Commander Zavala & the Traveler’s Chosen

So, I won’t put any spoilers here since this quest line is still very new to the game and there are still, undoubtedly, many people who are working on it. But, since the lore is very accessible on the Ishtar collective – I’ll kind of talk about it but won’t at the same time, if that makes sense.

First, let me start off by saying that you can get ahold of this lore by either visiting the Ishtar Collective here, or by checking out Byf over on YouTube who goes into a lot of this in-depth. But – cliff’s notes for what I’m going to be talking about here?

With the darkness returning, all of the dark little tid bits all over the place are gearing up – including the Ahmakara bones – like the one that Shaxx keeps netted up over his freaking head. And apparently, according to some lore entries, something… somewhere… is watching the tower through it. We don’t know who or what but it’s got it’s creepy dark little slimy eye dead set on…. well, you can probably guess based upon the title of this post. This may or may not be a spoiler but since this information doesn’t directly pertain to the quest, I’m going to call it easily accessible lore and there for out of the realm of spoilers.

But… we’ve been seeing Zavala kind of… withdraw, ever since Cayde was killed. A lot of fans wanted to think that Zavala didn’t care about Cayde and was basically unaffected by his death simply because he didn’t want revenge against Uldren. Oh, he wanted it. He just simply couldn’t act on it and here’s why.

“We are not an army, we are not conqueres.” That line is actually very important. Think about that for a moment. Guardians are immortal, barring what happened with Ghaul and the red war, and even then – Guardians are hard as hell to kill. Imagine if they all got together and decided they were a legit army? They couldn’t be stopped. Now, people – humans – don’t like strange and different other people. You think the mortal humans of the city look on the guardians kindly and perfectly all the time? No. There are a few neighborhoods in that entire big ass city where Guardians can live alongside normal people. That’s it. Everywhere else? No Guardians allowed. Because people are scared of them, or they straight up have a huge distaste for them (-cough-Hawthorne-cough-). Either way, imagine if Guardians started looking less like a group of beings that kind of did stuff kind of over… there… in small groups… and started looking more like a big ass group with a single mission? Yeah. Because the Red Legion came for the city, right? Nope, they came for the Traveler and the light, and yes, the Guardians. So – Guardians absolutely cannot appear to be an army of any kind. And banding together, even to avenge a fallen friend? That’s a hard no. And Zavala knows this. He knows that if they decide to go off half cocked, which he knows damn near all hunters will at the drop of a hat if given word one to do so – and if they do end up starting some crazy ass war with the Reef and the Awoken? Who, then, is going to suffer their revenge scheme? The people in the city. Not the guardians – they’ll just get rezzed and be fine. But the people? Not so much. So, Zavala doesn’t have the luxury of thinking in terms of right now. So, he literally can’t condone it.

But since that moment… he’s been… noticeably different. He’s been… sadder. Losing his light changed him and then losing Cayde? It was like a reminder that things were never going to be the way they were before. His relationship with Ikora is fractured, the Vanguard is crumbling before his very eyes and it appears he just doesn’t have the will to want to save it at all. Basically speaking, we’ve got a commander that looks like he’s dealing with some serious depression. A crisis of faith. PTSD from losing his light. A strong warrior like him suddenly rendered powerless? That’s a hard thing to deal with for him and yet, he can’t deal with any of it because he’s the Commander. He has to appear strong, still a leader, still right there in the forefront.

And if you go read about that slimy spy in that skull – with its eye on Zavala – you can read about how it sees that gaping hole in him, where his faith used to be. His faith in the Traveler. Because he doesn’t believe the Traveler will save them anymore. Why? Because she didn’t. It’s a classic crisis of faith only he’s not angry about it – I don’t think he has the strength to be angry anymore. I think he’s dead ass tired of it. Something, I’m sure, all guardians go through at some point. And that hole inside of him isn’t going to be left empty for long if that spy has anything to say about it. It’s going to get filled up with darkness. Don’t forget – Zavala’s awoken and that actually matters here. Awoken have the capacity to have both great light and great darkness inside of them and they have to operate on a knife’s edge – not having too much of one or the other. That’s why they’re so damned creepy most of the time and that’s why Uldren was so easy to corrupt. It only takes a nudge. Most of the time, they can balance just fine – because they’re surprisingly strong of mind but when they’re hurt, when they’re struggling (for Uldren, loosing his sister fucked him all up – for Zavala… losing his light, losing Cayde… losing the life he once had…) when they’re like that? It’s so very easy for them to fall to the darkness that’s already inside of them and then? To have more darkness be poured in? Fuck that. It’s usually over. Uldren was oddly lucky, being spit out the way he was. But Zavala’s going to be consumed from within if he’s not careful… but with his depression – will he even notice that he’s being eaten alive? Will he even care?

