We’re almost a week away from Destiny’s launch, and it couldn’t be more obvious. We already know the game’s download size on the PlayStation 4, and have been assured that there isn’t going to be any last minute delay to catch us with surprise. However, fans still have a lot of pre-launch questions about the game, and Bungie continues to answer them. In the latest Bungie weekly update, Design Lead Luke Smith has addressed some of the most commonly asked questions about Destiny’s Raids in a contrived question and answer session.
In response to the question of how long it takes to open the door to the Raid, Smith said that players will need to work as a group for most of the Raid encounters. “That group of six is trying to form a metaphorical key which opens a given encounter’s lock,” he explained. Since, players don’t have to follow waypoints and won’t be given objectives to follow, Smith expects them to turn to the internet for assistance. “Once your group understands how to open the Vault, it’s not going to take anywhere near 45 minutes,” he said referring to reports that it will take 45 minutes just to open the door.
Raids have two difficulties: normal and hard. Once a Raid is finished on normal, players can try their luck with the hard mode. Smith said:
Normal mode is about learning the mechanics, working together as a team and building strategies to overcome the encounters.
Hard modes demand execution.
In addition to deadlier combatants, tighter tuning windows for encounter mechanics and a handful of targeted differences, Hard-mode encounters leverage an even harsher death penalty than the Normal modes.
Players don’t need to finish the activity in one go, however, each Tuesday, progress for the week is reset. In other words, we have a week to complete a Raid.
Speaking about loot, Smith said that each class will have a complete set of gear to grab across the two difficulty levels.
Each of Destiny’s nine weapon archetypes (Auto Rifle, Hand Cannon, Pulse Rifle, Fusion Rifle, HMG, Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun and Scout Rifle) has a Legendary version that has been created specifically for the Raid.
The armor and weapons are completely unique to the Raid activity. They are visually and thematically connected to the combatants you’ll fight in the Vault of Glass.
Loot is also “locked out” i.e. if you obtain loot from a given encounter, you will not receive loot from the same encounter again within the same week. However, the lockout is not applied to all characters.
If you have multiple Raid-ready characters, you can run the Raid again on a different character – and the Lockout isn’t applied to it.
Each encounter has a fixed inventory of items it can award to players, e.g., certain pieces of gear or weapons can only drop from certain encounters.
Smith has offered a pretty comprehensive response to all our questions about Destiny’s Raids. Are you ready to play the game, Guardians? Don’t forget that the servers will switch on as soon as it’s September 9 in some corner of the world!
[Source: Bungie]
