Who's doing Iron Banner this week?

[wittyscorpion]

4 comments:

1) I have my Jolder's hammer fully upgraded and I am very happy with it. It is great when arc burn is on and since weekly/nightfall enemies are maxed at level 30, the weapon is still relevant (and IMHO all weapons with 300 attacks). Not going to break it down any time soon;

2) While IB is not worth grinding on, it is still a better option than regular Crucible for getting exotic bounties done and push towards Crucible rank 3 (need at least 1 character there to be eligible for Crucible Quartermaster weapon purchase);

3) I don't understand the design thinking behind reforge RNG. I won't waste my MoL on that even if I have hundreds, I would rather try my luck on exotic engrams. I would have been able to get every possible helms last week...

4) I don't feel that I am forced by Bungie to grind. If I am having fun, I will do the extra stuff like dailies and bounties. If I am Burnes out a bit, I will reduce my activities to only weekly/nightfall/raids. The big 3 are still fun for me. I am actually glad that there are nothing to grind for in this IB, because I don't feel playing long PvP sessions this week;

[n1gh7]

In the 0:30 clip, you definitely missed your second shot. It was up and to the right of the player.

In the next one, your shot in the hallway was also just to the right of the player, so it didn't hurt him at all. And your melee connected. Dropped him to about 25% health.

[hebbnh]

Dec 16, 2014 11:41:24 GMT -5 hebbnh said:

The only consistent thing there is you're showing a red bar connection on the right side of the scoreboard every time you die, IW. Guys that kill you vary between terrible and great connection, but yours is always terrible at least according to the scoreboard thing. Who knows how accurate that is, but it might be a network issue on your end.

Reposting since this may have gotten lost on the previous page.

[iw5000]

Dec 16, 2014 11:41:24 GMT -5 hebbnh said:

The only consistent thing there is you're showing a red bar connection on the right side of the scoreboard every time you die, IW. Guys that kill you vary between terrible and great connection, but yours is always terrible at least according to the scoreboard thing. Who knows how accurate that is, but it might be a network issue on your end.

My connection is fine. Nat type is normal. Verizon FIOS high end package. The weird shit I am seeing is game to game, so it's not a consistent thing on my end.

[iw5000]

...as a quick aside. I can think of one small reason to do the Iron Banner. If you are looking to quickly level a gun up, the IB might be the way to go. One can double dip with bounties. Load up five IB bounties, and then go get five Crucible bounties. You could in theory get all ten done in five games.

That's 1 bounty / per six minutes.

I think that pace would be tough to top doing Eris & Vanguard bounties. One mission bounty alone is like ten to fifteen minutes.

[hebbnh]

That's a good point. Hmmm...maybe if I get some raid guns Thursday I'll give it a go after all.

[wittyscorpion]

As I mentioned earlier: since IB only happens once in a while and most of us prefer that over regular crucibles, it is probably also worth doing for the purpose of ranking up Crucible ranks and earning some Crucible Marks. In last IB I ranked up to 1.5 and earned 97 marks. If I do another run, I'll be rank 3 and have enough marks to buy 1 weapon from Crucible Quartermaster.

Also, although the IB Sniper Rifle does not look super impressive, it looks decent. If you get close to IB rank 4, you might as well go for it:

www.destinydb.com/items/367695658-efrideets-spear#1.cVvEZvk8

Impact = 32
Stability = 28

The one currently offered has arc damage.

vs. other popular Sniper Rifles:

Praedyth's Revenge:

Impact = 9
Stability = 83

Ice Breaker:

Impact = 25
Stability = 24

Time & Patience:

Impact = 16
Stability = 92

As you can see, it is the most hard hitting sniper, more than Ice Breaker while being more stable (less RoF though).

[wittyscorpion]

Full face off among Efrideet's Spear vs. Ice Breaker vs. LDR 5001 (the must buy new weapon from regular vendors?), with better stats in gold:

Stats	Efrideet's Spear	Ice Breaker	LDR 5001
Rate Of Fire	12	19	19
Impact	32	25	25
Range	88	100	68
Stability	28	24	52
Reload	64	62	66
Mag size	3	6	4
Elemental damage	Arc (can be reforged)	Solar	Arc

Looks comparable enough, without Ice Breakers great trait's of ammo generation and explosion, but also without the exotic limitation. Screw it, most likely I will grind for it...

IB goals for this week:

1) Reach rank 4 to buy SR;
2) Double bounties from IB and Crucible to level up weapons and armors;
3) Push towards Crucible Rank 3;
5) Get 50+ Crucible marks to get 150 for future weapon purchase;

LDR 5001 looks fine too, significantly better stability but sucky range. IMHO the IB weapon is probably better, because let's face it: for these hard hitting high recoil sniper rifles, we want higher impact and better range.