I’ve got a really bad feeling that he’s going to be the next character we lose and it worries me.

Anastasia Bray and Rasputin

Y’all.... I cannot stop thinking about the whole possibility of Rasputin being turned into an Exo. I mean... come on. What if... oh man, there are so many what if’s. So, spoiler warning up front because this is going to get into some apparently data-mined information or supposedly “leaked” info or whatever. But first…

Let’s talk about the EXO program created by Bray Tech. I find the Exo’s to be extremely interesting. The entire concept has been done quite a few times over in various genres and games/stories/worlds. We saw something similar in Dragon Age Origins with the Golems. Unwilling or willing souls being put into stone bodies so they could basically be impervious to harm and essentially be super soldiers. The whole “robo cop” thing and “master chief”, hell even Fallout 4 did something with the robo-brains. It’s been done, a lot. But, I think, Destiny has done it the most… comprehensively. There’s a huge backstory to go along with them and a lot of complexities. Not to get too technical because I’m not going to go all lore-in-depth on this but… the EXO program was so incredibly controversial for the EXO’s that they won’t even talk about it. From what I understand, they are the ones that shut that shit down and they damn sure won’t talk about it. None of them will. Now, not all of them even remember it but those that do – won’t say shit. Because the EXO program was jacked up. For starters, as it always is, not everyone was a willing participant. And, as usual, a lot of people died during the program. I mean, it was an experiment. There were bound to be casualties as they figured out how to make it work. But some of the casualties were… unnecessary. Bray Tech suffered severely from the “science brain” thing. Some of the early Exo’s went insane because they were people… trapped in robot bodies. Something any regular, random, laymen would be like “well… duh, of course they went crazy” about. But, something that flew right over the scientists heads. Basically, what ended up having to happen was they had to give Exo’s the physical ability to eat, drink, sleep, and… do… other things. Yeah, that. –droll stare-. So, for all the fan fic writers out there, there you go. They have the equipment. Because people want, people crave, covet, desire and to not be able to fulfill those things? To not be able to sate those desires? They go fucking crazy. And crazy people do crazy shit and when you put crazy people in basically indestructible metal insanely strong bodies, bad things can happen. So, a lot of people died before they figured this basic shit out. Then once they figured that out, if the Exo’s didn’t do what they were told, basically, they just reset them. Scrambled things up just enough so that they were compliant again. And basically kept them as slaves. Now, everyone knows how that works out in the end. So, from what I understand, the Exo’s shut down the Exo program so that there couldn’t be any more Exo’s made because it fucking sucks. Yeah, it sounds great, be strong – be basically immortal – live forever – never get hurt! Yeah! But it sucks. As most guardians can probably attest to after a few centuries of watching people and places just kind of… fade away. I’m still not entirely clear on how Exo’s become guardians, especially if they haven’t actually died yet… or if it’s like… they’re just… shut down or in stasis or like in “sleep mode” or something. I don’t know. Anyway! That’s the Exo part and that’s only a fraction of what Bray Tech did. (They also built Rasputin, who fucked humanity over in a big way but in that way of logic. Sacrifice 1 to save 100 kind of way only he did it on a much bigger scale. Again, robo-brain, i-robot, it’s apparently what AI’s are just going to do…) So yeah… moving on.

