raid-mechanics
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Destiny unveils more raid details
Destiny is coming out very soon, and that means future players are probably thinking about what the endgame will be like. The latest update on the official site shares some more details about how raids will work in both Normal and Hard modes and elaborates on the differences between difficulties. In short, Normal mode is meant to be far easier and allow for more diverse clearing strategies; Hard mode demands coordination and execution. Opening raids for the first time is meant to be challenging; the devs shared an anecdote about players taking 45 minutes just to get in the front door. The developers are confident that players will be able to tackle raids more quickly once the raids are better known. There's also discussion about the weekly lockout, which will save your progress as you move through the raids. Take a look at the official update for more details.
Destiny previews its endgame systems
The team at Bungie has been talking a lot about Destiny's systems, but there hasn't been a great deal of discussion about the long-term game. What's going to keep players going in the long term? According to a recent interview with the designers, it's raiding. They'll be focused six-person runs that are meant to take a long chunk of time to accomplish, with no matchmaking services to fall back upon -- players will need to clear time, sit down, and get ready to really chew through challenging content. Not into that sort of play? There's also a set of bounties available on a daily basis, aimed at rewarding players for what they're already doing and creating a parallel progression path along that line. There are also daily challenges and Nightfall activities to keep players going. If you're looking forward to the game and want a closer look at what you can get from endgame, hop on over to the full preview. [Thanks to Olorunsegun Adewumi for the tip!]
Dark Shaman pull from anywhere
My Horde guild recently discovered something interesting about the Dark Shaman encounter, as you can see detailed in the video above. This interesting something is the fact that the Dark Shaman will, in fact, teleport to wherever you pull them from--including the roof of the Orgrimmar auction house. This could be a little challenging in a fight where positioning is actually quite important. Oops!
PAX 2011: SWTOR video guides us through the Eternity Vault
Who lies at the bottom of the Eternity Vault? Thanks to the commentary in the latest Star Wars: The Old Republic developer walkthrough, we now know that an ancient Rakata warlord named the Infernal One is held captive in this ancient prison. Director of Production and part-time superhero Dallas Dickinson explains that it took an army to take down this being the last time he arose, yet for some reason a group of eight can do it now. Yes, our characters are really that awesome in TOR. In the video, Dickinson guides us through the first two encounters: battles against two massive defense turrets and a rocket-launching gigantic droid. The turret encounter employs intense raid mechanics, like dual-tanking and crowd control, whereas the giant droid requires stay-out-of-the-green-stuff maneuvers and line-of-sight avoidance techniques. Beyond those two encounters, the Operation is a mystery. However, we catch glimpses of a couple of giant monsters and the final boss using the Force to toss giant columns around the room! After the break, check out the 10-minute video walkthrough and let us know what you think in the comments. And of course, you know SWTOR is at PAX, where we have just barely started our coverage of the event. Stay tuned here as we will feature more impressions and interviews in the not-too distant future. Massively's on the ground in Seattle during the weekend of August 26-28, bringing you all the best news from PAX Prime 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, City of Heroes, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
