http://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-Weekly-Update---10102014/en/News/News?aid=12272
Etho: They talked today about the 1st month anniversary of Destiny!
Yesterday marked the one month anniversary of the launch of Destiny. Hard to believe. It feels like so much more time has passed, given the battles that have raged and the adventures that have ensued. Check out the achievements you've logged as a community:
- Destiny averages 3.2 million players each and every day!
- Average playtime is still right around 3 hours a day, even on weekdays, one month after launch.
- The average player plays Destiny 1.8 times a day.
- The average player has played Destiny 20.9 times.
- Over the past three weeks, we’ve had more players online in Destiny than we did during the same span for Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, combined.
We thank you for playing. And, we thank you for the passion and enthusiasm that has made the Destiny community so strong already. It's been amazing to watch your Guardians become legends. Your reactions and your opinions have helped us to make Destiny better over this past month.
Pioneering something new is never easy. When we see the raw numbers, it’s easy for us to say that the destination was worth the journey. Stay tuned for the next evolution of our shared adventure.
Etho: And talked abou the Iron Banner...
Please tell us about how Iron Banner works. There are a lot of Level 30 Guardians out there who thought they had a shot at immortality against everyone but each other.
Derek: If you were expecting to vaporize a crowd of noobs with a single burst from your SUROS Regime, I can see how you’d be disappointed. Imagine going into the Iron Banner as a mid-20s player totally unable to participate in the fun. We didn’t want players to have to complete the Vault of Glass in order to compete
But we told them that “Power Matters!” We even put a gaudy flaming banner on our website. Fire is hard to animate, you know.
Derek: The way we pitched Iron Banner did make it sound like a “no-holds-barred” playlist. In reality, we delivered what we felt would be a competitive experience for everyone, not just players at the level cap. The reaction from players seems to be: “No, we want it to be bad for lower-level players. That’s the point!”
We’re listening to that feedback, but this first Iron Banner is fairly conservative.
So power doesn’t matter?
Derek: Power certainly matters, but so does skill. Our solution to add power back into the mix and keep the Crucible from turning into a ghost town is to scale it down to a reasonable level, and clamp damage on the “overkill” end.
A decked-out endgame Guardian can’t defeat a low-level guardian with one shot from an Auto-Rifle. In fact, “time-to-kill” is the same when you’re using higher-level gear against lower-level gear. The opposite is not true, so an enemy with average weapons is going to have a harder time taking you out.
If you want to test this, go back to your vault and grab some of the guns you outgrew on Venus and feel the difference in your engagements. If you really want to feel the burn, start a new Guardian and jump right into the fray.
Some people have done just that, though. Can you explain how a Level 5 Guardian can use a starter gun to take down a Raid veteran?
Derek: Your skill will take you 80% of the way to victory, but that last 20% will be a much harder climb without the gear you’ve been relying on.
Then what is the exact advantage that I gain from powerful weapons and gear?
Derek: Having a lot of Defense reduces the damage you take from lower level players. Conversely, having a lot of Attack on your Weapons or high character level for your Abilities neutralizes the advantage higher level players might have against you.
To keep competition close and avoid unwinnable fights, the largest advantage you can have is around 7 levels. So, if you attacked a target 20 levels above you, you’d have a fair shot at winning that fight.
If this was not supposed to be a Raider’s paradise, what was the overall goal?
Derek: The Crucible is intended to be a fun, competitive experience for players of all skill levels. The Iron Banner playlist skews toward the “hardcore” end of the spectrum. We still find matches based on skill, not character level, so if you find yourself in a game with players with much better gear than you, you should feel good about that. Lord Saladin thinks you can take them.
Sadly, but predictably, not everyone is so confident in themselves. What are you gonna do about all the quitters?
Derek: Please remind players that, win or lose, they get Crucible Marks, XP, and Gear rewards for completing the match. As with all things Destiny, we’re looking at the data and we’ll come up with a plan to address it in future events.
Allow me to assure you that data is not the only thing we’re looking at. I know for a fact that a lot of my Bungie friends will read the comments for this (and every) Bungie Weekly Update. So, tell us what you think. The Iron Banner is a different way to reap new rewards. Is it different enough to serve its purpose?
Lord Saladin will very likely play by different rules the next time we clear a landing zone for him in the Tower.
Etho: They talked about how the UK Team anniquiled the others teams in Crucible and just in the last match some other team could win after the time ended (so they want us to decide if the team receive or not the reward).
There is a bit more... so read yourself.
http://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-Weekly-Update---10102014/en/News/News?aid=12272
Etho: ohhhh I beat Heroic Raid (Hard level) today... it was really awesome and finally I need one more gear to reach lvl 30... and I got this spped bealty (it is really fast... crazy):
that was my comments... not part of the blog news.
