1) The Steppes – The first one is pretty much given to you during the intro. As you head to Dock 13 it is on a desk to your left.
2) Forgotten Shore – At the base of the ocean area you can head out to the left in front of the cliffs and it’s on a rock outcropping.
3) Forgotten Shore – In the winding stream area look for a small waterfall right before you get to the Shore. It’s in a cave near there. There is a also a Dead Ghost in this cave.
4) Lunar Complex – In the room with the Hive Wizard you can jump unto the ceiling of the room on the left.
5) Devil’s Lair – Can only get during the Strike. In the final battle with Sepkis Prime it’s under the right platform.

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1) Tower Plaza – Tower Watch ::
From the start, head left towards the North Tower but instead of going through the tunnel, head up the stairway to that goes to an overlook. This platforms looks over the main plaza. As soon as you make it up the stairs, go directly to the right. There will be a couple of crates stacked on each-other–the dead ghost is right on top and ready to be revived.
2) Tower North ::
From the start, head to the North Tower through the tunnel to the Speaker’s Chamber. As soon as you walk through you will see a bunch of crazy pigeons flying away; keep going straight. There’s a small walkway to the left, walk up the stairs to the left and the dead ghost will be on the ground also to the left.
3) Tower Plaza – Traveler’s Walk ::
From the start walk directly straight(but not down the steps)and up towards where you pick up new bounties. Go up the next flight of stairs and there will be an area called Traveler’s Walk area. This section is only open when there is an Iron Banner event running. So make sure you get in there and get the ghost when it’s open. There is a big gate that blocks the area off, this will open when the Iron Banner or any other “Event” is running. Go through this area, past Lord Saladin(who is the one you will talk to during the Iron Banner). The far right next to a balcony there will be the dead ghost on the railing.
4) Hall of Guardians ::
From the start walk directly straight and down the stairs. Walk past the two Crucible guardians on the right and left. Go into the Vanguard Strategy room where you would normally purchase armor from your guardian leaders. As soon as you walk into the room, turn to the right. You will see the dead ghost on the table.

The Breach
1) Look Up ::
This is found on the very first level, when your personal ghosts revives you. It can also be found in explore mode if you go back as far as possible. In the level your ghost will light up a giant room and you will see “The fallen” enemies in the distance. Then your ghost will tell you that he found a weapon for you. From when you pick up the weapon, go around the corner to the left. As soon as you turn the corner, look up and to the left. There will be some pipes and an opening where the dead guardian will be sitting.

2) Don’t get wet ::
Still on the first level, in the first truly open room where you fight a substantial amount of enemies you will see a puddle in the middle of the room. From this puddle look the the left. Underneath a cat-walk and around a small pillar you should see the dead ghost in-between some pipes in the wall.

The Divide
3) Follow the signs ::
As soon as you come out of the breath and into The Divide you will see a billboard that reads “POGA”. The ghost is sitting in a ledge on the back side of the billboard. To get up on this, go behind the billboard and you will see a tractor trailer. Jump on the back of this. Then from here jump onto the trailer house to the left. Then jump on the next roof of the next building. From here jump onto the box on the roof that looks like an air-conditioner. Next you want to jump onto the higher roof that is right in front of you(All of this will be ridiculously easier to do once you get a double jump). If you don’t have a double jump yet, try to make the jump from the air-conditioner to the set of lights that resembles stadium lights for a ballpark. Hop to the right and try not to bump into the satellite when you do this jump. If you make it, jump once more to get onto the last roof. From here you can walk to the back of the billboard and revive the dead ghost.

4) Round and round ::
From as soon as you come out of the breach and into The Divide, walk directly straight under the billboard. You will come out into an open area where there will be plenty of enemies and a drop-ship sending in more. Hug the right wall and go the far right. There is an area that looks like you can walk to but as soon as you try the game will tell you to turn back or you will die. So instead of going to this area, turn left and you will see a big round open cylinder sitting on its side. Inside of this cylinder is what looks like a Christmas tree that fell down. Right next to this tree is the dead ghost.

The Steppes

5) Shed your fears ::
Find the downed helicopter used in restoration story mission. From here head towards the small shed on the small hill. This shed is right before a much larger shed that is surrounded by the fallen bad guys. In this small shed under a desk you will find the dead ghost.

