Post by markopolo on Jan 29, 2015 13:02:20 GMT -5
Fellow Guardibros,
I'd like to take a second or two, if I may (and I may) to praise a triad of unsung heroes in Destiny. They've been with us since the beginning of our days as young, whippersnapper Level 1 guardians. They've gone from being one shot killers of ours to being one hit killed by us. They've gone from being those green glowing eyes you'd zerg past hoping to avoid while spinmetal farming, to being actively sought out.
I am of course, referring to the 3 Hive Knights of the Cosmodrome Steppes, aka The Three Musketeers.
Now, like many others, I have had many encounters with these 3 fine creatures. I clearly remember the first time I met them. It was the first time I entered the patrol in the Cosmodrome... I couldn't have been much more than level 7... "Oh look, a staircase... what's down here?" I (like many many many many new guardians) said to myself. Of course, I killed that Fallen Vandal and 2 shanks at the top first, then went down the stairs, did a 180' went a bit more, then turned right, then... Holy $hit where did... oh, I'm dead. Then, fuelled by revenge, I'd return. And die. And return. And die. And return... but this time, I'd use this brand new rocketlauncher on them... haha!!! Oh wait, they killed me again. And again. And whether I returned with a sniper rifle, shotgun, machine gun... it didn't matter... the end result was the same. I even remember on these very forums, I advocated their removal, saying that that they were too tough for such an area where weak guardians would roam.
But as I grew, got more xp, better weapons, and more experience in the game... I remember being level 13... with my shiny blue armor, green weapons, and harnessing the rage I had pent up for these 3 bastards... I remember the firefight that I had with these three... bobbing and weaving... hip firing ... pray and spraying, and headshotting... to finally, finally score one for the Light and kill them. One even gave me a blue bonbon too, if memory serves me correctly.
But time has gone on, and now I'm a big boy... my green and blue items have darkened to purple and to gold, and just like they vastly overleveled me, I now vastly overlevel them. It is no longer a question about if I am going to beat these 3 abominations, but rather how... do I melee them? Nova bomb them? Axion bolt them? Maybe snipe them out?
These 3 wretched Hive abominations, have given me so much. And they still do. And regardless of who you are or what level you are... they can offer you so much.
For the low level guardian, while the benefits are not obvious, these 3 Hive do give you some. First, they teach you that you can still be squashed like a bug, no matter who you are or what you can do... and reminding you about your mortality is a very important lesson as you explore the worlds of Destiny. Secondly, they teach you how to be quiet and stealthy; not every battle is won with guns and abilities, but rather your skills at not alerting the enemy. Thirdly, assuming a higher level guardian is taking care of them, they can offer you precious orbs and other resources; much like the smaller beast of the pack, you must wait your turn to get at whatever scraps the larger beasts of the pack have left you.
For the low/mid teens level guardian, the benefit is obvious: these 3 Hives can give you a reality check. It's all fine and dandy that you can snipe level 1 dregs and level 4 vandals... oooh, you took out a yellow named Shank: what a big kid you are! No more diapers for you! Wanna see what you're really made of? Go down the stairs and see if you can get all 75 glimmer from those big boys. If you can't, stay in the 'Drome until you can. If you can, go to the Moon baby.. yer out of elementary school.
For the 20+ guardian.... the benefit can be found in your wallet. You easily outclass the 3 now, and The Hunted now becomes The Hunter. While some would advocate glimmer farming in the exclusion zone of Mars, that area is not my first choice. Glimmer farming is done with these 3 Hive Knights, for 3 main reasons. First, the familiarity of the area. Second, the speed at which you can kill. Third, and I don't know if it is an exploit or not, but if you enter the area that the Hive are in and someone else has killed them, the next time that someone kills the 3 Hive, you too will get 75 glimmer. Last night, I actively stood on the big garage of the Steppes, sniping and axion bolting the ads around/under me, while someone killed the 3 Musketeers ten times, netting me 675 glimmer for not even being in the room. In fact, I sniped out some yellow names to make even more money.
Another benefit that the Hive give the high level guardians... bounties. Now, the "Killing 10 Hive Majors" is the obvious bounty, but there are other bounties that can be done here too. Using the Voidlock Triple Novabomb, you can kill these 3 Hives to generate 8 orbs each... 7 times and not only do you have a lot of glimmer, but you also have done the "50 Orbs generated" bounty without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, if you time it right, you can throw the 3 nova bombs behind the Hive to work on doing the "Kill Hive from behind" bounty. Axion bolts work well as the 3 hive run out of their room and 1 bolt does the trick of killing the 3... working on the "Kill Hive with an axion bolt" bounty. Because yellow names count as 20 sensor mites, killing the 3 Hive count as 60 each time... 4 times and you're done the "Collect 200 Sensor Mites in the Cosmodrome" bounty. And because a Blade of Crota spawns nearby, killing it, grabbing the sword, killing all the acolytes that spawn, plus the 3 knights, then going up and back down the stairs to kill the 3 knights again, gets you done the "Kill with a hive blade" bounty in one shot (usually)
Right there.... 6 bounties done/worked on in one location. While different locations might be more efficient, the 3 Hive Knights are definitely the most multipurposeful.
EDIT: one other thing I forgot... since using this spot to farm, even with the patch that made upgrades cost a lot more, maybe once... I have dropped below 20k glimmer. Maybe twice.
So... please... Guardibros... wherever you are... raise a glass, nod the head, tip the cap... whatever you wish to do right now... and pay respect to 3 Hive Knights who have, are, and will continue... to do so much for us as we push back the Darkness for The Light.
