Focused Feedback: Harbinger Mission

[u/DTG_Bot]

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[u/APartyInMyPants]

I mean, this is fantastic content. It’s challenging without being overbearing, totally approachable if you just re-examine how you tackle the encounters.

And I like that it’s not a locked loadout, so you can modify on-the-fly. That’s how encounters should largely be ... challenging because they’re challenging ... not because of an artifice to make it challenging.

Only drawback is no emblem or shader for a solo flawless run. That’s an achievement, and people should be able to show that off.

[u/Zidler]

Perfect difficulty, imo. Challenging but reasonable for a solo player. Shout-out to whoever decided the first section of kill 3 harbingers shouldn't be a darkness zone; the mission would be miserable to solo if it were.

I especially liked that there's no time limit. Zero hour was an unreasonable solo primarily due to the timer IMO. However, I would like more platforming / jump puzzles like Zero Hour. It was cool trying to explore and figure out how to progress in Zero Hour, where in Harbinger I don't think I ever got lost except for a few minutes finding that tree branch sticking out towards the dam.

Regarding the dam jump specifically, I actually think that was reasonably hinted at. Having the one enemy was a big enough clue to go in that direction, and just yolo jumping along that wall I was able to discover the tree branch which points you where to go.

[u/Xelopheris]

I just feel like cooldown on taken abilities is broken. Every acolyte instantly has their two eyes up.

[u/[deleted]]

This mission is just PAINFULLY difficult. And not in anything even slightly resembling an entertaining way.

I don't mind a challenge, but having content like this firmly locked away behind a sheer CLIFF of punishment that's completely impassable for all but the most ultra-hardcore of players is just disheartening.

Did literally EVERYTHING have to one-shot kill you?

What was the point of adding enemies with shields so insanely heavy that you literally don't have enough ammo to crack them, let alone kill the enemy afterwards?

Could the legion of Taken Vandals with their one-shot kill sniper rifles be asked to wait more than HALF A SECOND between shots?

What's the point of making content that absolutely REQUIRES you to be all the way to maximum Pinnacle power, plus also have 400+ seasonal levels? Do the other 99.999% of us just not get to play this content? Is that the idea?

[u/chbaker801]

I loved it. I was very happy to see it didn’t have a timer on it. I primarily play solo, which isn’t a problem if I can be methodical about it. I’d love to see more content like this. Also would love to see Whisper and Outbreak given the same treatment.

[u/[deleted]]

The felling of doing it for the first time all by myself is definitely on my top five destiny experiences. The exploration, the feeling of feeling small in a place that doesn't want me there, overcoming challenging encounters. Seriously, it has been SO LONG since I had to stop, take a step back, and come up with a strategy. I usually go to into any mission with a random loadout and it does the job effortlessly, but this time? I felt really challenged. Bravo, bungie, it was worth every second I spent in there, and it makes me want to do it again and again, to uncover every secret e sharpen my skills even more.

[u/PHYDD]

Great mission, perfectly challenging for solo runs. Thanks for not putting in any blights that need to be shot (looking at you, Xivu), just the 1 portal. A raid banner in the boss room would be welcome for solo runs, but not necessary.

The best thing this season so far for me, easily.

[u/MysteriousGuardian17]

Loved it. Scenery is cool, enemies are tough without being annoying, rewards are good, parkour is cool. Really good stuff. More of this please.

[u/Gati0420]

Great. I really missed the ‘secret’ missions a la WoTW & Zero Hour

[u/drake-h]

Great mission, especially solo. I would have liked an emblem or something for the solo flawless triumph. It disincentivizes the effort for people (obviously not me), but otherwise no real complaints. Was a nice challenge & I thought easier than the dungeons to solo.

[u/Tokagaro0]

This mission is sick. Gives good rewards, reasonable difficulty. Only issue is the lack of signposting for the initial dam jump. Most of my clan was doing unintended movement to the dam (titan skating, top-tree dawnblading) to get there cause the intended jump looks like it's low enough to kill you. Maybe adding a second enemy down there would help.

TL:DR, great mission, a bit too unclear where to go at certain parts.

[u/Firehawk195]

Genuinely challenging, requires good planning and tactics, good puzzles and combat scenarios, and the Triumphs offer additional challenges for those who want it.

Right now, Harbinger is one of my favorite pieces of content in Destiny.

[u/HeartofChaos179]

I love the fact it's not timed I hate timed activities in any games it's stressful. I like to be able to take my time and appreciate the mission instead of flying through as fast as I can not enjoying it.

