Bungie Axes Destiny's "Loot Cave" In Latest Hotfix

[Fanghawk]

Bungie Axes Destiny's "Loot Cave" In Latest Hotfix

Bungie has fixed Destiny's Skywatch "loot cave" exploit, meaning players must go back to grinding to find the best gear.

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/destiny?from_search=1>Destiny hasn't been out for long, but players have quickly found ways to exploit gameplay in their favor. Perhaps the best example of this was the Skywatch's "loot cave", a small opening that constantly respawned low-level enemies if players stood far enough away. All one needed to do was keep your distance with a scoped weapon and you could scoop up gear from multiple enemies... until today that is. Bungie has finally corrected the exploit with its latest hotfix while offering a tongue-in-cheek explanation of what happened.

"The Hive of the holy 'Treasure Cave' have realized the futility of their endless assault on Skywatch," the patch notes read, "and have retired to lick their wounds and plan their next attack." More specifically, the hotfix notes state that respawn timers for several monster caves were increased to 40 seconds. Previous respawn timers ranged from 6-10 seconds.

Being able to gather a critical mass of loot quickly certainly has its appeal, but endless cave farming wasn't the social experience Bungie had in mind. In a <a href=http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Dev-Notes/en/News/News?aid=12188>Destiny Dev Note, Bungie explained its decision in more detail, stating that the high efficiencies of cave farming are now being reduced.

"The social experience of a cave farming run is amazing," the note reads, "the herding to get a team of Guardians all behind the line and firing in the right direction, the rush to grab the loot, the scramble when the panic wave starts, the beckoning glow from inside the cave. The speed at which the community organized around this activity was inspiring and humbling to us.

"But shooting at a black hole for hours on end isn't our dream for how Destiny is played," Bungie continues. "Our hope is that social engagement in public spaces is only one part of the Destiny experience. Expect changes soon which decrease the efficiency of cave farming and correspondingly increase engram drops from completing activities."

The change is incredibly significant for Destiny players, but it really shouldn't be too surprising. Players will have to go back to grinding for the Legendary drops they crave, at least until another clever exploit is discovered.

Source: <a href=http://www.bungie.net/7_Hot-Fix---09252014/en/News/News?aid=12190>Bungie

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[Baresark]

Wow... that was, as I understand it, the only way you had a hope of getting gear and leveling your guns in a manner that was reasonably fast, if not entirely fun.

Bungie: They found a way to get gear without grinding the same missions hundreds of times... FIX IT NOW!
Player: What about the part where you fix the repetitive nature of the game.
Bungie: What now? No, that's not right. Our game if fun, I promise. Just play it some more.

 

[TorchofThanatos]

Can I swear? I really want to swear. How about: Curse you Bungie! I would really like to know how Bungie expected us to get loot. It really seems like that didn't play their own game.

This is the opposite of listening to criticism, Bungie.

Yeah, that is what I thought. So them listening to the community means removing the part of the game that the community found and we were actually working together. Every time I when to farm everyone was super nice and considerate. We would take turns uses the ammo boxes and no one would stay in the cave to mess everyone else up.

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

My last run at the loot cave, lasted for about an hour and resulted in:

21 blue (rare) engrams and 1 purple (legendary) engram

The average PUG strike last 25 to 30 minutes, 20 minutes at best in a coordinated fire team. Typical drops after five strikes:

6-12 blue engrams, perhaps 1 purple in ten strikes (sometimes better,sometimes worse)

A crucible match typically lasts 15 to 20 minutes, drops in an hour?:

5-10 blue engrams, perhaps 1 purple in ten rounds



There is a reason everyone farmed the loot cave, Bungie. Take a card from Diablo and tighten up your godsdamned Skinner box or people will stop fucking pecking. Simple as that.

 

[synobal]

I don't think Bungie have ever made a game with loot mechanics and it shows.

 

[Jak2364]

"Shooting at a black hole for hours on end isn't our dream for how Destiny is played."
Oh, but shooting the same 6 bullet sponges you call bosses for hours is? Increasing difficulty by raising some numbers and mandating playing with others instead of implementing new mechanics is your dream?
I'm done with that game. If it ever gets a good story (and NOT through the paid expansions) then I might go back but till then screw them.

 

[gamegod25]

Bungie: We heard that people were farming mobs from a cave so we nerfed the exploit in a patch.

Me: Okay it was dull anyway. So are you going to fix the RNG and give us a better way to gear up?

Bungie: Oh hell no! That would require work and effort! Besides we spent all the $500 million budget on hyping the game and getting Peter Dinklage to read our first draft script...

