Okay, that title is a lie. Loot caves are about loot. It’s just that they’re not only about loot, but about other important Destiny concepts – ranks, bounties, bonuses and upgrades. In this sense the caves illustrate that some Destiny gamers are frustrated, not only with not getting the drops they want on a regular basis, but with the sheer difficulty of many of the rank requirements for bonuses.
Take, for example, the grimoire bonuses from dispatching a certain number of enemies – all of them big numbers with four digits. In an average mission, the solo player will only see 100 or so enemies, sometimes less. Play with a fireteam, and your count will be split amongst your teammates. Then consider that those enemies will usually come in two different types. If your goal is to hunt Fallen or Hive or you name it, you’ve already reduced your ability to wrap up a rank by only doing missions or strikes. Indeed, completing ten missions or more is a certainty is you simply want to wrap up the first rank increase, let alone the second (where the bonuses start) or third.
It’s About Ranking, Bounties, Upgrades and Ammo
Enter the loot caves. Yes, you are still sharing your enemies with other players, but you see way more of them – perhaps an average of 36 per minute. In just ten minutes you have seen nearly 400 enemies, without any scene uploads that you can’t skip, running around traveling or risk to your K/D ratio. It’s a considerable time savings on nailing certain grimoire bonus ranks and you get to pick the enemy type.
Secondly, while it admittedly doesn’t take long for upgrades to take effect, it doesn’t do you much good in the middle of a boiling mission firefight. With fifteen minutes at a loot cave, you can rapidly activate weapon and armor upgrades, all at your leisure. Now you’re ready for missions or PvP, without the hassle of activating the upgrade in the middle of a battle.
Third, if you try to complete certain bounties without a loot cave — good luck! A level 28 titan friend gave up on the “zap two enemies simultaneously with the fusion rifle 20 times” bounty because he doesn’t cave. I finished it in fifteen minutes at my favorite looting spot. Enemies don’t line up in clumps to get this bounty done — unless you catch them just coming out of their cave.
Finally, if I just run around doing patrols and completing bounties, or after a level with the Juggler challenge, I may find myself way down on ammo. A quick jaunt to my local “hardware store” loot caving site and poof, there’s my full stock. I’ve developed this as a habit just to end a day all topped up for my next visit to Destiny.
The ranking system, however, is truthfully the most bothersome aspect of gear in Destiny for the casual gamer. With real life responsibilities, a non-gaming mate and the dog to walk, it will take a very long time to reach rank 3 for any faction, let alone the Vanguards or Crucible. I have dutifully done my patrols, bounties and missions, yet still haven’t hit Vanguard rank 2, despite reaching level 23. Does loot caving have something to do with it? Yes, it does. I can say, however, that out of the 13 hours in to get to level 20, (and 14 more to level 23) only a couple of hours was spent caving total. So my lesson has been that exploring is a real drag on ranking and that bounties, strikes and missions just don’t cut it — ranking for factions is simply work under the name of play.
Exploration – Upwardly Mobile Need Not Apply
I would submit to Bungie that to encourage exploration, finding dead ghosts should get you some Vanguard marks, because the time spent searching certainly doesn’t add up to much in the way of return. Right now it feels like the Vanguard says: “Oh thanks, valuable information. Here’s a pretty picture and a story for your companion app. Thank you, little guardian.” So ghost hunting is strictly an activity with nothing more than intrinsic value.
Oh well, at least I can finish my exploration session with a loot cave. That means my day won’t have been a total wash. Then I’ll finish by looking at my Destiny Companion app filled with pretty pictures and sad snippets from dead Guardians and their “little lights.”
