UPDATE: The sleuthing soldiers over at Charlie Intel have found some new goodies hidden inside the source code in Black Ops 3‘s site.

A brand new description for the game was spotted, as what appears to be official box art for Treyarch’s new Blops sequel.

The description reveals that campaign, multiplayer and zombies will return in full force, and delivers a brief rundown of what we can expect from the game’s story arc

“Call of Duty®: Black Ops 3 is the first title for next-gen hardware in the critically acclaimed Black Ops series. Developed by Treyarch, the award-winning creator of the two most played games in Call of Duty® history.

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 deploys players into a dark, twisted future where a new breed of Black Ops soldiers emerges and the lines are blurred between our own humanity and the technology we created to stay ahead, in a world where cutting-edge military robotics define warfare.

“With three unique game modes: Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies, it providing fans with the deepest and most ambitious Call of Duty ever.”

Original story is as follows.

Black Ops 3 has been officially announced by Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) in a brand new teaser trailer, pointing to a worldwide reveal later this month.

According to the teaser trailer, Activision will hold a global unveiling of Black Ops 3 on April 26, 2015 with the possibility of in-game footage, screenshots, and more details on the game.

A new post on the Call of Duty blog reveals that Blops 3 will release this year.

“After three years of working in the shadows, the team at Treyarch returns this year with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3,” said Scott Lowe, communications manager at Activision.

“There’s so much to talk about and I’m sure you all have plenty of questions, but the good news is you won’t have to wait long for answers—the world reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is set for Sunday, April 26, so stay tuned for details.”

.@Treyarch is #BackInBlack https://t.co/oxsNv8idvU

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) April 9, 2015

The existence of Black Ops 3 was first speculated by a Snapchat viral campaign spotted by Black Ops II players, lending credence to a possible continuation in the series.

The community’s intuition proved to be right on the mark, as the next Call of Duty game will indeed be a third Blops, and judging from the mysterious trailer we might see some familiar faces in the new sequel.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 officially confirmed.

— Nadeshot (@OpTic_NaDeSHoT) April 9, 2015

Call of Duty world champion Nadeshot was among many who broke the news to excited Blops fans, many of which have been clamoring for a return to the Black Ops line.

Since the news broke the #BackInBlack hashtag has been trending on Twitter, leading to thousands of posts from excited gamers.

It’ll be interesting to see what Activision and Treyarch have planned for the reveal, but all we know for now is that Black Ops 3 is indeed real, and it’ll be blown apart later this month.

The post Black Ops 3 Confirmed, Set For April 26 Reveal appeared first on VR World.

A viral marketing campaign for this year’s new Call of Duty game has been unearthed, and it looks like the annual release might return to the Black Ops series.

The campaign was spotted shortly after Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) released a stealthy update, which embedded a number of Snapchat QR codes across various Call of Duty: Black Ops II maps.

The Snapchat links are planted across random advertisements in the game’s multiplayer maps, and you can actually scan them in with your phone using the Snapchat app to get a glimpse at the viral campaign.

YouTuber Drift0r first spotted the additions, and uploaded video walkthroughs on where to find them. Additionally the Snapchat QR codes can only be found on console versions of Black Ops II as the update isn’t yet available on PC.

After scanning the QR codes you’re met with a message that you’ve added Call of Duty as a friend. But what about the campaign itself?

The viral scheme has published two very short videos that raise many more questions than they answer. The videos are extremely cryptic and point to an odd sort of induction footage, the kind of eerie content you’d use to brainwash someone.

As Charlie Intel notes, the account’s Snapchat name has been changed to Dr. Saim, who presumably is the speaker during the 10-second clips.

“Listen only to the sound of my voice…” the first video proclaims.

“Let your thoughts drift…let the bad memories fade…let peace be upon you.” Dr. Saim says in that calm voice while odd footage rolls past.

@TmarTn @OMGitsAliA @Drift0r On Callofduty's Snapchat! pic.twitter.com/P7cD3ozAa5

— Nick (@Nipple_Nicholas) April 7, 2015

@TmarTn @charlieINTEL new callofduty snapchat video pic.twitter.com/NBehwcqQUY

— Element (@Elemxnt) April 7, 2015

But how exactly does this suggest that Black Ops III is in the works?

The link here is tenuously based on the fact that the QR codes were found in Black Ops II, leading gamers to believe Activision might be going back to the franchise.

The bizarre videos align perfectly with the headgames that were featured throughout both Black Ops campaigns. Plus the publisher usually unveils is new annual Call of Duty entrant in May, so the timing is right to start building speculation and hype with mysterious teases.

It’ll be interesting to see what Activision has to say in the coming weeks, but for now we’re stuck with the enigmatic footage and curiosity. Fans have been calling for a return to the Black Ops line and this might be Activision’s answer to the demand.

Source: YouTube

Via: Charlie Intel, PC Gamer

The post Is Activision Teasing Black Ops III With New Hidden ARG? appeared first on VR World.

The shadowy merchant Xur is back again with a fresh batch of exotic wares to peddle in Destiny‘s Tower of Guardians, and he really doesn’t have anything too exciting this time around.

Notable selections from the Agent of the Nine’s weekly inventory include a decent Defender Titan helm, a body armor exotic engram that could drop a Heart of the Praxic Fire for your Sunsinger, and a fantastic Achlyophage Symbiote upgrade with 127 max Discipline.

Xur’s inventory selection for Week 30 lasting from April 3 – 4, 2015.

Other goodies include a decent Crest of Alpha Lupi Titan variant, as well as a ton of weapon upgrade repeats like impressive combo Bad Juju pulse rifle and the Arc-infused Thunderlord machine gun.

As far as location, for Week 30 the interstellar tradesman can be found in one of his usual haunts outside of the Speaker’s quarter.

This week Xur is in the western quadrant of the Tower, outside of the Speaker’s quarters next to the railing.

It looks like Heavy Ammo Synthesis are here to stay, priced at their usual exchange rate of 1SC per stack of five. As far as Telemetry models go, Xur has Pulse Rifle, Fusion Rifle and Rocket Launcher EXP boosters up for grabs for 1SC per five-stack.

Without further adieu let’s jump right into our analysis of Xur’s exotic wares for April 3 (Week 30) and find out if his wares are worth your hard-earned strange coins or not.

“Everything is luminous.”

The Glasshouse – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Titan (Defender)
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Fragments, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Intellect: 110/118
• Rain Blows: Increases melee attack speed
• Quintessence Transfer: Replenish Super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade.
• Bathed in light: Blessing of Light and Weapons of Light last longer.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you’re a Defender Titan.

The Glasshouse is a very useful utility-grade exotic that serves a very specific purpose: to boost your Weapons of Light for extra damage. This is particularly useful during raids like the Vault of Glass Aetheron battle or high-level Strikes where high-output damage is key.

The Quintessence Transfer mod is pretty useful too especially if you have the Magnetic Grenade equipped. Basically you’ll get something extra out of kills you’d already be getting thanks to the grenade, and get to use your shield more often.

It’s something that every Defender Titan should have in their arsenal, but it doesn’t replace the Helm of Saint-14 for everyday use. The higher-end Intellect roll is also a nice touch that further boosts your bubble shield recharge.

“Amputated from a creature that stumbled out of a Vex gate. A vestigial defensive reflex still remains.”

Don’t Touch Me – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter (Any)
• Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Discipline: 77/83
• Special Weapon Loader: Increases reload speed of all Special Weapons.
• Inverse Shadow: Cooldown for Super Ability is reduced by 2.5 seconds per kill of minions of the Darkness.
• Defensive Reflex: Taking damage from a melee attack makes you briefly invisible.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe.

These pair of gauntlets are strictly PVE, so it depends on what kind of character your Hunter is. That being said, this particular exotic is incredibly useful during the first segment of the Crota’s End raid where you’re running blind for the lamps.

Basically every time you get smacked by a Thrall you turn invisible, which pretty much allows you to keep gaining ground without taking too much damage. And considering how many thralls there are to hit you, the part becomes pretty easy to just sneak past.

But Don’t Touch Me aren’t useful as a main item–they’re not going to replace your Mask of the Third Man or Golden Gun-adding Achlyophage Symbiote.

“When one can wield the fire of stars, what use is flesh and bone?”

Sunbreakers – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Intellect: 79/85
• Special Weapon Loader: Increases the reload speed of all Special Weapons.
• Serpent’s Tail: Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown.
• Helium Cycle: Increase the duration of your Solar Grenade.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe, but there are better Sunsinger class exotics.

The Sunbreakers are good gauntlets for the Sunsinger class, but you have better options like the Heart of The Praxic Fire which makes Radiance incredibly potent. Another better option is the Claws of Dire Ahamkara gauntlets which grant you an extra Scorch charge, meaning you’ll get two opportunities to trigger your Flame Shield.

The Sunbreakers are pretty much a tier three item, and they’re okay, plus the stat roll is in the middle so if you don’t have anything else, go for it. Otherwise keep on the look out for those other items and stick with what you have for now.

“Burn the world. Burn it all.”

Dragon’s Breath – 17 Strange Coins

• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Type: Rocket Launcher
• Damage: 302 (Solar Elemental Damage)
• • Smart Drift Control: Predictable and controllable recoil. Penalty to Velocity.
    • Linear Compensator: More predictable recoil. Slight boost to Velocity and Blast Radius. More recoil.
    • Confined Launch: Greatly reduced recoil. Significant penalty to Velocity.
  • Tripod: This launcher’s tube can hold three shells.
  • Upgrade Damage: Increases Attack Power, allowing this weapon to cause more damage.
  • Quickdraw: This weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast.
    • Javelin: Increases warhead velocity.
    • Heavy Payload: Increases warhead blast radius.
  • Pyromancer :Rounds fired from this weapon leave a Solar Flare upon detonation.

Should You Buy It?

No, save your coin.

The real downside with Dragon’s Breath is that it takes up your exotic weapon slot for a very conditional type of weapon. This rocket launcher is primarily used as a “area denial” solution by leaving a Solar Flare (just like the Warlock’s ability) which delivers damage over time in a specific area.

In PVP you can use it to shoot at an area you want enemies to stay away from, as the explosion leaves behind that damage-dealing flare, pretty much cutting off that particular pathway.

This rocket launcher is curious, and is more for strategic use rather than total annihilation, but it does have a huge blast radius.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Body Armor Exotic Item Engram – 23 Motes of Light

Armor Upgrades

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet)

Stellar upgrade here, buy this one if you’re in the market for an upgrade. Achlyophage Symbiote is amazing for all Gunslingers, as that extra Golden Gun shot helps in every single game mode, from PVP to PVE. The extra shot is a constant source of recurring value.

• Cost: 7177 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 119/127
• Defense: 407/447

Lucky Raspberry (Chestpiece)

Lower Intellect stat roll, so pass it up. The Lucky Raspberry is a very useful tool that arms you with more rocket and fusion rifle ammo (works with Vex Mythoclast) for PVE raids. Plus you instantly spawn with full grenade energy in PVP. And your Arc-infused grenade’s chain lightning effect stretches further outward, making it a good PVP finisher.

• Cost: 7393 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter (Bladedancer)
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 121/130
• Defense: 444/488

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Proper high Intellect stat roll, so upgrade it if you have the extra shard laying around. The item’s worth is conditional, but spawning extra orbs can help out in boss fights as well as taking down Crota on Hard difficulty.

• Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan (Any)
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 148/159
• Defense: 444/488

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets)

Middle tier Strength roll here, so pass it up for now. You don’t want to invest the Exotic Shard and Glimmer cost until you see a fantastic Strength buff. No Backup Plans are pretty useful for Defender Titans, and stack with defense melee skills to make the Force Barrier overshield a powerful extra line of defense.

• Cost: 7759 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan (Defender)
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 80/86
• Defense: 333/366

Apotheosis Veil (Helmet)

The stat roll here is decent, but with a registered max of 128 Discipline, this particular RNG helmet isn’t anything amazing. The Apotheosis Veil is another conditionally useful item that is best equipped during Raids or other high-stakes activities. It allows the wearer to regenerate health from various triggers.

• Cost: 7013 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock (Any)
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 93/100
• Defense: 407/447

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

Another “meh” roll here, so save your Glimmer and shards. We’ve already weighed the value of the Sunbreakers above, and the extra defense boost isn’t worth the cost.

• Cost: 7549 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 80/86
• Defense: 333/366

Weapon Upgrades

Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)

Bungie has just buffed up Pulse Rifles quite a bit in 1.1.1 so now’s a good time as any to upgrade. Bad Juju on its own is pretty damn effective and is a great go-to weapon for Voidwalker Warlocks when used in tandem with the Obsidian Mind helmet. With this combo you’ll get instant reloads and build up your super after kills, and gain more energy from killing Hive enemies thanks to the Obsidian Mind.

