User blog:PhilIwaniuk/6 Mistakes to Avoid in Destiny 2

The following post is sponsored ad content from Nvidia.

 Destiny is right up there with that song from Frozen as one of 2014’s best moments, and its sequel is headed imminently to PC. Hooray! But as anyone who remembers that spontaneously created, entirely new language that Destiny players conversed with each other in three years ago (“Great, RNGesus gave me a Shard, guess I’ll grind IB then”) there’s a lot to learn about Bungie’s MMO shooter hybrid. And with learning comes mistakes like those below. Avoid these mistakes, accelerate your learning. We’ll see you on the other side, when you’re wearing your cap and gown. Both made of Arc energy, naturally.

Bonus mistake to avoid! For a limited time, when you buy an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, system, or laptop, you’ll get Destiny 2 at PC launch. This is the best way to experience the game on PC, especially given the recent announcement that Destiny 2 will offer support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays.

Buy bundle in US: http://bit.ly/2w3MeCi

Buy bundle in UK: http://bit.ly/2veWZQP

1. Avoid playing like a lone wolf


There’s no I in ‘team’, but there’s a lot of them in ‘nitwit who goes and gets downed by a 20-foot alien robot while miles from their team-mates.’ Going solo is forgivable in PvP if you have the chops for it, but Destiny 2’s PvE scales in difficulty according to your team size and level. In other words, it’s designed to provide a challenge for several of you and will thus become almost impossible for just one of you. What’s more, while you’re playing Rambo in some godforsaken corner of the map, your erstwhile team-mates have it tougher too, suffering diminished firepower and probably distracted by bickering amongst themselves as to whether to come and bail you out.

2. Don’t ignore your health bar until it flashes


But it’s flashing for a reason, right? Surely that’s the point at which it’s time to duck out of the fight for a second and catch a breather? Wrong. Getting into the habit of watching your health bar before that point will make you a much more effective Earth-protecting gun-toter, for several reasons. First, you’ll stand a much higher chance of survival if you duck out for a second at half health than when it’s flashing and nearly depleted, because you still have a buffer to take the odd round here and there. Secondly, it’ll be quicker to get you back in the fight since your health doesn’t have to regenerate as much.

3. Don’t use the same weapon loadout for every Crucible match


So you had that one round with a Scout Rifle that paid off massively, and you’ve been using it religiously ever since. The subsequent results? Yeah, nothing like that first fabled round. As hard as it is to dispense with superstition entirely in PvP gaming, the sensible Crucible player balances their loadout according to the mode and map. If there are plenty of long-range lines of sight around, sure bring a Scout Rifle. If everyone’s on top of you before you can look down your sights, bring one mid-range and one short-range weapon instead. As a rule of thumb, it’s always a good idea to pair a short-range gun with something handier at a distance.

4. Don’t play the game as a solo experience


We’ve already covered the folly of wandering off when you’re part of a team, but what if you never had compadres in the first place? This is perhaps the first and easiest mistake of the Destiny 2 newcomer: just because certain components of the game can be played solo, doesn’t mean they necessarily should. As with the first game, Bungie designed this as an experience to share with friends and even strangers, so when you go in alone it’s fair to say you’re not getting the full experience. For starters it’s harder to flank enemies when they have nothing else to shoot at but you. Secondly you don’t get to enjoy the interaction of abilities and Supers between classes. Speaking of which...

5. Never ignore your support responsibilities as a Warlock


See that Class Ability icon on the HUD? The one atrophied from neglect, and buried under an inch of dust? Yeah, that’s the Rift. You could have used it to heal everyone back there, or to buff their damage, depending on your upgrade path choices. It’s probably the most important thing in your arsenal as a Warlock, and can be used to turn the tide against a seemingly impossible group of opponents, whether in PvE or PvP. What’s more, a pair or Warlocks can even stack Rifts to heal and empower everyone at the same time, the benefits of which speak for themselves. Remember: sharing is caring.

6. Don’t foolishly try to capture points A or C at the start of a Control Point match


Another very understandable mistake, since game modes of this type have allowed the capture of all three points from the off since time immemorial. It works slightly differently in Destiny 2, though. Your team begins with one point, A or C, already captured, so only B is up for grabs as the round starts. Where things go from there, though, is up to the player. It is worth knowing, mind you, that only one player needs to be on the Control Point to capture it - more players don’t make the capture timer go any faster.

Don’t forget, for a limited time, when you buy an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, system, or laptop, you’ll get Destiny 2 at PC launch.

Buy bundle in US: http://bit.ly/2w3MeCi

Buy bundle in UK: http://bit.ly/2veWZQP