Here's looking at you kid!
I'd like to take a second or two, if I may (and I may) to praise a triad of unsung heroes in Destiny. They've been with us since the beginning of our days as young, whippersnapper Level 1 guardians. They've gone from being one shot killers of ours to being one hit killed by us. They've gone from being those green glowing eyes you'd zerg past hoping to avoid while spinmetal farming, to being actively sought out.
I am of course, referring to the 3 Hive Knights of the Cosmodrome Steppes, aka The Three Musketeers.
Now, like many others, I have had many encounters with these 3 fine creatures. I clearly remember the first time I met them. It was the first time I entered the patrol in the Cosmodrome... I couldn't have been much more than level 7... "Oh look, a staircase... what's down here?" I (like many many many many new guardians) said to myself. Of course, I killed that Fallen Vandal and 2 shanks at the top first, then went down the stairs, did a 180' went a bit more, then turned right, then... Holy $hit where did... oh, I'm dead. Then, fuelled by revenge, I'd return. And die. And return. And die. And return... but this time, I'd use this brand new rocketlauncher on them... haha!!! Oh wait, they killed me again. And again. And whether I returned with a sniper rifle, shotgun, machine gun... it didn't matter... the end result was the same. I even remember on these very forums, I advocated their removal, saying that that they were too tough for such an area where weak guardians would roam.
But as I grew, got more xp, better weapons, and more experience in the game... I remember being level 13... with my shiny blue armor, green weapons, and harnessing the rage I had pent up for these 3 bastards... I remember the firefight that I had with these three... bobbing and weaving... hip firing ... pray and spraying, and headshotting... to finally, finally score one for the Light and kill them. One even gave me a blue bonbon too, if memory serves me correctly.
But time has gone on, and now I'm a big boy... my green and blue items have darkened to purple and to gold, and just like they vastly overleveled me, I now vastly overlevel them. It is no longer a question about if I am going to beat these 3 abominations, but rather how... do I melee them? Nova bomb them? Axion bolt them? Maybe snipe them out?
These 3 wretched Hive abominations, have given me so much. And they still do. And regardless of who you are or what level you are... they can offer you so much.
For the low level guardian, while the benefits are not obvious, these 3 Hive do give you some. First, they teach you that you can still be squashed like a bug, no matter who you are or what you can do... and reminding you about your mortality is a very important lesson as you explore the worlds of Destiny. Secondly, they teach you how to be quiet and stealthy; not every battle is won with guns and abilities, but rather your skills at not alerting the enemy. Thirdly, assuming a higher level guardian is taking care of them, they can offer you precious orbs and other resources; much like the smaller beast of the pack, you must wait your turn to get at whatever scraps the larger beasts of the pack have left you.
For the low/mid teens level guardian, the benefit is obvious: these 3 Hives can give you a reality check. It's all fine and dandy that you can snipe level 1 dregs and level 4 vandals... oooh, you took out a yellow named Shank: what a big kid you are! No more diapers for you! Wanna see what you're really made of? Go down the stairs and see if you can get all 75 glimmer from those big boys. If you can't, stay in the 'Drome until you can. If you can, go to the Moon baby.. yer out of elementary school.
For the 20+ guardian.... the benefit can be found in your wallet. You easily outclass the 3 now, and The Hunted now becomes The Hunter. While some would advocate glimmer farming in the exclusion zone of Mars, that area is not my first choice. Glimmer farming is done with these 3 Hive Knights, for 3 main reasons. First, the familiarity of the area. Second, the speed at which you can kill. Third, and I don't know if it is an exploit or not, but if you enter the area that the Hive are in and someone else has killed them, the next time that someone kills the 3 Hive, you too will get 75 glimmer. Last night, I actively stood on the big garage of the Steppes, sniping and axion bolting the ads around/under me, while someone killed the 3 Musketeers ten times, netting me 675 glimmer for not even being in the room. In fact, I sniped out some yellow names to make even more money.
Another benefit that the Hive give the high level guardians... bounties. Now, the "Killing 10 Hive Majors" is the obvious bounty, but there are other bounties that can be done here too. Using the Voidlock Triple Novabomb, you can kill these 3 Hives to generate 8 orbs each... 7 times and not only do you have a lot of glimmer, but you also have done the "50 Orbs generated" bounty without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, if you time it right, you can throw the 3 nova bombs behind the Hive to work on doing the "Kill Hive from behind" bounty. Axion bolts work well as the 3 hive run out of their room and 1 bolt does the trick of killing the 3... working on the "Kill Hive with an axion bolt" bounty. Because yellow names count as 20 sensor mites, killing the 3 Hive count as 60 each time... 4 times and you're done the "Collect 200 Sensor Mites in the Cosmodrome" bounty. And because a Blade of Crota spawns nearby, killing it, grabbing the sword, killing all the acolytes that spawn, plus the 3 knights, then going up and back down the stairs to kill the 3 knights again, gets you done the "Kill with a hive blade" bounty in one shot (usually)
Right there.... 6 bounties done/worked on in one location. While different locations might be more efficient, the 3 Hive Knights are definitely the most multipurposeful.
EDIT: one other thing I forgot... since using this spot to farm, even with the patch that made upgrades cost a lot more, maybe once... I have dropped below 20k glimmer. Maybe twice.
So... please... Guardibros... wherever you are... raise a glass, nod the head, tip the cap... whatever you wish to do right now... and pay respect to 3 Hive Knights who have, are, and will continue... to do so much for us as we push back the Darkness for The Light.
Here's looking at you kid!