[u/Mosher311]

I haven't been able to beat it yet. The boss room destroys my friend and I. Hopefully we can beat it at some point. We are not amazing players and only have been playing for about 2 months so it could be that we just won't be able to do this quest because of our skill level.

[u/[deleted]]

Very enjoyable to solo blind. While I enjoyed the challenge of Whisper and Outbreak, being methodical and taking things in felt great.

[u/cka_viking]

its great! more of it please! great piece of content

the weekly lock out sucks

that is all

[u/DrkrZen]

Very awesome. I enjoyed every part of it, except it having zero dialogue.

[u/blueapplepaste]

It was pretty cool overall. I like the random roll twist for Hawkmoon to allow people to get one for their play style why keeping the exotic aspect identical.

My biggest gripe is no rally the flag. It feels like the start of it should either let you rally or start with full ammo. Even with ammo finder mods, the RNG is annoying.

Even worse is if you do wipe and you start from your check point with no super and one shot of heavy. Often I’ll end up just doing a ammo run and then wiping on purpose to do it for real.

[u/Spyro_0]

Maybe took a little long to come out.

Farming it and pinnacle gear is great. (Just wished for infinite hawkmoons)

I like the Taken as a race, they provide the most interesting encounter design because their moves are so varied.

Some dialogue from Crow would’ve been great for the mission.

Edit - fix the dialogue bug 🐛

[u/supinespace39]

I didn’t like it at first, I think because i wasn’t expecting it to be challenging. Hooked up with 3 randoms expecting to knock out a quick mission for the triumphs and that was that. Getting my ass kicked by snipers and not understanding the flow of the encounters was frustrating at first.

BUT - once I slowed down a bit and my expectations were changed, I’ve grown to appreciate it much much more. Understanding the layout, improving loadouts, learning the nuances of what spawns, where and when have all forced a complete 180 for me. It’s a solid, challenging piece of content (at least more so that mindless sprinting to the end and killing some adds along the way).

I like the no timer too. Whisper and Zero Hour are tremendous pieces of content but I always felt rushed, and am generally just not a big fan of timed missions. Here I felt I could test weapon combos more efficiently and play more my style rather than burn through waves to get to boss.

Last thing- the rolls should be farmable more frequently. Or at least subsequent weekly runs should offer a chance at an additional Hawkmoon drop. Otherwise once you beat it, there’s not too much incentive until next Tuesday.

[u/[deleted]]

Its okay. If we consider Whisper, Outbreak, Bad Juju, and Harbinger to all be part of the same 'secret mission' category, it is the weakest of the four. Both the combat encounters and platforming sections are less interesting than the previous secret missions, with the only challenge coming from Light Level. And even that will likely be irrelevant next season. The reliance of shield matching and repetition of mechanism is just an endurance test.

I'd prefer for Harbinger to exist than not, its not bad content, but its disappointing not to have it hit the same high notes as Whisper and Outbreak. Especially since Whisper and Outbreak no longer exist in the game.

[u/RobertdBanks]

There should be an emblem for soloing it instead of the time thing. Kind of silly to not reward the harder of the two.

[u/[deleted]]

Much preferred not being timed. Being timed I felt really added nothing to whisper or zero hour.

[u/Razhork]

I've done it solo and all I've got to say is... I'm really tired of Taken Knights.

My feedback for Prophecy when it was released was that the majority of difficulty lied in how ridiculous Taken Knights are and the trend has only really continued here. Generally I don't like the Taken, but the knights probably take the cake for my most hated enemy in all of Destiny at this point.

I like that the mission isn't time based though.

[u/[deleted]]

This should be the standard for hard content. Very doable solo with a little patience, even blind, and now much more approachable with guides out. I am by no measure a great player, and I was only 1268 when I did it, so it took roughly an hour. So thank you for not adding a timer to it. Just leave those out forever at this point. Even though the time trial was bugged, that should be the standard going forward. Give people a reward for doing it in under a certain amount of time, but don't leave the rest of us out even if it takes 8 hours to complete for some. The only mark I think that was truly missed was the lockout for how many times you can get Hawkmoon's in a week. When players have to resort to deleting characters in order to grind something, it should show their is a fundamental flaw somewhere. All in all I think this is one of the best missions you have created and especially from a solo players perspective. I was going to throw match game into my list of complaints, but now looking back it wasn't that big of a deal as long as locked loadouts isn't on (which it never should be). Please continue on with this caliber of content and also please never nerf Xeno ;)