Okay, unpopular opinion here... but... I cannot stand Ana Bray. Well, kind of, okay, let me explain. First, let me say that as a character, Ana is adorable. But she’s not without her flaws, which is what makes her a good character. She’s incredibly well written and that’s what makes her great. She’s got a rich history and backstory, she comes from an incredibly interesting family and franchise or whatever you want to call it but… yeah… the Anastasia Bray... thinks that her family? Was like... the greatest ever. That they... didn’t do anything wrong. When... erhm... they did a lot wrong. But! She thinks... or appears to think... that they... didn’t? Or rather, that the ends justified the means. So, like, even though the entire Exo program was horrible. Completely and 100% unconscionable... she supports it. Because it gave the world such great and wonderful golden age technology and advancements. And that, that right there - that thinking? That’s what makes her a Bray. Now, I know the arguments. People can go back and forth all day long about whether or not technological advancements should happen and personally? I think that they should but that scientists should still maintain their moral compasses and take those moments to really think about what they’re doing. Like... maybe don’t force people into robot bodies and then effectively kill them because they’ve gone insane... because you put them in a robot body! Anyway... and then there’s that whole faking her death thing. But not for the reasons one might think. I mean, she saw an out and damn she took it - good on her. But it was the reason she took it that was kind of shitty. I’m not saying Guardians shouldn’t go looking for who they were before, that’s fine though often, you won’t like what you find down the rabbit hole but you might? So, who knows. But... she did abandon people she called friend to chase after it. And that would be fine as long as she stayed gone not pop back up all “oh yeah... this is my pet robot...” Which, by the way, her view of is so incredibly skewed, it’s not even funny. You can see the beginnings of it when you go get the shard to tempt Xol with in the EDZ when Rasputin damn near kills your ass and Zavala’s all “how’d you get him to do that?” And she’s all “I asked him... he listens to me.” Which are two entirely different things but she apparently doesn’t understand that. Highlighted further by the fact that Rasputin doesn’t listen to her for shit. He doesn’t listen to anyone. He’s an extremely advanced, extremely traumatized, extremely homicidal AI, that has been isolated from any interactions other than extreme hostility from all fronts until this one person comes along (Ana) and is all “oh he listens to me, he’s my friend, I’m his buddy” and he might look at her like that but come on... he damn sure isn’t all “friends! my glorious friends!!!” And if he is? He isn’t going to be all 100% sure what friendship actually means.

Also, if Ana did slap his ass onto what amounts to a hard drive? He’s going to freak out. He is literally going to go insane, just as her ghost warns. He’s going to fucking flip. Imagine being able to be damn near everywhere all the time and then suddenly what? You’re here. Only. Right there. No where else. You’re in a box. A cage. He’s going to fucking flip out. If he doesn’t straight up try to kill her, or kill her ghost because he knows how the whole guardian thing works – he damn sure isn’t going to stick around. He’ll bolt, he’ll leave, he’ll get the fuck away from her, probably in a blind panic. And that’s the end of my speculation, I’m sure he’ll try desperately to find a way to… transfer himself back into his old… hardware? Or something.

But… fantasy type speculation time… because this wouldn’t actually happen in game but might be canon – like… how Eris is apparently our bestie canonically.

