Nearly every week brings something new to Destiny 2, whether it’s new storylines, activities, or exciting new combinations of elements that allow players to wreak havoc on each other in Crucible. Iron Banter is our weekly look at what’s going on in the world of Destiny and summarizes what’s holding our attention across the solar system.
Destiny 2 thrives on replayability at the end of the game. In the original Destiny, it was the raids, six-player climactic activities that tested your patience, your gameplay, your reloading, and your ability to communicate in groups. The barrier to attacks was so high that it annoyed many players, with many on social media lamenting that they felt like they could never make it. Thankfully, the endgame is pretty strong and varied by now, with plenty of three- and six-player activity options that can be both fun and challenging.
With dungeons, Grandmaster Nightfalls, and countless other Legendary activities, there’s a chance for the majority of players to get to the end of the game and the rewards it brings. This is great for players who don’t have a six-man team that’s always ready to go, and each end-game activity has its own merits, but raids really outshine them all unless you’re one. PvP crazy. Tweak raids throughout Destiny 2’s life, such as introducing Victory Seals and craftable raid weapons with Ability 3.0-friendly perks (Incandescent, Double Brace). pushback, Taser), making them more attractive.
Despite these compelling reasons for a consistent raid routine, there is still a huge gap in engagement from the broader Destiny community. Believe it or not, it’s hard to get another five protectors that meet all the requirements: at the required level of power, willing to invest many hours, and even available from the start. More often than not, hopeful raiders are at the mercy of the fearsome LFG.
LFG, or “group search,” is, frankly, quite painful. It’s basically how players contact others to coordinate an activity that doesn’t support matchmaking, meaning it’s up to you to find teammates. The informal LFG process is a challenging system to deal with, but it Have have come a long way over the years. In the early days of Destiny 1, you would have to visit an LFG subreddit and then type in a bunch of PSN or Xbox Live messages. Destiny 2 then tried to ease the pain by introducing the unappealing “Guided Game”, but unfortunately the feature never seemed to succeed and was completely forgotten.
In recent years, PC players have encountered a bit of cheat code with LFG-specific Discord servers operating in a surprisingly neat and organized manner. Even then, you still have a bunch of different ingredients, such as a Steam ID (a ridiculously long string of numbers) and fun prerequisites for LFG posting, preventing multiplayer from getting in. . And while these types of prerequisites make sense if you’re taking on Legendary level challenges, raid seals, or a perfect run, they’re not necessary for regular runs.
Now, I know Why these preconditions are set by the organizers of LFG runs and are to avoid common problems players have when joining with others who may not be prepared for a raid. . Unfortunately, this can frustrate anyone who is a bit weak or not a weekly raider. Even as a regular raider, I confess that I need to review encounters in some raids that I haven’t touched in months (such as The Last Wish). It’s very hard to sell to my current clan or party because other raids are more rewarding or relevant this season–not everyone wants to do a raid that debuted back in Forsaken unless you’re aiming for a specific win. So I often left it to people who weren’t interested in helping me relearn the mechanics, which led me to avoid trying altogether.
LFG has always been scary, if not frustrating, for many reasons. The big problem is simply not knowing who is on the other end of the LFG search post. What if they were rude, incompetent, or worse, malicious? Sadly, some of the lowest scores when playing Destiny were during LFG raids, and to this day, I always pause before doing an LFG post.
Things get a little easier when an LFG post does it Are not request voice chat. For starters, no communication required usually means that the activity you’re LFG doing is less demanding. For instance, dungeons don’t have a clearing timer, and Grandmaster Nightfalls is pretty manageable. Many legendary seasonal activities like Wellspring don’t require verbal or coordinated captions. So in these moments, I’m amazed at how easy and painless LFG is, and if I need the Pinnacle farm to fall late at night while my friends are asleep, the LFG Discord server just a few clicks away. But sometimes LFG can not be so painful, why many of us don’t like to use LFG for assault?
The obvious answer is that the alternative runs with a consistent group of familiar faces, just a much more enjoyable experience. I’ve been lucky enough to have friends or regular clan friends to raid in the past, sometimes even continuously. If you have a full team of teammates that you have played with before, the success rate will increase significantly. Familiarity, it turns out, is the key to a successful attack. And unfortunately, all of that gets thrown out the window when you match up with players you’ve never met before.
Recently in Destiny 2, I took a chance and did a Deep Stone Crypt raid with three strangers via the LFG. It doesn’t help that I’m someone who overthinks things like this and gets anxious easily, so you can see another reason I’d want to avoid dealing with this issue altogether. However, my dream of finally completing a craftable Descendant or Successor was enough to make me grit my teeth and give the LFG a shot.
One of the players on our team is unusually quiet, but he’s put himself in roles that don’t normally require any captions. Another player who was quite noisy but extremely kind, even when we failed a few attempts during the first encounters that we normally lock down. The final player was also very welcoming, providing some clear insight into certain builds for the raid.
I surreptitiously suspected they were tougher in all stats and damage builds than I was but even then, there was a pleasant feeling to the raid. After a few jokes – and despite previous failed attempts – I felt my skepticism and stress melt away. By the time we dispatched Taniks, one of the LFG strangers had even received an Exotic rocket launcher from the raid–an extremely special moment that we all had to cheer for because it was the first time. First he gets the weapon.
It’s unbelievable that we were all surprised that this raid was so much fun. We all have LFG horror stories to share with each other, it’s humorous proof of how lousy LFGs tend to be. But I’m surprised to say that this time we’ve been proven wrong, and I want you to know that things can go well, especially if you avoid raids because of similar apprehensions about the LFG.
The whole process can be scary and painful to go through, but if you’re on the fence, let me encourage you to take the leap of faith. I did, and it was rewarded. I had to make new friends to welcome into my little bubble of Destiny and it made me really happy to know that the raid might be our first time together, but it certainly won’t. must be the last time.
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