By Liza Langkasuka. This guest writer has over 2800 hours of experience (and counting!) in Destiny PS4 and is looking forward to continue her adventure in Destiny 2. If you would like to read her article in the Malay version, click this link.
My closet is a mess.
Any RPG game where my character gets a vault space to store items in it, my incurable hoarding nature would fill it up to the brim. Most of it would be reward items I received after an epic story, even though it would get replaced fairly quickly with another item via random loot drop in another quest. Since the quest is over, I would never see said item again if I delete it.
Bungie has confirmed that in Destiny 2, only the character appearance and classes will be carried over from the first game. It is an even playing field for everyone and all platforms. This occurred some mixed feelings from the community at first. But after the recent Destiny 2 livestream and its showcase on Sony’s E3, most agree it would alright to close our Tower vaults for good before heading to new missions, updated space magic, and a redesigned PvP format.
I started playing Destiny as fresh and as green a gamer can get. I had no clan, and only two people on my PSN friendlist. All my Steam games are single-player, on a store-bought Sony Vaio laptop back when Sony still made laptops. Destiny is an FPSMMORPG on the console platform. This brand new venture was way outside my comfort zone, but I was curious about shooter games and so I jumped right into the biggest hyped-up new IP available on PS4 at the time.
Primary First
Auto rifle: Vanquisher VIII
I loved playing Bioshock Infinite and Skyrim on the PC. The Dualshock 4 controller on a much faster-paced game was different world though. I didn’t aim very well at first, but I found any gun that sprays a lot of bullets is very helpful, thus auto rifles were the first to endear to me. This gun taught me to go with my gut.
The Vanquisher VIII auto rifle was considered as the legendary version of the exotic gun Suros Regime; the latter was a well-known shredder of Guardians in Year One Destiny PvP matches. I didn’t realize this until a fellow raid member praised my gun’s Field Scout perk, which gives additional ammo in reserve on an already solid weapon. This is the oldest gun I have and I kept it for the fond memory of going into the Crucible with it and losing spectacularly.
Scout rifle: Vision of Confluence
As I became more familiar with FPS controls, I began to use scout rifles to land major critical shots on PvE boss fights, especially at a certain range. My two favourite Strike missions for this are Sepiks Prime and Nexus Mind, where the bosses have a big eyeball and limited space to roam. This gun taught me keep a steady hand and thus, stability was a priority on all my weapons for a long time after that.
Vision of Confluence was a raid scout rifle I most often used due to its improved balancing perks. Eventually I found other scout rifles with explosive bullets that does AoE damage, to better clear out enemy swarms. I managed to perform only decently in PvP with the exotic scout Mida Multi-Tool, but it was the Trials of Osiris scout rifle, Burning Eye, that was perfectly suited to my playstyle.
Handcannon: Hawkmoon
I often stayed away from multiplayer due to a sub-standard Internet connection at home. However, nothing drives me forward as the quest to earn a unique exotic weapon and doing PvP is in its requirements. So I picked up the handcannon I received from Nightfall and jumped into the Crucible matches. Funny enough, I ended up liking the handcannon I used in PvP to earn the exotic gun, rather than the exotic gun itself.
After the infamous Thorn and The Last Word, Hawkmoon was amongst a PvP player’s favourite at the height of the handcannons meta. With it, I became more active in the monthly Iron Banner events. Many sees me as a fair player (despite the painfully negative KDR) who doesn’t teabag or complaints too much. As a result, I was invited to team up with many different clans. This gun taught me that new things can happen when you’re not afraid.
Pulse rifle: Hawksaw
At this stage of my playing Destiny, I was beginning to understand meta weapons, the best perks, and was browsing YouTube videos. After days of grinding the Strike missions and hoping for the luck of RNG, I finally received the pulse rifle that was popular for its stability and accuracy, Hopscotch Pilgrim. However, barely a month later, Bungie nerfed it for being too powerful. This gun taught me to always pay attention on Bungie’s game updates and community feedback.
