there are 3 levels of curse:
low curse, medium curse and high curse
curse level is primarily determined by ball size:
small to non-existent balls, that's a low curse
medium sized balls is medium curse
and if you've got big ole balls, that's high curse
in terms of gameplay curse has the following effects that I'm aware of:
changes the enemy in the blind well
changes the mission that is available
changes where petra lives
(maybe?) changes where the ascendant chests are
previously the dungeon Shattered Throne was only available in a high curse week but now it's always available
Thanks for this, that helps. I thought stuff like this would be explained in a story but I guess not. I'll probably just do the dungeon then move on. I was trying to do everything I missed in order, but I really want to play the Shadowkeep stuff.
I didn't even know there was a Mara throne room. The Dreaming City has been really disappointing to me, everything feels really disjointed and past that initial mission to actually get in there, I don't have any idea what's going on.
Why are there different levels of a curse per week? I don't know how to tell, but I'm guessing this week was full curse because I opened an ascendant chest and got a lore notification.
Edit: And I'm guessing seeds of light are gone, because I already had all the new subclasses. All I had to do was click on them under the details section.
The Dreaming City was very much meant to be experienced at the time it was released and how it slotted into the games overall narrative at the time. Going back to it without that context is much like going to some patch added on previously end game content in an MMO. Like mentioned above, for instance, Sunwell Isle in WoW or anything similar.
The city and its curse cycle make since narratively within their time frame, but stripped of that there are a lot of systems at work that have no real bearing a year + later.
Is there anywhere to read on weapon mods?
Because as far as i can tell, they don't do anything with the exception of extra ammo one.
On the whole, Weapon Mods are extremely niche. Black Armory introduced a subset of Weapon Mods that very graciously announce why you should use them, as they are called things like "Dragonfly Spec", which you would put on a gun with Dragonfly to make that effect better.
However, the effect of something like Icarus Grip ("Improves accuracy while airborne") is only really pertinent to high-level PvP players trying to find minor edges against the competition, but also only if they're using very specific guns. In the case of Icarus Grip, that would likely be a 140 or 110 RPM Hand Cannon, as both archetypes have increased "bloom"/diminished accuracy while in-air.
TL;DR — Backup Mag is pretty much the only obviously good gun mod, and it's fine if that's all you ever use. For Heavy Weapons, a lot of folks also like the Boss Damage mod, as it makes those weapons even better against bosses in raids.
Wouldn't agree at all. Weapon mods are generally quite good and Backup Mag isn't even close to the obvious one to go to most of the time. Also Icarus Grip is good for a lot of weapon types and it's entirely about how much time you spend in the air in PvP.
Here's the list:
Backup Mag (Banshee-44) [Increases magazine]
Boss Spec (Banshee-44) [Increases damage against bosses and vehicles] (7.5% increase)
Counterbalance Stock (Banshee-44) [Reduces recoil deviation for the weapon] (Adds +15 to Recoil Direction)
Dragonfly Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the radius and damage of Dragonfly]
Freehand Grip (Banshee-44) [Increases accuracy and ready speed while firing from the hip]
Icarus Grip (Banshee-44) [Improves accuracy while airborne]
Major Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against powerful enemies] (7.5% increase)
Minor Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against rank-and-file enemies] (7.5% increase)
Quick Access Sling (Ada-1) [Swap weapons much faster for a short duration after emptying the magazine]
Radar Booster (Ada-1) [Slightly increases the range at which radar detects enemies]
Radar Tuner (Banshee-44) [Radar immediately returns when you stop aiming down sights]
Rampage Spec (Ada-1) [Increases duration of Rampage]
Sprint Grip (Ada-1) [Temporarily increases the weapon's ready speed and aim down sights speed after sprinting]
Surrounded Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the damage granted by Surrounded. Bonus damage lingers for a brief time when no longer surrounded by three or more enemies]
Taken Spec (Last Wish Raid Chests) [Increased damage against Taken enemies] (10% increase)
For a "just slap it on and don't think about it" default mod, I'd be more likely to go with something like Targeting Adjuster personally. Especially on controller. Hitting your shots is almost always better then almost anything else.
Minor/Major/Boss spec are all quite good and can really help on the right weapons.
Rampage and Dragonfly spec are big buffs to those perks.
Quick Access Sling is a big deal in certain loadouts.
On controller Counterbalance can be a huge improvement.
Are weapons not guaranteed from defeating the final bosses in Escalation Protocol? Last night I completed all 7 waves and got an armor piece from the chest but didn't get any weapon drop from the boss.
edit: I also disagree on weapon mods being useless. They have plenty of benefits - also if you utilize any "low magazine" perks backup mag is actively detrimental to your DPS. There's no default, they all have uses.
Is there anywhere to read on weapon mods?
Because as far as i can tell, they don't do anything with the exception of extra ammo one.
On the whole, Weapon Mods are extremely niche. Black Armory introduced a subset of Weapon Mods that very graciously announce why you should use them, as they are called things like "Dragonfly Spec", which you would put on a gun with Dragonfly to make that effect better.
However, the effect of something like Icarus Grip ("Improves accuracy while airborne") is only really pertinent to high-level PvP players trying to find minor edges against the competition, but also only if they're using very specific guns. In the case of Icarus Grip, that would likely be a 140 or 110 RPM Hand Cannon, as both archetypes have increased "bloom"/diminished accuracy while in-air.
TL;DR — Backup Mag is pretty much the only obviously good gun mod, and it's fine if that's all you ever use. For Heavy Weapons, a lot of folks also like the Boss Damage mod, as it makes those weapons even better against bosses in raids.
Wouldn't agree at all. Weapon mods are generally quite good and Backup Mag isn't even close to the obvious one to go to most of the time. Also Icarus Grip is good for a lot of weapon types and it's entirely about how much time you spend in the air in PvP.
