Pictured: Valus Ta'aurc at the wrong end of a 310 outlaw/army of one Nirwen's Mercy cheese strat. (Small arms FTFW.)
Here at Sub-Optimal Destiny we're firmly ensconced in the silent majority of Destiny's 2 million crowd. Translation: we don't even raid, bro.
1. A Brief History of Subtimus Prime and Destiny. I picked up the game from the Bezos bargain bin just after House of Wolves dropped. But only because my buddy Pete_BNG (not real name/tag, so don't even. Don't even!) was coming to visit and I didn't want to be rude. What was I gonna do? Not have his game? Imagine that for a moment: "Oh, heh-heh, yeah, just got this here x-bone a couple months ago. Still don't have the game you've been killing yourself lo these years to birth and nurture, though. It'd've cost me near-on twenny-figh clams, ya savvy? Sooooo, MCC, anyone? I think the download's just about fini-- nope, still going."
As my buddy Pete_BNG sat there in his company in-joke t-shirt, watching me play the opening mission, it must've sounded like faint praise when I complimented him on the excellent controls. I say that because he responded by promising the raids would be fun. And by all accounts, my buddy Pete_BNG was spot-on there. It's just, well, I'm pretty sure I'll never know firsthand.
And not because "oh noes, in-game LFG wut!" Rather, it's because I, Subtimus Prime, cannot be counted on.
Surface level, I can't plan when I can hop on Destiny. Has to be after everyone else in the house is asleep - Baby Prime, Daughter Prime, Viking Terrorist Prime Thing 1 and 2, and last, Wifey Prime. Then once I'm on, I'll likely have to jump off to tend to Baby Prime when she spools up the cry crank. For a long while, I was so sensitive to having to stop at a moment's notice that I did little besides patrols. I didn't run crucible other than rumble. I didn't want to - sniff! - let you down, coach.
2. First NF. I've gotten over it, mostly. I'll leave teams in the lurch if I have to bail on strikes, normal crucible, or even iron banner. But I won't do that to other folks in the midst of trials or a raid. And so I've yet to run trials or raid. I mean, I messed around soloing Crota a little but got bored and didn't power past my first death. Then, a couple weeks ago I was running a little crucible with one of my clan leaders when he popped the question: up for nightfall?
A crossroads, that.
I had to decide. Beg off with meek protestation about my filial obligations, or man up? "Um . . . ." Eff it, I thought. "Sounds good. I'm in." And so, after approximately eleventy-four wipes at the warsat and threeve-and-a-half shivs from the shank boss, I'd done my first-ever nightfall (and was RNG'd a super-sweet Baron's Ambition in the bargain).
The cry crank, mercifully, remained un-spooled for the duration.
3. Solo NF Cheese. Content of my clan wall post on this subject: "Tip: if there was ever a week to solo the NF, this is it. Valus with small arms (primary damage increased) makes it pretty doable. Cheese spots are 1. for 4 guards, up on the little overhang where you leave the bunker that has the interceptors. 2. For taken gate lord, cliff up top left just before the drop down to field of blights. 3. For valus, behind stacked boxes accessible to the left of both ramps on the left side of valus' room"
Credit to: silentsnowowl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYx8pTQuzGU
marcanum x - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYx8pTQuzGU
See, small arms Valus NF came into my life at just the right moment. After my bubble bro (or bubble sis, since my titan is modeled after Wifey Prime) struggled with the shank NF, I wasn't sure how my 310 hunter would do in a NF situation. So I wanted to try soloing instead of potentially wasting others' time. I tried to solo the Chaperone strike, and was doing pretty well until I was overwhelmed by shielded psions at the space tank. Same strike was the nightfall that week and I didn't even try it. Then came the current one (last day is today, actually, so the above tips could very well be out of date by the time you read this *kanye shrug*). After reading through the modifiers, I had a feeling this would be the one. No elemental + small arms + no ammo B.S. modifier = let's do it. After reviewing the cheese spots recommended by SilentSnowOwl and Marcanum X, I completed it with one death, and found a treads upon stars I'll probably never even use. (I'm a DIS-43 man, through and through.) More importantly, this marked the completion of that Vanguard quest that drops the god-roll Conspiracy Theory-D. Since I waited so long, mine dropped at 300. I love my LITC Matador (RIP shot package; why-oh-why'd mine have to be replaced with surrounded?), but the infamous D will come in handy for Iron Banana, if nothing else.
4. Last thoughts on do you even raid, bro. So alright, I'll do the NF every now and then, maybe. Especially if it's susceptible to soloing. But the raid? I remain mortified at the prospect of having to leave 5 teammates in the lurch in the event I have to attend to Baby Prime or if Wifey Prime wakes up and delivers the gut-punch for which there is no viable feint or riposte: "What are you doing?" Plus, even as I yearn for the experience of raiding, there persists a subtle whisper from my subconscious, rising lately to make itself heard. And this whisper is familiar to each of us introverts. The whisper sends me a melange of word and image, its meanings variegated, shaded and jagged and contradictory and grand and petty. We will continue to plumb the depths from which the whisper emanates, but for now-ish it suffices to say: I dunno, man, all that sounds like a lot of work. To wit, this current BNG thread: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/197930767/0/0
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