Wouldn’t it be fucking wicked if like… Rasputin went to find us? Like, our guardian and just fucking showed up? And we didn’t know who he was at all, just some random Exo? And then he spoke, desperate sounding freaky ass Russian? (Which always bugs me, the fucker knows English, he just speaks his version of Russian to be an ass.) And imagine our guardian being all “WHAT THE FUCK?!?” Because Rasputin?! An Exo?! OH OH OH And we take him to Zavala because what else are we going to do with him?! And our ghost is like “this is a way bad idea…” and we’re like, again, “well, what else are we going to do with him!” And Zavala’s like “…..” And Rasputin’s like “…..” And then it’s a huge game of keep the two titans away from each other because Rasputin? Oh, he’d have titan qualities, he wouldn’t be one because he wouldn’t be a guardian but he’d damn sure be close. OH OH OH And he’d have the Valkyrie! So, he’d be like a Warlock? OH OH OH!!!! And Ikora’s just like “why is this my life? –ugh-“ And we’re like dragging this Exo away who’s damn near screaming obvious threats at Zavala in some freaky ass computer Russian and Zavala’s just simmering, telling anyone who will listen that he wants that thing out of the tower. So where do we take him? OH OH OH!!! We take him to Ada-1. Because what else are we going to do with him!!!!! And then Ada-1 is all “Who is this?” And we’re like “You don’t want to know.” And she’s like “Actually I do, which is why I asked.” And then suddenly he’s like “Rasputin.” And we’re like “I knew you spoke English, you asshole!” And Rasputin is just all staring at some of the gun mock-ups and Ada’s like “… is he okay?” And we’re like “uh… so fucking far from okay it’s not funny.” Meanwhile, Ana’s burning up Zavala’s comm link and ours all “RASPUTIN IS AN EXO AND HE’S FUCKING MISSING!” And finally we bark back “WE FUCKING KNOW YOU GOD DAMN PSYCHO WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING!” And then she’s like “Oh thank the Traveler, he’s with you.” Like he’s some god damned run-away teenager that was like I’m going to go live with Dad! rawr! And then we hear the fucking Drifter all “well, well, well, who do we have here.” And we’re like “Fucking nobody, Eli, go back to your bank.” And Rasputin’s like “garble-garble-Russian-garble-Valkyrie-DIE!” And Ada’s all “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!” And Ghost is just like “ugh…” And we’re just like “Fucking kill him, Rasputin, I don’t even care at this point.” And you aren’t going to do anything until you hear Eli make a strange sound that sounds like some kind of weird rat squealing in pain and then you have to run down the hall because the Drifter ran, he’s not stupid, and you have to pull Rasputin off of him and it’s like Terminator 3 and you’re just like “how did my life end up like this.” And then you hear Calus over there tapping into his little stooge all “Guardian?? Is that… you…” and you’re like “SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU GOD DAMNED CREEP.” And you finally get Rasputin off world. And now you have an Exo side-kick and Zavala’s not talking to you and the Drifter’s trying to buy him from you and Calus is sending you little heart emoji’s and Ana’s begging you to bring him back and Ada’s suggesting you take him to some weird undisclosed location and your ghost is just lamenting about how things used to be when hive Princes and Taken Kings were the only things you had to worry about.

Wow… that kind of got out of hand… but then again, Rasputin being an Exo would make everything get out of hand.

An Open Letter to Bungie - Updated

With the recent commencement of the 2020 Solstice of Heroes, Destiny 2 has, once again, brought one of its most glaring defects to the forefront, in my humble opinion. I’m not talking about the discord over last year’s fumble of silver in exchange for glow effects in armor that was quickly rendered useless. No, I’m talking about an issue that is more systemic in the game itself and has been since it’s initial launch. Perhaps it’s because Destiny itself is such a community centered game that this issue has gone seemingly unnoticed by many. However, I am sure that I’m not alone in my thinking when I say that Destiny 2 does a very poor job of straddling the line between a single player first person shooter game and a massively multiplayer online game. Allow me to elaborate, though I can only speak on my experience with Destiny 2. Though I have played Destiny 1 – it has been as a single player only while Destiny 2, I have had the pleasure of experiencing it with a fireteam a time or two.

Upon starting Destiny 2 – you begin the game alone. In fact, almost all of the story missions as well as the expansions – all of those initial “quests” are done alone. Even if you were previously in a fire team, you will be going through them alone once you initiate them. And, in my opinion, that’s a good thing. It removes the waiting that you might experience if you were required to have a fireteam for the entire game. Your inventory, your characters, and more recently – the choices you have made are all shaping your character. This is amazing and I adore it. By far, the best part of the entire game.  That’s not to say that the multiplayer aspect of it is some less – far from it. Joining up with other players in strikes, the crucible, and other events is one of the many high pointes of the game. It’s a lot of fun and while it can bring with it a certain set of challenges – that’s to be expected when you throw in a few unknown elements. You toss in clans and you have the opportunity to create something truly inspiring. And, from what I understand, nothing in Destiny is better than completing a raid. I say it that way because I’ve never done one. That’s the other side to this. There is this whole other side of the game that I will probably never experience, especially come November 10th when Leviathan will officially be locked in the vault for the foreseeable future. And, while I am bummed, it’s alright. I’ve been playing Destiny 2 since it launched, I pre-ordered it and everything. And I haven’t set foot in a raid with a fireteam. Haven’t been able to get one together. Because I don’t have any real friends that play the game and I am painfully shy. Not to mention the fact that I’m a mid-thirties woman. That tends to create a bit of a problem when trying to get a group together. But, it is what it is and I’m okay with that – since there really isn’t any other option. But that leads me to the main point of this letter. Forced participation.

