I’ve got quests to finish anyway!

Which reminds me, I need to make an FTB.

Come to think of it, off the top of my head I can't even think of a GAME that requires you to weaken a character in order to progress forward. From what I've experienced in my life, the game either strengthens its enemies to make a decent fight, or even better—leave them the way they are to let the player keep their power and fight through previously difficult battles with ease! How the hell is first going through a mission for the first time, never letting us play it again, and then making us drop to our lowest to play a triple strength version "challenging"?

Just wanted to respond to this part because there are countless games that have a point, usually 2/3 of the way through the story, where you lose all the power you've accrued for a level or two to put everything back in perspective. Then you usually kill a few guards and reclaim your pile of gear.

D2 starts you off that way in the first place. And sure, Solstice is a dance that the dev is expecting you to take on willingly, but in the scope of the rest of the game, there's nothing that requires you to do it. Ultimately it's just going to amount to cosmetics that signify you were willing to throw yourself at a commemorative grind.

If the actually event isn't fun to you it's totally not worth doing!

I agree with this, which is why I'm not doing it (there are parts which are fun, I'm just a total no-go on Crucible). It's likely that other armor with better perks will be coming along shortly when Forsaken launches, so unless you're REALLY concerned with being as high of a light level as possible, or just can't do without the look of the Solstice armor, Solstice shouldn't be considered a necessity at all.

Honestly, the only real reason I'm doing it is for the 50 Triumph points. With that and Zavala rank, I'll be at the t-shirt. I don't feel like hunting down Latent Memories, I doubt that I'm going to get through Spire of Stars in the next few weeks, and, while I'm working on it, I don't know if I'll get through the Lost Prophecies for Sagira's shell in time.

If the actually event isn't fun to you it's totally not worth doing!

I agree with this, which is why I'm not doing it (there are parts which are fun, I'm just a total no-go on Crucible). It's likely that other armor with better perks will be coming along shortly when Forsaken launches, so unless you're REALLY concerned with being as high of a light level as possible, or just can't do without the look of the Solstice armor, Solstice shouldn't be considered a necessity at all.

(The whole "I don't want to reduce my advantages and play that way" attitude is really throwing me. It's the point of the event - this is what you were dressed like when you started, but you're a better fighter than you were when you started, so prove it by taking off the things you CAN take off (armor) and just using the things you CAN'T (your skills), and fight the guys you fight normally (who are now stronger, relatively). I'm not understanding at all why that bothers you so much.)

Especially because we're all going to be at power level 400 probably within the first few days of Forsaken coming out. If the actually event isn't fun to you it's totally not worth doing!

But if any of you are online when I get back from work, I’ll send a message.

Ikora is all about learning from your enemies - that's why she's always offered you opportunities to replay story missions. She calls these "Meditations" - I guess I always assumed they were called that because you're supposed to think about them as you play, and learn from what you see.

The entire Solstice of Heroes event (from her perspective) is just a grander version of that; she starts you off with a 'Remember where you came from!" speech, then sends you off in beat-to-shit armor and tells you to take what you've learned and beat your enemies as badly as you did when they were as weak as you were. That seems like the PERFECT test of how effectively you improved your strategy, to me.

I didn't mean to condescend to your abilities in the slightest; I've played with you, I know you're considerably better than I am. I've now played every level in Solstice solo, at every difficulty level - all I was saying was that if *I* can do that, you sure as hell can.

Yes, I had to rethink my strats more than once. My first time through Spark, I used up most of my resources (heavy, grenades, super) on the second wave of Servitors, I was COMPLETELY unprepared for the 3rd wave. I had to rethink how I was approaching the fight, and what I could do to manage the overload in such a small arena. I was successful.

1AU was a LOT of work the first time through. Every time I thought I was at a point where I'd killed enough stuff and could sprint through the rest, Bungie showed me I was wrong; No sprinting allowed! Kill stuff, that's the rule. Okay. It was pretty damn hard, solo, that first time.

Then I played it 6 times in a single night, with a couple of different groups of people. I honed my strats, and I learned things from how others were playing it. I've gone back in again solo - and it's still non-trivial, but it's totally doable (at all 3 levels).

All I was saying was that if you're frustrated, it's because you're not adapting - these DON'T play the way the original missions played, they basically went through them and put up walls in every place we'd found loopholes. If I can solo 'em, though, you definitely can. But they're also fun to run with teammates, and they're much, much easier that way.

(The whole "I don't want to reduce my advantages and play that way" attitude is really throwing me. It's the point of the event - this is what you were dressed like when you started, but you're a better fighter than you were when you started, so prove it by taking off the things you CAN take off (armor) and just using the things you CAN'T (your skills), and fight the guys you fight normally (who are now stronger, relatively). I'm not understanding at all why that bothers you so much.)

