Commander Pika

For my fellow guardians out there:
"Don't be sad that it's over; be happy that it happened in the first place"

Destiny is a big part of my life: the motivating factor to try content creation, my rock during the pandemic, and the game that brought me friendships when I had none. While we all wish it was on better terms, at least this "ending" is more bittersweet than just sorrow: we are left with a big update before the game goes into "stasis" - still playable for guardians new and old to stumble upon when they wish.

I'm excited for the June update and this last hurrah. For those that came for and supported me with my Destiny content, thank you. I intend to return to that. (more below)

For those that have come for my ZZZ content, hi it's been a minute. Life's been a mess so I haven't posted anything I've wanted to do for awhile. I intend for that to change soon. (Would have been real soon, but this news really hit me in the feels today).

Take it easy my friends
See you tomorrow
<3 u


==========

For those curious about my content:
I hate making promises because: I'm terrible at keeping them, my motivation is always troublesome, and I get into way over my head. But I do have ideas.

- ZZZ is my newest passion and will be my main focus. Season 3 is right around the corner so my motivation is up and its a good time to give it a good shot. To battle my problems with content creation, I need to focus on "smaller scope" and shorter guides. Whenever I get an idea it usually balloons into a massive project, meaning lots of research and a 20+ minute script. I love those deep dives, but it isn't healthy for me to make regularly. I need to try to be more agile, short and sweet. That's also why I've streamed a bit: get used to new habits, broaden my horizon, and try to connect with others.

So (hopefully) expect guides around prepping for Season 3 and commentary on the characters of season 2. (and one day i'll finish that shops guide...it's a beast that haunts me)

- Destiny 2, though it is "ending", it's finally at a point where I could make the content I wanted at my own pace. My struggle has always been "race to market", always trying to be first/early to a conversation as well as the every changing nature of this game. That leads to anxiety, stress, and a poor product and really the reason why I never posted a lot of videos. Countless gigs of videos and scripts for raid guides and breakdowns never saw the light of day because of this "rush to first" and my strive for a complete and perfect product. With no new updates, that means I could make a definitive guide on different raids, core systems, weapons...you name it. The last and most accurate resource, both as a guide for players and a monument to the final iteration of D2.

As to if this will actually happen, that remains to be see. But that is what I'd like to do:
Info regarding the June update, the Pantheon 2.0 guides, and then slowly sprinkle guides around destiny 2.

1 month ago | [YT] | 20

Commander Pika

Another stream?! Tonight we actually see if my Aria and Billy can beat "normal" Shiyu so that I can finally do Critical Node for more polychrome....all before the EU server refreshes to new Shiyu ~1hr after I go live (if I can read time correctly). No pressure.

Also, made some tweaks to the builds after I ended stream last night. Nicole and Anby have interesting gear, but it should be better than last night XD

4 months ago | [YT] | 1

Commander Pika

For those trying to get Lvl 4 Assist Agent Gear in Operation Matrix, this week is also kind of easy. "A Matter of Relativity":
- Start with 2 of every type of Resonium (so 1/3 of the way there)
- 50% more gear coins

Happy hunting!

=====

Sidenote: lost time and motivation for my shop guide over the weekend. It's kicking my butt. So it'll come out when it's ready, some time this week (expect a lot of yap). Also, stream stuff nearly finished, so maybe a test stream tomorrow. Want to have everything set for Wednesday and do my Yuzu/Aria pulls and build all my agents on my fresh F2P account. Should be fun.

4 months ago | [YT] | 14

Commander Pika

Update:
ZZZ Shops guide ended up being a 30 min script...(cuz it includes all shops, currencies, and explanation of recommendations)

So yeah, that's getting pushed to Monday.

4 months ago | [YT] | 13

Commander Pika

New week, so wishing everyone some luck!
The reason my recent Hollow Zero Update guide came out much later than I wanted was because I started a new f2p alt account and was trying to speedrun through everything to reach the final breakpoint of IK Level 50 by when Aria comes out.

Multiple reasons for this new account:
- Get agents I won't get on my main (since I don't want to spend more money)
- Get info on the new player / f2p experience (so I can give accurate advice)
- Try to cultivate a character/pull guide format that you don't really see from other top creators: truly focusing on what I'd call "minimum spec" based on my old Destiny 2 guides.

What is minimum spec?
Well, the terms of "f2p" and "low cost" teams are common in the Gacha space when trying to give team and pulling advice, to see how little you can spend to get an endgame viable team. The problem is that since you can get any agent at M6 or WEngine at W5 without spending on the game. It requires time and luck. And for standard agents/weapons, they are treated as "0 cost" since you get them from the standard banner and lost 50/50s 75/25s over time. Except that is flawed because RNG and time is a factor, as well as player input on what banners they pull on. So it isn't realistic to show in a truly "minimum viable product" scenario.