[wittyscorpion]

hebbnh and iw5000: I can use your advice on how to better grind IBs. Last time I did not play any until my Sunday binge gaming session, then I realized that I missed out a lot on bounties. What did you do and how you took advantage of the buffs?

I am thinking about the following:

1) Play short IB sessions every day and pick up IB bounties and easy to complete Crucible bounties;
2) Turn in Crucible bounties as soon as they are completed;
3) Save most of the IB bounties up for later turn-ins. Only turn in when I need the bounty space;
4) Buy a buff on Sunday for the long session;
5) Buy another buff on Monday for IB bounty turn-ins;

Does this sound like a good strategy?

Unfortunately I have both my Crucible rank grinding and Eris rank grinding on the same character, and it also has 2 exotic bounties. I am going to be super tight with bounty slots.

[hebbnh]

I really only played enough each day to complete the bounties. On a good day that took 5 or 6 games, on a bad day it might have been double that. I bought the buff every day I played and turned bounties in when I was done with my session to make sure I had space to pick all the bounties up the next day. If you're only doing one character you might as well just buy the buff every day to maximize your efficiency. It's only 7 motes of light total -- not a big deal.

In regards to the sniper comparison, I don't think range really matters very much on snipers.  The raid sniper (Black Hammer) is solar and is better than Efrideet's Spear, so if you reforge and get a solar version it's going to be outclassed.  LDR 5001 has much better stability, a larger mag, and roughly equal reload compared to Efrideet's Spear which means you'll probably be doing equal or better DPS with the LDR 5001 since it's not that far behind on impact.  I don't think the difference is anywhere near big enough to justify grinding up to IB rank 4.

[wittyscorpion]

Dec 16, 2014 15:56:30 GMT -5 hebbnh said:

I really only played enough each day to complete the bounties. On a good day that took 5 or 6 games, on a bad day it might have been double that. I bought the buff every day I played and turned bounties in when I was done with my session to make sure I had space to pick all the bounties up the next day. If you're only doing one character you might as well just buy the buff every day to maximize your efficiency. It's only 7 motes of light total -- not a big deal.

I burned most of my MoL on exotic helm lotteries, and wasted 2 on re-forge, so I only have 3 left . I do have my Titan on "Urn of Sacrifice" quest line which can give me much needed 5 MoL after Xur is in town.

I also have 2 characters that I need Crucible on: Hunter for Crucible ranking, and Warlock for Bad Juju bounty.

New plan:

Warlock IB goals

1) Complete Bad Juju bounty;
2) Double bounties for weapon and armor (my only character that is still at level 30) upgrade;
3) Reach IB rank 4 to buy IB Warlock bond and SR;

Hunter IB goals (after Warlock is done and if I still feel like playing)

1) Push towards Crucible Rank 3;
2) Earn 50+ marks to get to 150;
4) Double bounties for weapon upgrade;

[mannon]

Okay that sniper looks right up my alley... Hope it has a low-is zoom scope or can be rerolled to have one... Not sure those change. I'll poke at IB some during the week if it's fun and try to get some bounties, and this weekend I'll decide whether to go whole hog or not.

[wittyscorpion]

Regarding the AR, if you are fine with Atheon's Epilogue (which I do, in both PvE and PvP) it should feel decent:

Stats	Silimar's Wrath	Atheon's Epilogue
Rate Of Fire	100	100
Impact	2	2
Range	14	15
Stability	36	34
Reload	70	71
Mag size	66	70
Elemental damage		Void

The two weapons are virtual identical, and the Silimar's Wrath offered at IB has two good perks for these high RoF low Impact AR: 1) bottom half mag does more damage, 2) increased stability after sustained firing.

It might be well worth grinding for. I may just abandon my Hunter plans and focus on getting Warlock to IB rank 5:

Warlock IB goals

1) Complete Bad Juju bounty;
2) Double bounties for weapon and armor (Warlock is the only one yet to reach level 31) upgrade;
3) Reach IB rank 4 to buy IB Warlock bond and SR;
4) Reach IB rank 5 to buy AR;
5) Stretch goal: reach Crucible Rank 3;
6) Stretch goal: earn 150 Crucible marks;

[iw5000]

Dec 16, 2014 15:46:31 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

hebbnh and iw5000: I can use your advice on how to better grind IBs. Last time I did not play any until my Sunday binge gaming session, then I realized that I missed out a lot on bounties. What did you do and how you took advantage of the buffs?

Not much advice to give.

1. Pick the easy bounties. Well, grab them all.
2. Double dip Crucible and IB.
3. Always use the buff every day.
4. And play A LOT.


Grind...grind...grind.