6) Hiding in the bushes ::
Head towards The Mothyards from The Steppes. In the valley there is a pathway that wraps around a giant ditch in the ground. The ditch is filled with grass and bushes. Head towards the pipes in the back corner of the ditch. On the right side laying in the brush you will find the dead ghost that needs reviving.

The Mothyards
7) Tip of the wing ::
The Mothyards is a GIANT open area filled with crashed airplanes. As soon as you enter the Mothyards from the Steppes, go towards the cliff-sides on the right. Find the plane that has its wing tilted upwards toward the cliff. Climb up the wing and double-jump (or ramp with your sparrow) off of the tip of the wing onto the ledge on the cliff. There’s a cave that also has two layers because it drops down to a lower level. Don’t drop down, just look to the left side and you should see the dead ghost behind a rock.

8) Around the canyon ::
From the Mothyards you can travel through a canyon to go to the Forgotten Shores. Before you get to the shores, there is a waterfall in the canyon. Go passed the waterfall and around the next bend and there is a cave about 15 feet high in the corner. Climb the rocks and inside the cave is the next dead ghost.

Lunar Complex
9) Hiding with the Hive ::
Go to Lunar Complex, can be done on the mission the dark within or in open patrol. There’s a large room that is the first time you ever see “The Hive” species. In this room go to the far right. You should see a electrical box, double jump to get on top and you will see the dead ghost that needs awoken sitting on top.

The Forgotten Shores
10) Captain’s Quarters ::
There are a few ships that are crashed into the shore. Look for the second ship down and look to the left. You should see a piece of the ship, that happens to be the front of the ship. There’s also a wheel by this chunk. Inside is the dead ghost.

11) Death Trap ::
Go to the second crashed ship, which is right on the edge of the water (also right next to the second mission “Warmind”). Inside the room in the from of the ship there are a set of stairs. Go down these stairs a couple levels and you will be inside of a bunker. The enemies here are extremely high level. Either come back when you are level 20 or try to avoid them and find the dead ghost under the stairs.

Terrestrial Complex
12) Next to the gym socks ::
When you enter the Terrestrial Complex from “The Skywatch” area, you should see a set of lockers on the right in a small corridor. The dead ghost is in the middle locker.

Skywatch
13) Under the Heli ::
Look for the helipad that has a few crashed helicopters on it. On the edge of the helipad you can drop down to a ledge. Under the helipad there is a room, there’s a big hole in the wall you can see from the ledge. There’s also a very high level enemy in the room. Either come back at a high level to kill him, or use a friend to lure the enemy out. Quickly run in and find the dead ghost on a desk in the right side of the room.

Rocketyard
14) On the roof ::
As soon as you enter the Rocketyard jump onto the roof on the left-hand side. This is also the beginning of the “Devil’s Lair” level. Find the dead ghost on top of the roof.

Refinery
15) Under the Russian sign ::
When you enter the refinery you should see a small room with a white light above it. There’s also a Russian sign above the room. Go into the room and find the dead ghost in the room.

The Blast
16) Stairway to the bench ::
If you’re playing the level “Devil’s Lair” you should come into a room where you are fighting a giant Tank boss. Go to the left side into a room and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs there is a bench, the dead ghost is sitting here waiting to be revived.

The Grottos
17) Along the shoreline ::
The Grottos has 2 high level enemies. It’s right past the Forgotten Shore. Jump in the sparrow and ride the shoreline past two level 20 bad guys. Keep riding the shoreline without going too far out to the sea or you will be killed. Stay on the shoreline and you will come to a pipe. Just to the left of the pipe is the final dead ghost on earth.

Archer Lane
1) Begin! ::
From the start of patrol on the moon (and many of the missions) go up the hill and head to the left. There’s a big facility to the left side. Before you would go inside and before you go under the building there is a platform that has a few fallen enemies on it. Take them out and head to the far right of this platform. Jump on top of a few boxes and look back towards the original spawn you started from. You should see a dead ghost on the support system. Double jump across and you should be able to get it.

2) Don’t fall ::
From the start of patrol on the moon, head towards the large geodome straight ahead. Behind the dome and to the right is the dead ghost. Go the the right and you will see a huge hole that you can fall to your death in. Go to the edge, but don’t fall. Look down to the right of a huge shadow going upwards and you will see a platform under you. Drop down to it and revive the dead ghost.