Here's the list:
Backup Mag (Banshee-44) [Increases magazine]
Boss Spec (Banshee-44) [Increases damage against bosses and vehicles] (7.5% increase)
Counterbalance Stock (Banshee-44) [Reduces recoil deviation for the weapon] (Adds +15 to Recoil Direction)
Dragonfly Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the radius and damage of Dragonfly]
Freehand Grip (Banshee-44) [Increases accuracy and ready speed while firing from the hip]
Icarus Grip (Banshee-44) [Improves accuracy while airborne]
Major Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against powerful enemies] (7.5% increase)
Minor Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against rank-and-file enemies] (7.5% increase)
Quick Access Sling (Ada-1) [Swap weapons much faster for a short duration after emptying the magazine]
Radar Booster (Ada-1) [Slightly increases the range at which radar detects enemies]
Radar Tuner (Banshee-44) [Radar immediately returns when you stop aiming down sights]
Rampage Spec (Ada-1) [Increases duration of Rampage]
Sprint Grip (Ada-1) [Temporarily increases the weapon's ready speed and aim down sights speed after sprinting]
Surrounded Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the damage granted by Surrounded. Bonus damage lingers for a brief time when no longer surrounded by three or more enemies]
Taken Spec (Last Wish Raid Chests) [Increased damage against Taken enemies] (10% increase)
For a "just slap it on and don't think about it" default mod, I'd be more likely to go with something like Targeting Adjuster personally. Especially on controller. Hitting your shots is almost always better then almost anything else.
Minor/Major/Boss spec are all quite good and can really help on the right weapons.
Rampage and Dragonfly spec are big buffs to those perks.
Quick Access Sling is a big deal in certain loadouts.
On controller Counterbalance can be a huge improvement.
Oh fuck... I'm going to agree with Shryke here over Mugen. @squall99x will never let me live this down.
Icarus grip belongs on Recluse, you heathens. /s
But seriously, a lot of mods either play to a strength of a given weapon or offset a specific negative. Which means that an amazing mod for one weapon my be literally useless for another.
Does your gun (pulse, auto, etc) kick too much side-to-side? Counterbalance will make it closer to straight up and down. Does your slow-firing scout already have negligible recoil? Counterbalance probably won't do anything.
Does your hand cannon run out of ammo right before your second kill? Backup mag will fix that. Are you abusing an outlaw/kill clip roll? Then who cares how many rounds you have.
Are you a shotgun ape? Sprint grip. Mountaintop fuckboi? Quick access sling. Harder hitting headshots after your third scotch for the night? Targeting adjuster.
Most choices are weapon and playstyle-dependant. But since hitting crits is better than missing, Targeting Adjuster is usually a safe bet if you're not sure what else to use.
Are weapons not guaranteed from defeating the final bosses in Escalation Protocol? Last night I completed all 7 waves and got an armor piece from the chest but didn't get any weapon drop from the boss.
Yeah, they aren't. On the plus side the weapon drops are not like a one shot a week thing. In fact, you can reactivate the EP at the place you started the last wave to just farm the boss instead of doing all the preliminary waves again.
Listen folks, I know reading comprehension is at an all time low, but I described Weapon Mods as “niche” not useless. That niche is "hardcore, heavily-invested players with an emphasis on PvP and Endgame PvE".
And I did this in great part because I was replying to a new player that has elsewhere conveyed a dislike for PvP and doesn’t generally seem invested in the endgame at the moment. To such a person, a treatise on the merit of Targeting Adjuster or "Icarus Grip for the Developing Shotgun Ape" did not strike me as worthwhile.
I forgive you for your indiscretion in a time of weakness, @rndmhero ; but please, be better, both for you and your daughter.
Listen folks, I know reading comprehension is at an all time low, but I described Weapon Mods as “niche” not useless. That niche is "hardcore, heavily-invested players with an emphasis on PvP and Endgame PvE".
And I did this in great part because I was replying to a new player that has elsewhere conveyed a dislike for PvP and doesn’t generally seem invested in the endgame at the moment. To such a person, a treatise on the merit of Targeting Adjuster or "Icarus Grip for the Developing Shotgun Ape" did not strike me as worthwhile.
I forgive you for your indiscretion in a time of weakness, @rndmhero ; but please, be better, both for you and your daughter.
Mods are way more impactful in PvE than in PvP, though? Rampage Spec and Boss Spec come to mind, not to mention the new Artifact mods that are hugely impactful.
Listen folks, I know reading comprehension is at an all time low, but I described Weapon Mods as “niche” not useless. That niche is "hardcore, heavily-invested players with an emphasis on PvP and Endgame PvE".
And I did this in great part because I was replying to a new player that has elsewhere conveyed a dislike for PvP and doesn’t generally seem invested in the endgame at the moment. To such a person, a treatise on the merit of Targeting Adjuster or "Icarus Grip for the Developing Shotgun Ape" did not strike me as worthwhile.
I forgive you for your indiscretion in a time of weakness, rndmhero ; but please, be better, both for you and your daughter.
Mods are way more impactful in PvE than in PvP, though? Rampage Spec and Boss Spec come to mind, not to mention the new Artifact mods that are hugely impactful.
Not including the artifact mods - it's all a matter of perception. Some people wouldn't perceive an extra second to refresh rampage a "big deal" same with Boss mods. If you only ever do strike playlist the extra 10% damage to the boss that gets deleted in 5 seconds probably isn't going to matter.
I don't think anyone was trying to belittle the existence or usefulness of Mods. The reality, however, is that for your average joe, they offer a benefit that may or may not be noticeable. This is less true in PvP as counterbalance, targeting adjuster, and if it fits your playstyle and is on the right weapon, Icarus Grip have a very noticeable immediate impact. Keep in mind by being on this board you have already disqualified yourself as the average player - so these things probably matter to you. To the 90% of the rest of the population...not as much.
I haven't spent any of my artifact points because I have no idea what they actually do, not having started the Shadowkeep campaign.
