There is a difference between exploiting and cleaver use of mechanics. Just think about that for a moment haha.

If Bungie wanted to curb all of the exploits in strikes and raids, per say, they could just make the "respawning restricted" areas locked zones. This is how other games do it. Once you enter into the event, invisible walls go up that prevent you from leaving the playing area. I'm really, REALLY surprised that the coding for this was not implemented from the outset.

Some do, for the 'added challenge,' or rather, because they are masochistic. But no, most people, once they find an exploit that genuinely makes doing something far more efficient or easy, use that exploit, because even if they are capable of doing it 'legit,' most people, when presented with an easier or faster alternative, will take that route. We have things to do, time is precious, sometimes we can't afford to tip-toe around Phogoth for an hour.

It depends on the mission. I solo everything. If the Nightfall is Cerberus Vae III, that's easy enough to do "legit." IIRC I did it first try, no cheese tactics. Would be harder without Arc Burn. If it's The Nexus... it's not all that hard with a decent Rocket Launcher to take out the mobs that spawn as you damage the boss. They don't spawn endlessly, only when the boss HP reaches certain amounts, meaning you can blow them up every time they spawn. Devil's Lair... What's the "legit" way to do it? Stand right next to the Devil Walker and Sepiks Prime? I guess if you stand halfway up the staircase in the room to the left of Sepiks Prime you're safe... As a Defender I didn't bother much with the safe room on the left, I just used my Ward of Dawn with Weapons of Light and killed Sepiks with burn damage in a couple of minutes; the Majors give so much Super energy that you can cycle it long enough to rarely have it down. Summoning Pits. Almost everyone does something on this one. However, I could probably do it in a couple of tries solo legit as a Defender. Illuminated Weapons of Light. 135% damage with the burn modifier on top of that and I can fire a couple dozen Epitaph rounds in this time. I could probably use Heavy ammo with Blessing of Light to clear the boss room and slay the boss this way before the next wave of enemies could even spawn. Arc Burn Summoning pits, the biggest problem would be "legit" wave defense solo. Knights and Wizards 2HKO and practically never stop firing and there's multiple of them at once in a small area. Difficult to do if you can't kite them to the hallway but a good Arc Rocket Launcher could slay them as they spawn. Winter's Run is... annoying. I can solo the wave defense just staying by the gate as a Defender cycling Ward of Dawn. The boss solo with all 3 burn modifiers is a pain, so I just gave up eventually and hung out under the metal platform to the right of the cell. Least favorite strike. The only one I'd skip if no cheese tactics/exploits were available, unless the burn modifiers were less annoying. All 3 instead of 1 is frustrating, as it boosts the damage of virtually everything without giving you any benefit. Dust Palace can never be a Nightfall. The Weekly 28 isn't hard enough to warrant cheese tactics. There's respawns, usually something like Angry or Lightswitch rather than a burn modifier and no Knights/Shanks/Harpies/Psions with shields. It'll get done eventually if you keep trying and most of them aren't that hard. The main problem is the randomness of the modifiers. The burn modifier can either help you (Cerberus) or spell your death (Winter's Run, Summoning Pits). It's not hard so much as it is cheap, where everything kills you in 1-3 hits. All of the Nightfalls seem easy enough to do legit if you get lucky with the modifiers and that's solo, with no ability to revive without Radiance; one death, one restart.

I have done everything without exploits. So far I've only exploited last week's Nightfall while solo and last week's normal raid because it's really not my call. Some stuff is really hard, but that makes it fun.

Its like that Thron bounty, where you do the level 26 moon strike just for it... Trying to kill Xur the unwed....man its -blam!-ing hard. You HAVE TO run into the main room I(it seemed like anyway) and kill like 5 knights, yellow and shielded, and 3 wizards, all shielded, while fending off phogoth and other minions...was really hard actually...

Yes me and 2 buddies beat the nightfall this week. No exploits were used at all. This includes the room with Phogoth. We just sat directly behind the rocks while still being in the map. I was protecting one while he took shots at Phogoth and the other guy died near the end because he was running around so we left him and finished it no problem.

What is considered an exploit? Do you mean hiding from the boss?(staying in the room before Phogoth's chamber) Because that's just playing smart.

patience and taking things slowly is all it takes to finish the nightfall/weekly. I solo them every week as a personal challenge and don't resort to any sort of glitches/cheats to do so. max level gear and using the right kind of weapons for each situation is key(are they weak against arc damage this week? good break out your arc sniper/rocket launcher etc). So is knowing when to fall back till you are out of harms way and wait till abilities/health recharge. I see lots of people trying to beat phogoth by staying in the initial first room and this is a giant mistake....If you take the time to enter the room you will find there are several locations from which(again with some patience)you are able to basically avoid all the extra mobs and focus on only phogoth himself. I have yet to do a nightfall i cannot solo all the way through. I play on xbox 360 and post under the samge gamer tga i use feel free to hit my up for tips. -§mort§-

Why does everyone call them exploits or it's being played as unintended. I think Bungie wanted people to think outside the box. Standing in the middle of the map toe to toe with the enemy is for fools. Why else would they specifically design areas of retreat and refuge in their maps. A platform with a way to get under it with a depression designed in it, sniper cliffs for supporting fire, stair cases with boxes and obstructions and only one opening to get in, rooms to fall back into but have a sheiker so it's not totally safe. I think Bungie added various ways to attack and achieve victory in their encounters other than the old clique of stand there and trade punches toe to toe. So far every major encounter area that I have fought in has one or two areas of safety. I really doubt that's by accident.

There are a bunch of pants on fire in this thread!!!! Someone please post a link to a team running this weeks nightfall without sniping from the room. I must see it!!!!

To be completely honest. I only exploit if I'm trying to solo a nightfall. That's the only time. Now, we did knock off the Templar so we could get to the secret chest. So if there is a chest that only appears if you knock the Templar off the map.... does that actually mean that Bungie want's that to happen? Yes, otherwise why would there be a secret chest for it. Anyway though, my point is that if you don't use the map and the spawning to your advantage when soloing you're not going to have a very good time running through some of those nightfall missions.