You can also use Bad Juju effectively with the Skull of Dire Ahamkara to build some serious super energy.

• Cost: 7019 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
• Magazine: 24

MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)

Upgrade this one. The MIDA Multi-Tool is already amazing, and with extra damage it becomes even more amazing. Essentially it’s a fast-shooting, fast-reloading mid to long-range rifle that empowers you with extra speed when equipped. And the best part is that it gives you a Third Eye that lets you see your radar when you’re scoping down the sights.

• Cost: 7459 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
• Magazine: 21

Thorn (Handcanon)

Pick this upgrade up. Even when it’s not upgraded Thorn is a very powerful weapon. Sure it’s not as good as the all-star Hawkmoon, but it does the job quite well thanks to its lingering damage and Send It perks. The extra damage is well worth restarting all over again.

Plus there’s even word that Thorn might somehow combo with the Hunter’s Tripmine-boosting Young Ahamkara’s Spine gauntlets

• Cost: 7673 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
• Magazine: 9

Patience and Time (Sniper Rifle)

Upgrading this one depends on how much you like it. That extra damage boost will come in handy to be sure, and thanks to the active camoflage, the gun is pretty flexible in a variety of situations. Basically it’s the ultimate sniper rifle for stealthy assassins.

• Cost: 7561 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Arc damage)
• Magazine: 4

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

Great opportunity to get that extra damage buff on an already amazing machine gun. The Thunderlord is a great go-to weapon in PvP or during Weeklies when Arc Burn is up, and is one of the best heavy machine guns in the game because it packs a powerful punch as well as retains accuracy.

Essentially it combines everything you’d want to see in this type of weapon: power, speedy reloads, and amazing stability. Plus the Lightning Rounds perk makes the gun become more accurate the longer you fire it. Win-win.

• Cost: 7681G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Arc damage)
• Magazine: 38

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

Apart from the Arc-infused Thunderlord, Super Good Advice is Destiny‘s other badass machine gun. It returns missed shots to its clip with the Super Good Advice perk, deals bonus damage every time you kill an enemy, packs a Solar-powered wallop, and can reload amazingly fast.

• Cost: 7817 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar damage)
• Magazine: 58

Curios

• Pulse Rifle Telemetry - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

• Fusion Rifle Telemetry - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

• Rocket Launcher Telemetry - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

• Heavy Ammo Synthesis - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

• Plasma Drive Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

• “Emerald Coil” Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

The post Destiny: Analysis Of Xur’s Exotic Wares For April 3 (Week 30) appeared first on VR World.

A batch of new House of Wolves leaks for Destiny‘s upcoming expansion have emerged, revealing new content and that the Reef might serve as a Tower-like social lobby for the upcoming expansion.

Check below for a closer look at what the Reef’s social hub will look like.

The House of Wolves leak show off Director navigation screens for the expansion’s new Reef-based “social space” within the heart of the Asteroid Belt, pretty much saying that the Reef will be the Guardians’ home away from home as they aid the Awoken Queen.

Planet Destiny notes that the Reef social space can accommodate up to 16 players simultaneously, and should feature merchants and the like similar to the Tower.

The Belly of the Beast level 28 Strike is highlighted, along with a level 30 Queen’s quest entitled Nightcrawler and two new Crucible matchsets: Inferno Rumble and Inferno Skirmish.

The Inferno modes have been spotted in the past, and it’s believed the new gametypes might roll out around March 3 – 10.

The images come from Japanese Reddit user megamanexe4, who has been responsible for leaking House of Wolves item sets in the past. It appears megamanexe4 has been able to access latent portions of the expansion thanks to its on-disc data via an exploit, but were’ not sure just how he did it.

The Japanese gamer’s information has proven to be quite accurate when his leaks  matched up with Destiny DB‘s massive data-mined lists, so it’s quite possible that this newly gleaned info is authentic.

Bungie has since released Destiny Patch 1.1.1 that brings a host of new changes and updates across the board, introducing a new faction reputation UI system along with some pretty substantial alterations to weapon efficiency.

House of Wolves is set to release in the Q2 2015 window, meaning it could launch as early as April and as late as June. Expect more leaks in that frame of time, as well as new highlights from Bungie along the way.

Source: Reddit
Via: Planet Destiny

The post New House of Wolves Leaks Show Reef As New Social Lobby appeared first on VR World.

Xur, Agent of the Nine is back again to peddle his exotic wares for Week 21, from Feb. 13 – 15.

This week Xur is selling the Ice Breaker again, but it’s not exciting considering just about everyone already has one. But if you missed out a few weeks ago, now’s your chance to join the club and absolutely wreck shop when Solar Burn is active.

The remainder of Xur’s gear is drab and unexciting; we have the Crest of Alpha Lupi which is pretty much bleh, along with Light Beyond Nemesis (another bleh item), followed up with the exceptional Helm of Inmost Light.

But I think just about every Striker has the helm already, considering it’s been featured on Xur’s list many times over.

Things get pretty baffling once we take a look at the upgrades. Xur is selling no less than three redundant upgrades this time around; both the Helm of Inmost Light and the Hunter and Titan flavors of the Crest of Alpha Lupi are upgradeable.

And for some mind-boggling reason the Ice Breaker is upgradeable. Just in case you felt like spending Exotic Shards instead of Strange Coins. Now I do like the idea of Bungie making items available for players who might not have enough Strange Coins or Exotic Shards, respectively.

But this feels like lazy randomization to me, and signifies yet another clumsy handling of Destiny‘s in-game structure.

To make things worse, Xur isn’t selling Heavy Ammo Synthesis. Again. How many weeks in a row is that? I’ve lost count. Oh and Exotic Engrams aren’t available either.

For Week 21 our shadowy merchant can be found in his usual haunt far beneath the Tower, underneath the Future War Cult handler and past the Shipwright.

Interestingly enough, Bungie has seen to it that non-DLC owners will actually get to buy things this time. Xur’s full inventory is purchasable by gamers who didn’t buy The Dark Below, but as we all know, a lot of the items are unremarkable gear we’ve seen a million times over.

In any case, below we have our in-depth analysis of Xur’s exotic wares for Week 21.

Helm of Inmost Light – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Titan (Striker)
• Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 97/104
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Mod 1: Rain Blows: Increases melee attack speed
• Mod 2: Invigoration: Reduces melee cooldown each time you pick up an Orb of Light.
• Mod 3: Recklessness: Provides Death from Above and Headstrong for Fist of Havoc.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. If you’re a Striker Titan and really really like wreaking havoc with Fists of Havoc, then this helm is tailor-made for you.

The only problem with this particular roll is that it’s low on Strength, so I’d only pick it up if you really want that Recklessness mod–remember since it’s tier 3 it’s at the end side of the upgrade tree–which really helps out.

The helm is great for PvP as the Striker’s super power is one of the most powerful (and quite annoying) abilities that can wipe out an entire team in one slam.

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Defense: 444/488
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 133/143
• Mod 1: Revive teammates faster. Spawn more orbs.
• Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons
• Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Hand Cannon

Should You Buy It?

No. The Crest of Alpha Lupi might sound neat in theory; who doesn’t want to be able to respawn enemies quicker or spawn more orbs? And we both know you can never get enough Hand Cannon ammo.

But the reality is that the extra revive timer isn’t really negligible and you won’t really notice it. As for the more ammo for special and handcannons, this is just for the ammo pool itself, and it won’t raise your round ammo.

And although it’s a decent roll with 133 base Strength, the item’s use is very conditional and is only helpful in boss fights where you need all the health regen you can find.

Even still you don’t want to take up your only Exotic armor slot with this one; stick with the essential Achlyophage Symbiote helm that adds an extra Golden Gun shot, or even the Knucklehead Radar that lets you see your radar when aiming down the sights.

• Class: Warlock
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Defense: 407/447
• Light: 30/36
• Strength : 107/114
• Mod 1: Snap Discharge: Increases melee attack speed.
• Mod 2: Infusion: Replenish health whenever you pick up an Orb of Light.
• Mod 3: Keeper of the Pack: You revive fallen teammates faster and they revive you faster. Your super also spawns additional Orbs for teammates.

Should You Buy It?

EDIT: Maybe. The Light Beyond Nemesis isn’t a good helm for a Warlock in terms of DPS or support, and there are so many better helms to choose from.

Items like Obsidian Mind, which combos exceptionally well with Bad Juju to allow Voidwalkers to shoot out a ton of Nova Bombs, or the notable Skull of Dire Ahamkara.

That being said, this helm does regen health quite efficiently, which is very helpful when you’re vulnerable during Crota’s End hard runs. Warlocks in general are vulnerable, and all in all there’s better helms out there, but this could could be useful.

It’s use is conditional so I advise you to stick with your Legendary helm for now and pass this one up unless you have the coins for it. And even if you do, don’t expect it to be an all-purpose utility item.

Ice Breaker (Sniper Rifle) – 17 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 6
• Type: Sniper Rifle
• No Backpack: Cannot be reloaded. Regenerates ammo over time.
• Mulligan: Missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine.
• Quickdraw: This weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast.
• Ice Breaker: Ice Breaker’s victims spontaneously combust, dealing damage to others nearby.

Should you buy it?

YES. 

Ice Breaker is a must-have, I repeat, must-have item for any Guardian. It is one of the most useful items in the entire game, and delivers on all fronts: damage, accuracy, dependability, and just about any other quantifiable measure you can think of.

The beauty of this gun is that it has infinite ammo, but it only has a six-shot magazine. The ammo slowly replenishes over time, about one bullet per 4-5 seconds, and you can’t pick up special weapon ammo packs to refill it.

Essentially it refills its rounds, not its magazine.

It’s a bit strange using the gun at first, but it truly is one of the most powerful items in the game. While it’s mostly effective against Solar shields (you really won’t do much against an Arc shield), headshots against broken-shielded enemies are incredibly devastating–in the 6k+ damage range.

If you only have 17 Strange Coins, pick this up. You don’t want to pass on this one.

Armor Upgrades

Knucklehead Radar (Helmet)

The Knucklehead Radar is pretty useful, but don’t upgrade unless your current version has lower Strength. Remember your Exotic Shards are limited, and sure you can buy more from Xur, but you’re better off saving them to max out great items like the Ice Breaker, Achlyophage Symbiote, or the infamous Hawkmoon.

• Cost: 7331, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 101/108

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Low Intellect stat roll, and ontop of that the item itself isn’t really that useful. Pass it up and save your Exotic Shard.

• Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 121/129
• Defense: 444/488

Helm of Inmost Light (Helmet)

Don’t upgrade. Just buy the same exact helm from Xur and dismantle your previous helmet and get the defense upgrade and an extra Exotic Shard to boot.

• Cost: 7451 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 113/121
• Defense: 407/447

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

As with the case of Hunter’s Crest of Alpha Lupi, just pass this up. I don’t see why Bungie has three different variations of the same piece of armor on Xur’s inventory, but that’s what happens when they just randomize everything, right?

• Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 121/129
• Defense: 444/488

Apotheosis Veil (Helmet)

Really this helm is only good for certain situations, perhaps boss fights or Nightfall runs where staying alive is key. But since it’s an item with such conditional use, I wouldn’t pick it up unless you really want it or see a specific use for it right away.

• Cost: 7013 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 100/108
• Defense: 407/447

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

Incredibly bad Intellect roll. The defense upgrade isn’t worth being stuck with these bad stats–and you also lose out on an Exotic Shard if you upgrade. Stick with the pair you have.

• Cost: 7549 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 77/83
• Defense: 407/447

Weapon Upgrades

The Last Word (Handcannon)

The Last Word is a fantastic handcannon for all uses, and is an excellent PVP weapon that has high-damage output along with ultra-fast firing. And it barely has to be aimed when it’s fully maxed. Pick this up.

• Cost: 7559 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 8

Ice Breaker (Sniper Rifle)

• Cost: 7477 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar damage)
• Magazine: 6

There’s absolutely no reason to waste your Exotic Shard and the 7.4k Glimmer on upgrading your current Ice Breaker. Just buy a fresh one from Xur. Again, this is another redundant item (that makes three for this week).

Patience And Time (Sniper Rifle)

This sniper is pretty conditional too. You really want to save your Glimmer and Exotic Shards for surefire bets, items that you can use often and frequently rather than gear that will only help you out in certain situations.

I’d pass it up, and we’ll likely see this sniper up again sometime soon.