The artifact mods (the ones that aren't universal things) aren't actually about Shadowkeep. They're focused on the Vex Invasion seasonal activity. Spoilers for seasonal activity stuff, I guess?
Any of the ones that say they're powerful against X Champions (Overload, Barrier, or Unstoppable... possibly one I'm forgetting?) are used in the Vex Invasion activity. It's largely a horde-mode wave-fighting thing and occasionally you'll get special guys for whom you need weapons with the appropriate mods.
Presumably the artifact-granted mods will cease to exist at the end of the season, or else just stop working.
I haven't spent any of my artifact points because I have no idea what they actually do, not having started the Shadowkeep campaign.
The artifact mods (the ones that aren't universal things) aren't actually about Shadowkeep. They're focused on the Vex Invasion seasonal activity. Spoilers for seasonal activity stuff, I guess?
Any of the ones that say they're powerful against X Champions (Overload, Barrier, or Unstoppable... possibly one I'm forgetting?) are used in the Vex Invasion activity. It's largely a horde-mode wave-fighting thing and occasionally you'll get special guys for whom you need weapons with the appropriate mods.
Presumably the artifact-granted mods will cease to exist at the end of the season, or else just stop working.
Champions appear in Ordeals, Nightmare Hunts, and the Raid. As such, dem mods are actually about Shadowkeep.
I do appreciate the numerical breakdown for the mods, i have tried all the ones i have, but i don't see any real difference.
Well, the extra mag is couple extra bullets, minor spec gives barely noticeable damage increase (not enough to really matter, all small fries die of couple bullets as is)
Though i am not quite sure what [This weapon gains better target acquisition] means in concrete terms, is there some form of aim assist in this game?
I do appreciate the numerical breakdown for the mods, i have tried all the ones i have, but i don't see any real difference.
Well, the extra mag is couple extra bullets, minor spec gives barely noticeable damage increase (not enough to really matter, all small fries die of couple bullets as is)
Though i am not quite sure what [This weapon gains better target acquisition] means in concrete terms, is there some form of aim assist in this game?
I haven't spent any of my artifact points because I have no idea what they actually do, not having started the Shadowkeep campaign.
The artifact mods (the ones that aren't universal things) aren't actually about Shadowkeep. They're focused on the Vex Invasion seasonal activity. Spoilers for seasonal activity stuff, I guess?
Any of the ones that say they're powerful against X Champions (Overload, Barrier, or Unstoppable... possibly one I'm forgetting?) are used in the Vex Invasion activity. It's largely a horde-mode wave-fighting thing and occasionally you'll get special guys for whom you need weapons with the appropriate mods.
Presumably the artifact-granted mods will cease to exist at the end of the season, or else just stop working.
Champions appear in Ordeals, Nightmare Hunts, and the Raid. As such, dem mods are actually about Shadowkeep.
Y'know, I knew they were in the ordeals and hunts and just forgot. Haven't done the raid yet.
I wonder what that means for the mods, then. I thought the artifact was supposed to be for "mechanics Bungie wants to get rid of at the end of the season". Will the champions in the other activities go away at the end of the season as well?
I haven't spent any of my artifact points because I have no idea what they actually do, not having started the Shadowkeep campaign.
The artifact mods (the ones that aren't universal things) aren't actually about Shadowkeep. They're focused on the Vex Invasion seasonal activity. Spoilers for seasonal activity stuff, I guess?
Any of the ones that say they're powerful against X Champions (Overload, Barrier, or Unstoppable... possibly one I'm forgetting?) are used in the Vex Invasion activity. It's largely a horde-mode wave-fighting thing and occasionally you'll get special guys for whom you need weapons with the appropriate mods.
Presumably the artifact-granted mods will cease to exist at the end of the season, or else just stop working.
Champions appear in Ordeals, Nightmare Hunts, and the Raid. As such, dem mods are actually about Shadowkeep.
Y'know, I knew they were in the ordeals and hunts and just forgot. Haven't done the raid yet.
I wonder what that means for the mods, then. I thought the artifact was supposed to be for "mechanics Bungie wants to get rid of at the end of the season". Will the champions in the other activities go away at the end of the season as well?
My guess is that Champions will remain and the relevant weapon mods will functionally persist, but weapon types to which they fit will change season-to-season.
I do appreciate the numerical breakdown for the mods, i have tried all the ones i have, but i don't see any real difference.
Well, the extra mag is couple extra bullets, minor spec gives barely noticeable damage increase (not enough to really matter, all small fries die of couple bullets as is)
Though i am not quite sure what [This weapon gains better target acquisition] means in concrete terms, is there some form of aim assist in this game?
Yes, on console. On PC not as much, if any?
There are two kinds of aim assist. Consoles have "sticky" aim where the reticle moves slower when it's over an enemy. Both have bullet magnetism where bullets will slightly arc towards enemies.
I do appreciate the numerical breakdown for the mods, i have tried all the ones i have, but i don't see any real difference.
Well, the extra mag is couple extra bullets, minor spec gives barely noticeable damage increase (not enough to really matter, all small fries die of couple bullets as is)
Though i am not quite sure what [This weapon gains better target acquisition] means in concrete terms, is there some form of aim assist in this game?
Yes, on console. On PC not as much, if any?
There are two kinds of aim assist. Consoles have "sticky" aim where the reticle moves slower when it's over an enemy. Both have bullet magnetism where bullets will slightly arc towards enemies.
I wasn't aware that PC had the magnetism either. I thought the whole "bigger head crit box" (which is what I would call magnetism I guess?) didn't exist on PC. Hence the lack of recoil since its about "clicking on the heads" as they say.
We did that shit blind. And after reading a bit we did the final encounter not at all like the guides say to
What is your way? Maybe the guides are wrong and it is you who is correct.
It looks like two left players, one home team, and three right players, with each side taking turns soloing the portal.
Degenerates.
