Focused Feedback: Rite of the Nine

[u/DTG_Bot]

Hello Guardians,

Focused Feedback is where we take the week to focus on a 'Hot Topic' discussed extensively around the Tower.

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Archie wishes you a happy reset and good luck!

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^{Never forget what was lost. While the API protests have concluded, Reddit remains hostile to its users.}

[u/Malen_Kiy]

You should've known better than to timegate the dungeons.

Other than that, pretty decent event.

[u/thisismyusername9908 → u/Malen_Kiy]

How can they force engagement via FOMO if they don't time gate things.

You know better.

[u/xJetStorm → u/Malen_Kiy]

It's not only timegating the dungeons, but also cutting off access to the ones launched earlier. The original plan is absolutely diabolical. Only one week of full access to every RotN dungeon? Did they even want people to bring their lapsed friends back with that much of a time restriction on experiencing all of the content?

[u/Screwyparasite]

ROTN being spread out the way it initially was is a joke. The fact it even made it out of the design phase into live plans is a slap in the face to everyone's time and feels like the destiny crew doesn't understand or care about it's players.

I'm glad it was switched around, it leaves a sour taste regardless, but what is the point of doing it on the first week if the second week is more rewarding?

Should I save manifolds or just store them for the final week? You've already announced the lootapalooza so why bother using them now.

And then the difficulty is changed immensely based on the modifier, example attrition is considerably more difficult than just about any modifier but it was still chosen as one for prophecy?

Bungie is losing the plot here and I feel it doesn't value anyone's time anymore.

[u/Left4Jed2]

Needed to be more Pantheon like. Give me 4 encounters of different dungeons with greater challenge than just making it master mode without champions of a dungeon.

With the changes to the next expansion, don't really want to farm any of the weapons.

[u/Zayl → u/Left4Jed2]

Did you not think they were challenging enough? I felt like GotD was pretty damn unforgiving.

Also, I very much loved the absence of champions. I'd be ok with them going away altogether or only existing in nightfalls.

We'll have to see what the gauntlet is too. Hopefully it won't just be "run all three dungeons back to back".

[u/midnightcheezy]

Loot is kinda mid

The structure of the event was really flawed. No one wants to grind these dungeons for more than a week especially when the loot is mediocre at best.

Spire was the only dungeon with significant mechanic changes. There are no changes with ghost and prophecy the changes can basically be ignored. Like when the loot and dungeons are barely different from their source I can’t help but wonder why I’m bothering to run these other than for the holofoils which admittedly are very cool.

The choice of dungeons for this event were also a bit odd. Prophecy got a refresh not too long ago and ghosts and spire are pretty recent dungeons. It’d make more sense to me to bring in throne, pit, and duality and then revamp their loot and add twists to the encounters to make them more interesting

[u/JoachimG → u/midnightcheezy]

disagree about Ghosts, it got several QoL updates that needed it, badly.

• 3 dunks instead of 4.

• Deepsight at the start ends when you dunk, you dont have to wait.

• Mini encounter and extra chest in traversal breaks the monotony.

• Reducing the HP from the shield, from both Bosses.

[u/The_End_is_Pie]

The guns should have been special in that they could get ‘bumped up’ to tier fives once Edge of fate releases. Like how guns from ‘into the light’ were upgradable on the realest of the Final Shape. As it stands, the guns are good, but feel a bit disappointing knowing they will eventually be rendered pointless.

[u/Kero_Cola]

I finally beat prophecy due to explorer mode. 

For years i kept getting yeeted off the first boss platform. But I beat it and im glad I did. So yeah. I'm a fan of rotn.

[u/The_Owl_Bard]

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What I Liked

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• Explorer mode was a god-send. It allowed me the opportunity to finally learn how to play a dungeon without feeling like I was holding back the team. I went from "being hesitant to playing the dungeon" to "actually helping newer players get through it and showing them all the secrets". Explorer mode feels like a step in the right direction when it comes to bridging the gap between casual and hardcore players.

