Prepare For: Private Matches
First and foremost, hello! My name is Isakole, or Kole for short, I'm the newest writer to join the DTR crew and I couldn't be more excited for this! I'm a Day One Guardian as Hunter main and a proud member of Team Pwnage. I'm also a streaming sherpa on Mixer, write a weekly series for my own site Europa Library, and somehow in all that work a full time job.
What is my first article about? My second favorite thing about Destiny; PvP! Private matches are on the way and there's more to do than just running around murdering your friends. With rankings on the way private matches will be a great way to sharpen your skills and prepare for the sweat to come.
Here's a breakdown list of what you can do to improve your Crucible experience not just for ranked play but overall.
The Maps
In case you haven't figured it out yet, Destiny is as much about air play as it is ground play. How many times have you died to a Hunter jumping above your head with Last Hope? Or a Warlock with Dawnblade floating above the battlefield? Or, Traveler forbid, a flying flaming hammer Titan who's on tilt? Probably more times than you can count.
Grab a group of friends and go through each map on the selection list one by one and set the game timer to as long as possible. Instead of killing each other set up the usual situations, such as defending B Flag on Emperor's Respite or engaging the other team at Temple on Infinity. It all seems familiar right? Now go for the less popular areas such as the back end of Drill on Legion's Gulch or Meadow on The Fortress.
Here are the main things you need to experiment with and understand to better acquaint yourself with the maps:
Lanes: It may seem tedious but the knowledge is worth it. Go section by section on every map and find the best cover from all the angles the enemy can come at you from. From that cover check what you can see, how far, and if there's another angle you haven't considered before.
For example: On the map The Fortress there's a window next to the door in the Castle. If you're facing out towards the Shore you can easily cover that spawn area along with the lanes coming in from Ketch and Tower. From the opposite side you can pop your Super below the window, go through it to use the half pillar inside to jump over and aim at the back end of Castle since that's where most players linger due to the cover it provides.
Altitudes: How many of you knew there was a second floor to the Tram building on Vostok? It's not often I see someone up there but when I do the player is usually slinging out Colony spiders or is trying to get a pick off with those coming in from a distance. It may seem like a cheap place to be but if you keep your eyes up and remember it's a viable perch then you'll be ready for it every time. Learn to use altitudes to your advantage for better lanes and easier escapes.
For example: On the map Alter of Flame both the areas Blocks and Dunes have massive flat topped structures that are often used for cover in order to move about the map. Practice using those flat surfaces and staying at the back edge to drop down quickly when losing a firefight. You don't want to jump to fall down since it will leave you in the air as a target for longer than necessary, let gravity do all the work. This can work for the boxes at Pads on Javelin-4, the archways on either side of Middle on Midtown, and a plethora of other places, you just have to find them.
Bounding Boxes: This might not be a term some of you are familiar with but its going to change the way you think about video games. A bounding box is the invisible area around an object in game that defines the surface for the physics engine to react to. Ever wonder why sometimes it looks like your standing in mid-air when on top of some objects? It's because bounding boxes don't confirm to the exact shape of the object they're around. Even though these things are invisible you can use them to your advantage.
For example: There's a pillar between Rockwall and Deck on Javelin-4 with a grey plate wall on a yellow frame. Believe it or not there's a sliver between the plate wall and the pillar that can be shot through. Since the plate wall and the pillar are considered two different objects they have their own unique bounding boxes, which leaves a sliver of space between the two that can be utilized if your aim is steady enough. This can also be done through several doorways on a multitude of maps to gain control of more lanes and give better call outs to your team. They will never be obvious but it's worth searching them out.
While the teapot itself is defined as a visual render the box around it is the bounding box, which is what physics such as bullets, characters, and the rest of the 3D world interacts with.
The Callouts
Even with the Go Fast update it's still wise to play as a team, or at least run around with a battle buddy. To have the best team chemistry it is imperative to keep your cool even when the lead seems impossible to take over. Here's a few tips that can come in handy, and keep in mind it will take more than one night of practice to get into these habits.
Saying that there's “a Warlock over there with a fusion rifle” is not helpful at all. Where is “over there”? More specifically, are they high or low, on the left or right? You should already be running as a group or battle buddy should be next to you so high, low, left, and right won't be much of a problem.
It's the discipline of suppressing chatter that can prove to be difficult for some people. Saying “that guy killed me with his stupid vigilance wing when I was in spawn” is wrong on all sorts of levels. For one, complaining just brings other people's fun down. Two, that saying is so long it would drown out other callouts that would be imperative for other fireteam members to hear. And three, there's no given specifics that can help anyone.
Keep it simple, keep it short like these: “Golden Gun at B” “Three on beach, left side” “Sniper at Ketch, looking at B” “One behind me” “Two at Rugs, one at tree” Or my favorite “COLONY!”
In return to a callout you can either stay silent or state something like "Heard" or "Copy That" that way your teammate knows that you understand what was just said. Communication is key!
So when private matches finally drop take the time to learn the maps, learn the bounding boxes, get into the practice of call outs, and finally have the time to check out different weapons and armor setups that will work for your playstyle.
If you want to study up on the original maps before CoO here's a lovely article by Gallifreyan74 with detailed maps and labeled spaces!
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