Hall of Wisdom
3) YOU SHALL NOT PASS ::
From the Geodome that’s in Archer Lane, go through the dome and down the hill into a Hive hide-out, the Hall of Wisdom. Head through the Hall of Wisdom. Keep going until you go into an open room that has a small bridge and a spawn point of a ship, wizard, and many Hive bad guys. Once you take them out, go to the middle of the bridge and look to the left. You should see the dead ghost across the gap. You can double jump or you can simply walk along the side of the wall and grab it.

Once you hit level 20 there are 10 more Light levels. Your 20 on the left of your Guardian in the “character” screen is no longer going to change. You will have a new Light level on right. You will now start finding Helmets, Gauntlets, Chest Armor and Leg Armor that will have the Light property. Once you obtain enough of this equipment your Light level will rise automatically. If an armor item has abilities you can level up, typically your Light will increase with each ability. Following is a table with how much Light you need on your Armor to gain a new Light level.

Overcharge – Kill 2 enemies at once with a Fusion Rifle – I like to go to Lunar Complex on Earth. This is one of the first missions against the Hive Wizard. There is a large amount of enemies in close quarters. Then just leave and wait for them to respawn.

Exalted Hive – Kill 10 Hive Majors or Ultras – The biggest issue here is once you hit level 20 alot of the previous Majors and Ultras no longer qualify since they are too easy. There are two areas on Earth where there are Majors and Ultras around level 20. The first is Bunker RAS-2, which is in the basement of the big refinery on Forgotten Shores. There is 2 Elite 18 Knights and 1 Major. The other area is behind the downed helicopters in Skywatch. This area has a single Elite. It will be either a Knight or a Orge. Both of these unfortunately have a fairly long respawn time.

Level 16 – Strike Playlists
Level 18 – Crucible Marcs and Vanguard Marcs (This is faction money to buy Legendaries with. You can only earn 100 per character per week)
Level 20 – Legendary and Exotic Gear and Light Levels

Crucible – You get 2 for a loss and 3 for a win in the Crucible. Pretty straightforward.
Vanguard – You get 4 per public event. You also get Marcs for the Strike Playlist depending on the level of difficulty you choose.

Also when you turn in 50 of base materials to faction vendors you can get 5 Marcs for either Crucible or Vanguard depending on who you turn it into. Vanguard Quatermaster is in the Hanger and Crucible Quartermaster is downstairs.

You can buy them with Strange Coins from Xur from Friday to Sunday morning. 13 coins for armor, 23 coins for weapons.
You can buy a Exotic Engram from Xur that will guarantee a random non-specific class Exotic for 23 Motes of Light.
You can get them from Legendary Engrams.
The bounty hunter will very very rarely give you a Golden Bounty that will have a Exotic as a reward.

There are a lot of reasons to loot farm in Destiny. You want engrams and don’t have a team to do Strikes or you think Strikes are repetitive and boring and it’s not fun or profitable to have to spend 10 or so minutes to kill a boss that doesn’t even have a loot table. Turning in Engrams also levels up your Crypto-Archeology level and every time you gain a level you will get free Engrams from the Postmaster.

Also farming materials (Spinmetal for one) helps raise Crucible and Vanguard faction and provides super easy Marks. Materials are also needed to upgrade Legendaries and Exotics. In case you didn’t know you can turn a 50 stack of materials to either the Vanguard Quartermaster in the Hanger or the Crucible Quartermaster downstairs and they will give you +25 Faction and +5 Marks (as long as you are below your 100 weekly max). There is also a bonus that if you kill 1,500 enemies on a planet then more materials will drop. It’s not very specific but I’ve started to get 2 from a material node instead of the standard 1 over half the time.

Am working on vids and keeping track of stats to really show what each area is capable of.

UPDATE 9/25/2014 = Patch 1.0.1.5 – Bungie has removed the Cave via patch! Other options still working at this time.
This by far the best found so far. Then you get to Skywatch head to the left and there will be a small hill. There are several concrete slabs sticking out of the ground. You want to be on these but NOT in front of them. Look towards the building in front of you and there is a small cave below it that should have a never ending stream of Hive coming out. Just keep blasting them until you get bored. The best part is you can just sit there and go AFK and take turns doing the shooting and the loot will still drop. The biggest issue is that if even one Hive gets out you need to eliminate them before more will spawn. Things that mess this up are other people who get too close to the cave kills the spawns and there is a non-public event war that happens with pretty high level mobs that can kill you if you go AFK. If the Hive get out of the cave you need to kill them all or the spawning will stop. Please note you can NOT loss Legendaries. I know its exciting to see but they will be waiting for you later. Don’t go running into the cave killing the spawn every little drop you get.