To expand on this a little:
On left side, Shad doesn't go through the portal, but he does stay on left. He will occasionally help out with right side Cyclops if needed. The basic strat is that there's a team of 3 on each side collecting motes at the same time. One person from each side goes in at a time. The remaining two people kill Cyclops and Goblins, rebuild platforms, and bring back the third when necessary. After both relays are active, we have 4 players designated as Tether Team that get into position and (hopefully) instantly connect a tether to the boss, all swapping to the other side to connect the second tether. After both are connected, we collapse and DPS. Repeat as necessary.
We also tried what we called "Plan B" which is to send two people at a time to one side twice, leaving only one person to watch after the other relay until the first is filled. After reading, it seems that's the dominant strat?
Listen folks, I know reading comprehension is at an all time low, but I described Weapon Mods as “niche” not useless. That niche is "hardcore, heavily-invested players with an emphasis on PvP and Endgame PvE".
And I did this in great part because I was replying to a new player that has elsewhere conveyed a dislike for PvP and doesn’t generally seem invested in the endgame at the moment. To such a person, a treatise on the merit of Targeting Adjuster or "Icarus Grip for the Developing Shotgun Ape" did not strike me as worthwhile.
I forgive you for your indiscretion in a time of weakness, rndmhero ; but please, be better, both for you and your daughter.
Mods are way more impactful in PvE than in PvP, though? Rampage Spec and Boss Spec come to mind, not to mention the new Artifact mods that are hugely impactful.
Not including the artifact mods - it's all a matter of perception. Some people wouldn't perceive an extra second to refresh rampage a "big deal" same with Boss mods. If you only ever do strike playlist the extra 10% damage to the boss that gets deleted in 5 seconds probably isn't going to matter.
I don't think anyone was trying to belittle the existence or usefulness of Mods. The reality, however, is that for your average joe, they offer a benefit that may or may not be noticeable. This is less true in PvP as counterbalance, targeting adjuster, and if it fits your playstyle and is on the right weapon, Icarus Grip have a very noticeable immediate impact. Keep in mind by being on this board you have already disqualified yourself as the average player - so these things probably matter to you. To the 90% of the rest of the population...not as much.
The difference between pre and post catalyst Bad Juju, which is like 90% just putting a rampage mod on the thing, is like night and day. It gives you a meaningful chunk of time to chain that proc and actually make the weapon work. And I think that's in general what a lot of mods are like. They seem small but they are that small because they have fairly big impacts. It's like you read the patch notes and they are saying "X weapon damage increased from 22 on a crit to 24 on a crit" and it looks like nothing but it might have a profound impact on that weapon's usability and power.
That's why I think calling them niche is wrong. They are niche in that a lot of players don't know they are good, not in that they aren't good for most players.
This is one reason I think the new mod system is really great, even if it's a bit rough around the edges right now. When you can just unlock mods and not have to worry about wasting them or running out, people are more likely to try them. There's basically no reason not to slap a mod in a gun now and so people will hopefully engage with the system more and see what it can do.
Welp, tried to get in some last minute attempts on the raid boss with pretty damn competent LFG people. We got several runs with 2 full damage phases, but each time we got to a third run, it started to fall apart as people panicked or got sloppy. Which was annoying because we got the boss to like 10-15% each time, and even a terrible DPS phase would have killed him.
People started to get pretty damn bitter when success was so close in sight though and the clock counted down. I made some sloppy mistakes myself, but ouch as people got angrier than they would have if we didn't even come close.
It'll be interesting to see how much lower stress this encounter gets once you can reliably two or even one phase it, since it's getting received a bit toxic as far as I've seen so far.
Listen folks, I know reading comprehension is at an all time low, but I described Weapon Mods as “niche” not useless. That niche is "hardcore, heavily-invested players with an emphasis on PvP and Endgame PvE".
And I did this in great part because I was replying to a new player that has elsewhere conveyed a dislike for PvP and doesn’t generally seem invested in the endgame at the moment. To such a person, a treatise on the merit of Targeting Adjuster or "Icarus Grip for the Developing Shotgun Ape" did not strike me as worthwhile.
I forgive you for your indiscretion in a time of weakness, rndmhero ; but please, be better, both for you and your daughter.
Mods are way more impactful in PvE than in PvP, though? Rampage Spec and Boss Spec come to mind, not to mention the new Artifact mods that are hugely impactful.
Not including the artifact mods - it's all a matter of perception. Some people wouldn't perceive an extra second to refresh rampage a "big deal" same with Boss mods. If you only ever do strike playlist the extra 10% damage to the boss that gets deleted in 5 seconds probably isn't going to matter.
I don't think anyone was trying to belittle the existence or usefulness of Mods. The reality, however, is that for your average joe, they offer a benefit that may or may not be noticeable. This is less true in PvP as counterbalance, targeting adjuster, and if it fits your playstyle and is on the right weapon, Icarus Grip have a very noticeable immediate impact. Keep in mind by being on this board you have already disqualified yourself as the average player - so these things probably matter to you. To the 90% of the rest of the population...not as much.
The difference between pre and post catalyst Bad Juju, which is like 90% just putting a rampage mod on the thing, is like night and day. It gives you a meaningful chunk of time to chain that proc and actually make the weapon work. And I think that's in general what a lot of mods are like. They seem small but they are that small because they have fairly big impacts. It's like you read the patch notes and they are saying "X weapon damage increased from 22 on a crit to 24 on a crit" and it looks like nothing but it might have a profound impact on that weapon's usability and power.
That's why I think calling them niche is wrong. They are niche in that a lot of players don't know they are good, not in that they aren't good for most players.
This is one reason I think the new mod system is really great, even if it's a bit rough around the edges right now. When you can just unlock mods and not have to worry about wasting them or running out, people are more likely to try them. There's basically no reason not to slap a mod in a gun now and so people will hopefully engage with the system more and see what it can do.