• Cost: 7561 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc damage)
• Magazine: 4

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

This is one of the best Machine Guns out there, so do yourself a favor and buy an upgraded version. When the Weeklies have Solar burn you will be wrecking shop and destroying enemies in droves. Plus it makes for a good utility weapon for PVP.

• Cost: 7817 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (SolarArc damage)
• Magazine: 58

Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)

Not much can be said about Gjallarhorn besides it’s awesome. The launcher’s rockets splits into clusters that literally track enemies, making it near-impossible to miss.

• Glimmer Cost: 7933 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2

Truth (Rocket Launcher)

Skip it. The novelty wears off fast, and you really don’t need that damage upgrade as the launcher does good enough damage on its own.

• Glimmer Cost: 7039 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Void elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2

Curios

• Scout Rifle Telemetry - 1 Strange Coin /5 stack
• Handcannon Telemetry - 1 Strange Coin /5 stack
• Fusion Rifle Telemetry - 1 Strance Coin / 5 stack
• Plasma Drive Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins
• Emerald Coil Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

The post Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares for 2/13 appeared first on VR World.

Xur’s weekly visits to the Tower of Guardians used to be something worth looking forward to. You never knew what the shadowy merchant would have next, and the anticipation was exciting.

But like most of Destiny‘s content, buying items from Xur has become a stale endeavor. There’s simply not enough exotic items in the game to bring any more surprises, leading to repetitive rotations that have become increasingly predictable.

Week 21 lasting from Jan. 30 – Feb. 1 is no different.

Also Bungie has once again locked all non-DLC owners out of buying any new exotics from Xur. This, along with Xur’s inventory, really isn’t surprising,and at this point I would say that most of the people who still play Destiny have the DLC anyway.

Oh, and for the third week in a row, Xur doesn’t have Heavy Ammo Synths. Great way to punish your players here, Bungie.

On the other hand, he does have some Handcannon and Rocket Launcher telemetries that are perfect for leveling up your Hawkmoons, Thorns and Gjallarhorns. Don’t forget the Fusion Rifle telemetries that boost exp for your new shiny upgraded Pocket Infinity.

In any case, below we have a full expansive breakdown analysis of Xur’s current wares. This week the dark otherworldly purveyor of goods can be found in one of his usual haunts, this time right outside the Speaker’s quarters.

“Pardon me. Coming through.”

Mk. 44 Stand Asides (Boots) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Titan (Striker)
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 134/144
• Type: Boots
• Defense: 296/345
• Mod 1: HeavyWeapon Ammo: “Increases the amount of Heavy Weapon ammunition you can carry”
• Mod 2: Be Somewhere Else: Increases the duration Shoulder Charge remains active.

Should You Buy It?

No. Stay away from these boots. There are a ton of better exotics for a Titan to use that have much better uses–the Helm of Inmost Light comes to mind, as does the Helm of Saint-14 or the Glasshouse. If you’ve got Strange Coins burning a hole in your pocket, just wait it out. The boost in heavy weapon ammo is a nice touch, but overall they don’t offer much use and take away your precious exotic armor slot.

“Amputated from a creature who stumbled out of a Vex gate. A vestigial defensive reflex still remains.”

Don’t Touch Me (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 76/82
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: Special Weapon Loader: Increases reload speed of all Special Weapons.
• Mod 2: Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
• Mod 3: Defensive Reflex: Taking damage from a melee attack makes you briefly invisible.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. These gauntlets have a high utility, but their effectiveness is situational. They’re great for running by baddies when you’re getting overwhelmed, as you’ll get three seconds of precious invisibility on a melee hit, which can be boosted thanks to the Bladedancer’s Shadowjack talent.

But this particular pair have a lower stat roll, so it’s iffy, and it definitely depends on what other exotics you have in tow. It’s good to have a backup pair of these laying around, so pick them up if you have the extra Strange Coins, but don’t expect to use them too much.

“13.4 billion years ago, the first stars kindled out of darkness, seeding the future of all life.”

Starfire Protocol (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Warlock
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 134/144
• Type: Chestpiece
• Defense: 444/488
• Mod 1: Fusion Rifle Ammo: Increases the amount of Fusion Rifle ammunition you can carry.
• Mod 2: Heavy Weapon Ammo: Increases the amount of Heavy Weapon ammunition you can carry.
• Mod 3: Starfire Protocol: Gain an additional Fusion Grenade.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. This piece of armor is ideal for Sunsingers who also have a great fusion rifle in tow (Pocket Infinity, Plan C and even the Vex Mythoclast all synergize well here). Plus you get an extra Fusion grenade to boot, but sadly it won’t stack with the subclass’ Gift of the Sun passive.

Pick it up if you have the coins or don’t have anything better for your Sunsinger (like the Sunbreakers, for example) but otherwise save them up.

“Burn the world. Burn it all.”

Dragon’s Breath (Rocket Launcher) – 17 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2
• Type: Rocket Launcher
• Mod 1: Tripod: This launcher’s tube can hold three shells.
• Mod 2: Pyromancer: Rounds fired from this weapon leave a Solar Flare upon detonation.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. If you have the extra strange coins, the Dragon’s Breath is a decent Solar-powered rocket launcher. The only trade-off is that it takes up your exotic weapon slot, and odds are you’d use it for specific situations like when Solar Burn is added to Weekly Nightfall Strikes.

Stick with legendary rocket launchers for everyday use, but it’s always good to have a powerful launcher in your arsenal just in case.

Armor Upgrades

Some interesting armor upgrades are available, but overall it’s more of the same. We have some junkers–like the Mask of the Third Man–but there’s a particularly good Helm of Inmost Light on the market, along with a pair of decent Sunbreakers on the off-chance your Sunsinger needs some new fiery gloves.

Mask of the Third Man (Helmet)

Glimmer Cost: 7207 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 104/112
Defense: 407/447

Pass on this one. The upgrade is a waste of a shard, with a low roll for an item that already has bland appeal.

Helm of Inmost Light (Helmet)

• Glimmer Cost: 7451 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 118/127
• Defense: 407/447

Pick it up. This is a great opportunity to upgrade this fantastic Striker helmet, with a strong max 127 Strength roll along with the other obvious bonuses.

Young Ahamkara’s Spine (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer Cost: 7127 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 80/86
• Defense: 333/366

Pass. Low stat roll for an item that’s pretty much a waste of an exotic slot when compared to the ultra-useful Achlyophate Symbiote helmet.

Crest of Alpha Lupi – Titan (Chestpiece)

• Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 124/134
• Defense: 444/488

Another lower Intellect roll, and in all honestly this one won’t really do you any favors. The asking price is too much for an upgrade, and chances are you’re better off scrapping this armor if you should find it. Stick with the Armentarium or a dual-stat Legendary instead. You don’t want to take away from the great Titan exotic helms out there.

Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Helmet)

• Cost: 7907 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 111/119
• Defense: 407/447

Stellar stat roll here, but the best Voidwalker exotic is the Obsidian Mind. Pass this up despite the great roll, as the price tag is hefty. Also equipping this helmet takes away your exotic armor slot, so you won’t be able to use interesting pieces like the Voidfang Vestments.

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

• Cost: 7549 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 103/110
• Defense: 333/366

Pick it up. If you’ve yet to upgrade your pair of Sunbreakers, then now’s a good opportunity to do so. Keep in mind you can snag an extra shard by trading in your motes for an exotic engram, and then break it down (assuming you don’t get an even better pair of Sunbreakers).

Weapon Upgrades

This week’s weapon upgrades are unimpressive with a ton of staples we’ve seen time and time again.

Then again it’s hard to keep things fresh when there’s so few exotics available. Even still, it’d be nice to see Bungie do something special for non-DLC owners, as they can only buy items in the upgraded sections this week.

Suros Regime (Auto Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7789 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 33

Pick it up. The Suros Regime is a fantastic go-to auto rifle that has a ton of utility and firepower that naturally compliments any play style.

Thorn (Handcannon)

• Glimmer Cost: 7673 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 9

Pick it up. The Thorn handcannon is a great solution to a number of Destiny’s problems, whether it be PvP or PvE solutions. It packs quite a bit of punch, and the Mark of the Devourer mod adds a poison-like bleed effect that deals damage over time. But seeing as you have to have the gun to upgrade it, you probably know that already.

Universal Remote (Shotgun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7027 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 5

Personally I’d pass on this one. Shotguns can be great for PvP, but they aren’t really an all-around weapon of wide use. Keep your shards for something better–like the Hawkmoon (if it ever comes back around in Xur’s upgrades).

Pocket Infinity (Fusion Rifle)

• Cost: 7309 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 3

Definitely upgrade this one. The upgrade is a significant boost even if it doesn’t feel like it, and it makes one of the best weapons that much better.

This weapon is your go-to gun for PVP, as it wrecks the opposition with merciless force. Part of its devastating capacity owes to its ability to fire in “full out”, dishing out utter havoc. And when you use it while wearing Lucky Raspberry, you’ll not only have more ammo thanks to the armor, but you’ll find more ammo thanks to the gun’s own mods.

Ice Breaker (Sniper Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7477 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 58

Since Xur sold these not so long ago, odds are you probably don’t need to upgrade it. But just in case you do, now’s the perfect time to get that awesome damage boost on an already staggeringly powerful gun.

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7817 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 58

Maybe. This gun is swell enough without that extra bit of damage, and chances are you won’t be using it very often anyway. On the off-chance you have a Guardian who finds tons of Heavy Ammo, Super Good Advice could very well be a fantastic tool in your arsenal. It just depends on your play style.

Curios

Xur has some great curios this time around. But as we mentioned before, for some reason Bungie doesn’t want anyone to have heavy ammo stacks–probably because of items like the Mk. 44 Stand Asides or the Relic Wings are on the market.

You should pick up at least one stack of each type of telemetry, as they’ll compliment your new snazzy upgraded weapons. Plus you’ll have some exp boosters left over for next week’s possible upgrades, too.

• Exotic Shard - 7 SC
• Gauntlets Exotic Engram - 23 Motes of Light
• Handcannon Telemetry – 1 SC for stack of 5
• Fusion Rifle Telemetry – 1SC for stack of 5
• Rocket Launcher Telemetry – 1SC for stack of 5
• Plasma Drive – 23 SC
• Emerald Coil – 23 SC

The post Destiny: Analysis Of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 1/30 appeared first on VR World.

Like the owl’s age old question regarding Tootsie Pops, Destiny players have long wondered how many Strikes it takes to earn something really good.

One Guardian with the Reddit handle beeray784 aimed to find out by shedding light on the pure RNG loot drop ratios found in the game’s Strike playlists.

To do it, he and a friend teamed up to play 28 hours of Destiny Strikes, controlled in a marathon run of no less than 200 games in the Level 28 Roc Strike Playlist. The duo meticulously charted Exotic/Legendary drop rates, Strike frequencies and other stats along the way.

Below we have their findings, starting off with the loot drops. Before you check over the data, we should go over a few things.

The duo earned a Hawkmoon drop out of 400 possible drop rewards, which only shows how rare the handgun actually is.

LOOT TABLES: (based on 400 drops; 200 for me and 200 for roommate)

Out of 400 total rewards in the Roc Strike Playlist, beeray784 and his rommate earned just 8 Exotic Weapons via end-game reward drops. The duo reports that in their findings, Exotics dropped 1 out of every 50 Strikes, meaning the chance of an Exotic being rewarded in the Roc Strike Playlist is 0.02%.

Oddly enough Legendary Armor and Weapon Engrams weren’t that far above the Exotic drop rates. The Redditors report that out of 400 games, 11 Legendary Armors dropped (1 every 36 Strikes, ~0.03% chance) and 9 Legendary Weapons (1 every 44 Strikes, ~ 0.023%).

Both players didn’t pick up any in-game drops from kills. These stats are purely from end-game rewards.

• Exotic Weapons: 8 (1 every 50 strikes) Ice Breaker, Hardlight, Hawkmoon, 4th Horseman x2, Monte Carlo x2, No Land Beyond,  (1 every ~33 strikes)

• Legendary Armour Engram: 11 (1 every ~36 strikes)

• Legendary Weapon Engram: 9 (1 every ~44 strikes)

• Legendary Ship: 12

• Rare Armour Engrams: 432 (1.08 per strike)

• Rare Weapon Engrams: 200 (0.5 per strike)

• Mote of light: 28 (1 every ~14 strikes)

• Strange Coin: 12 (1 every ~33 strikes)

Out of 200 plays the grueling Dust Palace saw 47 runs, with a back-to-back streak of 11 consecutive plays.

STRIKE TABLES:

As for frequency, the users were forced to play a whopping 11 Dust Palace runs in a row. Wow. We salute you, beeray!