[wittyscorpion]

Dec 16, 2014 17:15:39 GMT -5 iw5000 said:

Dec 16, 2014 15:46:31 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

hebbnh and iw5000: I can use your advice on how to better grind IBs. Last time I did not play any until my Sunday binge gaming session, then I realized that I missed out a lot on bounties. What did you do and how you took advantage of the buffs?

Not much advice to give.

1. Pick the easy bounties. Well, grab them all.
2. Double dip Crucible and IB.
3. Always use the buff every day.
4. And play A LOT.


Grind...grind...grind.

That's great advice

I am short on MoL, so I won't be buying the buff until Friday. I'll save up IB bounties completed before then, which I will only have a handful anyway because Nightfall and weekly take higher priority.

This week's schedule is now set:

Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday: Weekly/Nightfall/Raid/Urn of Sacrifice
Thursday (post raid): first serious IB session;
Friday: short IB session;
Saturday: buy buff, turn in all completed IB bounties, grind ~4 hours;
Sunday: buy another buff, grind full 12 hours, save 10 completed IB bounties with 5000 XPs, cash in the rest;
Monday: buy a buff and cash in all saved IB bounties;

Should be able to hit IB Rank 5 no problem . Stretch goal is to hit Crucible Rank 3 as well...

Any bros on the XONE side care to join me?

[wittyscorpion]

hebbnh: do you still have the buff info from last IB, like what percentage for each day?

[mannon]

Wear IB icon, shader, and class amor item as each gives a rep buff. I'm guessing the ones from last IB probably still count in this one. If you don't have them purchase them ASAP.

Purchase the buff every day before you turn in bounties. (I'm not sure about wearing the items, but it couldn't hurt.)

Save completed bounties unless you need the space to pickup more bounties. The buff gets better every day so if you complete a bounty one day and turn it in later you get even more rep. (Exception, if you don't have the icon, shader, and class armor items and are close to ranking up it could be worth turning in some bounties to push you over the edge if you plan to play more before the buff increases. If not wait until the buff increases the next day then purchase buff, turn in, purchase items and wear them, then go IB it up.)

Play to win, but if you're losing stick with it and work on those bounties or just harass the other team. Losses are worth almost as much rep as wins up to 5 in a row. Follow your teammates, cap what they cap, ect. When your team has 2 cap points defend, or kill, get aggressive, but stay with teammates. When you're down 1:2 play defensively, deny kills by staying alive. If taking B isn't working no matter what then just take their spawn and let the chips fall where they may. Watch out for fusion rifles... They are deadly in IB, especially fully upgraed exotics. Grab heavy ammo whenever you can, but don't be greedy, and watch out because it's also a trap. The winner isn't necessarily the first player to get to it.

If possible play at peak times and not only in the middle of the night when only the diehard players are still up. Competition gets tougher. (But it can be good for honing your skills.)

Play a lot, but don't burn out. The buff gets better every single day so the weekend will give much more rep per minute than today.

[wittyscorpion]

Also, a couple weeks back Bungie implemented the follow slaughter rules:

Slaughter Rules
In the event of a massacre, all parties are returned to orbit at the conclusion of the match

Team-based playlists
If one team is grossly under-performing, the session is dissolved in favor of matchmaking

This will make IB solo much more enjoyable, as you are guaranteed to not have a bad beating repeated as is with the same players and/or teams.

[iw5000]

Dec 16, 2014 17:31:03 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

Dec 16, 2014 17:15:39 GMT -5 iw5000 said:

Not much advice to give.

1. Pick the easy bounties. Well, grab them all.
2. Double dip Crucible and IB.
3. Always use the buff every day.
4. And play A LOT.


Grind...grind...grind.

That's great advice

I am short on MoL, so I won't be buying the buff until Friday. I'll save up IB bounties completed before then, which I will only have a handful anyway because Nightfall and weekly take higher priority.

This week's schedule is now set:

Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday: Weekly/Nightfall/Raid/Urn of Sacrifice
Thursday (post raid): first serious IB session;
Friday: short IB session;
Saturday: buy buff, turn in all completed IB bounties, grind ~4 hours;
Sunday: buy another buff, grind full 12 hours, save 10 completed IB bounties with 5000 XPs, cash in the rest;
Monday: buy a buff and cash in all saved IB bounties;

Should be able to hit IB Rank 5 no problem . Stretch goal is to hit Crucible Rank 3 as well...

Any bros on the XONE side care to join me?

lol, my advice was kind of lame.

btw...You joining in with the AW clan war?

[wittyscorpion]

I plan to help off roster on Saturday and Sunday. I do fully expect HSV1 to establish dominant lead by Friday night though, so my service is most likely not needed . As a result, my schedule did not take CW into consideration.

[mannon]

Damn you... now I want that Sniper rifle. Maybe I'm grinding IB this week after all... we'll see.

[wittyscorpion]

Dec 16, 2014 18:27:44 GMT -5 mannon said:

gosh darn golly gee whiz you... now I want that Sniper rifle. Maybe I'm grinding IB this week after all... we'll see.