Or, I don't know, keep being snarky about how unreasonable it is that Bungie made levels that are actually a bit challenging to play on your own. (I found that refreshing, to be honest.)

Hang on, hang on, hold the hell up. First off, I'm not being "snarky" about anything, or to anyone—so we can just nip that weed right now.

Secondly, I love campaign and single player story/content. It's where I perform my best, try my hardest and achieve the most. That's why most of my games are usually single player; that's why I still frequently play Destiny 1; that's the only reason I'm picking up Halo 6. I start games off Easy, but I do enjoy a challenge--something that keeps me on my toes and fills me with even more satisfaction that I was able to complete something like that, especially on my own. You can look at my Destiny 1 Service Record and Game History. Other than Heroic Strikes—because I don't have a choice—every challenging activity that can reasonably be done: Daily Heroic, Challenge of Elders, Nightfall—I all do by myself. Those provide the story I like, the adversity I fight, and the entertainment I enjoy.

Daily Heroic Stories are challenging.
Heroic Strikes are challenging.
Nightfall is hard, but challenging.

Solstice is redefining the term 'unbalanced'. A challenging mission or level or whatever is supposed to make environments, enemies or goals harder, not force you to make yourself weaker. They don't even drop your light level--you have to put on Common armor to lower it yourself! Yes, I was recently made aware that you can change your armor to your liking once you land, but that still doesn't justify the fact that this kind of measure is what they expect. I've never seen a mission in Destiny that says 'You're too powerful to complete this mission, you must drop down to a low level to play it'.

Come to think of it, off the top of my head I can't even think of a GAME that requires you to weaken a character in order to progress forward. From what I've experienced in my life, the game either strengthens its enemies to make a decent fight, or even better—leave them the way they are to let the player keep their power and fight through previously difficult battles with ease! How the hell is first going through a mission for the first time, never letting us play it again, and then making us drop to our lowest to play a triple strength version "challenging"?

I am expressing frustration in the poor choices and decisions made as of late by this company, and the unsatisfactory results of no longer enjoying an activity I used to enjoy. Or in the terms of Destiny, one that I was allowed to enjoy. I'm not sending death threats or posting rage streams. I'm not standing outside their building with my arms out and tears in my eyes whimpering for hugs. My anger may manifest in sarcasm, but only because that's what it's starting to feel like to me; just some cruel joke.

True, it is more fun to do single player activities with friends, but it should be possible to do it alone. Some people don't have time. Some people don't have the equipment or internet they need. Some people don't even have friends. That Reddit guy posts a solution to beat all the single player missions, and then they ALL require a fireteam. That defeats the purpose of the single-player mission. I want to be challenged, not robbed of my ability to defend myself.

We need Story remixes with higher light, not restrictive limits punishing us for what we were meant to do in the first place. (Then pile higher light on top of that.) To paraphrase an old song, that's like making a soldier drop his gun, shooting him, and making him fight while bleeding out.

And it's not necessary to be condescending to me like I'm afraid of difficulty. I may not be an 'All-Raid Bosses Solo' player, but I'm a damn good campaign player. I think I've proven that plenty of times by now. But if multiple players are required to cheese a single player experience, then why bother calling it single player?

Also, I am putting no effort into advancing this thing at all, so I actually do still have my green armor set, if you want an ally who can put some on.

If you're on tonight, hit me up and we'll knock some of that stuff out.

Actually, I need them all. They’re at 350, which brings my light to 350.

Considering that everybody is trying to advance their armor as fast as they can, I’d be hard pressed to find someone still in green scorched.

Then ask for help. We were playing Crucible a couple of nights ago, and Xenos asked "is anyone willing to help me finish Spark?" I enjoy that level with more than one person; we whipped through it in the time it took the rest of the party to finish a Crucible game, and rejoined them.

I did all of the missions solo, on my Titan, first, and a few missions I'm willing to re-run alone (Payback, for example, is easiest with one person, at ANY difficulty level, because they only give you one tank anyway), but they're much faster with 2, and MUCH MUCH faster with 3. Homecoming, for example, is sub-4-mins with a full fireteam - at any difficulty. (Killing EVERYTHING.)

Or, I don't know, keep being snarky about how unreasonable it is that Bungie made levels that are actually a bit challenging to play on your own. (I found that refreshing, to be honest.)

Considering that everybody is trying to advance their armor as fast as they can, I’d be hard pressed to find someone still in green scorched.

Nope.

Turns out they ramp up the campaign difficulty and light level to go with the armor, too. My light level was 350, which is technically my highest possible combination for now, and I was killed by a Legionary in two shots.

Which means—yes—if you want to get your Solstice to Legendary or Masterwork, you really will have to play the missions at 380 or higher. If it isn't happening already. THAT is a big issue to me.