 

[Irridium]

Before everyone flips their shit they should probably go and read Bungie's post here [http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Dev-Notes/en/News/News?aid=12188].

In it they say they're going to increase loot drops from strikes and other things, as well as making strikes less grindy. Also a few other good things in there.

Game's still a steaming pile of mediocrity, but this isn't just them going "loot cave's gone go fuck yourselves".

 

[CrimsonBlack]

You know what would be great as a form of "social engagement in a public place"? Some kind of IN-GAME LFG mechanism (perhaps where you can state what you're looking to do, your own perceived ability level, and how long you have to strike/raid... 30mins, 1hr, 2hr+ etc). I get why matchmaking the Nightfall strikes or the Vault of Glass would cause frustration for a PUG, but hell - I stare longingly at both those options but I just don't have enough time (I have limited gaming time) to cobble together a group outside of the game. Also I really really don't like adding strangers to my friends list. If this game franchise is to truly have 10+ year longevity, massive changes are needed to make it more MMO-like. I'm already exceptionally bored of running the same missions over and over and over and over with slightly different parameters - the excellent gunplay is why I keep coming back though.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Before everyone flips their shit they should probably go and read Bungie's post here [http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Dev-Notes/en/News/News?aid=12188].

In it they say they're going to increase loot drops from strikes and other things, as well as making strikes less grindy. Also a few other good things in there.

Game's still a steaming pile of mediocrity, but this isn't just them going "loot cave's gone go fuck yourselves".

Pretty much this, though I am personally still really enjoying the game. And honestly, the time I spent at the loot cave wasn't really all that extra productive compared to my time spent doing other things. Yes you could get slightly more loot drops (though the system itself is kinda broken and more drops doesn't at all mean better drops) but that's all you were getting. Doing other activities got you slightly less loot drops but actually gave marks and reputation that can be used to purchase items that are better than 99% of what you get from the loot cave anyway. Oh, and even if the other activities can be repetitive and grindy, they're still more fun that the loot cave was.

I'm glad to hear that Bungie is openly admitting to reassessing the loot system and activity rewards. Anyone who honestly expected the loot cave to not be squashed was, to put it mildly, kidding themselves.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

What they NEED to do is fix the loot issue altogether! So far, I have gotten around 12 to 14 Legendary Engram drops. The very FIRST one.... netted me an EXOTIC HELM!!! Yaaaaaay!!! However, it was for a Warlock, and I am a frakking Hunter. Heartbreaking, to be sure. Well, since then, I have gotten around 13ish legendary drops, not sure on the exact number. But I AM sure of the results. Everyone of them, except one which was an UNCOMMON, were Rares. Not a single legendary, beyond the exotic that I couldnt even use for my class.

Sure, Bungie, it shouldnt RAIN loot.... but damn, if you get lucky enough to get an exotic out of a legendary engram, at least let it be class specific. Having a higher percentage chance of getting actual legendaries out of legendary engrams would sure be spiffy, too. /sigh

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Bungie Axes Destiny's "Loot Cave" In Latest Hotfix

Bungie has fixed Destiny's Skywatch "loot cave" exploit, meaning players must go back to grinding to find the best gear.

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/destiny?from_search=1>Destiny hasn't been out for long, but players have quickly found ways to exploit gameplay in their favor. Perhaps the best example of this was the Skywatch's "loot cave", a small opening that constantly respawned low-level enemies if players stood far enough away. All one needed to do was keep your distance with a scoped weapon and you could scoop up gear from multiple enemies... until today that is. Bungie has finally corrected the exploit with its latest hotfix while offering a tongue-in-cheek explanation of what happened.

"The Hive of the holy "Treasure Cave" have realized the futility of their endless assault on Skywatch," the patch notes read, "and have retired to lick their wounds and plan their next attack." More specifically, the hotfix notes state that respawn timers for several monster caves were increased to 40 seconds. Previous respawn timers ranged from 6-10 seconds.

Being able to gather a critical mass of loot quickly certainly has its appeal, but endless cave farming wasn't the social experience Bungie had in mind. In a <a href=http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Dev-Notes/en/News/News?aid=12188>Destiny Dev Note, Bungie explained its decision in more detail, stating that the high efficiencies of cave farming are now being reduced.

"The social experience of a cave farming run is amazing," the note reads, "the herding to get a team of Guardians all behind the line and firing in the right direction, the rush to grab the loot, the scramble when the panic wave starts, the beckoning glow from inside the cave. The speed at which the community organized around this activity was inspiring and humbling to us.

"But shooting at a black hole for hours on end isn't our dream for how Destiny is played," Bungie continues. "Our hope is that social engagement in public spaces is only one part of the Destiny experience. Expect changes soon which decrease the efficiency of cave farming and correspondingly increase engram drops from completing activities."