I get what you are saying - but Bad Juju is even more of an outlier because it stacks higher, and gives you the reload and super back based on how many stacks you have. Also Juju takes considerably more to kill certain things than, say, a handcannon where you can just 1 shot things to build rampage to keep it rolling. How much you need it or desire it is greatly affected by weapon type and other considerations.
On left side, Shad doesn't go through the portal, but he does stay on left. He will occasionally help out with right side Cyclops if needed. The basic strat is that there's a team of 3 on each side collecting motes at the same time. One person from each side goes in at a time. The remaining two people kill Cyclops and Goblins, rebuild platforms, and bring back the third when necessary. After both relays are active, we have 4 players designated as Tether Team that get into position and (hopefully) instantly connect a tether to the boss, all swapping to the other side to connect the second tether. After both are connected, we collapse and DPS. Repeat as necessary.
We also tried what we called "Plan B" which is to send two people at a time to one side twice, leaving only one person to watch after the other relay until the first is filled. After reading, it seems that's the dominant strat?
Yeah. Basically....
Dominant strat is two sides of 3. Open one portal and send two people in. There's two types of enemy waves on the island, harpies and hogboblins or goblins and a Minotaur. First groups drops 18 max motes, second drops 15. Sending two people in allows you to only use portals four times and also reduce the total amount of Cyclops. The two people come out (which gives two people with Empowered) and the next two go in.
There's obvious fun there as when the second team comes out, you're starting the new side almost immediately, so you get two Cyclops there, but it's still staggered at least.
The other benefit is you fill up one relay in two trips and enemies stop spawning on one side with their shields that require Empowered if that side relay is full. Usually.
After both relays are full, I've seen two methods. I prefer the one we used which was each side does their own tether (you only need 3 people) to the boss. This allows them to do dps while the second side does their tether and avoids the chaos of switching sides (plus more deeps). That and we at least had weird things happen with 4 people....
Collapse to the center after second tether.
The other method I saw (and actually was my first kill) was one side is DPS, one side is tether, and the tether team and DPS team literally switch sides so that only 3 people do BOTH tethers. I really don't like this one compared to how my native fireteam did it (each side doing their own tether), but it does work. The positive of this style is if you have people 930 or below, they can do this method to let the burly / higher light level people do the DPS.
A comment on the end fight without spoilers, it'll be "fun" to pug since it requires a lot of people switching around and proactive behavior from multiple people as opposed to one or two leaders due to one of the requirements.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
So I am at a crossroads with D2 right now. The buddy and I who have been mostly doing Shadowkeep together are at the 920-930 bracket and we want to start doing the raid and going for nightfall scores and such. The problem is that we really don't want to rando this stuff, we'd like to find a static, or at least a group/clan that regularly runs this stuff so we can start getting in competent groups.
So I have a couple questions: Do members of Pax Arcadia on PC run this stuff together more than I see in clan chat? Are we organizing somewhere else? Discord maybe? I don't see a lot of talk in clan chat about people trying to organize fireteams for end game content.
Outside of that, what are some other options? The100 still feels a bit too rando pubbie for me, unless it's specifically from a known group. Is our best bet to find a smaller "static clan" that is really active in doing end game content? I wouldn't even know where to start looking for such a thing.
Is there anywhere to read on weapon mods?
Because as far as i can tell, they don't do anything with the exception of extra ammo one.
On the whole, Weapon Mods are extremely niche. Black Armory introduced a subset of Weapon Mods that very graciously announce why you should use them, as they are called things like "Dragonfly Spec", which you would put on a gun with Dragonfly to make that effect better.
However, the effect of something like Icarus Grip ("Improves accuracy while airborne") is only really pertinent to high-level PvP players trying to find minor edges against the competition, but also only if they're using very specific guns. In the case of Icarus Grip, that would likely be a 140 or 110 RPM Hand Cannon, as both archetypes have increased "bloom"/diminished accuracy while in-air.
TL;DR — Backup Mag is pretty much the only obviously good gun mod, and it's fine if that's all you ever use. For Heavy Weapons, a lot of folks also like the Boss Damage mod, as it makes those weapons even better against bosses in raids.
Wouldn't agree at all. Weapon mods are generally quite good and Backup Mag isn't even close to the obvious one to go to most of the time. Also Icarus Grip is good for a lot of weapon types and it's entirely about how much time you spend in the air in PvP.
Here's the list:
Backup Mag (Banshee-44) [Increases magazine]
Boss Spec (Banshee-44) [Increases damage against bosses and vehicles] (7.5% increase)
Counterbalance Stock (Banshee-44) [Reduces recoil deviation for the weapon] (Adds +15 to Recoil Direction)
Dragonfly Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the radius and damage of Dragonfly]
Freehand Grip (Banshee-44) [Increases accuracy and ready speed while firing from the hip]
Icarus Grip (Banshee-44) [Improves accuracy while airborne]
Major Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against powerful enemies] (7.5% increase)
Minor Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against rank-and-file enemies] (7.5% increase)
Quick Access Sling (Ada-1) [Swap weapons much faster for a short duration after emptying the magazine]
Radar Booster (Ada-1) [Slightly increases the range at which radar detects enemies]
Radar Tuner (Banshee-44) [Radar immediately returns when you stop aiming down sights]
Rampage Spec (Ada-1) [Increases duration of Rampage]
Sprint Grip (Ada-1) [Temporarily increases the weapon's ready speed and aim down sights speed after sprinting]
Surrounded Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the damage granted by Surrounded. Bonus damage lingers for a brief time when no longer surrounded by three or more enemies]
Taken Spec (Last Wish Raid Chests) [Increased damage against Taken enemies] (10% increase)
For a "just slap it on and don't think about it" default mod, I'd be more likely to go with something like Targeting Adjuster personally. Especially on controller. Hitting your shots is almost always better then almost anything else.
Minor/Major/Boss spec are all quite good and can really help on the right weapons.