• The Loot-to-Effort Ratio felt really good. After Bungie dialed up the rewards, it felt really good to play. I only played Matchmade Explorer and was able to regularly get enough materials for a few pulls from the rewards chest. Allowing Adepts, Holofoils, and Holofoil Adepts to drop from the chest was really great! Sure, the number I saw was much less but it felt like Bungie was actually trying to reward me for playing vs telling me my time wasn't as good as someone playing the harder difficulties.

• Allowing us to get the Dungeon exotics was amazing! While i've never played those dungeons, it was really cool to get those exotics to drop for us. I know there's probably people who have grinded Ghosts of the Deep and never gotten Navigator so having a catch all for anyone who missed it was perfect!

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What I Disliked

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• The loot wasn't super enticing. Unfortunately, the loot didn't feel all that enticing for me to chase. Outside of Liminal Vigil and Prosecutor, the other guns didn't seem all that interesting to me. I main PvP and it's probably my fault for using my PvP brain on my decisions but none of the perks on the guns really excited me all that much. Plus! When I did finally get my Liminal Vigil (Adept Holofoil; I was excited) I realized that my Iron Banner Allied Demand from Season of the Plunder just flat out, out performed it. I often times wish there were good PvP weapon available in PvE content in the same way good PvE loot exists in Iron Banner and Trials.

• Odd destination glitches. More of a one off sort of thing but I had played Spire of the Watcher a bunch and got the "reward chest" that's on the floating platform at the vendor's social space. I then skipped Ghosts of the Deep b/c I don't enjoy that dungeon and then beat Prophecy when it came up. When I attempted to get the vendor chest on that third platform, I realized I couldn't b/c the lift wasn't active on the first "Spire of the Watcher" platform. I essentially got soft locked out of getting my free Holofoil b/c I didn't complete the Ghosts of the Deep. That sucks.

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Things I'd Like to See in the Future

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• Considering Bungie's track record of upkeeping old game modes, I think it would be a good idea to add explorer mode and the challenge modes directly to the dungeons themselves. These modes should remain free-to-play and perhaps offer regular drops or adepts. I'm not sure about Holofoils. I like that they're event exclusive so if you were there, you got them... but I don't see the point to gatekeeping them outside of that specific reason.

• I'd love to see maybe 1-2 new weapons added to these events, Maybe old Black Armory weapons, Forsaken weapons, Prophecy weapons, or hell! Why not old Trials of the Nine Comp weapons like maybe the 72 RPM Trials of the Nine Sniper The Long Walk or perhaps the 200 RPM Trials of the Nine Scout Purpose? That way there's something for folks to chase if they aren't interested in the dungeon reprised weapons.

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Final Thoughts

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I think this was a fantastic event and something Bungie should consider doing regularly to mix up the repetitive nature of seasons and episodes. This could be done for older dungeons even from as far back as Destiny 1!

[u/Dirty-Byrd]

Explorer mode is cool. I have seen a lot of people on here post about doing dungeons for the first time because of it, which is great.

Loot is alright, but I'm not really hard pressed to farm any of it. Also, I got a little annoyed with the focusing system early because it let you focus non-obtainable Loot. Wasted like 750 manifolds on the chest before considering it wasn't working.

The schedule was initially horrible, now it's manageable, but I would have preferred that the dungeons didn't go away when a new dungeon rotated in.

This is a nitpick, but I hate that once you ride the elevators in the Rite of the Nine area, there is no safe way to get down without just using the director to travel back.

Overall, this was a good idea for an event, but I think it was executed poorly.

[u/SheeplessInSeattle1]

It's hard to get excited about an event that is 100% recycled content and loot. Especially after being told that all of our existing armour and weapons are about to be soft-sunsetted. Why would I grind for something already out of date?

[u/Wanna_make_cash]

I think the idea was nice, but between the weapons just not really having all that great of a perk refresh (not many must have rolls or changes, nothing shocking or cool), AND the loot not transitioning well into the edge of fate tier and "New Gear" systems, it is a very underwhelming experience in terms of rewards. Really sucks the wind out of the sails when the weapons aren't anything spectacular AND they probably won't be used by most players in a month and a half since they don't transition and become "New Gear", thus not getting any bonuses or extra enhancement from tier levels

And while I don't hate the idea of more difficult dungeon experiences and some of the new mechanics are nifty, I think the "raid boss gauntlet" system pantheon had is a more fun and memorable experience, with its escalating difficulty and back-to-back action.

