There isn’t much good to say about how Destiny deals with endgame content. Once you hit that Level 20 soft ceiling, it’s all left up to chance. Progression is based on new gear, so two roommates set out to see just how many times you’ll have to grinds Strikes in order to get some shine new Exotic weapons. It took them a long, long time.
As described on Reddit, the two roomamtes set out to see just what loot Strikes rewarded players with. They did this but playing each Strike no less than 200 times, comparing what loot each gave at the end. Both of them ignored loot that enemies dropped, opting to finish each Strike as quickly as possible rather. i’d probably do the same if I was endlessly grinding each of them hundreds of times.
The results? Well, unsurprisingly, it’s extremely rare to get an exotic drop, with the ultra special gear only dropping an average of once every 50 runs. It doesn’t just take Exotics to level up, but seeing the drop rate for Legendary gear so low as well says a lot for Bungie’s strategy to keep you playing until you literally want to burn the game in a blazing bonfire.
STRIKE TABLES:
- The Devils’ Lair : 24/200 (12% of the time) average completion time: 7:11, Fastest completion time: 6:15. longest same map streak: 5
- 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 Summoning Pits : 28/200 (14% of the time) average completion time: 6:11, Fastest completion time: 5:32, longest same map streak: 2
- The Nexus : 32/200 (16% of the time) average completion time: 5:31, Fastest completion time: 4:21, longest same map streak: 3
- 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
- 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 Undying Mind : 12/200 (6% of the time) average completion time: 12:11, Fastest completion time: 10:55, longest same map streak: 2
LOOT TABLES: (based on 400 drops 200 for me and 200 for roommate)<
- Rare Armour Engrams: 432 (1.08 per strike)
- Rare Weapon Engrams: 200 (0.5 per strike)
- Legendary Armour Engram: 11 (1 every ~36 strikes)
- Legendary Weapon Engram: 9 (1 every ~44 strikes)
- Exotic Weapons: 8 (1 every 50 strikes) icebreaker, hardlight, hawkmoon, 4th horseman x2, monte Carlo x2, No Land Beyond Legendary Ship: 12 (1 every ~33 strikes)
- Mote of light: 28 (1 every ~14 strikes)
- Strange Coin: 12 (1 every ~33 strikes)
Now this isn’t strange for a game that is essentially an MMO. They’re aim is to keep players grinding endlessly, but what most MMOs have that Destiny lacks is a wealth of content. Instead you’re left shooting at the same enemies in the same handful of Strikes over and over again, especially if you want to have any hope of leveling up.
Still, if logging on and blazing through the same Strikes everyday is still entertaining for you, then that’s great. At the very least you’re getting some value out of a game I regretted purchasing just a few days after launch.
Last Updated: January 20, 2015
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
January 20, 2015 at 18:41
I can’t say that I have any desire to revisit Destiny.
cooperkingking
January 20, 2015 at 19:05
You have a pay_pal, because if you have you can get an extra 350 every week in your pay just working on the laptop a couple of hours each day…
look at this
Hammersteyn
January 20, 2015 at 19:35
Is there a webcam of your mom? Is she a cougar? Does she look like Courtney Cox. Oh please say it’s so!
http://media.giphy.com/media/dC9DTdqPmRnlS/giphy.gif
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
January 20, 2015 at 21:22
Dude, 350 a week? And that’s without showing my dong on the Internet? Where do I sign up?
Hammersteyn
January 20, 2015 at 19:32
Banana! The only fun thing left is raids. I got Eris to level 4 and I’ll be damned if I go through the same mediocre missions with my other two characters. WTF Bungie! Thaks for the hype fart!
Hammersteyn
January 20, 2015 at 19:36
Are you getting Dying Light BTW?
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
January 20, 2015 at 21:20
Oh hell yes, remember we’re teaming up with unarmed.
Sageville
January 21, 2015 at 09:40
If I say “Dead Island 2”, you guys would say……
Also watching Dying Light trailers makes me convinced I need to learn Parkour to survive the coming Zombie Apocalypse….
Hammersteyn
January 21, 2015 at 10:06
Interesting, I’ve no idea what I would say
Sageville
January 21, 2015 at 10:08
Hmmpf, From E3 last year I thought Dead Island 2 would have been the big Zombie killer this year… also that trailer is pretty sweet.
Hammersteyn
January 21, 2015 at 10:10
LOL
fred
January 20, 2015 at 20:11
Game was worth it , and good fun while it lasted , before Crota came to town.
Jimmwyrm
January 21, 2015 at 08:48
There is a very good reason we only play the weekly nightfall, heroic and then the two raids… You are pretty much guaranteed to get cool stuff, the strike playlist has never really delivered so the article was no surprise. We get together as a bunch of mates once a week, have a good evening blasting stuff and talking crap and to that end, I still really enjoy Destiny.
Matthew Holliday
January 21, 2015 at 09:26
the worst being 1:50?
tbh, thats not really that unfair.
In borderlands 2, I must have killed the bunker 150 times and not had the bitch drop. the warrior about the same amount and only had one conferance call drop.
low drop rates are not unfair. high drop rates are, expecting to get ultra rare items from a single run is dumb, ultra rare items are supposed to be ULTRA RARE.
Jonah Cash
January 21, 2015 at 12:34
Still playing, still having a ton of fun!!