PROS:
1 – Lots of enemies to kill
2 – Can be done Solo but due to number of Hive 2 is recommended

CONS:
1 – No Material drops
2 – Other players can grief the location
3 – Even one Hive out of the area equals no new spawns

Options: Levels 6, 9, 20, 24, 28
Setup Time: 8 minutes
I did this on level 24. The doors will open and a FLOOD of Hive will come right at you. Just shoot straight ahead and take as many as you can before they kill you. DO NOT clear the entire area. You want to die and restart. I’ve now done this on level 6, 9, 20 and 24 and see no difference in drops so do it so that you can get the kills but the enemies still kill you without you having to stand there and take it for awhile.
Stats: Level 24 – :30 of farming – 1 Leg, 4 Rares, 18 Greens – 785 kills

PROS:
1 – Lots of enemies to kill
2 – Can be done Solo
3 – Range of level options
4 – Instance, so no interference

CONS:
1 – No Material drops
2 – If you do too well you will checkpoint past the area and need to restart the entire mission

Level 14 Only
Setup Time: 10 minutes
You will want a full team as randoms will definitely ruin this. You need to fight all the way to almost the end. You will come to a cave section with some warning tape. Once you clear this cave you will be out on a ledge. There will be a large drop of Vex at the end to kill. Once you kill them all the entire team leaps to your death to reset.
Success: :90 of farming – 1 Leg, 9 Rares, LOTS of Greens

PROS:
1 – Instance, so no interference

CONS:
1 – Need a full fireteam
2 – No Material drops
3 – Ledge could lead to possible loot loss

Level 9 Only
Setup Time: 0 minutes
This is a loop farming of Spinmetal and Crates in the opening area of the Devil’s Lair Strike mission on Earth. Technically you can spawn into the instance and get matched up with a Fireteam and just stay in the opening area. The bonus to having a team in here is that there is a Public Event that spawns and also to just not be a dick to other players trying to do the Strike leaving them a man short and you just stay in the opening area.

PROS:
1) Instant set-up
2) Spinmetal
3) Public event possible

CONS:
1) Strike mission so randoms
2) Not many engrams
3) Higher level area so lower level Guardians could die repeatedly

Level Whatever
Setup Time: 0 minutes
This is a cave farming loop around the very first opening area for Loot Chests and Helium Fragments. We are checking all the caves and all the building along with a few other open areas for chests and materials to pick up. Always make sure to check the large building in the back as this is a 90% loot location with probably a 10% chance of having 2 loot crates. If you do the full loop it should be respawned by the time you get back.

PROS:
1) Low level area so safe
2) Possible Public Events
3) Materials

CONS:
1) Low engram chance
2) Other players are running around messing with spawns

Level Whatever
Setup Time: 1 minute
This is a cave loop on the Forgotten Shores. There are 5 caves and the ship hulls to look through. It’s a high traffic zone though so be prepared for some competition for loot chests. There are public event and there are also Captains with some large range that will be shooting at you. The bonus to this area is you can get to everything while on your Sparrow so it’s a pretty quick loop. People say chests spawn on the rocks on the road up to Skywatch but since you have to get off your Sparrow to do it, I skip it unless I can see one as I fly by.

PROS:
1) Low level area so safe
2) Possible Public Events
3) Materials

CONS:
1) Low engram chance
2) Other players are running around messing with spawns

Need to activate and hold 3 “Sync Plates” from L 26 Praetorians so that “The Spire is forming” completes opening the vault. When you complete it you will get a “The Spire has been activated” message.

You will get a chest at the end of the cave system.

Starts with a large jumping parkour section. When you get to main area you just need to eliminate enemies. L 25 Fanatics spew green goo on death that needs to be cleaned in the one cleansing pool in center area if you get hit.

Split into 2 teams and you need to defend a construct from the Vex coming and sacrificing themselves. As the Vex succeed you will see “A Vex has sacrificed itself to the Right/Left Conflux”. Kill enough Vex to completed the section.

There are a total of 6 possible spawn points, 3 per side. You need to destroy the Oracles as they spawn. They appear as green glowing orbs. If you get “Marked by Oracle” you need to jump into the middle cleanse to clear it. You will earn a reward for finishing this section.