So, what I want to do is showcase agents and teams that EVERYONE can get, regardless of RNG, spending, and long stretches of time. So that's using craftable wengines, standard s-rank wengines, S-Ranks (of all types) limited to M0 and even A-Ranks (unless they are the focus of the guide) to max M2.

All players, regardless of rng, can get the standard S-Rank Wengines via residuals. Same can be said for A-Rank Agents. Just, both have a time component. So to be fair, that's why I will limit A-Ranks to at most M2 cuz that is something you can reasonably get: featured agent on banner when you pull or slowly buy over 1-3 months with Residual Signals.

Still need to think about a simple term/phrase to accurately and succinctly describe this, since "f2p", "low cost", "gacha-less", and "rng-less" aren't super accurate.

====

Back on topic. My new account finally hit IK lvl 48, so I'll hit 50 by the time Aria comes out by just spending my daily battery. Then I can build and use her (and my other agents...cuz everyone is kind of gearless).

So, my near future plans:
- ZZZ Shop guide out this Wed/Thurs
- Agent Building/Farming guide out Fri/Sat
- Figuring out streaming XD

PC and internet has a love-hate relationship with streaming, so I want to try to hammer that out. Want to get to streaming endgame this week and Pokemon Day stuff (since I'm a huge fan and have saved up some cards to open). At the very least, get everything sorted out by next Wed for when Aria and Yuzuha comes out. Big pull stream on both my accounts, then building Aria and trying her out in endgame. Expect a lot of scuff.

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4 months ago | [YT] | 32

Commander Pika

Hope everyone is enjoying 2.6 and that your Sunna/Yixuan pulls went well!

Mine surprisingly did. Won the 50/50 for Sunna in 35 pulls. (Which for me, is a miracle since I usually go to soft pity and have only won 1 other 50/50)

Got some more ZZZ videos in the works, I just need to speed run my new alt account to get data and footage for the new Hollow Zero mode and sweep currency. So (hopefully) this week and next week you can expect guides on:
- New Hollow Zero mode & sweep currency
- Complete Shops Guide
- Character Building Guide (w/ new "pinned" character build feature)

If you have anything you'd like to see, let me know.
May this adorable Sunna bring you luck this week.

5 months ago | [YT] | 20

Commander Pika

Hey. It's been while. New video in an hour. Let's chat.

6 months ago | [YT] | 4

Commander Pika

Heavy Metal is BACK! Event is similar, but you do need to be aware of a few bugs and tips:

✦ DO NOT launch Heavy Metal from the version located in the tower. It WON'T give you event loot (or even modern loot). Only launch it via the Event Home or Crucible Ops Portal Menu

✦ Complete the quest on all 3 characters to get 3 ranks on the Rewards Track for free (really ez)

✦ XP Values (takes 1,000 per rank): 188XP per match, 500XP per Daily Challenges, 2,250XP per Weekly Challenge. So you can complete all 15 ranks in ~80 games if you just avoided all those challenges and quests.

✦ Loot from the Rewards Shop is based on Guardian Rank (max Tier 4 if GR9). Loot from Heavy Metal activity is based on your POWER Level, Performance, gear equipped, rank, and win/loss. YES you can get T5 weapons, but ONLY if you are 450 power or are lucky to get a prime drop when you are at/above 400. You also need to get some kills in a game and ideally win, otherwise you'll mainly see T2/3s. But that really isn't an issue, as its the perks that matter. Oh, these weapons do have Holofoil (shiny) variants; any drop can be shiny.

✦ If you never got the Gryphon combat vehicle from the previous event, it is the Rank 14 reward.

✦ Those triumph hunting, it isn't too bad. Winning and Rank 15 is the hardest/longest for the base title and remembering to get secondary weapon kills and focusing on the leader is the hard part of the gilding triumphs.

===========

If I had more time (and there were more tweaks) I would have made an updated guide (I did script it out to see), but I just can't. So, good luck to those diving in. The weapons are really special - chill clip on a new rapid-fire slug shotgun, eager edge on a wave frame sword - but don't let FOMO get to you. You don't "NEED" them and by playing, you should hopefully get them if you do want them. New update is next week, so don't worry about power level or getting burned out.

One day I'll make a video XD. Ash & Iron is right around the corner, so maybe that'll be the motivation to get out of my slump.