The change is incredibly significant for Destiny players, but it really shouldn't be too surprising. Players will have to go back to grinding for the Legendary drops they crave, at least until another clever exploit is discovered.

Source: <a href=http://www.bungie.net/7_Hot-Fix---09252014/en/News/News?aid=12190>Bungie

Permalink

Aside from my griping about the legendary engrams, it looks like Bungie went in the total OPPOSITE direction with the Queens Wrath event. After completing a bounty, you get a mission. Completing the missions give you legendaries, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

 

[Makabriel]

Can I swear? I really want to swear. How about: Curse you Bungie! I would really like to know how Bungie expected us to get loot. It really seems like that didn't play their own game.

This is the opposite of listening to criticism, Bungie.

Yeah, that is what I thought. So them listening to the community means removing the part of the game that the community found and we were actually working together. Every time I when to farm everyone was super nice and considerate. We would take turns uses the ammo boxes and no one would stay in the cave to mess everyone else up.

And when you are done being kitted out in legendaries after a few hours farming the loot cave, what are you going to do?

 

[Pinky's Brain]

Go do raids for even better gear.

 

[Seracen]

"Shooting at a black hole for hours on end isn't our dream for how Destiny is played."
Oh, but shooting the same 6 bullet sponges you call bosses for hours is? Increasing difficulty by raising some numbers and mandating playing with others instead of implementing new mechanics is your dream?
I'm done with that game. If it ever gets a good story (and NOT through the paid expansions) then I might go back but till then screw them.

Pretty well states my feelings on this game. Especially the part about story, which is the primary reason I play a game. Ironically it was Bungie that stated: "players NEED a good story to care about why they are still playing some 'stupid game' at 3 in the morning."

Before everyone flips their shit they should probably go and read Bungie's post here [http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Dev-Notes/en/News/News?aid=12188].

In it they say they're going to increase loot drops from strikes and other things, as well as making strikes less grindy. Also a few other good things in there.

Game's still a steaming pile of mediocrity, but this isn't just them going "loot cave's gone go fuck yourselves".

I agree with you as well. Unfortunately, the whole game pretty well says "go sod yourselves" to me, regardless of the exploits being shored up. It's sad really, as I WANT to like this game. As it stands, I am glad I rented this title.

Oddly enough, the BETA was enough for me to realize I likely wouldn't enjoy this game, as I could barely be bothered to play past the first hour or two in the demo. Same with the Elder Scrolls Online. In both cases, I was hoping the demo was merely stripped of what would make the finished product compelling.

Sadly, the demos were instead prophetic as to how dishearteningly underwhelming these title have been. I hope both products can right the ship, as that makes the 3rd major title that's gone bust for me this gen (1st one being Watch_Dogs). Ah well...back to modding the crap out of Skyrim...

 

[TorchofThanatos]

Can I swear? I really want to swear. How about: Curse you Bungie! I would really like to know how Bungie expected us to get loot. It really seems like that didn't play their own game.

This is the opposite of listening to criticism, Bungie.

Yeah, that is what I thought. So them listening to the community means removing the part of the game that the community found and we were actually working together. Every time I when to farm everyone was super nice and considerate. We would take turns uses the ammo boxes and no one would stay in the cave to mess everyone else up.

And when you are done being kitted out in legendaries after a few hours farming the loot cave, what are you going to do?

Kitted out in legendaries? Grinding does give you that much good stuff. The most you can hope for is a bunch of blues and greens that can be turned into weapon parts or the class specific armour upgrade items. Really the loot cave was great for getting the crafting items not farming legendaries. Even if you got a legendary chances were that it would be turned into a blue or green.

 

[Louzerman102]

honestly I'm more pissed off about this:

Queen's Wrath Event

Material rewards for dismantling Queen's Wrath gear will no longer provide ascendant materials, but missions will continue to drop Legendary items

Getting Ascendant Shards from duplicate Legendarys I got out of the grind-fest that is queen's daily missions was the only way I was upgrading gear more than once per week.

Edit:

I don't think Bungie have ever made a game with loot mechanics and it shows.

Destiny is the first Bungie game with loot mechanics, and while I understand giving them the befit of the doubt, they also decided to lock story and lore in the Grimoire on a website not accessible in game. Destiny is built on a massive pile of questionable design decisions.

 

[RicoADF]

How dare players have fun in their games, no you MUST play how Bungie wants or they'll patch what your doing out! Seriously Bungie I don't even play your boring game and I find that stupid, especially considering what others are saying.