For example – the Lore seal. I am literally two things away from completing it. I have been two things away for months. The two things? One ahamkara bone and one corrupted egg. Both locked behind boss walls in the Last Wish raid. I’ve gotten the others, accessible via the wish wall. But, since I haven’t been able to get a raid team together… there you have it. For a single player like me, the Lore seal is literally impossible to get, even though it is not a raid seal, which there is one of those. But this is not that. This is a game wide Lore seal. Additionally – this year’s Solstice of Heroes armor set, to achieve “Majestic” level on all the various pieces, will require a fireteam. Not one that is match made. No, one that I have to supply myself. Just like last year. Last year, I managed to get everything done that I could without a fireteam. I don’t have a dog in the fight of the argument over the glow effects because… I never got any. Never could. And this year looks like it will end up being the same. I pre-ordered Destiny 2. Later bought Destiny 1. I’ve pre-ordered every expansion, I’ve always held a season pass. And I’ve pre-ordered Beyond Light, Deluxe Edition. And while I’m paying for the full game… I’m only getting about three quarters the content.

Let me make one thing very clear – I have never even thought to complain about not being able to get raid gear, guns, armor, seals, or triumphs. Because they come raids. Raids require a full fireteam. I’ve never thought to complain about not being able to get the raid seal or the Dreaming City seal, which relies heavily on the Last Wish raid. Because… raids require a full fireteam.

But when an event comes out that claims to be “for all”… and it simply isn’t – it can be rather disheartening to even continue the event when you know you aren’t going to be able to complete it. I play a hunter main… and this year’s requirements for the Majestic set are:

• Helmet: Complete a Nightfall: The Ordeal Strike on Master difficulty. – This requires your own fireteam. I just finished a Nightfall tonight with a match made fireteam. People I’ve never played with before, wearing Tier 2 Solstice Armor – and we finished with a score of over 100k in the Ordeal Strange Terrain. So, I can clearly hold my own. A suitable substitute for this would be to do just that – Hero and 100k. Which isn’t easy by any means.
• Gauntlets: Complete a Nightmare Hunt on the Moon – This is something everyone can do.
• Chest: Complete the Pit of Heresy Dungeon on the Moon – Again, requires your own fireteam. Technically, you can solo this but it’s insanely hard, as in – only the best can do it. A suitable substitute would be some more EAZ runs – since the area’s apparently forgotten entirely for this step of the event. It can even be an insane number like 100.
• Boots: Win matches in Trials of Osiris. – This is again, something everyone can do – from what I understand.
• Cloak: Defeat the final boss in Altars of Sorrow on the Moon. – Another thing everyone can do.

So, for me – the things I’m going to struggle with completely are going to be the Helmet and the Chest. The Chest is going to be the hardest, but, I’ll try to find some people to play with. The thing is – the Solstice of Heroes even is supposed to be “for all”. But when you lock the final steps behind required fireteam activities – then it isn’t “for all”. It’s for “MMO” players. Which, Destiny is not completely made of.

Let me say that I adore Destiny, obviously. I think it’s a wonderful game, it’s beautiful and the stories are amazing. The lore is immersive and the worlds are stunning. Honestly, this is literally the only problem I have with the game, but, it’s a big one. The thing is though, it’s so easily fixable. I really do hope that you, Bungie, consider this option, this path, as you continue on your own – shaping Destiny into the aw-inspiring game that it can continue to be. I know that it was mentioned before that “choices” were going to become more a part of the game and for that, I cannot wait to see what will happen, what the future will hold. I really do believe that Destiny can comfortably have one foot in choice based, RPG first person shooter and in amazing MMO. Destiny can continue to be the game that other MMOs are compared to.