Someone must get the Relic. The Relic’s super removes The Templar’s shield, this locks everyone, destroy the bubble and attack The Templar. The Relic’s grenade will cleanse Guardians of Oracle marks. One person needs to get into the red telportation circle when they appear to stop Templar from re-shielding, it will turn white when you’ve cleared the circle and you can look for the next one. Templar will get “ENRAGED” causing temporary difficulty increase. Watch for “The Templar calls for its Minotaurs” also. Finishing this section will give you a reward.

Right before starting this section double jump your way up the left side mountain to a hole and follow that some ways to a chamber with a chest. If anyone is spotted your get the “Gorgon’s Gaze” and then “A Gorgon has found its prey” and the entire Fireteam dies.

This is another platforming section where the platforms quickly spawn in and out and you need to be ready to go to the next one immediately.

First off eliminate the Gatekeeper. From the entrance you then need to activate the Timegate by capturing the Sync Plate on the right. You’ll see “A Vex Timegate is active”. 2 or so Guardians enter the Time Gate and kill the Descendant Gatekeeper and then grab the Relic. Everyone inside will be “Marked by the Void” and will have their screen slowly go blind until Cleansed by the Relic. When the Guardian who has acquired the Relic comes out a central section will activate and Minotaurs will spawn at the far top end trying to sacrifice themselves to the pillar, someone needs to stop this at all costs. The second (left) side portal must be activated and the Relic carrier needs to enter the Timegate and kill the Precusor Gatekeeper inside. A second Relic needs to be picked up and everyone needs to go back through the portal to the main area. Then wipe out the remain Minotaurs.

Atheon, Time’s Conflux – Atheon will teleport the farthest Guardians to a portal area (“Atheon opens the timestream”) and the other Guardians will need to open the portal, defend it, and help the teleported team get out. Inside the portal areas all of the Oracles need to be killed. Once all the Oracles are dead the Guardian with the Relic will have Time’s Vengeance active for :30 which gives your whole team a damage buff. Keep cycling through the portals until you destroy Atheon.

Possible Final Rewards:
Chatterwhite – Shader
Atheon’s Epilogue – Auto Rifle (Bonus damage to Oracles)
“Glass Minuet” – Ship
Vision of Confluence – Scout Rifle (Bonus damage to Oracles)

Scheduled dates are 9/23 through 10/6.

The Queen’s Emissary, Petra Venj, is in the Event area straight ahead when you get to the tower. The Queen represents a new faction called simply Queen’s Wrath. Getting to level 1 will requires you to get 1000 reputation. Reputation is earned by completing bounties which are given by the Bounty Tracker. These do not replace your standard Vanguard or Crucible bounties but are represented as a new series of 5. They have the same 24 hour timer as the other bounties so you can only do 5 Queen’s Wrath bounties per day. Every time you successfully complete a bounty you will get a Queen’s Order mission reward.

NOTE: Wearing the Queen’s Shader, Emblem and/or Class Specific Item grant bonus Faction when you turn in bounties!

Rank 1 – 1000
Rank 2 – 3000
Rank 3 – UNK (Earning Rank 3 adds new weapons options to purchase)

Each Queen’s Order Ticket allows you to do one Kill Order mission. Kill Order missions appear at the top of the line on the left side of your orbit screen when selecting a destination. These are standard missions but are rated a level 24. The easiest to do is the Earth mission Restoration. If you get a mission you don’t want to do just go to orbit. You only spend the ticket on completion. Completing these Kill Order missions awards ZERO rep but give a Queen specific Legendary Armor piece. The Tickets are turned in after winning a mission and as soon as it tells you that you have earned your Legendary you can safely go to Orbit and skip any cutscenes at the end. If you have a ticket, you get a Legendary. Anyone can join you but only players with Tickets get a Legendary.

UPDATE 9/25/2014 = Patch 1.0.1.5 – Removed getting Ascendant Shards from dismantling!
Even if you don’t like the gear it’s worth doing the Kill Order missions just to dismantle the Legendaries as that is guaranteed Ascendant Shards.