If that wasn’t enough, the game certainly likes to make PlayStation gamers run the platform-exclusive Strike; the Dust Palace saw a frequency rate of 23.5% with a total of 47 out of 200 total Strikes.

Below we have the user’s breakdown of what you can expect to play should you fire up the Roc Strike Playlist yourself.

• Dust Palace : 47/200 (23.5% of the time) average completion time: 7:49, Fastest completion time: 6:15, longest same map streak: 11 (This sucked so bad)

• The Nexus : 32/200 (16% of the time) average completion time: 5:31, Fastest completion time: 4:21, longest same map streak: 3

• The Summoning Pits : 28/200 (14% of the time) average completion time: 6:11, Fastest completion time: 5:32, longest same map streak: 2

• Will of Crota : 25/200 (12.5% of the time) average completion time: 10:32, Fastest completion time: 9:21, longest same map streak: 2

• The Devils’ Lair : 24/200 (12% of the time) average completion time: 7:11, Fastest completion time: 6:15. longest same map streak: 5

• Winter’s Run : 20/200 (10% of the time) average completion time: 8:55, Fastest completion time: 8:01, longest same map streak: 2

• Cerberus Vae III : 12/200 (6% of the time) average completion time: 8:11, Fastest completion time: 7:16, longest same map streak: 1

• The Undying Mind : 12/200 (6% of the time) average completion time: 12:11, Fastest completion time: 10:55, longest same map streak: 2

Be sure to note that these drop rates are variable, and there are probably a number of unrecorded factors that determine loot drops like Light level.

This isn’t a complete decryption of Destiny’s RNG system, but a loose guide on what to expect when firing up the Roc Strike Playlist.

Beeray784 affirms that his next project will catalogue the duo’s findings as they play 200 Crucible matches. It’ll be interesting to see how that pans out.

The post Destiny User Charts 200 Strikes Worth of Loot Drops appeared first on VR World.

Crota’s End hard mode is officially finished and is planned for a release on Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 10AM PST, Bungie has revealed in a new Weekly Update.

In preparation for the raids the studio plans to roll out Destiny Update 1.1.0.4 next Tuesday, then access will be unlocked the following day.

Bungie has set the bar of entry at level 33 for the new raid difficulty, and they aren’t giving us any clues, tips or spoilers on how to conquer Crota’s End on hard.

The studio does showcase the new shiny loot you have a chance at collecting, including elemental primary guns, ships, and a brand new shader called “Glowhoo”. And you can finally snag the super-rare Crux of Crota crafting material that’s required to transform the Legendary Eidolon Ally auto rifle into the ultra-powerful Necrochasm Exotic.

We have a brief breakdown of the guns below, along with a picture gallery to boot.

Necrochasm Exotic Auto Rifle (Arc)
“Eternity is very close. Can you feel yourself slipping?”

Abyss Defiant Auto Rifle (Solar)
“We will not go quietly.”

Oversoul Edict Pulse Rifle (Arc)
“The light of the will of Crota shines down like a vast and inverse sun.”

Fang of Ir Yut Scout Rifle (Arc)
“This is the shape of the point and tooth: nothing has ever lived that will not die.”

Word of Crota Handcannon (Void)
“There was life, and He spoke unto it, and it was silent, and it lived no more.”

The Bane of the Dark Gods Legendary ship

For those of us who have braved the shadowy depths of Hellmouth and faced the Hive god within his eldritch fane, we know quite well that the Crota’s End raid already has its own set of rigorous challenges even on normal difficulty. From the very beginning the raid becomes an excursion into tedium, with curses that weigh us down with our sins as we face hordes of screeching monstrosities.

Guardians had found many tricks to aid in their quest amid the Darkness, but many of these–like the oft-used cheesing of Crota–have been nerfed and made redundant by a recent hotfix that paved the way for the new difficulty.

Bungie also says that the first Fireteam that beats the raid might get some special swag from the Bungie Store. I’m sure that Invigorate Gaming–the team that became the first to beat Vault of Glass and Crota’s End–will do their very best to take home their third win, and it’ll be interesting to see what new tricks Bungie has up their sleeves.

The post Destiny: Crota’s End Hard Mode Launches Next Week appeared first on VR World.

Xur, that fleeting merchant who peddles his exotic valuables across the universe, is back again at the Tower of Guardians with a whole new set of rotated gear.

For Week 19 the sable Agent of the Nine is selling the infamous Ice Breaker, which holds the prestige of being (arguably) most powerful sniper rifle in the entire game. The best part about this fiery sharpshooter is that it literally replenishes it’s own ammunition over time, and it deals incredibly potent damage. All in all this gun is one of the most versatile tools of destruction in the entire galaxy, and remains a must-have for all Guardians.

So there’s no excuse for you not to pick it up.

Xur’s other wares aren’t so exciting. We have three different helms for each class, two of which are Dark Below DLC-only items. We’ve gone over this before, but just in case you don’t know, Xur won’t let you buy DLC-marked items unless you own Destiny‘s Dark Below expansion.

If you didn’t shell out an extra $20, then you can only buy 2 of Xur’s 4 exotics.

For Week 19, Xur can be found next to the Crucible Quartermaster right at the exit of the stairs.

Furthermore Bungie has done some very lazy work yet again with Xur’s wares. Once again the Exotic engram is missing (no surprises there), but the most aggravating part of Xur’s new inventory is that he’s not selling Heavy Weapon Syntheses (another nasty surprise).

Why is this such a big deal? Since Bungie has announced that Crota’s End’s long-awaited hard mode is coming next week, Guardians need to prepare. And we all know that heavy weapons can boost performance in any given raid.

By not including the Synthesis modules in Xur’s inventory, gamers can’t easily stock up on these necessities. Sure you can always buy them from the Gunsmith at a whopping 950 Glimmer a pop. But since you need all your Glimmer to upgrade armors and weapons at Xur, chances are you don’t have any space currency to spare.

So what’s a Guardian to do? Nothing. We’re up a rather foul creek, without a paddle. Just another week in Destiny, just another instance in Bungie’s laziness.

In any case, below we have a breakdown of Xur’s wares for Week 19 along with an analysis on whether you should buy them or not.

“Everything is luminous.”

The Glasshouse (DLC Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Titan (Defender)
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 113/122
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Quintessence Transfer: Replenish Super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade.
• Bathed in light: Blessing of Light and Weapons of Light last longer.

Should you buy it?

That depends on if you’re a Defender Titan or not. And even still, it’s a yes and no kind of deal. If you have the spare Strange Coins, go ahead and pick it up, as it’s a great utility type of armor.

As a Defender Titan, I’ve used this particular item quite a bit. But if you have the Helm of Saint-14, a nifty exotic helm that blinds enemies who enter your shield dome, you’re not going to really need the Glasshouse.

This item is particular used when Defenders need to spec Weapons of Light, as it’ll make the buff lasts longer, and is very useful to finish off pesky high-level bosses or in PVP where damage is king.

Switching from the Helm of Saint-14 you’ll lose the helpful blinding, but the trade-offs are obvious. Having this helm will make you a more versatile, flexible Guardian that can help out your team in various ways during Strikes, PVP, or Raids.

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 104/112
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Mod 1: Increases Grenade Throw distance
• Mod 2: Replenish Super Energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade
• Mod 3: Golden Gun gains one additional shot per use

Should you buy it?

Are you a hunter? Do you not have this item yet? If you’ve answered yes to both of these, then you should absolutely shell out your Strange Coins for this helm.

The Achlyophage Symbiote is one of the most powerful helms for any hunter, specifically because it gives you an extra shot with your Golden Gun. This is one of the most devastating special skills in the game and can often decimate foes across the board, whether it be treacherous bosses or fellow Guardians in PVP.

And since the Iron Banner is back up, what better time to flex your competitive muscles than now? This helm will give you a nice edge against your opponents.

Also this is a very good roll, with 104 base Discipline, so pick it up if you don’t already have it.

“Power from the ash.”

Obsidian Mind (DLC Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Warlock (Voidwalker)
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 49/53
• Strength: 50/54
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Energy Projection: Increases grenade throw distance
• Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
• Insatiable: Nova Bomb kills reduce the cooldown of your next Nova Bomb.

Should you buy it?

If you’re a Warlock in the Voidwalker subclass, then yes, you definitely need this helm for one key reason: Nova Bomb.

This special is incredibly powerful and can annihilate whole groups of enemies in every mode of play. Although it takes a bit of time to get used to–aiming is a bit tricky–Nova Bomb is exceptional in its capacity for utter destruction. It’s an AoE-type attack that’s best used against clustered baddies, and as you could expect, deals massive Void elemental damage in a specific radius.

Use this helmet in conjunction with the Voidwalker’s Soul Rip talent and Bad Juju to drop tons of Nova Bombs for optimum chaos.

“Please replace these components if use causes fatal damage: HEAT SINK. MAGAZINE. OPERATOR”

Ice Breaker (Sniper Rifle) – 17 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 6
• Type: Sniper Rifle
• No Backpack: Cannot be reloaded. Regenerates ammo over time.
• Mulligan: Missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine.
• Quickdraw: This weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast.
• Ice Breaker: Ice Breaker’s victims spontaneously combust, dealing damage to others nearby.

Should you buy it?

YES. 

Ice Breaker is a must-have, I repeat, must-have item for any Guardian. It is one of the most useful items in the entire game, and delivers on all fronts: damage, accuracy, dependability, and just about any other quantifiable measure you can think of.

The beauty of this gun is that it has infinite ammo, but it only has a six-shot magazine. The ammo slowly replenishes over time, about one bullet per 4-5 seconds, and you can’t pick up special weapon ammo packs to refill it.

Essentially it refills its rounds, not its magazine.

It’s a bit strange using the gun at first, but it truly is one of the most powerful items in the game. While it’s mostly effective against Solar shields (you really won’t do much against an Arc shield), headshots against broken-shielded enemies are incredibly devastating–in the 6k+ damage range.

If you only have 17 Strange Coins, pick this up. You don’t want to pass on this one.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Armor Upgrades

Below we break down what exotic armors that Xur can upgrade for Week 19, and whether or not you should actually invest in them or not. Some of these rolls are pretty bad in terms of randomized stats–Xur’s gear is fully randomized in terms of their boosted stats and upgrade materials.

Check below if these upgrades are actually worth the time and Glimmer it takes to fill out their spec trees. Sometimes you’re better of just saving your Exotic Shards, Strange Coins, and more importantly, your time.

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet)

This is a bad roll. Avoid this one at all costs.

• Cost: 7177 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 95/103
• Defense: 407/447

Lucky Raspberry (Chestpiece)

Nice Intellect roll here, and this armor works great in tandem with the low-ammo Pocket Infinity fusion rifle, and even synergies with the Vex Mythoclast, which is technically a fusion rifle.

• Cost: 7393 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 154/166
• Defense: 444/488

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Lesser roll than we’ve seen in the past; you’re better off passing on this one.

• Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 127/136
• Defense: 444/488

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets)

Bad stat roll here again, so pass this up. The whole purpose of upgrading your gear is to actually boost its effectiveness. Hold out your Exotic Shards unless you have Coins for days.

• Cost: 7759 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 77/83
• Defense: 444/488

Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Helmet)

Stellar stat roll here, but you’ll want to grab the Obsidian Helm over this one. Pass it up for now.

• Cost: 7907 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 110/118
• Defense: 407/447

Light Beyond Nemesis (Helmet)

Icky stat roll and honestly this helm has no real benefits for Warlocks. Avoid it at all costs.

• Cost: 7159 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 101/109
• Defense: 407/447

Exotic Weapon Upgrades

This week’s exotic weapon upgrades are phenomenal, giving some incredible boosts to some already incredible guns. The Pocket Infinity, one of the most powerful fusion rifles in the game, is up, along with Plan C and Gjallarhorn. If you have a ton of Strange Coins sitting around pick up a bunch of Exotic Shards and cash in for some high-damage exotic guns.

A lot of these guns synergize quite well with the upgraded armors: Plan C and Pocket Infinity go incredibly well with Lucky Raspberry, and Bad Juju naturally compliments the Obsidian Mind helm for Warlocks.

As we’ve seen in the past, Xur had 2 primary weapons, 2 special weapons, and 2 heavy weapons for upgrades.

Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)

A great weapon to have for Voidwalker Warlocks, especially when using Obsidian Mind. The boost in super energy helps you generate more Nova Bombs, which will be your main DPS output.

• Cost: 7019 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 24

The Last Word (Handcannon)

The Last Word is a fantastic handcannon for all uses, and is an excellent PVP weapon that has high-damage output along with ultra-fast firing. And it barely has to be aimed when it’s fully maxed. Pick this up.