Signed, A Destiny Player. 

*Updated 8/17/2020

A correction to the above open letter that I felt necessary to post. The armor set for this year's solstice of heroes event doesn't have to be made "Magnificent" in order to get the glowy bits. However, if you want glowy bits that you don't pay for, either by silver or an insane amount of bright dust, you will have to go magnificent. Which, I wrongly refer to as Majestic most of the time above. I do so apologize for any confusion on that one. Also, it's probably worth noting that the glowy bits you purchase from Eververse are universal ornaments while the glowy bit you earn is not. So, there's that. 

Girls in Gaming Series Intro

So, until I get way better at writing content for this, just be forewarned that a lot of these posts are going to kind of be all over the place.

Obviously, I'm female - and as such being a "gamer" or even called a gamer can be... tricky. Especially when confronted with mic-required content in games like Destiny. When most players are male, or at least most who are on the mic are - it can be a roll of the dice for a female player to actually speak during anything like that.

Typically, I avoid any mic-required content, that includes raids. Because I've yet to find an all female or at least female friendly clan that is actually active. Yes, here we are year whatever more than one on Destiny 2 and I have played both Destiny 1 and 2 and have never done a raid. Not because I don't want to but because I'm painfully shy.

Now, that's not to say that I have never spoken on the mic in game, I have and, while, a few times it's been fine there have been others where... okay so you, as a female, will speak and it's followed by a deafening silence. And you just know that the dudes are going "... is that a girl?..." and if a girl is lucky when that happens, it's just glossed over like nothing happened and they're treated fine. Or, more often than not, they pretty much will ignore her from there on out. And, yes, it does happen - she can be met with harassment to put it lightly.

Now, I'm a solo-player, I'll touch more on that in another post but for now, let's just say that unless it had mechanics that basically required a mic, I have done it. I've done Shattered Throne, I have every Ahamkara bone except the two that are past encounters in the Last Wish raid (I even go in there and loot that ONE chest every week, so I know the wish wall - I even have the freaking triumph associated with making like 15 wishes or something), I have every stupid egg except that ONE in the raid. I've got Whisper, I've got Bad Juju, etc. My hunter exotic collection is literally only missing what's in the raids.

Anyway - I digress, the point here is that I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a shitty player. I know my stuff and while I may not always have the highest kill count in strikes or crucible, I almost always have the highest assists and revives given. And I'm okay with that. It doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is that there is this whole chunk of content that I can't do solo and am forced to deal with other people, who will more than likely be men.

For example: I was playing Destiny 1 about a month ago (yes, I so go back and forth) and I was on my hunter Exo, Wyatt-3. Yeah, he's a dude but that's hardly an accurate representation of the player - there are a lot of dudes who have female characters and it's fine. Anyway, I was invited by a group in world to join in their play, I accepted because why not, right? Now, this is on me because I have done zero research into the Vault of Glass beyond knowing that you have to shoot the glowing squares. I was a part of their group for about 10 minutes before I just left, because, while I was setting up my mic (finding it and plugging it in because I generally won't play with it plugged in if I'm just using the headphones because it's late and the houses is asleep), anyway! While I was setting up my mic, I hear one that we're apparently doing a raid... okay... why not right? But also while I'm loading in I hear in the group chat or whatever the constant reference to "he" and "him" (referring to me). Now, that's not necessarily bad, by any means, but it usually is a small blinking red light in the corner of the psyche that the fact that the automatic assumption is that I'm a dude is there. But, I don't fault them for it, not really. I mean, my gamer tag is fairly ambiguous and I am playing a dude character. So, I get my mic set up, finally get to the doorway which I've been totally left behind at this point. I greet them "hey guys" and say something along the lines of "yeah, so I've never done this... where do I jump to?" (literally, totally the only one out of six that was standing in the beginning, trying to jump here and there, etc and completely dying every time). Then, there was that dead silence for a good thirty seconds before I hear, "Oh... so... you're a girl?" (insert not amused face here). When I say yeah, and am all like "I'd like to do this but I honestly have no idea how to even get to where you guys are." One of the guys started snickering, which could be easily chalked up to him being all "haha noob". (I'm level 40 thank you very much and have done all of the campaigns.) Then one of the guys starts trying to explain where to jump, in rather vague terms like "look over there on the wall, there's a ledge, that's where you need to go and then just kind of follow it around" (anyone who has stood at the start of that raid knows that you are quite literally surrounded by walls...) And so, I ask, "The vex wall or the cave wall?" Because I, once again, kept dying. The same guy sighs and starts to speak only to be interrupted by another one of them that goes "you'll have to be more specific dude, she is a girl." And the first sort-of helpful guy goes, in a tone not joking either, "this is true." Followed by me just going "wow... yeah, y'all have fun." And I left because why? There's no dealing with people like that.