TITAN ARMOR:
Queen’s Guard Plate (Legendary) – 306-406 Defense, Light +18, Int +59, Str +65, Carry more ammo for Fusion Rifles & Scout Rifles
Queen’s Guard Helm (Legendary) – 280-372 Defense, Light +18, Int +48, Str +51, Grenade hits restore melee energy & Reduce melee cooldown when you pick up an Orb

HUNTER ARMOR:
Queen’s Guard Vest (Legendary) – 306-406 Defense, Light +18, Dis +64, Str +60, Carry more ammo for Sniper Rifle, Scout Rifle
Queen’s Guard Mask (Legendary) – 280-372 Defense, Light +18, Int +47, Str +47, Increased melee attack speed & Replenish health when you pick up an Orb.

WEAPONS:
The Supremacy – Sniper Rifle (Legendary) –

DISTRIBUTION:
Titan #1 – 4x Helm
Titan #2 – 2x Chest, 2x Helm
Hunter #1 – 1x Chest, 1x Helm

With only 2 weeks and not knowing what levels 2 and 3 are reputation wise this could be a hard faction to level up. Doing all the bounties the first day will get you to halfway to Rank 1 with 500 reputation.

Shader – Rosegold – Rank 1
Shader – Prism Dancer – Rank 3
Emblem – Queen’s Guard Crest – Rank 1
Emblem – Crown of the Sovereign – Rank 3
Class Armor – Mark of the Queen’s Guard (Titan) – Rank 2
Auto Rifle – Her Right Hand – Rank 2
Scout Rifle – Vesta Noblese – Rank 2
Hand Cannon – Merciless – Rank 2

There are also Bounties for the first two expansions, The Dark Below & House of Wolves, so this event will come back.

Summary
This update makes Destiny a more stable experience for all players. We’re also changing the player experience in the Raid to ensure that the activity provides an endgame challenge that meets project goals for the intended level of difficulty.

General
Fixed an issue in which multiple errors reported with Zebra error codes
Errors previously reporting as Zebra will now display as their own separate codes
Fixed a rare issue related to being Kicked To Login repeatedly
Fixed a rare issue that resulted in a Kick To Orbit reported with the Cockatoo error code

Servers
Fixed an issue where some players would occasionally be erroneously kicked at the beginning of an activity due to a server error
Increased protection against account corruption

Raid
Fixed an issue where Atheon was not choosing random targets for teleport through the timestream during the final encounter on the Vault of Glass

Fixed an exploit where Atheon could be forced off his platform

More updates are to follow as we continue to support Destiny. Future enhancements being worked on include Exotic Weapon tuning, new features for voice communication between matchmade teammates, and the ability to hold more Bounties in your pocket at any time.

OK. This is a really disappointing patch / dev notes. I am going to insert some comments along the way with my feeling.
Activities

Missions
Reduced drop rate of engrams following a hard wipe [fixed in 1.0.1.4]

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

This is a completely stupid move. The “Event” is completely and totally worthless for anyone over 24. It was already a retarded grind to do a bounty for a worthless faction just to get a ticket to get the exact same 2 items. The only reason to do any of this was for the Shards. Event is dead to me now.

World

Destinations
The Hive of the holy “Treasure Cave” have realized the futility of their endless assault on Skywatch and have retired to lick their wounds and plan their next attack.
Respawn timers for monster caves in Skywatch have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 6)
Respawn timers for monster caves in Forgotten Shore have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 10)
Respawn timers for monster caves in Ember Caves have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 10)
Respawn timers for monster caves in the Shattered Coast have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 10)
Respawn timers for monster caves in the Barrens have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 20)

Loot

He Who Shall Not Be Named
Long ago during development, the Cryptarch decoded engrams of a given color into gear of that same color. Early in 2014 we added randomness, both for better and worse, to the decrypting process. The result was that end-of-session engram decoding got a lot more exciting and the Cryptarch himself suddenly acquired a personality. Both of these experiences were positive additions to the game.

But we didn’t adequately communicate the potential random outcomes of decryption. Players see what looks like the familiar metaphor of item identification, while the Cryptarch thinks he’s opening a grab bag of loot. Rage sharding of blues ensues. Expect to see changes to address this soon.

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

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

As I said in the patch notes this one I understand. I would bet money that nerfs comes before pluses though. Plus patrol is a activity and running from cave to cave while killing all the enemies seems completely in scope. Why would I run a Strike for 20 minutes to get complete CRAP? They need to VASTLY improve loot from strikes and missions if they want me to run those non-stop instead. I don’t understand why they hate caves but grinding strike is still grinding so who cares?