Rampage and Dragonfly spec are big buffs to those perks.
Quick Access Sling is a big deal in certain loadouts.
On controller Counterbalance can be a huge improvement.
Oh fuck... I'm going to agree with Shryke here over Mugen. @squall99x will never let me live this down.
Icarus grip belongs on Recluse, you heathens. /s
But seriously, a lot of mods either play to a strength of a given weapon or offset a specific negative. Which means that an amazing mod for one weapon my be literally useless for another.
Does your gun (pulse, auto, etc) kick too much side-to-side? Counterbalance will make it closer to straight up and down. Does your slow-firing scout already have negligible recoil? Counterbalance probably won't do anything.
Does your hand cannon run out of ammo right before your second kill? Backup mag will fix that. Are you abusing an outlaw/kill clip roll? Then who cares how many rounds you have.
Are you a shotgun ape? Sprint grip. Mountaintop fuckboi? Quick access sling. Harder hitting headshots after your third scotch for the night? Targeting adjuster.
Most choices are weapon and playstyle-dependant. But since hitting crits is better than missing, Targeting Adjuster is usually a safe bet if you're not sure what else to use.
One word of warning for anyone reading: Counterbalance is a tricky one to use and you should test it after applying to see what it's doing. Or look up the stats for recoil on a 3rd party site. Because the recoil direction stat is a bit weird.
Basically, recoil is determined by one number and it's more or less a diminishing sinusoid.
Numbers ending in 0 (eg - 60, 70, 80) go far to either the left or right, going back and forth (so if 60 goes left, 70 will go right, 80 will go left again, etc).
Numbers ending in a 5 (eg - 65, 75, 85) go straight up.
The better the number the less it moves in that direction, but the direction itself goes back and forth depending on the number.
What this ends up meaning is that, because Counterbalance adds +15, if you have a gun that goes really hard left or right, counterbalance will straighten it right the hell out. Because it's taking it from, say, a hard left or right at 50 to a very vertical recoil at 65. But if your gun is already very vertical, it will actually throw it off. Because it'll take a fairly vertical 65 to a harder left or right 80.
So I am at a crossroads with D2 right now. The buddy and I who have been mostly doing Shadowkeep together are at the 920-930 bracket and we want to start doing the raid and going for nightfall scores and such. The problem is that we really don't want to rando this stuff, we'd like to find a static, or at least a group/clan that regularly runs this stuff so we can start getting in competent groups.
So I have a couple questions: Do members of Pax Arcadia on PC run this stuff together more than I see in clan chat? Are we organizing somewhere else? Discord maybe? I don't see a lot of talk in clan chat about people trying to organize fireteams for end game content.
Outside of that, what are some other options? The100 still feels a bit too rando pubbie for me, unless it's specifically from a known group. Is our best bet to find a smaller "static clan" that is really active in doing end game content? I wouldn't even know where to start looking for such a thing.
On the steam/PC side, the discord is very active. There are lots of people in there throughout the day. To my knowledge, I haven't seen any Xbox or PS4 players organizing anything on there (tho, they may have their own discord servers..?).
Steam - DoublySymmetric (43687993)
Blizz ID - DoublySymm#1758
We did that shit blind. And after reading a bit we did the final encounter not at all like the guides say to
What is your way? Maybe the guides are wrong and it is you who is correct.
It looks like two left players, one home team, and three right players, with each side taking turns soloing the portal.
Degenerates.
To expand on this a little:
On left side, Shad doesn't go through the portal, but he does stay on left. He will occasionally help out with right side Cyclops if needed. The basic strat is that there's a team of 3 on each side collecting motes at the same time. One person from each side goes in at a time. The remaining two people kill Cyclops and Goblins, rebuild platforms, and bring back the third when necessary. After both relays are active, we have 4 players designated as Tether Team that get into position and (hopefully) instantly connect a tether to the boss, all swapping to the other side to connect the second tether. After both are connected, we collapse and DPS. Repeat as necessary.
We also tried what we called "Plan B" which is to send two people at a time to one side twice, leaving only one person to watch after the other relay until the first is filled. After reading, it seems that's the dominant strat?
On strat popularity:
After my team cleared, I watched a bunch of videos because literally anything had to be better than how we did it.
World's First team used duo portals.
Redeem, Datto and Slayerage all used solo portals. Redeem's second team (which actually cleared earlier than the "main" team) used duo portals.
Almost all groups had a dedicated home team.
The World's First team and the recent 2-man challenge team also only tethered the boss once per DPS phase, instead of twice. The 2-man team took advantage of the relay defender mods for DPS.
Welp, tried to get in some last minute attempts on the raid boss with pretty damn competent LFG people. We got several runs with 2 full damage phases, but each time we got to a third run, it started to fall apart as people panicked or got sloppy. Which was annoying because we got the boss to like 10-15% each time, and even a terrible DPS phase would have killed him.
People started to get pretty damn bitter when success was so close in sight though and the clock counted down. I made some sloppy mistakes myself, but ouch as people got angrier than they would have if we didn't even come close.
It'll be interesting to see how much lower stress this encounter gets once you can reliably two or even one phase it, since it's getting received a bit toxic as far as I've seen so far.
Ah well, no jacket. Maybe next time.
At least you didn't wipe after getting his health down to this (twice):
Posts
Thanks for this, that helps. I thought stuff like this would be explained in a story but I guess not. I'll probably just do the dungeon then move on. I was trying to do everything I missed in order, but I really want to play the Shadowkeep stuff.
The Dreaming City was very much meant to be experienced at the time it was released and how it slotted into the games overall narrative at the time. Going back to it without that context is much like going to some patch added on previously end game content in an MMO. Like mentioned above, for instance, Sunwell Isle in WoW or anything similar.
The city and its curse cycle make since narratively within their time frame, but stripped of that there are a lot of systems at work that have no real bearing a year + later.
