facing a Level 20+ with all these ridiculously powerful armaments and armor just gets to be such a bummer in PvP. It seems like no matter how good your tactics are, regardless if you were able to get the first and multiple succeeding shots on them first, they'll always be able to bear down their Death Star turbolaser of a fusion rifle on you with little harm to them.

Frankly this is not true. You need to get used to flanking, attacking in pairs, and taking cover so your shields can recharge. The weapon you use is almost a non-factor in the crucible. Use your supers, make getting heavy ammo a priority, and spec into PvP stats. Probably your spec is the most important thing in that list. Until I landed on my current high armor/high regen spec for my hunter, I was having trouble, too. Now i win most 1 v 1 fights.

Keep in mind that there are LOTS of ways for you to get 1-shot in PvP: Shotguns, Fusion rifles, supers, rockets, sniper rifles, grenades... they can all kill you in one hit. You need to learn to anticipate those attacks and move defensively whenever possible.

There's a lot of in the moment strategy in Destiny's PvP and your weapon of choice really doesn't matter in any of that. Once you have a gun you like and that you feel good using, any further improvement is going to come from how you play. There are no enemy weapons that will keep them alive longer if you play with aplomb.

You will get at least an Ascendant Shard via the postmaster after your first gold tier public event every day.

Nope. Last couple days particularly were Energy only.

You're probably not checking the postmaster after your first gold rated public event. The Shard may not be awarded in game, you get it once you go back to the tower.

I assumed he was referring to the fact that it's not always a shard. Sometimes the postmaster gives energy, motes of light, or strange coins for your first daily public event.

Its not always a Shard.

You will get at least an Ascendant Shard via the postmaster after your first gold tier public event every day.

Could be a strange coin, mote of light, shard, or energy, I believe...

You will get at least an Ascendant Shard via the postmaster after your first gold tier public event every day.

Nope. Last couple days particularly were Energy only.

You're probably not checking the postmaster after your first gold rated public event. The Shard may not be awarded in game, you get it once you go back to the tower.

I assumed he was referring to the fact that it's not always a shard. Sometimes the postmaster gives energy, motes of light, or strange coins for your first daily public event.

You will get at least an Ascendant Shard via the postmaster after your first gold tier public event every day.

Nope. Last couple days particularly were Energy only.

You're probably not checking the postmaster after your first gold rated public event. The Shard may not be awarded in game, you get it once you go back to the tower.

Run strikes, daily/weekly missions and patrols on the highest difficulty you can manage.

You'll earn marks quickly, but remember that you can't earn more than 250 at a time, so once you have what you need for an item, buy it.

Also do bounties to rank up too. Nothing worse than having all the marks you need but not being high enough to buy it.

Also get yourself some legendary weapons from the vanguard dealer. You'll need good guns for the raid, if not more than armor.

The raid is a blast.

After the raid....well there ain't much.

Also, I would recommend that you NOT rep a faction until you get to level 3 Vanguard rep. The reason is that you can gain Vanguard marks quicker and more reliably and that's the currency you'll need to buy your legendary armor.

So that just means I shouldn't equip myself with a faction-specific item but instead just concern myself with gaining Vanguard marks?

Fixed that. Yes.

Okie dokes! Thanks!

I'll be doing the same so if you see me join up. It goes faster and is more fun with friends. (You're west coast, though, so we may not cross paths time-wise on weeknights.)

I find I care less about the progression system when I'm playing with others. Solo I find myself obsessing with the pay-off.

Regarding PVP, I'm probably doing very little of that until I get my sunsinger maxed out. Solar grenades and resurrections are my only effective tools in PVP.

Also, I would recommend that you NOT rep a faction until you get to level 3 Vanguard rep. The reason is that you can gain Vanguard marks quicker and more reliably and that's the currency you'll need to buy your legendary armor.

So that just means I shouldn't equip myself with a faction-specific item but instead just concern myself with gaining Vanguard marks?

Fixed that. Yes.

Okie dokes! Thanks!

Also, I would recommend that you NOT rep a faction until you get to level 3 Vanguard rep. The reason is that you can gain Vanguard marks quicker and more reliably and that's the currency you'll need to buy your legendary armor.

So that just means I shouldn't equip myself with a faction-specific item but instead just concern myself with gaining Vanguard marks?

Fixed that. Yes.

I need to pay more attention to the posts around me before I post.

Well I appreciate anything that you had to say anyways! :)

Also, I would recommend that you NOT rep a faction until you get to level 3 Vanguard rep. The reason is that you can gain Vanguard marks quicker and more reliably and that's the currency you'll need to buy your legendary armor.

So that just means I shouldn't equip myself with a faction-specific item but instead just concern myself with gaining faction marks?