I would say that it is a good one if you enjoy IB a lot and plan to spend significant amount of time playing anyway, but not to the point that you have to re-arrange your life to grind for it. As I mentioned earlier: LDR-5001 is decent and close enough.

[mannon]

The thing is... I DO enjoy IB. It's just not as fun without a goal to work towards. Hitting that goal and getting the payoff at the end, that's what really feels good. Getting my boots last time, (which are now obsolete) was a pretty big goal for me and it felt great to achieve that.

Hopefully Bungie does get the message that players do want IB to be meaningful and have good rewards, though. They don't have to necessarily equal the top tier raid stuff, but they should be better than vendor items... I don't understand why Bungie hasn't figured that out... It would help if vendor gear wasn't just below top tier raid gear at that.

To be honest I would prefer that armor tiers work like this. Say you get a full set of tier X. The light difference in each piece from new to fully upgraded is enough light to add one level, thus the full set raises you 4 levels after upgrading it. The next tier of armor, tier Y, starts at the same light level as fully upgraded, (so you don't downgrade for upgrading) and similarly every full upgrade adds one level. Vendor gear would be tier X and Raid armor tier Y. Maybe IB could sit between the two, starting at 2 levels higher than vendor. I just think that would be much more logical. It would mean that two tiers of armor would span 8 levels instead of just 4 though and I guess that could be an issue in the current design, but at least it wouldn't force Iron Banner into being either equal to the highest level armor in the game or completely irrelevant with nothing in between...

[wittyscorpion]

As it turns out, the 2 IB weapons might just be better than the ones offered by the other vendors (stats wise one is comparable to Ice Breaker, the other comparable to Atheon's Epilogue, 1 great, 1 very solid). We will have to grind to them and see

[mannon]

Does reforging them only change the elements or can it change other weapon mods?

[wittyscorpion]

Dec 16, 2014 19:34:26 GMT -5 mannon said:

Does reforging them only change the elements or can it change other weapon mods?

It can change both.

[qupie]

Last time the IB bountieswere the same everyday. So I Would strongly advice AGAINST saving them up. If you don't hand them in on day x, you can't pick them up on day x+1. So not a very good idea imo. I would do what hebn said, do short sessions in the beginning, at least to compelete most of the bounties, and from Thursday on, use the buff and play longer sessions. That is how I got to rank 4 last time, without feeling grindy

[iw5000]

The IB bounties repeat everyday. No reason to save them.


I'm not really sure why anyone is grinding anything on the IB. The gun rewards are lame. There is no reason to spend 12 hours of your life for a gun that has ridiculously miniscule stat differences from others. The shaders/patches/emblems are the same as last time. And the gear? You can get your gear through the Vanguard vendors if you need it.

Vangard Strikes (Eagle, Viper, Wolf, Tiger) are faster than Crucible. One can do the highest 'Tiger Strike' (which is ridiculously easy to finish fast) and get 6 marks and 25 Rep. This strike is at most 15 min long. But it's easy. In one hour,....you have 24 marks and 100 rep. Crucible? You can lose. If so, your marks drop from 3 to 2. So in an average of five games, go 3-2, you end up with 13 marks and 95 rep. Do the math. 25 > 13

Bungie wants to fvck you over with making you waste time. Play smarter, not harder.


The only rationale I can come up with for doing IB is if you want to level up stuff quickly. Gear and Guns. You can double dip on bounties. Do both IB and Crucible at the same time. It would be very feasible to get 8 to 10 bounties done in an hour. 1 bounty per 6 min. That is an awesome pace. Anything under 7.5 is acceptable.

[wittyscorpion]

As I mentioned above: the sniper rifle is more hard hitting that Ice Breaker and more stable, with just a little less range. It is a good gun to get without having to take an exotic slot. The AR is a clone of Atheon's Epilogue, without the elemental damage but with higher attacks.

Weapons are not the main reason for me to consider IB though. As it should have become more obvious by now, I enjoy playing Crucible a lot and IB > Regular, so IB week is my week to enjoy some PvP action and pushing for Crucible rank 3, while taking advantage of double bounties. The 330 attack weapons as incentive to get to higher ranks are just icing on the cake. I also want the warlock bond which looks awesome (last time I played as hunter).

I also disagree that the IB guns from last time are trash. The 3 I got are very solid and they are still in my main rotation.

[wings]

I don't think the range factor is that important because the longest of ranges you could kill enemies with, you cannot see them despite being there. Go to Shattered Coast on Venus and see the Fallen drop near the vehicle link and head towards the near building that holds the Vex sensor where the Sevitor spawns. There should be a place where you can still snipe the Fallen and then notice you are too far that they are not on your screen? So I don't know what range means in this game.