• Cost: 7559 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 8

Pocket Infinity (Fusion Rifle)

This weapon is your go-to gun for PVP, as it wrecks the opposition with merciless force. Part of its devastating capacity owes to its ability to fire in “full out”, dishing out utter havoc. And when you use it while wearing Lucky Raspberry, you’ll not only have more ammo thanks to the armor, but you’ll find more ammo thanks to the gun’s own mods.

• Cost: 7309 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 3

Plan C (Fusion Rifle)

• Cost: 7187 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 5

Plan C is one of my personal favorite fusion rifles. It’s powerful, dependable, and utterly wrecks Fallen as well as the new Hive Knights/Wizards with Arc shields. The best part about the gun is that it’s fast-firing thanks to its high Charge Rate, which is very important when considering a fusion rifle.

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

A fantastic choice for a machine gun, and devastating when Arc Burn is on for Nightfall Strikes. With the help of its mods the gun becomes more accurate and actually reloads faster after kills, reducing one of the most annoying aspects of this type of heavy weapon.

• Cost: 7681 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 38

Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)

Not much can be said about Gjallarhorn besides it’s awesome. The launcher’s rockets splits into clusters that literally track enemies, making it near-impossible to miss.

• Glimmer Cost: 7933 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2

The post Destiny: Xur’s Location And Analysis Of Exotic Wares For 1/16 appeared first on VR World.

Another Tuesday, another Destiny hotfix and weekly rotation–but this particular update is quite beefy.

Bungie has rolled out the latest hotfix for Destiny that brings about quite a bit of changes in its wake, amending key aspects of the new Crota’s End raid in the process.

New Nightfall and Heroic Weekly Strikes are out, and the Iron Banner has dropped, but the awaited hard mode–which brings the chance to earn high-tiered gear–hasn’t dropped just yet.

The Crota’s End raid remains the star of the hotfix, and Bungie has fixed a plethora of exploits that players were using to make the fight easier, including the oft-used cheesing of Crota.

The way the cheese worked was that the Fireteam leader would quit when Crota went into his vulnerable kneeling position, and the boss would “freeze” there, permanently stuck so that players could just easily gun him down. Then the leader would join back up before he died and receive their loot, easy as pie.

Since that won’t work any more, Guardians will have to tackle the Hive god with good old-fashioned strategic ass-kicking.

Other tricks have been nerfed, too. According to the patch notes, it appears that all players have to cross the bridge during the “bridge encounter”, instead of a team of the most powerful Guardians crossing over to battle the Ogres and Wizards while other players user sniper rifles to pick them off.

And two Swordbearers will no longer spawn at the same time, so that means no more dual-sword runs.

But all the changes aren’t bad. For instance now all treasure chests will drop the Radiant Shards and Energies needed to upgrade raid gear. And the Deathsinger now has a chance to drop Exotics, raid gear, and Radiant materials. Neat.

Despite the rumors that the raid’s hard mode would be added this week, it hasn’t dropped with the new hotfix. Bungie says that the mode is “almost ready”, and that gamers will have to “learn a new trick or two” to conquer the new battle.

“We’re not going to spoil any hard mode surprises here. You’ll need to learn a new trick or two, but given your past performances, we’re pretty sure plenty of you will find a way to come out on top and earn some shiny new trophies to take with you on your next adventure.”

With the introduction of the hard difficulty, gamers will be able to find high-level gear exclusive to the Crota’s End raid that they weren’t able to unlock before.

This includes the following primary raid guns that are infused with elemental damage, much like Atheon’s Epilogue from the Vault of Glass raid:

• Abyss Defiant Auto Rifle (Solar)
• Oversoul Edict Pulse Rifle (Arc)
• Fang of Ir Yut Scout Rifle (Arc)
• Word of Crota Handcannon (Void)

Other finds include the highly sought after Crux of Crota, a rare crafting material that’s needed to upgrade the Legendary Eidolon Ally auto rifle into the powerful Exotic Necrochasm.

The Crux can only be found from Crota himself, so when hard mode goes live you’ll only get one opportunity to snag it. If you have three high-level characters, that’s three chances per week.

The rare raid set helm also has a higher chance to drop on Hard difficulty as well.

The update brings the triumphant return of the Iron Banner, that limited PVP event that sees grizzled Guardians compete against one another for competitive glory. Oddly enough the event itself is marked with The Dark Below, but other players assure me that non-DLC owners will be able to participate.

If The Dark Below expansion were required to take part in the Iron Banner this time around, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising: I’ve already chronicled my disdain with Bungie’s current paywall-locking setup in a recent opinion piece.

Three new maps have been added to The Iron Banner, and the event also has the chance to randomly drop a level 32 auto rifle or sniper rifle, Bungie notes. Just as it’s been in the past, players can earn experience to unlock special limited edition gear from Lord Saladin.

Lord Saladin is back at the Tower with a host of new limited loot for players looking to test their mettle in the Iron banner. Saladin’s wares include two different level 31 chestpieces and two pairs of level 32 gauntlets, along with a level32 Radegast’s Fury rocket launcher and a level 32 Timur’s Lash handcannon.

Just like the event’s pane on the Navigator, all items are marked as The Dark Below expansion items. We’re not sure if you need the DLC to unlock these items or not, or if non-DLC players have a separate list of items.

Since we’ve come across something similar when Xur only had DLC items for sale, it’s assumed that non-expansion owners won’t have a separate inventory and that they will be able to participate in the Iron Banner and purchase Iron Banner gear.

Sadly it appears as the Iron Banner has the exact same bounties it had before, but you can still trade in Motes of Light for the Tempering buff to earn more standing in the event.

Now let’s move on to this week’s Nightfall and Heroic rotation.

Thankfully Bungie has chosen not to lock non-DLC players out of this week’s Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strikes, which don’t require the Dark Below expansion.

This week’s strike is an easy one: you’ll have to tackle Sepiks Prime on Earth, and many Guardians have been able to solo this one on their own. It’s a breezy one, so be sure to tackle it with all of your characters and bundle up your Strange Coins for Xur’s imminent arrival this weekend.

Also you might earn something extra from Nightfall this go around. The hotfix adds the potential to earn “9 or more Strange Coins” in addition to other loot. We’re not sure if this means you can earn an Exotic AND the coins, or one or the other.

I myself have beaten Nightfall only to receive Ascendent Shards (yes, that actually happened), so I’m betting on either or rather than both an Exotic and coins.

That wraps up the highlights on Bungie’s latest Destiny hotfix. Below we have a full transcript of the patch notes, and we’ll see you starside, Guardian!

The post Destiny Update Fixes Raid Exploits And Brings Back Iron Banner appeared first on VR World.

Warning: Here there be spoilers!

Thanks to recent leaks, Destiny‘s new House of Wolves expansion has been fully unearthed for all to see, revealing a complete list of gear, activities and additions that will be included in the game’s next DLC add-on.

The wealth of new info comes straight from the dedicated data-miners over at DestinyDB, Destiny Tracker, and Destiny Planet, a collective of sites who have been busy digging through the game’s embedded files.

This is made possible due to the fact that both of the expansions are included with every retail copy of the game–your purchases are simply unlocking access to the content, but the files themselves are there.

Thanks to the supremely patient efforts of one MattWGordon, who created this amazing chart that meticulously catalogs the data-mined treasures, Guardians all over the galaxy now have an early look at the goods included in House of Wolves.

These new leaked reports are right off the heels of yet another more substantial leak, which may have revealed Destiny‘s entire DLC structure altogether.

According to last week’s leaks, every Destiny game will be accompanied by two “expansions” (The Dark Below and House of Wolves for Destiny 1) and will be finished off with a massive content DLC called a “Comet“. Comets are like two expansions put together, featuring a slew of additional content and items, making it a sort-of mega expansion.

The leak saw the possible reveal of the game’s first Comet, which appears to be entitled Plague of Darkness, and features a wealth of additional updates and content.

In any case, the new leak details everything that House of Wolves has to offer, including new Raid armor sets (Wolf Walker for Titans, Archon for Warlocks, and Kell gear for Hunters) along with nine new Raid weapons–four of which are elemental primaries.

House of Wolves‘ new Raid is entitled “The Arena”, and players will return to The Reef to no-doubt have another audience with the Queen–this time it should end in bloodshed and chaos. On Normal difficulty the new Raid will sport level 32 enemies, and on Hard the baddies will be boosted up to level 35.

Below we have a quick breakdown of what Destiny‘s upcoming House of Wolves expansion will contain, according to the leak:

• 3 new story missions
• 1 new Traitor’s Ketch Strike
• New Lvl. 28 Vanguard Dragon Strike Playlist
• “The Arena” Raid
• 4 new PVP Maps
• 5 new PVP game variants
• 9 new Exotic armor pieces
• 2 new Exotic weapons
• 3 full sets of new Raid armor (Wolf Walker, Kell and Archon)
• 9 new Raid guns
• 37 new Legendary Ships
• 13 new class-specific purchasable Legendary armor pieces
• 3 new banks: Ship Collection, Shader Collection, and Special Emblem Collection

This info falls right in line with the previous leaks regarding the expansion, and we may very well see more details emerge as data-miners wear down their pickaxes and hone their skills.

After the break we have a bunch of pictures that detail all of the new additions, showcasing the new items and giving brief run-downs of the new activities included in the House of Wolves expansion.

House of Wolves is reported to release on March 10, 2015 for $19.99 across PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The post Destiny: Gear List Leaked For New House Of Wolves Expansion appeared first on VR World.

It’s long been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and a new photo might make good on that old adage.

A single image appears to have leaked Bungie’s plans for future Destiny content well into 2015 and beyond, including the release date for the upcoming House of Wolves expansion.

The original leaked image is blurry, but a closer look shows some pretty interesting features.

If genuine, the photo chronicles a timeline of future Destiny itself. It’s quite blurry, but it confirms the basic structure that Bungie has planned out for the franchise’s ten-year future.

Every Destiny game is accompanied by a retail release, along with four expansions like The Dark Below and The House of Wolves. After that, the games will be boosted by what Bungie calls a “Comet“, which is the studio’s own original term for a DLC.

Comets aren’t like expansions though.

Destiny‘s Comets offer pretty distinct additions to the game itself, including new missions, gear, new subclasses, Strikes, a Raid, PvP maps and everything else. In essence it’s an expansion 2.0, with a ton of additional stuff.

According to the leaked image, the first Comet is called Plague of Darkness, and although blurry, evidence suggests the first Comet may release on September 2015.

A revised image that approximates the content shown on the leaked image has been spotted.

Since the image is so blurry, a YouTuber with the handle LittleBigOkey has recreated their own image that approximates some of the details.

It appears that the first Comet, Plague of Darkness, will feature a huge amount of new content including 12 new story missions, 4 new Strikes, a new public event, a new patrol mission, a new raid, and 6 new PvP maps.

Plague of Darkness will also raise the base level cap to 30 (not the Light level), and include a new Titan, Warlock and Hunter subclass.

Also it appears that Destiny‘s new Comet will be a retail version rather than an online digital download. The timeline shows actual PS4 box art which might indicate it’ll hit stores. But this might also mean the Comet will cost $60, considering the amount of content that’s added.

We speculate that if the Comet is indeed $59.99 it’ll include the previous DLC packs as well.

The image also reveals possible names for the third and fourth expansions, named Vex Void and Hive Gods respectively, and give key inference on the settings and enemies of each DLC.

The leaks also reveal a possible release date for Destiny‘s new House of Wolves expansion, which is purported to launch on March 10, 2015.

If that wasn’t enough, someone appears to have traversed into an unreleased Strike mission exclusive to the new DLC.

GamingBolt reports that one gamer has apparently glitched their way into the new Strike mission included in the House of Wolves, which takes place on Earth aboard a Fallen Ketch ship. The ship itself is vacant of enemies, however, and there’s no progression or objectives–it’s just a look at what’s to come.

Since the files for the first two expansions were already included as part of the original game (they’re literally on your disc or in the download files), things like this are possible.

Be sure to remember that this info hasn’t been confirmed, so we must chalk this up to speculation at this point. Bungie’s own Deej has discussed the idea of “Comets” in the past, but specific information has been less than scarce.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, but looking back at how many leaks have become true in the past year in the gaming industry, this might very well be right on the money.

Thanks, IGN.

The post Report: First Details of Destiny's New Expansions Leaked appeared first on VR World.

In the past, we’ve seen some pretty underhanded moves by big-name developers and publishers concerning how DLC is handled, namely at the hands of infamous industry figures as Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA), Ubisoft (EPA: UBI) and of course Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI)

These tactics, which have pervaded the industry with unfair practices that ultimately push gamers to buying more and more content, have become commonplace occurrences.