After the nerf, I still use this gun occasionally. Soon after, my editor recommended the Hawksaw. Its ‘god-roll’ perks got me hooked hard on pulse rifles. I tried going through every type to find the best one that fits me; The Grasp of Malok, B29-Party Favor, The Clever Dragon, etc. The Trials-earned Blind Perdition was my favourite PvP gun for the longest time, until Bungie nerfed its high-caliber bullets perk. That’s when I truly knew what it means to be ‘salty’.
WANTED: Special Ammo
Fusion rifle: Plan C
Back when killing someone in PvP grants you their special ammo, I was pretty big on fusion rifles. The required charging time makes a slow rate of fire, but incinerating your enemies with one shot is so very satisfying. The Plan C was specially easy to use because of the hip accuracy and quick charge time when swapping weapons. Between this and my auto rifle bullet-hose, my PvP forays were a lot of fun.
When House of Wolves DLC came, I then had the option to reforge perks on weapons. Soon Destiny was flooded with players using meta weapons all having the same ‘god-roll’ perks; shot-package shotguns, final round snipers, and Mini Hawkmoons to name a few. This trend continued until The Taken King DLC.
Soon after, I still get cremated occasionally by a Saladin’s Virgil or a Stellar Vestige from around the corner. This gun taught me that guns are only as good as the player who uses them.
Sniper rifle: Black Hammer
The Crota raid sniper has an interesting perk which helps in minimizing reload and ammo use. I could hardscope on a Fallen spider tank and shoot its legs for days as long as I don’t miss any precision hits. After the Icebreaker, equipping this sniper in PvE is a must-have for boss fight campers, glitch seekers, and anyone else within target practice distance of a loot cave. This gun taught me how to make every shot count.
Where rockets once reign over PvE, new updates made snipers the next lethal weapon against Strikes and Raid bosses. Not everyone could cope successfully though. Some were loyally attached to their shotguns. I’ve witnessed heated arguments between fireteam members where they refused to purchase a 1000-Yard Stare sniper from the Tower vendor.
Shotgun: Conspiracy-D Theory
Guardians with competitive-level sniping skills were a hot commodity when Trials of Osiris activity went online. Since then, I learned to stay away from sniping lanes and how to push friends out of sight immediately after reviving them (but often I wiff’d and got sniped as well). I didn’t learn to be a better sniper fast enough. Instead, I picked up the Conspiracy-D Theory shotgun, moved with the group, and took advantage when in close quarters combat.
Shotguns with one-hit kill capability were always a big headache. Some would rush in headlong and did a jump-shot or a slide-shot, and then ran off to bang the next person. Campers would crouch in corners or next to doorways, ready to spring a surprise hit, which is why I made sure all my characters carries two grenades. This gun taught me to be more aware of the maps and my surroundings.
It wasn’t until the biggest nerf Bungie ever made to special ammo that caused Matador 64s and Party Crashers +1s everywhere less optimal to use, and brought on the rise of the sidearms.
Sidearm: Havoc Pigeon
Sidearms were confusing to use when they first appeared after the House of Wolves DLC. They were almost the complete opposite of the shotguns that was dominating PvP; faster RoF, higher stability and reload, and a much smaller impact. However, I liked that sidearm always lets you respawn with ammo in the clip, as I was forever using up my special ammo.
I experimented with my Havoc Pigeon. I found out that I needed to be not too close but close enough to constantly hit a moving target (namely, a rushing shotgunner). The perks wasn’t the best of its archetype and the fast RoF threw me off at first. Eventually, I didn’t just got used to it; I loved it tremendously. This gun taught me to anticipate movements of charging players and be quick on my feet.
I continued to go through all kind of sidearms; Vestian Dynasty, Jabberhakke-D, The Wormwood, etc. If my pulse rifles collection dominated my vault, then sidearms dominated my characters’ special weapon slots.
Sounds Heavy
Rocket: Hunger of Crota
Destiny 2 would have some type of in-game feature to help create groups for activities, but the first game had many third-party LFG websites. Raid teams often require players to have a specific weapon to ease speedrunning the challenges. The most popular weapon is the almighty Gjallarhorn rocket, or it’s almost similar legendary-level cousin, Hunger of Crota.