Reward Celebration
Growing more powerful by acquiring new upgrades, gear or progression is central to Destiny’s player experience. Our goal is to always celebrate when this occurs, both as a reward in and of itself and to communicate to players what is going on.

During development we sometimes prioritized making a system functional over celebrating its rewards, for example:
The Vault of Glass contains highly coveted loot but the actual moment of reward happens without fanfare and can be easily missed.
The lowest level of the Daily Heroic gives great XP and Reputation rewards, but neither of these progressions appears on the postgame screen.

We will slowly be addressing these and other issues going forward.

Social

Voice Communication
Our vision for Destiny is that all players, even matchmade players in the Crucible, Strikes, the Tower or public spaces, be able to communicate with one another in a way that promotes positive socialization. Voice communication is the easy answer, but existing voice paradigms, including those in our own Halo games, have not done enough to protect players from abusive griefing from a minority of players.

Destiny’s near-term solution will be to allow players to opt-in to voice communication during matchmade activities. Work on this feature was underway at launch and should be rolled out this year in Strikes and the Crucible.

Activities

Strikes
Strikes are intended to be a fun, combat-filled romp and stomp with a big boss and cool rewards at the end. Better with cooperation, but doable in a pick up group.

Since launch we’ve tracked down an issue which has made Strikes more challenging than originally designed by both increasing damage taken by players and decreasing the damage inflicted by players on the boss. Expect to see this addressed soon, and for Strikes to become a little less grindy as a result (sorry, Raiders – incoming damage is working as intended in the Vault of Glass).

Balance
Our goal when balancing Destiny is to never have one player choice– for example a choice of class or weapon– either be so much better than the alternatives that it is the only valid choice or to be so much worse that it would always be a mistake to choose. When we are successful with this kind of balance the result is a wide set of equally compelling player builds, some of which may be preferred by one player or another but none of which is an absolute right or wrong choice.

Exotic Weapons
Exotic Weapons are designed to look, feel and sound overpowered, but to not actually break the game. We hope these weapons challenge the way players think about their loadouts and expect their idiosyncrasies to sometimes be a little frustrating. We find ourselves wanting to collect them all and hope players feel the same way.

Not all our Exotic Weapons currently live up to this promise. In particular those weapons received from completing exotic bounties including Thorn and Bad Juju have disappointed many of us who have gone through the great effort to obtain them because, despite looking and sounding amazing, they feel underpowered. We’re here to offer some advice: don’t shard those guns. Their time will come.

Auto Rifles
The Auto Rifle archetype is designed to appeal to players who like to throw up a wall of bullets and not worry if a few miss their target. It is intended to inflict sustained damage at close to medium range, but to lose effectiveness at longer ranges.

Today the Auto Rifle is too effective at long range, even beating Scout and Pulse Rifles in some circumstances. Expect stability and/or damage adjustments to the Auto Rifle to address this in the weeks ahead.

Scout Rifles
Scout Rifles are for players who like to keep their enemies at medium range and hate to miss. They are intended to be an awkward weapon to use at close range but to be dominant– as long as you land your shots– at medium and longer ranges.

Scouts just aren’t hitting hard enough today when compared to other precision weapons. We’ll be addressing this soon.

Shotguns
Shotguns are for those situations where you need to deliver a massive spike of damage, right now, to the thing standing next to you about to do you harm.

Today shotguns are effective beyond their intended range, especially when upgraded with that intention. Expect changes soon to address shotguns which push the envelope of what it means to be close quarters.

Thank you for helping us drive these changes. Keep sharing. Keep talking. We’re watching and listening.

–Bungie

Cryptarch Changes 
Cayde-6 took the Cryptarch aside and showed him a sack of doorknobs. He decoded that mystery pretty quickly.
Legendary Engrams will always produce Legendary or better quality items, including Materials or Exotics
Rare Engrams will always produce Rare or better quality items
Rare engrams will have an increased chance to produce Legendary quality items

Activity Changes
Daily Heroics, Weekly Heroics, and Vanguard: Tiger Playlist activities will include Rare and Legendary Engrams in addition to their existing rewards

Item Changes
Ascendant materials have been promoted to Legendary to closer associate them with the gear they are used to upgrade
Legendary Engram items that exist in your inventory will be demoted to Rare quality when the patch goes live, so decode them while you can. But let’s be honest–even if you don’t, we all know they were blues already…