you'll do the same damage and take the same amount of damage from lvl 20 mobs as you would from lvl 24 mobs, there is ZERO difference)

So basically, for you guys that are in the level 20's, doing the strikes that are level 8/10/etc is exactly the same as if you did a level 18/20/etc as long as you were 4 levels above.

In other words... I'm level 28. If I do the Level 24 Vanguard version of Devils Lair, the damage I do and take from enemies is exactly the same as if I did the level 8 version of it.

The only time I don't play Vanguard Tiger strikes is when I have a bounty for a specific boss in a strike because the Vanguard strikes are random. Instead, I'll just pick that specific strike from the planet its on. But other than that, Level 24 all the way. There's really not much difference difficulty-wise other than the enemies are mostly the major/ultra versions in the higher level strikes so they take a little bit longer to kill.

50 material gets you 5 marks. As terrible as that is farming chests is far more enjoyable than pvp

question if anyone knows
I have my Warlock tied to New Monarchy faction via a worn bond
I ranked up to rank 3 with them which appears to be the max to purchase the highest level gear they offer
I'll probably unequip the bond now but I did notice that the rank meter continues to go up beyond level 3 .... any reason why?

My understanding is that you can continue to rank up. At every new level you get a care package sent to the Postmaster. Other than that, there is no advantage to leveling beyond 3 with respect to the specific faction vendor. For example, my Cryptarch is currently at level 14 or so.

Feel like I have been playing quite a bit. Played at least 6 or 7 hours since I hit level 20 and still at level 20. I understand you have to equip armor with light to level up. Where the hell is this armor? Gotten two drops that have light since hitting level 20. All armor is blue. Two out of three weapons are blue. Never seen anything but a green or blue drop.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I be looking for higher color armor with light somewhere else? I am new to MMO type games so not sure if I am doing something wrong.

Follow up:

I'm assured by NeoGAF that none of the best stuff in the game is purchased with Crucible Marks and that high level raids are really where it's at. If that's true, then I guess I'll keep plugging away.

Ideally, I'll find a group who want to run raids rather than farm materials, because that's the closest I've come to enjoying the game.

The higher level enemies do inflict more damage than lower level ones, and it takes more hits to take them down. So there is a difference. If I need to complete a Strike without dying, I'm gonna play the Level 8 version over the Level 24.

But you are right that the strikes on 24 aren't much harder to complete (well, The Summoning Pits is a bitch at the higher levels).

I maxed out the first subclass for my Titan, so now I'm gonna bench him for a bit and start my 3rd character, a Female Human Hunter. I'm starting as a bladedancer: a.k.a. the cheesiest superpower in PvP. Talk about cheap kills.

My Hunter will probably skip from 20 to 23, as I already have a Blue Helmet, Legendary Boots, and Exotic body Armor. I think it's 52 light points before upgrading any of them.

Once you hit vanguard level two you can purchase legendary vanguard armor which will significantly increase your light level. It also goes up as you upgrade your armor.

You can also purchase exotics from Xur who shows up at the tower from friday until sunday. You will need to save strange coins for this. For example, I bought an exotic chest armor from him this past weekend. I believe it cost 13 coins.

good point, I forgot about the "care package" you get at the postmaster after achieving a new rank ... probably still not enough to tie me to one faction after rank 3

I think you would enjoy the raid quite a bit. It's really like nothing else in the game and emphasizes teamwork like you wouldn't believe. It is literally impossible for 1 guy to win it for you (but it is possible for 1 guy to lose it for you). If the people don't communicate in the raid, they will fail 1000 times out of a 1000. I've never played a game that required that much coordination. Nothing even comes close. Not even Battlefield.

And I mean the actual raid, not the strikes. HUGE difference.

haven't done the Raid yet but given that synopsis it makes more sense why Bungie didn't allow for random matchmaking when it comes to that aspect of the game

Yeah, alright. You have my attention.

Might have to grab you and Buzz. Assume it's three players?

I also want to try the glass vault thingie, but I can't imagine what six people we'd get together for that long of a run.

it is 6 players .... and Vault Of Glass is the raid

The Vault of Glass is the raid. That's what I'm talking about. It needs 6 people which is probably why not many people on here have tried it. But it's the best this game has to offer. By far.

It saves your progress too, so you don't have to complete it in one sitting. There are checkpoints along the way. I think you just have to be the fireteam leader to be able to resume where you left off, so you could technically play with 5 different people the next time you played, although I'm not sure many new players would want to jump in the middle of it. I have a save at the very end but it was with a bunch of randoms so I doubt I'll ever continue it, but I'd be more than happy to start over. One of the guys was on my friends list, but the other 4 were HIS friends, but you get the idea. I doubt I'll play with that same group again.

Is there a quick way to check your level with all the vendors/factions? I haven't found anything in the menu system. I just got to level 23 with my warlock. What's the best stuff to do to get my levels higher quickly? I feel a little directionless.