One other thing, do NOT use your marks for weapons until you have a full set of legendary armor. Priority number 1 is getting that armor.

I'm satisfied with the weapons I have right now, but definitely not with my armor, so your advice is more than welcome. Thank you again, Jironimo. :)

I need to pay more attention to the posts around me before I post.

You need to give up on "finding" gear in-game, and focus on buying it from the vanguard or a faction. You will get a good loot drop here and there, but it is far-between.

Isn't that the truth. So, yeah, I'm going to definitely go with the marks route instead of praying for a good engram or loot drop.

All these patches/fixes (not that they weren't needed) are bad for causal gamers b/c the hard core guys grind them out, get all the benefit from them, and then they are patched. This widens the gaps between the haves and the have nots.

I really wouldn't mind that at all if this game was entirely PvE or if your PvE and PvP characters were wholly different. But facing a Level 20+ with all these ridiculously powerful armaments and armor just gets to be such a bummer in PvP. It seems like no matter how good your tactics are, regardless if you were able to get the first and multiple succeeding shots on them first, they'll always be able to bear down their Death Star turbolaser of a fusion rifle on you with little harm to them.

Once the Master Chief Collection comes out, I'll probably just get on to run the raid weekly, and then go back to Halo.

Yeah, having the first three games all on one console is going to be such a joy. I could play Halo 2 endlessly and I am so freaking excited to finally try out Halo 1 on a network.

It's things like this that really makes me see the fault in Destiny. Leveling up after 20 isn't necessarily about your skill or all that you've accomplished, it's only about how lucky you are to have found that great piece of gear.

This isn't necessarily true. There is a predictable method to moving up, with NO RNG involved. Get Vanguard Marks, that's your top priority. Do the daily mission every day for 5 marks, do the weekly strike, do public events which always get you some marks, and most importantly do the highest level strike playlist you can which guarantees you marks as well. Once you have 65 marks, buy your first legendary armor piece from your Vanguard mentor and then get more marks until you can get your next 2 armor pieces. Along with the way you will get level 20 rare gear to move you up some levels, they especially drop in the Strike playlists, but nonetheless even if you don't get that you can progress by buying your Legendary armor one piece at a time.

Still seems like it's one hell of a grind, but it doesn't seem all too bad. I always find some enjoyment with the daily missions and the weekly strike when I'm able to get around to them.

I would NOT buy your helmet from the Vanguard, save Strange Coins which you get from the Weekly Strike and buy your helmet for 13 coins. You want to do this because buying a helmet from the Vanguard is twice the cost in marks of any other armor piece (130 marks vs 65), AND you also cannot get the Raid Helmet from the Normal difficulty so an Exotic helmet is the only way to guarantee you can eventually get to level 30 without having to do the Raid in hard mode.

Sounds great. Thank you so much!

Pubilc events only give materials for the first gold tier event completion each day. That and the raid have been my main source of materials. Never had to rely on RNG for them.

Not true. You only get a letter from the postmaster for the 1st gold tier. Each gold tier event has the chance of giving you an ascendant material at the time of completion.

I've racked up a few just running around from public event to public event on patrol.

A chance. 1st is the only guaranteed. I've done multiple in a day and only got material on the first. I could have worded that better though.

Probably after my semester is over. (December)

Don't have time to schedule a run. Haven't run it at ALL yet.

I feel your pain. If you don't have 2-3 hours to run a couple of characters every day, progression is brutal in this game. Hell, it's brutal if you DO have time to run a couple characters. Most MMO's are not particularly casual-friendly in my experience.

Especially frustrating considering the raid has been my favorite part of the game. Too hard to organize 6 people, too time consuming to complete if you suck as much as I do.

You will get at least an Ascendant Shard via the postmaster after your first gold tier public event every day.

Nope. Last couple days particularly were Energy only.

Also, there's no way you're only ever going to get Energy from the Weekly and Daily. Yes, it is much more likely that you will get Energy but you will definitely get Shards as well. The Weekly and Daily don't take much time, so this along with your daily public event is your best strategy.

I've gotten 1 shard in the past week, where I played 3 separate days, did 3 daily story missions, at least one public event each day, and did the weekly strike. Really. Bad. Luck. But my point is that these types of things shouldn't happen.

Also, you don't have time for the Raid but you can just do the first encounter which is very quick and get the first chest which always has AMATS.

Don't have time to schedule a run. Haven't run it at ALL yet.

Pubilc events only give materials for the first gold tier event completion each day. That and the raid have been my main source of materials. Never had to rely on RNG for them.

Not true. You only get a letter from the postmaster for the 1st gold tier. Each gold tier event has the chance of giving you an ascendant material at the time of completion.

I've racked up a few just running around from public event to public event on patrol.