Whole portions of games have been cut out and set aside, locked behind DLC paywalls, rather than being included in the actual game.

This practice manifests itself in the dreaded Season Pass setup, which not only milks gamer’s wallets but also promises discounts or in-game exclusives and other incentives when pre-ordering–and when gamers actually get access, they find watered down content.

The Dark Below is the first of Destiny’s expansions, and we may see similar disconcerting trends continue in the upcoming House of Wolves DLC.

A lot of the time these exploitative practices aren’t obvious and don’t really push too hard, but given time, gamers are pretty much coerced into buying extra content if they want to continue playing a game. And ultimately, non-DLC owners are locked out of a significant portion of the game altogether.

Now we’re seeing this trend quite blatantly exercised with Destiny, Bungie’s popular MMO-esque online shooter.

Since the game’s new The Dark Below DLC pack launched in December, gamers have been pushed by both Bungie and Activision more and more to buy the $20 add-on.

To ensure gamers buy their DLC content, Bungie and Activision have periodically taken away access to a big portion of Destiny‘s end-game activities, and they’ll likely continue to do so until everyone either quits playing or buys The Dark Below.

Interestingly enough, Destiny’s new DLC is actually already in the game’s files; users are just buying the right to access the content.

DLC Paywall Phase 1: End-Game Activities

The first instance of the “DLC push” took place on the week of The Dark Below‘s actual launch, when it was revealed that non-DLC owners were locked out of that week’s Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strikes.

Guardians who didn’t own The Dark Below couldn’t jump into some of Destiny‘s few endgame content, and they were effectively locked out behind a paywall. If you wanted in you had to cough up $20, or buy the Season Pass to “save money” and get access to another DLC pack later on.

To understand why this is such a big deal, we have to take a look at how Destiny is set up. The game is essentially a MMO-style gear-grind where random RNG drops are rewarded after completion of certain missions and activities.

After you beat the game’s story there’s only a few things you can actually do to progress, and most of them involve collecting and upgrading gear.

When the Dark Below DLC launched, it locked out all non-DLC players from participating in Weekly Nightfall or Heroic Strikes, denying access to a big portion of the game’s endgame content.

Every week Bungie rotates new Weeklies, including Heroic/Nightfall Strikes and resetting rewards on Raid progression.

Apart from the Raid, the rotating weekly Nightfall and Heroic Strikes remain one of the most important parts of continual player progression. After completing these activities, players earn special currency called Strange Coins which can then be exchanged to Xur, a merchant who shows up at the end of every week with an inventory of random exotic goods.

Weekly Nightfalls are much more special; they can award players with some of the most powerful Exotics in the game.

If you make it so players can’t complete Weekly Nightfall or Heroic Strikes, they can’t earn the bounty of Strange Coins to trade to Xur to get new gear. And they miss out on a potential Hawkmoon drop, too.

Furthermore, a lot of dedicated players have three Guardians they use to complete these activities to rack up serious Strange Coins, and maximize drop chances. If you beat Nightfall with three characters, that’s three chances of something good dropping, not to mention a total of 27 Strange Coins per week.

If you didn’t own The Dark Below DLC, you were locked out of all of this. You were cut out of a significant portion of the game, simply because you didn’t opt to buy the new add-on.

Bungie has once again rotated non-DLC owners out of Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strikes for the week of Dec. 30 – Jan. 6, proving that until you buy the add-on you might be temporarily unable to participate.

Now Bungie has done it again. Destiny players who don’t own the DLC are once again locked out of both Heroic and Nightfall Strikes for this week (Dec. 30 – Jan. 6), adding further insult to injury as well as a very noticeable shove to buy the $20 add-on.

But as Activision said, these activities will periodically be rotated out in favor of expansion content, and we can expect this kind of thing to continue.

“All existing strikes and maps are still accessible. Specific activities like nightfall will periodically feature expansion 1 content on the week the newest content is live.”

And this time they’ve one-upped the coercive push. They’ve actually locked non-DLC owners out of one of the last vestiges they had besides the Raid: buying new Exotic items from Xur.

If you haven’t bought the new DLC, then Xur won’t be accepting your Strange Coins this week: all of his purchasable Exotics are exclusive to DLC owners, but you can still upgrade gear.

DLC Paywall Phase 2: Xur

When Xur, Agent of the Nine showed off his Exotic goods for Week 17 (Jan. 2 – 4), I was particularly surprised. His entire inventory was full of gear emblazoned with “The Dark Below”.

Odd. So did this mean that players of the original game sans DLC couldn’t buy any new gear from Xur? Or did Xur have a separate list of items for non-DLC players? Surely Bungie wouldn’t deny players access simply because they didn’t want to fork over $20.

Puzzled, I took to Reddit to find some answers. The truth was startling, but then again it wasn’t surprising. I’ve come to expect this kind of thing from Destiny; things like creating the illusion of progress through clever subterfuge.

According to multiple users who don’t have Destiny‘s first expansion pack (including a few of my PSN friends) Xur didn’t have a separate list available for them.

They simply weren’t able to buy anything from Xur with their Strange Coins.

If you don’t have the DLC you can’t buy any of his four available Exotics because they’re all specific to The Dark Below.

It’s interesting to note that if you don’t have The Dark Below you can in fact find expansion items out in the wild. You just can’t ever buy them from Xur, and this becomes a major problem with the weekly merchant is only selling DLC gear.

This didn’t come as a surprise to me. As someone who pays close attention to what Xur, Agent of the Nine has up for grabs every week, I noticed an interesting trend: the number of DLC-required Exotics had increased steadily on a week-by-week basis.

On Week 14, The Dark Below‘s launch week, Xur had approximately one DLC-specific item: the Ruin Wings Titan gauntlets. For Week 15 Xur had increased his DLC-required gear count two items: the Ruin Wings returned along with the Claws of Ahamkara.

In Week 16 there were only two expansion items, the Claws of Ahamkara and the interesting primary sniper rifle No Land Beyond. Keep in mind every added DLC item takes away an item slot from non-expansion players to buy, so for this week non-DLC players could only buy two items.

Week 17, however, jumped all the way up to four DLC exotics. Oddly enough Xur usually has five items up for grabs, but the Exotic gauntlet engram appears to have taken up an item slot.

So not only will players randomly be locked out of easily earning Strange Coins, they won’t even be able to spend the ones they already have.

Longtime Guardians know that apart from the Raid, Xur and Weeklies are basically all you have to do in the game.

With this Bungie has found a way to segregate its players into two groups, temporarily shutting off access to high-level content to gamers who opted not to buy the DLC.

This segregation is a lot like Destiny‘s platform exclusives, which awarded bonus content like Strikes and in-game gear to PlayStation gamers.

So on one hand we have a form of isolation that’s global, then another oppressive stance that locks content out for gamers on the Xbox platform. The DLC continued this awkward trend by incorporating an extra Strike mission for PlayStation owners.

Non-expansion Guardians will never know when they’re locked out. It’ll happen randomly, on rotation. You’ll never know when you’ll be discarded behind a paywall, spurned and pushed out simply because you didn’t want to shell out even more money on an overhyped, thinly veiled online experiment.

These means of exploitation, segregation and coercion are part of a pathetic scheme that only perverts the nature of money-grubbing in this industry of ours, and both Bungie and Activision need to be made aware that this isn’t acceptable.

By rotating an entire portion of players out of specific content, Bungie is clearly manipulating gamers into buying the expansion; a trend that will likely carry on as new DLC’s are released.

DLC Should be Optional, Not Obligatory

In one fell swoop Bungie has pretty much punished a portion of its own audience simply to push a $20 add-on. This is the kind of thing that needs to stop. It’s an abysmal practice, and honestly I can see many players simply giving up.

By doing this, Bungie and Activision have both made a clear point: that they care more about peddling their wares than they do about creating a long-lasting community.

Sure they do, they’re companies; this is an industry, of course. But the actual magic of gaming is being eroded by these practices, and if left unchecked, it’ll be these kinds of trends that ultimately ruin it altogether.

So what’s next? Where does it end?

Will the House of Wolves DLC do the same thing and rotate gamers out of the loop once again unless they buy the expansion? This sets a very grim tone for the future of Destiny, and if it continues, gamers are apt to wonder why they’re wasting their time.

So far Bungie has handled Destiny’s DLC in a rather exploitative manner, putting profits first and gamers second.

There’s a simple fix: give DLC and non-DLC owners separate playlists and separate Xur inventories. When Bungie released Halo maps back in the day, they had separate playlists for gamers who didn’t have the maps.

Those people could still play and participate in the same playlists even if they didn’t have the new content.

That’s the way DLC should be. It should be optional, not obligatory. It should be the player’s choice, made freely, without any coercion, pressure or manipulation. Are those days over? Have big-name companies finally stopped respecting the gamers who have built this billion-dollar industry?

Serious, dedicated Guardians have spent hundreds of hours of time grinding and trying to find the ultimate gear for their respective Hunters, Warlocks and Titans. Will their dedication wane and ultimately break under this kind of pressure? How much longer until Bungie pisses off the entirety of its constituency by doing things like this?

You don’t take away or lock people out of content to get them to buy DLC. You show them legitimate reasons why they should spend their money; $20 is, after all, a third of Destiny‘s original asking price which we all paid at the beginning.

Dedicated players like this high-level Warlock are actually quite common, as gamers have invested quite a bit of time into Destiny. But will this change as a result of unfair DLC practices?

Don’t manipulate us, and treat us like walking wallets: treat us with respect, make us want to buy it out of excitement rather than frustration to keep or participate in activities that are part of the original game to begin with.

It’s this reason (among many, many others) that Destiny is starting to feel less like a game, and more like a giant experiment to see what Activision/Bungie can and can’t get away with. And it’s shocking to see that they’re able to get away with this, considering just about everyone owns the DLC.

If we let this kind of thing go, we’ll likely see Season Passes pervade gaming even more than they already do.

Rather than being a way to introduce new interactive content to games, they’re being used instead to simply milk more money out of gamers’ wallets, while offering stale, watered-down content that actually draws away from the power of the game itself.

We’ve seen it with Destiny, and we’ll likely see it with more and more games. But if we, as gamers, stand up to these practices, it’ll be much harder for big companies to sucker us in.

In this state, DLC is a mockery of gamers as well as the industry, and is a clear example of something that needs to be completely overhauled.

The post Destiny's DLC Paywalls Are A Mockery, And They Need To Stop appeared first on VR World.

Xur, everyone’s favorite shadowy merchant, is back at Destiny‘s Tower with a variety of exotic goods to exchange for hard-earned Strange Coins.

The offworld merchant has a full compliment of completely fresh exotics up for grabs, including Mk. 44 Stand Asides, the game’s first pair of exotic boots–which happen to look pretty snazzy on a Titan–that deliver an extra boost for Striker’s Shoulder Charge.

But it’s hard to replace my Helm of Saint-14, so I might pass.

Xur, Agent of the Nine is in the Hanger, directly downstairs below the Future War Cult handler.

This time around the Agent of the Nine can be found in the hangar, below the Future War Cult handler. Follow the path down the stairs past the Vanguard Quartermaster Roni 55-30 and continue down and down to a sort of bar-like niche. There you’ll find Xur, tucked in a faraway corner.

Other new items include a pair of unique Hunter gauntlets that temporarily turn you invisible when you’re hit by a melee attack (pretty damn useful), and a Warlock chestpiece that awards an extra Fusion grenade (those super handy sticky ‘nades that emit devastating Solar energy) as well as giving the wearer extra Fusion Rifle ammo.

Below we have a full breakdown for Xur’s exotic wares for Week 17 lasting from Jan. 2 – 4 in Destiny.

“Pardon me. Coming through.”

Mk. 44 Stand Asides (Boots) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Titan (Striker)
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 145
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 296/345
• Mod 1: HeavyWeapon Ammo: “Increases the amount of Heavy Weapon ammunition you can carry”
• Mod 2: Be Somewhere Else: Increases the duration Shoulder Charge remains active.

“Amputated from a creature who stumbled out of a Vex gate. A vestigial defensive reflex still remains.”

Don’t Touch Me (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 91/97
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: Special Weapon Loader: Increases reload speed of all Special Weapons.
• Mod 2: Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
• Mod 3: Defensive Reflex: Taking damage from a melee attack makes you briefly invisible.

“13.4 billion years ago, the first stars kindled out of darkness, seeding the future of all life.”

