I know there's been a lot of contention leading up to and since yesterday's Atheon update. I've been largely argued the point that forcing all players to learn all positions would improve the skills of your typical raider. Tonight, at a little after 10:00 PM Eastern, the handful of us First Class Raiders who happened to be online decided to take on the updated Vault of Glass. We partied up, got our consumables in order at the Tower, I donned my pumpkin hat and we were off. These are my observations of what occurred: Things were a little shaky on the left sync plate to open the Vault, however after 2 deaths on my part and about 4 minutes we got the spire complete. Not our best work but, the vault opened herself up for us to penetrate her depths. Chest 1 gave us shards. Hooray! We then headed to the Templar's office, where we were presented with refreshments, Fanatics, confluxes, and Oracles. We got through it with relative ease as expected, with only a couple of individual deaths along the way. More shards! Mr. Templar then came out to scold us, then realized he was in for a rough night. He tried to escape but we blocked his exits and we smote him into his doom. For this fear I received Praedyth's Revenge, a legendary raid sniper rifle... and I was grateful. We bypassed the Templar hidden alcove chest due to the rumors around it de-spawning the hidden chest during the drop to the Gorgon's Labyrinth. We received that chest and the usual two more, more shards for me though one of my friends unboxed the exotic Red Death. After an intentional wipe to reset our Labyrinth position (during which we came a hair away from killing a Gorgon), we cleared the maze the. took on and overcame the platform jumping puzzle... Finding ourselves before the doors of Atheon's bedchamber. We killed the Gatekeeper, divided up our first phase portal teams and I joined my 2 fellow teammates inside of the time gate. We took the Gatekeeper down to near death then exited to enter the next gate. Killing that Venus Gatekeeper and grabbing the relic, we exited the portal... To be wiped by a missed Oracle. No matter, it was but our first wipe of the night and it was about 11:15 PM Eastern time. We tried some adjustments and wiped again after portal 2. Then again and again. All in all I estimate about 6 or 7 wipes before we managed to overcome that particular phase. For this, I received Corrective Measure, the legendary raid heavy machine gun! I was smiling! Now the part you've all been waiting to hear about: Atheon 2.0. We braced ourselves even though we had all taken time to practice together and in pick up groups to try to get as much experience as we could on each role. This was it. I was in the first random teleport group. And it definitely is random now, in case there is any doubt left. It went quite smoothly, and we made it out to meet on the central platform to blast Atheon from the relic's protective bubble. We scatter as Time's Vengeance draws to a close, and I again find myself in the portal. Again I focused on grenading the adds and killing oracles. Good stuff. Portal 3 left me outside managing sync plates, listening anxiously as my team handled business in the time stream. That was my second time ever not being in a portal. But they made it! I was portaled for trip #4, and this time I wasn't able to make it to the central bubble for the group cleanse/protection bubble. I saw black as I had been marked by the void before exiting Venus. I stayed near the portal, subtly moving forward toward where I figured the sync plate should be. A team member rushed over to keep Supplicants away from me and he kept me alive. My screen is still black as I'm teleported to Mars for trip 5. Now we are in trouble as the relic has a cool down. My two partners head off to deal with adds. I calmly reload all my weapons as I stare at the blackness, and hold Y to pull out my heavy machine gun. Everyone was aware that I was marked and blind at this point and the whole group prepares to wipe, planning the next attempt already. The relic holder crosses over to me, screaming out "I got you!" His cleanse hits me as I'm hitting left trigger to aim. Only the first oracle has been killed. I see oracles 2-6 already in the air as the mark cleanses and simultaneously my Zombie Apocalypse's sights snap into view. There was no hesitation or delay, all the oracles were in my line of sight and my aim under pressure was so precise and true I don't think I missed a single round as I kept the trigger held, downing one then two then all the oracles but the 6th! It was like time slowed for me. One of the most intense moments in my video game experience. I switch to Atheon's Epilogue as I close distance and finish Oracle 6... Ran out of ammo on Oracle 7 and my teammate finishes it with his Suros. My two portal teammates for that trip begin to freak out about the amazingness that just happened, as we spill out of the portal and back to fire on Atheon. The others outside are equally astounded! But we bubble up and take the boss as low as we dare, then scatter. Final teleport includes me again to Venus. Knowing this would be the final teleport as long as there was no wipe, was nerve-wracking! I feel much pressure on that last set of oracles but... We do our job, and head back out to finish Atheon. I do so with my Ice Breaker. We open fire as a group of mismatched rag tag space magicians. 3 to 4 Ice Breaker shots in, Atheon goes down!! We could scarcely believe it. The new and dreaded Atheon random encounter, completed on our first attempt, without a wipe during that phase! I collected my shards and Chatterwhite with a smile and shaking hands. Excited. Reminded again that even in gaming, it can be about the journey and the story as opposed to the final payoff. My only regret... Not saying "Xbox Record That" right after the raid saving matrix moves. At the time of writing this, my hands are still twitchy from how pumped I was! If we can clear the new encounter on our first try, any team who communicates will also have success. Those of you who believe d it would be impossible: don't give up, don't judge too quickly. Finely tuned teamwork will get you there. Not knowing whether I would be portaled or stay in Atheon's room gave it a whole new twist. The raid's tempo went up, we communicated more efficiently to make things work. Instantly more alert to our surroundings, we paid more attention to what other teammates were doing. All in all, I felt that I had a more fine tuned experience that demanded my attention. I'm thinking many others will have similar experiences. I hope this post shows that hope isn't lost and inspires other players to not give up on trying to beat the Vault! If anyone wants to share their results from their first encounter, let's hear 'em!