This is by far not the only encounter like this that I've personally had. It's not all bad, the dudes that I ran Shattered Throne with were really cool. I've also run Shattered Throne with a couple of girls, which was fun and they were super helpful, meanwhile, I was pretty much the one leading those dudes around to collect the bones and stuff because they didn't know where to go, which I didn't mind at all. I had been the one with videos up and at the ready, so that was fine.

The point is... encounters like the one I described are the exact reason a lot of gamer girls won't talk in things like that, they'll just be in the chat like "oh, I don't have a mic" or "my mic's busted" when in reality, (while that might be true) they just don't want to deal with the very real and possible bullshit that comes along with basically revealing yourself as female in a gaming setting.

Now, this doesn't change the way I look at games like Destiny, it just reinforces the solo mentality. I've been playing D2 since it came out and I've completely nearly every seasonal challenge, I've done pretty damned good and I've done it all with zero clan help when I was in one.

I'd love to find an all girl clan that is active or at least a clan that's fine with female gamers. I've thought about starting my own but honestly, I have so many projects that I would constantly feel that I'm somehow neglecting it. I've applied to the 100 Girls in Destiny or Girls of Destiny clan or whatever but haven't heard anything back. I plan to go clan-shopping again because I seriously want to complete the Leviathan raid now that they're taking it off of the game in November. I'd like to do all of the raids, honestly.

So, to wrap it up - girls in gaming do have to deal with BS from other male players, it's real and it's a well known thing. And it's sad that the Destiny community does have these assholes in it, they're out there - among you, right now. If you're a dude and you're in a group where shit like what I described goes down, you should butt in and be all "uh... dude, no." And if you don't, well then, you're just part of the problem. 

First thing's First.

So, let's just get this out there straight out of the gate. Not only do I like gaming but I also do fan-art and fan-fiction. Yep, I'm one of those people. Now, I'm going not going to share the fan-fiction here but I make zero promises about the art, in fact, I'll probably put one at the end of this post.

Because I write and draw... I tend to have a lot of characters spread out over the various games I frequently play. And when I say a lot... I mean... a lot. 

Just for example, the game I play with the smallest number of OC's that I have is Destiny. And I have about... 7 guardians or so? Plus a few other non-guardian OC's. And each one has a story. (Don't worry, no stories here). The game with the most OC's is by far Dragon Age, but come on... that's three games to spread them out over. There's bound to be a lot. Probably over twenty all together and then some. Some more developed than others, some fly-by-night thoughts. I've written stories as short as a thousand words and some as long as 60,000 words (not even kidding). I've made videos of my characters and I have folders of art for them. That's the coolest thing, IMO, about games. They inspire art of all kinds, even if that art never leaves your own mind. 

So, because of that, I'm super open to a lot of ships and so on. Yes, ships. 

Anyway, clearly there are going to be some games that I am obsessed with like and some that I enjoy but honestly know very little lore about. Currently, my big attention game is Destiny. More 2 than 1 but still both. And of course, the news drop day before yesterday... yeah. But I'm not going to go into that in this post, otherwise it'll be forever long. But I am going to write about... oh yes... I will write about it. 

Anyway, I'll sign off here for now and leave you with my most recent piece of my hunter, John Henry. Yes, it's a long name but he's got a long history and yes... it is that John Henry.