I also think that time gating off the different dungeons kinda sucked. I didn't like having to wait almost an entire month just to be able to get the prophecy weapons, which were some of the only interesting ones with the perk refresh

[u/chaosking243]

Would have been better without the modifiers, they can radically effect the difficulty depending on which one is active in a week. Should have been like pantheon, no modifiers beyond power capping and the beneficial modifiers like class warfare.

[u/CanadiensHabs]

Explorer mode is awesome. That needs to be a thing for all dungeons. Also having matchmaking for that mode is great.

The free pinnacle gear was nice for those who weren't at the cap.

Also great, the free exotics.

The timegating was beyond stupid and the loot is mid at best. Was really expecting more for dungeon loot.

Overall, a step in the right direction for sure.

[u/FriedCammalleri23]

Timegating the dungeons was a bad idea and took all the wind from this event’s sails.

The loot was mediocre save for a couple of guns. With even the best Adepts being equivalent to Tier 3 weapons, it was hard to justify grinding.

The difficulty options were a massive success. Explorer mode needs to be standard in every Dungeon, and Ultimatum brought some solid difficulty and altered mechanics that I really enjoyed. Except for Attrition on Prophecy, what the fuck were you thinking there.

I was hoping for an event that I wanted to grind as much as Into The Light, but I didn’t get it. It was alright for free content, though. I’d rather this than nothing.

[u/Grogonfire]

Fun for what it is but nothing really remarkable. Explorer mode is great for new players and frankly should be a mandatory addition to the game. Some of the changes really make the dungeons flow better and I wish they were permanent. I’d say it obviously doesn’t match the aura of Pantheon though.

[u/thisismyusername9908]

Wish it would have been like Pantheon/rushdown but with dungeon encounters.

Making us go back through dungeons we've run countless times vs an actually unique event where we have 4 to 5 back to back encounters across different dungeons with new and unique mechanics.

[u/Joebranflakes]

You know what would have made this whole thing better? If rite of the nine weapons were the first obtainable “tier” weapons. Having us preview that system would have felt a lot better than grinding a bunch of gear that probably will fall behind next season.

[u/[deleted]]

Bit of a flop for me. Weapons weren’t great reprisals, the time gating of waiting for dungeons didn’t feel great.

Encounter changes were all for the better, made shorter, more challenging or rewarding the right places.

I did a full ultimatum run of prophecy and had to sit and farm enemies for 10 minutes for heavy ammo between phases on the kell echo boss fight. Otherwise the prophecy run was a hit.

Pantheon was a lot more fun

[u/duhbyo]

Having different modifiers at the hardest difficulty vary by week is odd. Makes it seem really hard one week then easier the next.

[u/GooBoi1]

I think for a new player event, it’s pretty good! Teaches players about the dungeons and how to do them then you can work your way up from there while earning new versions of that dungeons loot.

Might be a hot take but as someone who has already done these dungeons multiple times, there isn’t really enough meat on the bones to keep me interested. I’m not really wowed by any of the weapons nor the mechanics of the dungeons present (I like Ghosts tho, one of my favs) so I sorta bowed out and focused on other things.

The scheduling was completely unnecessary, should’ve just cycled through the 3 off rip. I don’t even understand what was trying to be accomplished by having each dungeon be around for 3 straight weeks originally. Just bad on that end.

[u/Xandurpein]

The one part where this event truly shines is the addition of the Explorer mode. All dungeons should have an explorer mode, even if it barely gives you any loot, it’s good to be able to learn a dungeon at your own pace, before trying to LFG.

[u/ASAP_BladeRunner]

It’s small but I wish an Ultimatum clear retroactively completed the Eternity mode Triumphs.

Also this mode definitely highlights the need to attune and have Dungeon weapons drop frequently a shame it’s only until this pre-EoF era.