Just Boopgun and your prefered Backup Plan fusion. Probably be the most mileage out of that combo given you’ll be able to carry both.

That’s an exciting thought that occurred to me earlier today; the ability to use the Booper and another void shotty/fusion at the same time. Should be great :)

I love it so much.

One cool thing is, as OP as it clearly is, there is some risk involved in using it to its full potential. Hitting bosses with melee attacks can backfire easily. Much as I loved D1 weapons like Gjallarhorn and Icebreaker, I think I prefer the trend that Bungie has going with D2 where the most powerful weapons all take a bit more thought and/or skill to use. The IKELOS Shotgun, Whisper, Polaris Lance all have a bit more of a learning curve than just “pull the trigger and watch everything explode” :)

I just REALLY want to use melting point + IKELOS shotgun... Sounds so freaking OP.

I put a void mod on mine, so if there’s another guardian with a tractor cannon in the mix... oooooh baby!

I love it so much.

One cool thing is, as OP as it clearly is, there is some risk involved in using it to its full potential. Hitting bosses with melee attacks can backfire easily. Much as I loved D1 weapons like Gjallarhorn and Icebreaker, I think I prefer the trend that Bungie has going with D2 where the most powerful weapons all take a bit more thought and/or skill to use. The IKELOS Shotgun, Whisper, Polaris Lance all have a bit more of a learning curve than just “pull the trigger and watch everything explode” :)

I just REALLY want to use melting point + IKELOS shotgun... Sounds so freaking OP.

I love it so much.

One cool thing is, as OP as it clearly is, there is some risk involved in using it to its full potential. Hitting bosses with melee attacks can backfire easily. Much as I loved D1 weapons like Gjallarhorn and Icebreaker, I think I prefer the trend that Bungie has going with D2 where the most powerful weapons all take a bit more though and/or skill to use. The IKELOS Shotgun, Whisper, Polaris Lance all have a bit more of a learning curve than just “pull the trigger and watch everything explode” :)

I like this trend. Weapons alone won't win you the fight, you have to actually attain some measure of skill with them. I love how the Polaris lance is sort of an evolution of the needle rifle from Reach. Same requirement of patience in critting to get that pop.

But man, I can't wait to land my own IKELOS shotgun so I too can kill Guardians from 5 miles away in Crucible...

One cool thing is, as OP as it clearly is, there is some risk involved in using it to its full potential. Hitting bosses with melee attacks can backfire easily. Much as I loved D1 weapons like Gjallarhorn and Icebreaker, I think I prefer the trend that Bungie has going with D2 where the most powerful weapons all take a bit more thought and/or skill to use. The IKELOS Shotgun, Whisper, Polaris Lance all have a bit more of a learning curve than just “pull the trigger and watch everything explode” :)

(Side note: EP is inadvertently the single best Destiny-related reason to buy an Xbox One X... it runs quite smoothly, as opposed to the stutter-fest that it becomes on the base consoles).

It's smooth on PS4 Pro. OMFG come back to us d00d!

(Side note: EP is inadvertently the single best Destiny-related reason to buy an Xbox One X... it runs quite smoothly, as opposed to the stutter-fest that it becomes on the base consoles).

But EP feels so much more epic when you are running at 10 frames a second!! It's like a constant slow-mo action scene!

(Side note: EP is inadvertently the single best Destiny-related reason to buy an Xbox One X... it runs quite smoothly, as opposed to the stutter-fest that it becomes on the base consoles).

Wave 1 Boss: (remember how hard it used to be to kill this thing?)

https://xboxdvr.com/gamer/nevindouglas/video/59017956

Wave 6 Mobs and Bosses:

https://xboxdvr.com/gamer/nevindouglas/video/59018034

Wave 7 Boss:

https://xboxdvr.com/gamer/nevindouglas/video/59018071

Escalation Protocol seemed like a stretch up until I got near the level cap, and now it feels almost easy with a set of 400-405 Solstice armor.

But I got to thinking recently about something that Claude has said in the past about Bungie titles: There's always a particular twist you don't expect. And the way that tends to play out is in terms of how they've implemented things. I think in this case, with EP, there's a phenomenon that's really important to take stock of.

I've made more friends out of randos running EP in the last two months than I have in almost any other similar period since Xbox Live went live. And whether by design or not, the reality is that the way that groups have to self-organize in order to achieve a win is something that works better than anything else (at least that I've seen) to build new bonds within a community; especially for a game that's at this point in its lifecycle. Frankly, I'm more than ok with the solution being placed just out of reach (with no "proper" matchmaking); and needing to rely on the community to come together to beat a challenge.

My mind begins to race considering what kind of experiences one could craft by scaling things up past 9 players...

Here’s the thing; in order for me to reach the point where I could casually jump into EP with a group of randos, I needed to treat D2 like a checklist for 3 solid months. Thats how long it took me to get my characters leveled to the point where the final waves of EP are not an absolute train wreck, while also acquiring the diverse range of gear needed to be able to slip into any group and fill a needed role. I’m totally with you when it comes to the desire to just float around the game and do whatever you’re in the mood to do. I LOVE Destiny when it gets to that point. I just can’t actually play that way in the true sense until after I’ve climbed the power ladder, and Bungie keeps making that climb longer and slower with each release.

I'm with you there, too! It wasn't that long ago that I made a post saying that the soft cap system is complete shit. Hell, I've made the argument that power levels add basically nothing worthwhile to the game anyway.

I know they've made the climb even longer in Forsaken, and I'm curious to see how that will play out. The problem isn't necessarily the time it takes to climb, the problem is that in Warmind, there weren't enough steps on the ladder. As long as there is a steady stream of content that opens up as you make the power climb, and don't have to rely on repeating the same activities for weekly milestones to get to the next step, I'll be okay.

Escalation Protocol is a perfect example of how to botch that, I think. It feels so obvious that EP could have been built to facilitate that climb, rather than just being available at the end of it. It could have scaled so much better, with most people only being able to get through Wave 1 for a week, with it actually having drops that give you more power, so you can make it through Wave 2 the next week, which leads to drops that will allow you to get through Wave 3, etc. It seems like a no-brainer.

I just want a clear path to max level, without having to farm weekly milestones for weeks to get there.

While I don't feel like they've been super clear about it (even in that meaty update from a few weeks ago), I get the impression that the climb to max level might be longer, but also more steady (like it was in The Taken King). That seems like an okay middle ground, at least.

I'm still not even at 380 on any of my characters on either platform, because at a certain point, I got tired of chasing the milestones every week. It is a shit system. Just let me do what I want, Bungie.

That said, reaching max level has never meant much of anything in Destiny. Nothing in the game has ever required max level (Prestige raids, I guess, which I don't particularly care about). 3 manning Escalation Protocol would require it, too, but I've never felt like I was under powered or useless being in the mid-to-upper 370s in our big group.