Starfire Protocol (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Warlock
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 144/155
• Type: Chestpiece
• Defense: 444/488
• Mod 1: Fusion Rifle Ammo: Increases the amount of Fusion Rifle ammunition you can carry.
• Mod 2: Heavy Weapon Ammo: Increases the amount of Heavy Weapon ammunition you can carry.
• Mod 3: Starfire Protocol: Gain an additional Fusion Grenade.

“Burn the world. Burn it all.”

Dragon’s Breath (Rocket Launcher) – 17 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2
• Type: Rocket Launcher
• Mod 1: Tripod: This launcher’s tube can hold three shells.
• Mod 2: Pyromancer: Rounds fired from this weapon leave a Solar Flare upon detonation.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Engram (Gauntlet) – 23 Motes of Light

Exotic Armor Upgrades

Knucklehead Radar (Helmet)

• Glimmer: 7331 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Strength 86/92
• Defense: 407/447

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet)

• Glimmer Cost: 7177 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 112/120
• Defense: 407/447

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 134/144
• Defense: 444/488

The Armementarium (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer Cost: 7649 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 126/135
• Defense: 444/488

Apotheosis Veil (Helmet)

• Glimmer: 7013, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Discipline: 107/114
• Defense: 407/447

Heart of the Praxic Fire (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7297, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Discipline: 116/125
• Defense: 444/488

Exotic Weapon Upgrades

The Last Word (Handcannon)

• Glimmer Cost: 7559 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 8

Universal Remote (Shotgun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7027 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 5

Pocket Infinity (Fusion Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7309 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 3

Patience And Time (Sniper Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7561 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 4

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7681 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 38

Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)

• Glimmer Cost: 7933 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2

The post Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For Jan. 2-4 appeared first on VR World.

Xur, Agent of the Nine is back again to peddle his intergalactic wares for Week 16 from Dec. 26 – 29 in Destiny, and this time around he has some nice surprises in his arsenal.

The shadowy merchant’s inventory has rotated a bit, but since there’s a limited number of Exotics, but he does have No Land Beyond, a bolt-action sniper rifle that can be placed in a primary slot. So essentially you can have two sniper rifles.

This sounds a lot more enjoyable than it actually is, considering No Land Beyond is bolt-action, meaning it’s a single shot and then has to be reloaded. It might be make a good epic combo paired with the right set of special and heavy items, but personally I found it to be rather frustrating.

For Week 16 Xur can be found in his usual spot to the right of the class Vanguards, below the stairs in the Hall of Guardians.

For this week the Agent of the Nine can be found in his usual haunting grounds within the Hall of Guardians, to the right of each of the three class vanguards. When arriving at the Tower, simply follow the path North and go down the steps, past the Crucible handlers, and go to the right.

But the real kicker is a very specific upgrade for one of the most powerful weapons in the entire game: the Hawkmoon. That’s right, for the first time ever, Xur can upgrade the explosive Hawkmoon handcannon.

Sadly last week’s trend has continued, as two of Xur’s five purchasable Exotics are only available to owners of Destiny’sDark Below DLC. If you don’t own the content the items will be there, you just can’t buy them, and Xur won’t have any replacement items.

For shame.

In light of the recent outages across the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE, Bungie has announced that Xur will be sticking around for another day. Both PSN and Xbox LIVE were down for Christmas day as well as the day after, and it’s believed that the hacker group known as Lizard Squad is responsible.

Interestingly enough the other upgrades have been tweaked to deliver lower base and max stats, which is a bit disappointing. And Xur isn’t offering Special Weapon or Heavy Ammo Syntheses or the Exotic Engrams that can usually be picked up for 23 Motes of Light.

Without further adieu, below you can find a breakdown of what Xur is offering for Week 16 in Destiny:

“For This, There Is One Remedy”

The Armamentarium (Chestpiece) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Titan
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 138/149
• Type: Chestpiece
• Defense: 444/488
• Mod 1: Special Weapon Ammo: “Increases the amount of Special Weapon ammunition you can carry”
• Mod 2: HeavyWeapon Ammo: “Increases the amount of Heavy Weapon ammunition you can carry”
• Mod 3: Grenade Booster: “Carry an additional grenade”

“They told me it would eat my thoughts and leave me full of Light.”

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 87/93
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Mod 1: Increases Grenade Throw distance
• Mod 2: Replenish Super Energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade
• Mod 3: Golden Gun gains one additional shot per use

“Look at all this life, oh bearer mine. There is so much left to burn…”

Claws of Ahamkara (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins (Dark Below Item)

• Class: Warlock
• Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 49/52
• Discipline: 49/52
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: The Whispers: Gain an additional charge for Scorch and Energy Drain.
• Mod 2: Special Weapons Loader: Increased reload speed with Special Weapons.
• Mod 3: Snap Discharge: Increased attack speed

“Every hit blazes the path to our reclamation.”

No Land Beyond (Sniper Rifle) – 17 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331
• Magazine: 6
• Type: Sniper Rifle
• Primary Care: This Exotic Sniper Rifle can be equipped in the primary weapon slot.
• Mod 1: Mulligan: Missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine.
• Mod 2: The Master: Increased precision damage. Kills briefly increase damage against next target.
• Mod 3: Lightweight: When held, this weapon grants +2 character Agility.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Upgrades

Below we have a listing of the Exotic upgrades Xur offers along with the respective upgraded stats, including the enhanced defense, Light, stats and damage incurred from each item. The merchant has six armors and seven weapons for this wave, including the highly anticipated upgraded Hawkmoon.

Every upgrade costs an Exotic Shard as well as varying Glimmer costs, and to get the upgrades you’ll have to have the item in question. Trading it in to Xur cleans out all advancements on any given item, so be forewarned before you opt in.

Exotic Armor Upgrades

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7607 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Strength 136/146
• Defense: 444/488

Young Ahamkara’s Spine (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer Cost: 7127 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 81/87
• Defense: 333/366

Helm of Saint-14 (Helmet)

• Glimmer Cost: 7841 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 108/118
• Defense: 407/447

Helm of Inmost Light (Helmet)

• Glimmer Cost: 7451 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 100/107
• Defense: 407/447

Heart of the Praxic Fire (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7297, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Discipline: 127/137
• Defense: 444/488

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer: 7549, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Intellect: 84/90
• Defense: 333/366

Exotic Weapon Upgrades

Suros Regime (Auto Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7789 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 33

Red Death (Pulse Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7307 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 27

The Last Word (Handcannon)

• Glimmer Cost: 7559 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 8

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7681 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 38

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7817 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 58

Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)

• Glimmer Cost: 7933 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2

Hawkmoon (Handcannon)

• Glimmer Cost: 7793 G, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 13

The post Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For Week 16, Dec. 26 appeared first on VR World.

Xur, Agent of the Nine is back at the Tower to peddle his intergalactic wares, and we take a look at what Exotic goodies and strange trinkets he has up for offer for Week 15 lasting from Dec. 19 – 21.

Today’s visit marks Xur’s second coming since Destiny‘s new Hive-centered The Dark Below DLC launched, and this week’s inventory matches the new layout recently introduced in Week 14. The merchant’s arrival coincides right alongside Bungie launching a fresh wave of the Iron Banner PVP event and lets Guardians gear-up with the very best to test their meddle in the playlist.

This week Xur can be found in one of his usual Tower haunts in front of the double doors right outside of the Speaker’s quarters. There he waits to collect his boundy

Two of Xur’s five purchasable items are DLC-specific, and as I personally own the Dark Below, I’m not sure if non-DLC owners can pick up the Titan Ruin Wings or Warlock Claws of Ahamkara gauntlets. It’s also worth wondering if Guardians who don’t own the DLC have a reduced selection or not–to wit just three items instead of the full five–or if they can just pick up the gear anyway.

In any case, below we have a breakdown of all his available stock, including purchasable Exotics and newly acquired weapon and armor upgrades.

Ruin Wings (Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins (Dark Below Item)

• Class: Titan
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 99/106
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: Heavy Ammo drops more often, and contines more ammo in each drop.
• Mod 2: Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown.
• Mod 3: Increased Reload speed with Heavy Weapons.

“You can see the point, right? Who wants to team up with one?”

Knucklehead Radar (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter
• Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 97/104
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 407/447
• Mod 1: Light the Blade: Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
• Mod 2: Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
• Mod 3: Sensor Pack: Radar remains visible while aiming Primary Weapons.

“Look at all this life, oh bearer mine. There is so much left to burn…”

Claws of Ahamkara (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins (Dark Below Item)

• Class: Warlock
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 58/63
• Discipline: 56/60
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: The Whispers: Gain an additional charge for Scorch and Energy Drain.
• Mod 2: Special Weapons Loader: Increased reload speed with Special Weapons.
• Mod 3: Snap Discharge: Increased attack speed

If you’ve got it, they’ll never see you coming.

Patience And Time (Sniper Rifle) – 17 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Arc elemental)
• Magazine: 4
• Type: Sniper Rifle
• Mod 1:  Patience and Time: You gain active camouflage when aiming down the sights.
• Mod 2: Third Eye: Radar stays active when aiming down this weapon’s sights.
• Mod 3: Field Scout: Increases maximum ammo capacity.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Helmet Engram – 23 Motes of Light

Exotic Upgrades

Our favorite Agent of the Nine can now upgrade existing exotics at the cost of about 7,000 Glimmer and an Exotic Shard, but be forewarned that upgrading will reset all progress on that item and set it back to square zero.

But the trade-off of Xur’s upgrades is that the item will have higher base defense and attack, improving overall effectiveness in battle. Hardcore Guardians will gladly offer up their gear and build it back up from scratch considering an upgraded Exotic will do more base damage than a same fully maxed-out copy.

There are a few changes in Xur’s upgrade offerings like the inclusion of Plan C, Monte Carlo, Heart of the Praxic Fire, and No Backup Plans and a few more. But Hawkmoon is still noticeably absent, and given how good the handcannon is without any upgrades, we probably won’t see it any time soon.

Below we have a full breakdown of all the items that can be upgraded in Week 15, along with Glimmer prices, the change to defense and attack, and more.

Just like last week Xur has six exotic up gradable armors for sale, all of which are pretty demanding in Glimmer.

Armor Upgrades

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7607, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Strength 152/164
• Defense: 444/488

Lucky Raspberry (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7393, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Intellect: 116/124
• Defense: 444/488

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7547, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Intellect 134/144
• Defense: 444/488

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer: 7759, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Strength 105/113
• Defense: 333/366

Heart of the Praxic Fire (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer: 7297, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Discipline: 129/139
• Defense: 444/488

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer: 7549, 1 Exotic Shard
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Stats: Intellect: 92/99
• Defense: 333/366

Xur has a surprise seventh weapon upgrade for this week, letting Guardians boost their Monte Carlo auto rifles to do more damage in the iron Banner.

Weapon Upgrades

Xur has added a seventh up-gradable weapon to his arsenal, with the Super Good Advice machine gun and the Mida Multi-Tool, which actually boosts your speed, is thrown into the mix as well. Thorn is back again, so if you haven’t boosted it now’s your change as we’ll probably see it taken off for next week’s rotation.

MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)

• Glimmer: 7459, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 21
• Mod 1: This weapon boosts move speed anf ires on a hair trigger.
• Mod 2: Radar stays active while aiming down this weapon’s sights.

Thorn (Handcannon)

• Glimmer: 7673, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 9
• Mod 1: Rounds pierce targets and cause lingering damage over time.
• Mod 2: The last round in the magazine does bonus damage.

Universal Remote (Shotgun)

• Glimmer: 7027, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 5
• Mod 1: Range and precision damage increases greatly while aiming down the sights.
• Mod 2: Kills with this weapon grant bonus damage for a short time.

Plan C (Fusion Rifle)

• Glimmer: 7197, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 5
• Mod 1: Charge and equip times are very short immediately after weapon swap.
• Mod 2: This weapon as bonus accuracy while firing from the hip.

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

• Glimmer: 7817, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 58
• Mod 1: Almost all shots that miss their target will return to your magazine.
• Mod 2: Kills with this weapon grant bonus damage for a short time.

Truth (Rocket Launcher)

• Glimmer: 7039, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331 (Void elemental damage)
• Magazine: 2
• Mod 1: Rounds fired from this weapon seek their targets aggressively.
• Mod 2: Rockets from this weapon will detonate early based on proximity to targets.

Monte Carlo (Auto Rifle)

• Glimmer: 7919, 1 Exotic Shard
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 36
• Mod 1: Dealing damage with this weapon reduces your melee cooldown and grants a chance to fully charge your melee ability with each kill.
• Mod 2: This weapon has bonus accuracy while firing from the hip.

The post Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For 12/19 appeared first on VR World.