Wouldn't agree at all. Weapon mods are generally quite good and Backup Mag isn't even close to the obvious one to go to most of the time. Also Icarus Grip is good for a lot of weapon types and it's entirely about how much time you spend in the air in PvP.
Here's the list:
Boss Spec (Banshee-44) [Increases damage against bosses and vehicles] (7.5% increase)
Counterbalance Stock (Banshee-44) [Reduces recoil deviation for the weapon] (Adds +15 to Recoil Direction)
Dragonfly Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the radius and damage of Dragonfly]
Freehand Grip (Banshee-44) [Increases accuracy and ready speed while firing from the hip]
Icarus Grip (Banshee-44) [Improves accuracy while airborne]
Major Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against powerful enemies] (7.5% increase)
Minor Spec (Banshee-44) [Deals extra damage against rank-and-file enemies] (7.5% increase)
Quick Access Sling (Ada-1) [Swap weapons much faster for a short duration after emptying the magazine]
Radar Booster (Ada-1) [Slightly increases the range at which radar detects enemies]
Radar Tuner (Banshee-44) [Radar immediately returns when you stop aiming down sights]
Rampage Spec (Ada-1) [Increases duration of Rampage]
Sprint Grip (Ada-1) [Temporarily increases the weapon's ready speed and aim down sights speed after sprinting]
Surrounded Spec (Ada-1) [Increases the damage granted by Surrounded. Bonus damage lingers for a brief time when no longer surrounded by three or more enemies]
Taken Spec (Last Wish Raid Chests) [Increased damage against Taken enemies] (10% increase)
Targeting Adjuster (Banshee-44) [This weapon gains better target acquisition]
For a "just slap it on and don't think about it" default mod, I'd be more likely to go with something like Targeting Adjuster personally. Especially on controller. Hitting your shots is almost always better then almost anything else.
Minor/Major/Boss spec are all quite good and can really help on the right weapons.
Rampage and Dragonfly spec are big buffs to those perks.
Quick Access Sling is a big deal in certain loadouts.
On controller Counterbalance can be a huge improvement.
edit: I also disagree on weapon mods being useless. They have plenty of benefits - also if you utilize any "low magazine" perks backup mag is actively detrimental to your DPS. There's no default, they all have uses.
Oh fuck... I'm going to agree with Shryke here over Mugen. @squall99x will never let me live this down.
Icarus grip belongs on Recluse, you heathens. /s
But seriously, a lot of mods either play to a strength of a given weapon or offset a specific negative. Which means that an amazing mod for one weapon my be literally useless for another.
Does your gun (pulse, auto, etc) kick too much side-to-side? Counterbalance will make it closer to straight up and down. Does your slow-firing scout already have negligible recoil? Counterbalance probably won't do anything.
Does your hand cannon run out of ammo right before your second kill? Backup mag will fix that. Are you abusing an outlaw/kill clip roll? Then who cares how many rounds you have.
Are you a shotgun ape? Sprint grip. Mountaintop fuckboi? Quick access sling. Harder hitting headshots after your third scotch for the night? Targeting adjuster.
Most choices are weapon and playstyle-dependant. But since hitting crits is better than missing, Targeting Adjuster is usually a safe bet if you're not sure what else to use.
Yeah, they aren't. On the plus side the weapon drops are not like a one shot a week thing. In fact, you can reactivate the EP at the place you started the last wave to just farm the boss instead of doing all the preliminary waves again.
Gotta keep grinding. It will drop... eventually.
Blizz ID - DoublySymm#1758
On the flip side we beat it with only four people last night so you don't have to have too many.
And I did this in great part because I was replying to a new player that has elsewhere conveyed a dislike for PvP and doesn’t generally seem invested in the endgame at the moment. To such a person, a treatise on the merit of Targeting Adjuster or "Icarus Grip for the Developing Shotgun Ape" did not strike me as worthwhile.
I forgive you for your indiscretion in a time of weakness, @rndmhero ; but please, be better, both for you and your daughter.
Gambit is crazy with this set up and max Strength.
PSN: Bizazedo
CFN: Bizazedo (I don't think I suck, add me).
https://medium.com/@alascii
Mods are way more impactful in PvE than in PvP, though? Rampage Spec and Boss Spec come to mind, not to mention the new Artifact mods that are hugely impactful.
Not including the artifact mods - it's all a matter of perception. Some people wouldn't perceive an extra second to refresh rampage a "big deal" same with Boss mods. If you only ever do strike playlist the extra 10% damage to the boss that gets deleted in 5 seconds probably isn't going to matter.
I don't think anyone was trying to belittle the existence or usefulness of Mods. The reality, however, is that for your average joe, they offer a benefit that may or may not be noticeable. This is less true in PvP as counterbalance, targeting adjuster, and if it fits your playstyle and is on the right weapon, Icarus Grip have a very noticeable immediate impact. Keep in mind by being on this board you have already disqualified yourself as the average player - so these things probably matter to you. To the 90% of the rest of the population...not as much.
The artifact mods (the ones that aren't universal things) aren't actually about Shadowkeep. They're focused on the Vex Invasion seasonal activity. Spoilers for seasonal activity stuff, I guess?
Presumably the artifact-granted mods will cease to exist at the end of the season, or else just stop working.
Champions appear in Ordeals, Nightmare Hunts, and the Raid. As such, dem mods are actually about Shadowkeep.
Well, the extra mag is couple extra bullets, minor spec gives barely noticeable damage increase (not enough to really matter, all small fries die of couple bullets as is)
Though i am not quite sure what [This weapon gains better target acquisition] means in concrete terms, is there some form of aim assist in this game?
I still haven't seen a single punchy boi shotgun. I have my Kes boots ready to go but the shotgun eludes me.
Yes, on console. On PC not as much, if any?
Y'know, I knew they were in the ordeals and hunts and just forgot. Haven't done the raid yet.
