-----
[b]The following below contains my speculations about Crota's End.[/b]
With the upcoming DLC being announced further, I would really like to discuss the most anticipated part of the expansion. The new gear looks great, we may see more subclasses, more missions, new strikes; all of which sounds great. However, The most likely reason you will purchase [b]The Dark Below[/b] expansion is for the Raid.
[quote]I haven't raided a billion times like most of you, but my first raid experience was amazing. You can agree with me that you haven't played the game Destiny until you've played the Raid. Communication and execution is key. You cannot complete it without messing up your first time through. Raiding is hands down the best thing about Destiny, so that's why I would like to talk about [b]Crota's End[/b].[/quote]
[b]How can we predict the new raid, Crota's End? What will it be like?[/b]
-The best thing we can look at for reference is the last raid.
[i]I wrote the briefest summary I could manage but it still had to have it's own thread. If you need a warm up on the raid, click the link to the forum below. If you would like to see videos covering the basics of the raid, where I got most of my information from, I provided links to those aswell.[/i]
[quote]
Link to my brief summary:
http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/76040582
Link to Templar guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1p0wFSZjCI
Link to Atheon guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeNz0B_pjyE
[/quote]
[b]So... What new content could we expect to see?[/b]
The previous raid, VoG, included many features we haven't seen in the game before. We saw new enemies, a new weapon and mechanic, buffs, debuffs, and plenty of rewards.
So far we know the next raid, Crota's End, contains raid set gear just like the Vault of Glass, as well as a Vex Mythocast parallel for the next raid; an exotic auto-rifle that deals Arc damage. Expect to see new enemies who are similar to the ones we know from the Hive, one new enemy entity like the Oracles, new buff and debuffs, and possibly a new mechanic like the Detain mechanic from the Vault of Glass.
[b]Will we ever see the Sword of Crota again?[/b]
[b]1)[/b] Every sword in the game looks like the Sword of Crota, the one that you were said to destroy could have easily just been your average Hive blade hanging around. Even the prologue to that mission says "The Warlocks believe" they know where the sword is being kept. I don't think a weapon that killed thousands of gaurdians could be so easily destroyed by a single guardian.
[b]2)[/b] The last raid used a weapon/item called the Relic, a shield that has multiple attacks and defenses, in many parts throughout the raid. Crota's End will most likely have a parallel to the Relic, the only thing that makes sense to me is to see the return of the Sword of Crota mechanics. It's very likely few members of the team, if not all, will be weilding a sword like the Sword of Crota and using it in key parts of the raid.
[quote][i]The only reason why this would not happen is if Bungie decided to use the sword mechanics for primary/secondary/heavy/other weapon slots for use in the story and crucible. I wrote a whole forum about swords and shield use in the main game here:[/i] http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/72680357[/quote]
[b]What sort of new enemies will we encounter?[/b]
Bungie never has really created a crazy new AI for us to fight. The Oracles we saw in the Vault of Glass were a very simple entity; they were stationary enemies that gave de-buffs if they were not killed in time. We did see some enemies like the Supplicants, Gorgons, and Fanatics that brought some interesting gameplay into the mix. My best guess is well see some enemies like those that bring different strategies to the mix. Maybe you'll see a Hive Knight who wields a Shield like the Cabal Phalanx and a sword; an enemy that you would have to flank to damage.
The Vault of Glass had a pretty intense sub-boss too. I would expect to see a Wizard in the next one, except one of the new strikes features a large Wizard as a boss. The Templar sub-boss was really the same AI as the Hydra, which we've already seen as a boss in the Nexus strike; so it's not too far fetched to think well see a repeated boss. I think Bungie wants to shake it up a bit more than that. A sub-boss you could see in the Crota's End raid could be a trio boss such as three knights or maybe a huge wave of thralls that you have to out run through a large tunnel. If they add in Sparrows to the sub-boss gameplay, that would be really give the raid a unique kick.
[b]How will a small group of guardians defeat the legendary Crota himself?[/b]
I believe there are multiple Sword of Crotas, lesser to the real Sword of Crota. I imagine the boss fight to include players wielding Sword of Crotas having to co-ordinate their attacks in unison, but he could just be another bullet monger of a boss.
[b]The best information we can get at this point about fighting Crota is at the bottom of this page: [/b]http://www.bungie.net/en/event/darkbelow
In the image, we see a Hive knight patiently waiting with a green aura sword implanted into the ground. The acolytes in the background don't look to small compared to the Knight, so Crota may not be the giant we expect him to be.
To the right of the image we see a large pillar that has a green core, the designer probably based the image off of what he saw in the developing raid; which leads me to think it's an important part to the raid. Why else would there be a pillar in the concept art? The pillar must be a conflux-like objective where you protect or destroy in order to weaken the boss.
Last thing I'll point out is the backround. From what I can see, there are no cliffs or edges to fall off of. It appears to be a a very flat lake with walkways that connect in a circular pattern [i](or it could be rectangular, it just has a circular illusion to it)[/i].
The landscape and knowing the boss will use a sword makes me think Crota will be a much more mobile boss than Atheon.
The picture looks like the location is in the depths of the moon, it seems like nothing could be below it. Also, when I think of large fields of water, I think of how my sparrow glides easily over them. Maybe, just maybe, Sparrows will have part in this raid.
-----
[b]Is there anything you in The Dark Below announcement that stuck out to you? Have I missed the details you noticed? Tell me what you think of this speculation on the new raid Crota's End. Thank you for managing to read this far. I would love to hear your thoughts and speculations on the new raid.[/b]
[i]-Pisa Hut[/i]
-
No platforms for the boss fights. :)))