Hunger of Crota was a conundrum; it only drops in raid mode but to join some LFG raids, I had to have it in the first place. My most loyal rocket for a long time is the Admonisher III. Its missile tracking perk has served me well, but it wasn’t impressive enough for raids. Eventually I did find teams who would help me out despite my limitations but it was a long after I had my Gjallarhorn when the raid rocket finally appeared.
This gun taught me not to focus too much on LFG groups with too specific requirements. Additionally, I have since volunteered many times to be a Shep, aka a player who helps new players run through the raids.
Machine gun: Baron’s Ambition
Known as the raid that broke friendships, running through King’s Fall is Destiny’s longest and often most complicated quest. Rocket strategy to the DPS raid bosses were replaced for more precision based weapon such as snipers and machine guns. Unfortunately, you cannot equip two exotics at once so I had to find something to replace my Thunderlord.
There are many perks for many guns; the trick is to find the right one that suits my playstyle. Baron’s Ambition was originally my go-to PvP gun brought over for my PvE loadout. Though many would argue that improved range should be the prioritized perk, I kept my machine guns for it’s extremely fast reload. It was exhilarating to hose down swarms of incoming enemies and reload fast enough for the next wave. This gun taught me good perks and good gun goes hand-in-hand.
Sword: Dark Drinker
Outside of private matches, I don’t use swords in PvP mainly because I’m not always near the heavy ammo crate when it drops. Legendary swords are fairly easy to obtain if you play a lot of story missions. Exotic swords are stronger and have unique properties. They are also quite labour intensive to gather materials for but it’s well worth the effort. I could only choose one type of sword per character.
Dark Drinker is the most memorable of all my swords because I accidentally picked it for my Titan. Part of the requirement to build the sword is to kill enemies with Void powers and unfortunately, Titans do not have much of an offensive Void skill. This made the quest extremely grindy as not only did I had to gather a lot of materials, I also only punched and threw grenades upon enemy minions endlessly.
But it became the most useful sword in my two favourite raids, Vault of Glass and Wrath of the Machines. This weapon taught me not to belittle my errors.
Special Mentions
Amongst many of the weapons I’ve collected as a Guardian, I do have some very particular ones I wish I could carry with me to Destiny 2.
No Land Beyond
Of all the guns I’ve played with this was most memorable simply because of all the shenanigans I had with it with friends. Many private matches involved an NLB because of its many mixed reviews and I also discovered how PvP can have funny rules when you’re relaxed. With my preferred playstyle, I don’t think I’ll ever become a pro with NLB, but any gun you can have fun with is worth keeping.
Bad Juju
This was my very first exotic weapon. In Year 1, it was obtainable only via a quest that goes through both PvE and PvP parts of Destiny. With a faster super recharge per kill and the auto-refill ammo in the clip, the Bad Juju is the gun I chose with me through many missions, and when I was grinding for resources to upgrade other guns. It even had a formidable stint in PvP when pulse rifles were the absolute meta weapon. With the Light of the Guardians being limited in Destiny 2, this gun would be invaluable.
Thorn
In Destiny 2, the Cabal have taken over the Last City and made humans refugees on their own planet again. If my Guardian escaped the onslaught with with only one gun, I hope it would be this one. One of the most lethal guns in Destiny, I remembered when I used it in Prison of Elders challenge. One of the challenges pits you in a battle with a Cabal army.
With their protective shields, it was often hard to focus a critical hit, especially when you need to always be on the move. Thorn’s damage-over-time was infamous for eating through health bars very quickly. Often the times I would leisurely reload while my opponents die as they tried to escape. Although the popularity has waned, it is still a lethal gun in the right hands.
Like every Guardian who has been grinding for the last 3 years, I’ve received and deleted many guns periodically but these are some of the ones I kept for more memorable reasons than just another collectible. For me, the weapons in my vault isn’t only a veritable hoard to rival the Awoken Queen’s treasure room. Each gun was a learning tool on how to be a Guardian.
Destiny 2 would be a brand new journey. New gun types, new bosses to fight, new maps to get familiar with. I hope I have enough vault space.