❤ u
Pika

10 months ago | [YT] | 1

Commander Pika

Long time no see; let's catch up. Edge of Fate is only a few hours away and I can't wait to dive in (and I hope you are excited too). Apologies for the silence and lack of uploads. With so many big changes coming in this expansion, general sentiment/toxicity in the D2 community getting to me, and some IRL stuff, I shifted focus from making guides and took the time to take a break (and actually play other games XD). [note: I had written and recorded many videos during this break....just nothing materialized. :/ ]

But with Edge of Fate, this is a brand new start: new era, huge systems changes, and a world of wonder. I know I won't be fast or frequent, but I hope the quality and depth is worth it. Back to making guides to help everyone enjoy the world of Destiny.

Have fun to all of you jumping in today. If you are hesitant on the game (like you haven't purchases the expansion yet), that's all good. Just watch along or dive in for yourself. [I'll try to stream it on twitch if there are no issues. Hopefully yt streams soon]. A LOT of the changes are free (Portal, Armor and weapons 3.0, firing range, etc) and you'll get a small taste of the expansion. And if you skipped other expansions of D2, the open access period of all pre-EoF stuff is still going on for another week.

Til next time.

<3 u
Pika

11 months ago | [YT] | 5

Commander Pika

✦ Legendary Weapon Database [Beta] is FINALLY Here! ✦
I've mentioned this a couple times in the past, but one of my active projects was to get an accurate database of all CURRENTLY obtainable Legendary Weapons in D2. Other sources are inaccurate, rely on API data, and/or spread across multiple sites and sources. I wanted to create 1 accurate source. Plus, this takes me back to my roots as the first thing on my channel was talking about currently available weapons for F2P players - and it would be something I'd update and reference when making my GM and activity guides.

Now, this is still in Beta, so if you want to contribute, feel free to give it a look over and reply here with any feedback: corrections you find, questions, somethings you want to see or change, etc. Plan is to finalize this before Rite of the Nine launches later in the episode. To be able to use the filters/search, just save a copy of the spreadsheet.

✦ So what is this spreadsheet? ✦
A database of ALL currently obtainable Legendary Weapons in D2. The priority are the most important information on weapons and weapon farming: are they available, what restrictions do they have, what DLCs do you need to own, what are their sources, are their any levels of focusing or attunement, and are they craftable/enhanceable. This is along with the basics of the weapon (element, archetype, etc) and links to other sources to directly view their perks. (Available perks are planned for the spreadsheet - eventually - but will never be an optimal way to truly compare weapons and craft your god roll.

The objective is to be able to look up a weapon (or type of weapon) and figure out how you can get it. (So if I want to find Palindrome or look for all void Hand Cannons, I can filter the results and then hunt what is possible for me). You could also do the reverse, look at different weapons sources, categories, are criteria and find what weapons you can get. (Ex. Looking for all the competitive crucible weapon, all the craftable weapons that are F2P, etc).

✦ What are the main sections? ✦
Currently, there are 4 main pages, which will expand over time. Tl;dr:
1) Information: main landing page of the sheet. Gives you an overview of the tabs, the current version (with number and most recent changes), and the main thesis.
2) Changelog: this is the list of all changes made to the sheet - date, version number, and what was changed/updated. It also explains what each parts of the version number means (as there is a method to the madness)
3) Legend: this explains ALL of the different categories and options in the main database. If you have a question on what something means or need more details (as the main database tries to be as sucinct as possible), look here.
4) Database: Legendary Weapons: This is the main spreadsheet. All weapons and their various categories.

✦ What is missing? ✦
Since this is a Beta, there are things intentionally missing and things that need answers. For the former, curated weapon rolls (like the fixed rolls from the season pass, Redrix Estoc from Comp placements) are left out. These will be listed as separate entries from their "RNG" counterparts since they have unique acquisition paths and are unique weapons. For the latter, some weapons from season of defiance (the class swords) don't have a source to my knowledge. Want to make sure that they aren't obtainable anymore.

✦ The Future ✦
Short Term: flesh out the language and mistakes in the next week or so. Focus is on the important weapons and information. Curated weapons will probably be missing. Then make a video and post going in-depth on how to use the spreadsheet and explain all the weapon sources in the game.
Long Term: Feature updates whenever I get the chance. That'll be: adding all curated weapons, weapon perks, loot tables for Raids and Dungeons, weekly/seasonal calendar for all rotations and loot tables, and more.

So, yeah. Happy to finally be at this step. Help and feedback isn't required, but it is greatly appreciated. Comment here, or those in the PVE Science Discord can find the forum post on it. Happy hunting!
- Pika

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1esTlBDTepZ79CSmrxj…

1 year ago | [YT] | 11