Oddly enough I was able to complete my objective of getting my PS4 Destiny guardians through the hard raid, nightfall and 42 Prison of Elders before the reset.
I had doubts and was rushing just about everything.
But it I'm saying it is odd because Sony's platform is just so ridiculously better than Xbox that it was easy.
Paul Tassi, who contributes to Forbes regarding Destiny, had said about the update that it removes some of the grind associated with Destiny.
I agree.
After getting used the PS4.. and my hands stopped hurting from trying to figure out the controls, I marveled at how good it is and how much easier the Destiny experience is.
Waiting until the April update just made things even better because, yeah, the grind has been significantly reduced.
Of course I would have had it even easier if I would have used the Spark of Light booster... but didn't on any of my new characters.. and if I would have used reputation gain boosters.
I didn't see the point. Half of the grind is necessary because of the Loot System in Destiny. While yes it had been updated.. the core of the loot system's random number generator bullshit makes it either very hard or very easy for players.
The only really great thing I've gotten so far is a Hawksaw. I haven't even gotten that many exotics. But the few things I've gotten have helped immensely.
The Hawksaw has effectively been a win button for all encounters and I have in mind to upgrade it to 335 if I can find extra weapons to do that.
Being that I have hit 320 on my Hunter.. and hopefully will find as much luck for my Warlock, to be able to complete the Challenge of the Elders and Hard Mode Oryx.. It'll be very interesting to see what it does at 335 attack power. It held its own through the hard more raid at 307 when the recommended 'Light Level' is 320.
The perks on it are Perfect Balance, Hip Fire, Hand-Laid Stock and Extra Agility. The extra agility comes in handy for the raid for a hunter because they are shit at jumping. But then I beat the raid and got the ship, the helmet and Bones of Eao. Fantastic.
But this Hawksaw. It makes me not hate the loot system. But I still really hate it.
The one gun that from the first month or so of playing the game, even aside from The Red Death which I was elated to have drop as a Year 1 exotic, and bought the Year 2 version.. it beats it hands down.
I love using it because it melts everything.. it makes the game so much more enjoyable because I know I can beat all the missions but gear makes a huge difference.. but even with good gear, when you have a gun that changes the way you play and makes it fun to try new methods of playing.. like in the last 8 days with PS4 Destiny I have learned so much more than I thought could have been left to learn. I don't play crucible at all, so there's still that.
This Hawksaw is a crucible gun and from what I understand it is a perfect gun for crucible. With hip fire I could probably do well. But I'm happy to stick with PvE for now. It is fun to have a controller that really helps with hip fire. I've never done it and somehow it feels so much easier with such an accurate and devastating gun.
And I have to say that the online on PS4 is the other half of being able to complete these events. I was surprised by how willing people on PS4 are to run the end game activities with anyone. Destinylfg.net is a great place to find people to play with but I found that it was more accommodating on PS4 than Xbox due to people that lurk.
You have the asshats demanding that you have the best gear and such before they will accept you into the game, but if you're willing to hang out and repost yourself for a given activity.. probably dependent on wording, there are people looking at the site that aren't posting for themselves, OR the posts are being answered very quickly.
Either it was shockingly easy to find groups to play with and so got those end game activities completed.
Which means that Tassi was right.. at least as far as the grind is minimal.
But the issue of the missions and quests being mind numbing and dull.. that hasn't changed. Several missions remain exceedingly dull due to the shit you're expected to collect or to wait for.
As such there are several guns I can't get right now. And while I was postponing trying to collect calcified fragments for the Touch of Malice.. and so was postponing the runs through the raid.. they weren't needed.
I started collecting them anyway because my vacation is almost over and I have to at least get started. Then I noticed that Bungie fixed their website so that each character's progress for collecting the fragments has been separated.. woo. Finishing the hard mode raid on Challenge week makes it so that I have at least 1 of the extra fragments. I might be able to collect 45 today and continue the quest with Eris.
And I think I broke the quest with Eris after getting the Essence of the Feast because it is now gun. Very upset if it really is broken.
Either way.. the issue would have been getting into the raid on hard mode.
On Xbox it would have been impossible to find a team to play with because they all require Black Spindle and Touch of Malice.
As I can't collect black spindle until the mission for that gun pops up as the Daily Heroic Strike, and is very difficult, I'll leave that one off the list. Without the fragments for the malice.. that's out too.
But I have my Hawksaw. And the completion. Woo! Die Oryx!