Breakpoint

My brother, his wife, our friends, and I attempted Destiny 2’s new Raid, the Deep Stone Crypt, over this last weekend. We discovered shortly after the Raid released that there would be a limited time reward for completing it: a jacket that you could get your personal gamer tag printed on.

We’ve done that sort of thing before, but never for a Raid. Furthermore, we only had until December 1st to do it. Not all of us were able to grind our levels to the recommended amount, but we gave it our best shot.

The only other Destiny Raids I’ve ever done were Crota’s End in Destiny 1 and the original Leviathan Raid in Destiny 2. Based on prior experience, I was prepared for convoluted mechanics and not being much more than a meat shield.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by how well I faired. I was one of the few members who was strong enough for this Raid. That, and I was a Sentinel Titan, which meant I could survive and protect my teammates effectively.

Unlike the Raids I did before, the core mechanics of the Deep Stone Crypt were consistent throughout. Every room dealt with someone picking up the Operator job, the Scanner job, and, later on, the Suppressor job. Every encounter built upon the last. It reminded me of the Prophecy Dungeon, where they introduced one mechanic and slowly added on as the level progressed.

We had a lot of hijinks, too. Driving off ledges, shooting enemies out of order, and many, many bad puns from my brother and me. If you watched the livestreams, you could hear the joy in our voices as we passed each encounter.

However, the hardships were plentiful, as well.

I know the featured picture has dialogue my Guardian says to an enemy, but I feel as though that was Bungie’s message to us. “The only thing we have to break here—is you.”

As I mentioned before, not everyone was at a high enough level to challenge the Deep Stone Crypt. Of our 6-man team, only three of us were Raid-Ready. Unfortunately, one of our high-level players had to drop out at a couple of key points, so the five of us were left to fend for ourselves. I can imagine how frustrated the lower-level members felt, being unable to take or deal enough damage to the enemies.

The second encounter hit us the hardest. Not only did we start with only five of us (our 6th man came back later), but we had to be so precise with timing and aim, it took us almost EIGHT HOURS to beat the boss.

We did have an interesting setup for it, though. The stage was set between two floors, a ground floor and one up in a space station. Most other teams split up three and three. While we were a 5-man team, our three lower-level members stayed downstairs while I and another teammate (both of us Titans) went upstairs where most of the action was. Even after our 6th man rejoined us, it was just us Titans upstairs. Surprisingly, we had the fewest deaths up there. We missed the timing at a few points, sure, but, frankly speaking, we did a great job of surviving.

Finally, after those eight long, grueling hours, we beat the second encounter and continued on.

Aaaaaand after that, our 6th man left us again. We tried to run the third encounter with just the five of us, but with a new job introduced and hordes of enemies bearing down on us, we just couldn’t break through.

Thankfully, someone who randomly stumbled upon the Twitch stream offered to fill in and give us a hand (thank you again, LuvRompope). He guided us through the third encounter, remained patient with us after multiple failures, and helped equip us with the best loadouts we could manage.

Unfortunately, the final boss proved too much for us to handle. It was tough to find a rhythm, our weaker members were axed too quickly, and, by the time we called it a night, it was already almost midnight (one of our friends lives out of state, so it was even later for him). We were out of time and out of options. We failed the challenge.

Obviously, many complaints flew around the chat as we wrapped up. The most prevalent two were about the second encounter and, as one of my friends put it, “time gating.”

Although we understood the mechanics of the second encounter, the difficulty was extremely high. Yes, even the professional Destiny streamers had trouble with that section, but none of us are professional gamers. There’s a reason why most of us are in a clan called the Filthy Little Casuals Legion. We play for fun. We go at our own pace.

Which brings us to the second complaint, the rushed time limit. Apparently, the reward announcement was made about a week after the Deep Stone Crypt became available, which, in turn, gave us a little over a week to complete the challenge. Not everyone could take the time to grind for level ups. Some of us hadn’t even touched the game when the new expansion dropped earlier this month. Several members thought that all those hours we poured into the Raid attempt this weekend were wasted because we didn’t succeed.

But, that’s how life goes sometimes. We don’t always get the results we hope for. All we can do is pick ourselves up, learn from what happened, and move on.

Yes, I was bummed we didn’t earn the jacket and, yes, I fully understand why people got so upset about the time constraint. However, we now know what we need to do the next time we attempt it. Better yet, we’ll be stronger and smarter than before.

To be honest, the comments about “what was the point if we didn’t succeed” kind of rubbed me the wrong way. We shouldn’t let the fear of failure keep us from trying. Better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. I can think of numerous situations where I chose not to try and ended up missing out on something amazing (most of which had to do with dating). Because I never made the attempt and instead remained in my comfort zone, I couldn’t even learn from the potential failure.

Every venture runs a risk of being unsuccessful. I published my first book this year, and there were many opportunities for it to fail. However, my hope for a successful release overpowered my fear of falling short.

We tried our best, but did not succeed, and that’s fine. I tell people to accept the loss all the time, but that doesn’t mean we need to wallow in it. Channel that frustration into positive energy for your next attempt. Take note of what happened, make the necessary changes, and try again. No matter how many times it takes, you try, try again.

And Bungie, the Filthy Little Casuals will be back, and we will conquer the Deep Stone Crypt.