Bungie has released a new hotfix update for Destiny that improves all raid gear found in the Dark Below DLC.

Tuesdays are always big days for Destiny players: it’s the day when everything is reset and they can jump back into the cycle of item farming in the raids and weekly Nightfalls and Heroic Strikes.

To start things off Bungie has passed a new hotfix that specifically addresses gear earned in the new Dark Below raid, updating Destiny to v 1.1.0.2 in the process.

So far dedicated Guardians have complained about the efficacy of Crota’s End raid gear, saying that their previous level 30 gear is actually better in many ways. It appears when you previously equipped a piece of raid gear your level would drop below 30 until you built it up–which of course takes time, leaving you weakened and vulnerable in the meantime.

The raid is easier the higher level you are, as the more Light you have the stronger you are. So when users would equip raid gear they found fresh out of the Crota’s End battle, they’d drop down, which frustrated many users.

Bungie has remedied this by ensuring all items dropped in the raid will no longer drop players below level 30. “Both existing and future Raid gear obtained in Crota’s End now begins at Level 30 with an upgrade path to reach Level 32,” Bungie wrote in the patch notes.

The new class-specific raid helmet will also being to drop in Crota’s End on normal difficulty. Before now this coveted item could only be attained in the new raid’s hard mode, which hasn’t been unlocked yet.

As a result the helmet will also drop at higher frequency in hard mode when it’s unlocked next month.

Despite the arduous process of upgrading gear and the absence of a raid helmet, a Guardian has already hit level 32 since the new expansion passed. The user goes by the handle EnormousTrash, and has accumulated the count of 63 Radiant Shards to master a set of  Warlock-centric Deathsinger’s raid gear to hit max level.

Additionally the new hotfix allows Guardians to replay the Dark Below‘s Fist of Crota mission, and we should see it added to the  Daily Heroic Story playlist. Below we have a full copy of the patch notes:

Destiny Hotfix v 1.1.0.2 Patch Notes:

The post New Destiny Hotfix Buffs Raid Gear, Changes Drop Rates appeared first on VR World.

A dedicated Warlock has hit Destiny‘s current level cap, earning the ire and respect from fellow Guardians throughout the galaxy.

Destiny‘s new Dark Below DLC has been out for almost a week now, and one die-hard Guardian has achieved Light level 32.

The stalwart Guardian goes by the handle of EnormousTrash, and is among the first players to reach max level in the DLC. Taking a look at their gear we see that the Sunsinger is decked out in Crota’s End raid gear–that’s Deathsinger’s gloves, chestpiece and boots for Warlocks–which represents a considerable amount of time, luck and effort.

Crota waits in the darkness, ready to spill the Light of Guardians.

EnormousTrash has three characters, all of which have run the new Crota’s End raid in rotations. Having three of the same character is pretty much standard operating procedure for dedicated Destiny players, as gear is interchangeable and players can run the raid once per character.

By this method the user was able to not only find raid gear from the Dark Below raid, but also the new upgrade materials needed to enhance them.

Instead of Ascendant Shards and Energies, you now have to use the new Radiant Shards (armor) and Radiant Energies (weapons) materials in order to buff up any Legendary gear that drops from the raid.

And you the only place you can find these mats from the new Crota’s End raid, meaning you’ll have to devote some serious time to decking out your Guardian’s gear (assuming you’re lucky enough to find it in the first place).

You can also break down raid items to net Radiant mats, and Eris lets you exchange Shards for Energies and vice-versa.

This persistent Sunsinger has three characters, two of which are no-doubt raid farmers for their main Warlock. This is a necessary strategy to maxing out a Guardian.

Dark Below‘s raid has a total of three bosses and two chests, with varying opportunities to find gear drops. Polygon notes that if you didn’t find any gear, only found Radiant Shards or Radiant Energies, you could snag as many as 10 to 12 per run.

Sadly Crota’s End can only be run on normal for right now, as Bungie will unlock hard mode in January.

This means you only get a single run per character. So that’s three only runs per week, and raid gear from Vault of Glass won’t elevate you to level 32. Three runs a week substantially lowers the odds in raid gear drops along with the precious Radiant Shards needed to enhance them.

For reference the original Vault of Glass raid on Venus can be run six times a week–twice with each the three characters–which raises the chance of netting something good.

Assuming you find a party of Guardians to run with, and are adequately geared to take down the Hive god, you can snag three runs perk week across your two raid farmers and your geared main.

Most Guardians use DestinyLFG to find a raid party. The site itself is extremely active and it seems there’s always someone available for an event or two.

7 Radiant Shards per the last three defense tiers means every piece of Warlock raid gear takes 21 Radiant Shards to max. Talk about a time sink.

Checking back to the Warlock’s gear we find that their raid set is completely maxed out. According to a comment over at Destiny DB, Deathsinger’s gear takes up 7 Radiant Shards per the last three defense tiers.

So that’s a total of 21 Radiant Shards to max out every piece of armor, and since EnormousTrash is wearing three, this totals to a whopping 63 Radiant Shards. Wow.

When we look at it like this, it’s easy to see the dedication factor come into play. Hitting level 32 is no small feat, and it’s a true testament to persistence, skill and of course luck. For this we commend you, EnormousTrash.

May you forever bask in the Light of the Traveler, Guardian.

Thanks, Game Informer.

The post Destiny: Dedicated Warlock Hits Level 32 Cap appeared first on VR World.

Xur, Agent of the Nine has been spotted at the Tower with a wealth of new exotic-class items, and we have a breakdown of what the shadowy merchant has up for sale for Week 14 from Dec. 12 – 14.

But this time he has something new: in wake of Destiny‘s recently released Dark Below DLC, Xur can now upgrade exotic weapons and armors to do more damage and pack more defense. Twelve items can be upgraded in this way, and we have a breakdown of those too, along with their changed stats.

This comes at a cost, though, as any item turned into Xur will be completely reset. That means a fully maxed item will go back to square one, but it’ll have more base defense or attack to balance things out.

This week Xur can be found be found down the stairs right outside of the Vanguard handlers, settled next to the Crucible Quartermaster. We’ve seen Xur here before, and he isn’t anywhere too cryptic this time around.

In the Garden grows a tree of silver wings. The leaves are ruin, the bark disaster. of the seeds we do not speak.

Ruin Wings (Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins (Dark Below Item)

• Class: Titan
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 99/106
• Type: Gauntlets
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: Heavy Ammo drops more often, and contines more ammo in each drop.
• Mod 2: Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown.
• Mod 3: Increased Reload speed with Heavy Weapons.

“They told me it would eat my thoughts and leave me full of Light.”

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Hunter
• Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 94/101
• Type: Helmet
• Defense: 333/366
• Mod 1: Increases Grenade Throw distance
• Mod 2: Replenish Super Energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade
• Mod 3: Golden Gun gains one additional shot per use

“YOU WILL DREAM OF TEETH AND NOTHING ELSE” — scratched behind a buckle.

Voidfang Vestments (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Warlock (Specialized for Voidwalker)
• Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Light: +30/36
• Strength: 130/139
• Type: Chestpiece
• Defense: 444/488
• Mod 1: Enhanced Axion Bolt. Spawn with grenade energy
• Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Hand Cannon
• Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Helmet Exotic Engram – 23 Motes of Light

“Truth…is where you seek it” -Lomar

Truth (Rocket Launcher) – 13 Strange Coins

• Class: Any
• Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
• Min Level: 20
• Attack: 302 / 331 (Void elemental)
• Magazine: 2
• Type: Rocket Launcher
• Mod 1:  Rockets from this weapon will detonate early based on proximity to targets.
• Mod 2: Rounds fired from this weapon seek their target aggressively.
• Mod 3: Increases warhead velocity.

Exotic Upgrades

Below we have a listing of the Exotic upgrades Xur offers along with the respective upgraded stats, including the enhanced defense, Light, stats and damage incurred from each item. The merchant has six armors and six weapons for this wave, and we’ll likely see more in the next coming weeks.

Every upgrade costs an Exotic Shard as well as varying Glimmer costs, and to get the upgrades you’ll have to have the item in question. Trading it in to Xur cleans out all advancements on any given item, so be forewarned before you opt in.

Armor

Mask of the Third Man (Helm)

• Glimmer Cost: 7207 G
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 85/92
• Defense: 407/447

Young Ahamkara’s Spine (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer Cost: 7127 G
• Class: Hunter
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 102/109
• Defense: 333/366

The Armamentarium (Chestpiece)

• Glimmer Cost: 7649 G
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Discipline: 156/167
• Defense: 444/488

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer Cost: 7759 G
• Class: Titan
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 104/111
• Defense: 333/366

Light Beyond Nemesis (Helmet)

• Glimmer Cost: 7159 G
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Strength: 96/103
• Defense: 407/447

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

• Glimmer Cost: 7549 G
• Class: Warlock
• Light: 30/36
• Intellect: 81/87
• Defense: 333/366

Weapons

Suros Regime (Auto Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7789 G
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 33

Red Death (Pulse Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7307 G
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 27

The Last Word (Handcannon)

• Glimmer Cost: 7559 G
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 8

Thorn (Handcannon)

• Glimmer Cost: 7673 G
• Attack: 302/331
• Magazine: 9

Ice Breaker (Sniper Rifle)

• Glimmer Cost: 7477 G
• Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
• Magazine: 6

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

• Glimmer Cost: 7681 G
• Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
• Magazine: 38

That’s it for Xur’s wares and the new DLC item upgrades. Essentially the damage enhancements on Exotic weapons seems to be capped at 331 Attack, with chestpieces racking up 488 defense, gauntlets capped at 366 defense, and helmets at 447.

Whether or not you’re willing to reset your gear is up to you, but since the bounty slots have been raised to 10 and you can now buy materials like Spinmetal and Relic Iron, Bungie has sped up the process some. It’ll still take a bit, but with any luck you’ll have a maxed out Thorn or Ice Breaker soon.

Also it’s worth mentioning that you might be able to get a new DLC exotic from Xur’s exotic engram. I was able to pick up the new Glasshouse Titan helm, which buffs both Weapons and Blessings of Light for the Defender class. While it’s not as strategically effective as the Saint-14 helm, it is interesting and I for one will try it out in the field.

The post Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For 12/12 appeared first on VR World.

Although Destiny‘s new The Dark Below DLC just released today, the raid has already been conquered.

Hardcore gaming team Invigorate Gaming originally made history when they became the first team of Guardians to beat Destiny‘s Vault of Glass Raid on hard. Now history repeats itself as they’ve become the first six-man squad to complete the new Crota’s End raid, and it only took them six hours to do it.

Bungie revealed the news earlier today in a Retweet that showed Invigorate Gaming member LtJohn adorned with a specific raid emblem, which can only be attained by beating the challenge itself.

Shortly after Bungie posted up a post-game carnage report that officially confirmed the team had indeed finished the raid in its entirety. The fireteam was made up of 3 Titans, 2 Hunters and 2 Warlocks, making it quite a diverse culmination of skills and gear.

Also it’s worth mentioning that one player had to drop out, so that’s why there’s seven players total.

Kill Confirmed: Crota has met his end. RT @LtJohn5: World first repeat? @Bungie @InvigorateINV pic.twitter.com/Mmt1i97RfM

— Bungie (@Bungie) December 9, 2014

Crota was defeated by 7 players in 6 hours. We’ve reached out to @InvigorateINV for comments. Stand by… pic.twitter.com/ZesgGYZoUv

— Bungie (@Bungie) December 9, 2014

Destiny raids have traditionally been cryptic puzzles that are peppered with mini-boss fights and one challenging end-level boss–Crota, in this case. The Guardians at Invigorate Gaming were able to decipher the enigmatic lanterns featured in The Dark Below‘s raid and ultimately duel the revered Hive god in a battle to the death.

The group totaled over 6,000 kills in their six-hour playthrough. and they picked up some snazzy raid gear in the process: a new Legendary ship entitled Light in the Abyss as well as a Fusion Rifle with the same name. For more The Dark Below DLC raid gear be sure to check out our past coverage here.

Per request @destinynews_net #PS4share pic.twitter.com/y7VIGcytjr — iNV_LtJohn5 (@LtJohn5) December 9, 2014

Light of the abyss @destnynews_net #PS4sharepic.twitter.com/FyaKd1kB8J

— iNV_LtJohn5 (@LtJohn5) December 9, 2014

Below we’ve also included a sizable 400-minute+ playthrough guide for the new Crota’s End raid, should you be brave enough to venture into the hallowed shadows of the Moon and seek the Hive lord out.

Thanks, Inquistr.

The post Destiny's New Crota's End Raid Beaten In Six Hours appeared first on VR World.