I wonder what that means for the mods, then. I thought the artifact was supposed to be for "mechanics Bungie wants to get rid of at the end of the season". Will the champions in the other activities go away at the end of the season as well?
My guess is that Champions will remain and the relevant weapon mods will functionally persist, but weapon types to which they fit will change season-to-season.
There are two kinds of aim assist. Consoles have "sticky" aim where the reticle moves slower when it's over an enemy. Both have bullet magnetism where bullets will slightly arc towards enemies.
I wasn't aware that PC had the magnetism either. I thought the whole "bigger head crit box" (which is what I would call magnetism I guess?) didn't exist on PC. Hence the lack of recoil since its about "clicking on the heads" as they say.
To expand on this a little:
We also tried what we called "Plan B" which is to send two people at a time to one side twice, leaving only one person to watch after the other relay until the first is filled. After reading, it seems that's the dominant strat?
XBL: Sans Gravitas, Steam, Destiny, Twitch
Destiny Raid Groups: Team NATBurn, Team Fourth Meal (Disbanded)
The difference between pre and post catalyst Bad Juju, which is like 90% just putting a rampage mod on the thing, is like night and day. It gives you a meaningful chunk of time to chain that proc and actually make the weapon work. And I think that's in general what a lot of mods are like. They seem small but they are that small because they have fairly big impacts. It's like you read the patch notes and they are saying "X weapon damage increased from 22 on a crit to 24 on a crit" and it looks like nothing but it might have a profound impact on that weapon's usability and power.
That's why I think calling them niche is wrong. They are niche in that a lot of players don't know they are good, not in that they aren't good for most players.
This is one reason I think the new mod system is really great, even if it's a bit rough around the edges right now. When you can just unlock mods and not have to worry about wasting them or running out, people are more likely to try them. There's basically no reason not to slap a mod in a gun now and so people will hopefully engage with the system more and see what it can do.
People started to get pretty damn bitter when success was so close in sight though and the clock counted down. I made some sloppy mistakes myself, but ouch as people got angrier than they would have if we didn't even come close.
It'll be interesting to see how much lower stress this encounter gets once you can reliably two or even one phase it, since it's getting received a bit toxic as far as I've seen so far.
Ah well, no jacket. Maybe next time.
Get on our level.
I get what you are saying - but Bad Juju is even more of an outlier because it stacks higher, and gives you the reload and super back based on how many stacks you have. Also Juju takes considerably more to kill certain things than, say, a handcannon where you can just 1 shot things to build rampage to keep it rolling. How much you need it or desire it is greatly affected by weapon type and other considerations.
There's obvious fun there as when the second team comes out, you're starting the new side almost immediately, so you get two Cyclops there, but it's still staggered at least.
The other benefit is you fill up one relay in two trips and enemies stop spawning on one side with their shields that require Empowered if that side relay is full. Usually.
After both relays are full, I've seen two methods. I prefer the one we used which was each side does their own tether (you only need 3 people) to the boss. This allows them to do dps while the second side does their tether and avoids the chaos of switching sides (plus more deeps). That and we at least had weird things happen with 4 people....
Collapse to the center after second tether.
The other method I saw (and actually was my first kill) was one side is DPS, one side is tether, and the tether team and DPS team literally switch sides so that only 3 people do BOTH tethers. I really don't like this one compared to how my native fireteam did it (each side doing their own tether), but it does work. The positive of this style is if you have people 930 or below, they can do this method to let the burly / higher light level people do the DPS.
A comment on the end fight without spoilers, it'll be "fun" to pug since it requires a lot of people switching around and proactive behavior from multiple people as opposed to one or two leaders due to one of the requirements.
PSN: Bizazedo
CFN: Bizazedo (I don't think I suck, add me).
So I have a couple questions: Do members of Pax Arcadia on PC run this stuff together more than I see in clan chat? Are we organizing somewhere else? Discord maybe? I don't see a lot of talk in clan chat about people trying to organize fireteams for end game content.
Outside of that, what are some other options? The100 still feels a bit too rando pubbie for me, unless it's specifically from a known group. Is our best bet to find a smaller "static clan" that is really active in doing end game content? I wouldn't even know where to start looking for such a thing.
2 times? Oh my sweet summer child...
One word of warning for anyone reading: Counterbalance is a tricky one to use and you should test it after applying to see what it's doing. Or look up the stats for recoil on a 3rd party site. Because the recoil direction stat is a bit weird.
Basically, recoil is determined by one number and it's more or less a diminishing sinusoid.
Numbers ending in 0 (eg - 60, 70, 80) go far to either the left or right, going back and forth (so if 60 goes left, 70 will go right, 80 will go left again, etc).
Numbers ending in a 5 (eg - 65, 75, 85) go straight up.
The better the number the less it moves in that direction, but the direction itself goes back and forth depending on the number.
What this ends up meaning is that, because Counterbalance adds +15, if you have a gun that goes really hard left or right, counterbalance will straighten it right the hell out. Because it's taking it from, say, a hard left or right at 50 to a very vertical recoil at 65. But if your gun is already very vertical, it will actually throw it off. Because it'll take a fairly vertical 65 to a harder left or right 80.
On the steam/PC side, the discord is very active. There are lots of people in there throughout the day. To my knowledge, I haven't seen any Xbox or PS4 players organizing anything on there (tho, they may have their own discord servers..?).
Blizz ID - DoublySymm#1758
On strat popularity:
World's First team used duo portals.
Redeem, Datto and Slayerage all used solo portals. Redeem's second team (which actually cleared earlier than the "main" team) used duo portals.
Almost all groups had a dedicated home team.
The World's First team and the recent 2-man challenge team also only tethered the boss once per DPS phase, instead of twice. The 2-man team took advantage of the relay defender mods for DPS.
At least you didn't wipe after getting his health down to this (twice):
XBL: Sans Gravitas, Steam, Destiny, Twitch
Destiny Raid Groups: Team NATBurn, Team Fourth Meal (Disbanded)