Yea, I found the hard mode raids too hard. And I wasn't one of the best players in my group (but middle of the pack), and didn't like being #### on for not getting things done. But also frustrated me that in order to get the best loot, you had to do the raids (and hard mode raids), and the best guns to use in the hard mode raids happened to be the guns that you previously acquired from doing hard mode raids. So there wasn't even anything you could do individually on the side to grind out a better weapon for the next run.
I much prefer strikes, and winning by some light 'cheesing'. Not the glaring exploits that people discover and are then patched, but things like finding cover where the AI can't easily get you and carefully, methodicaly picking away at the boss (which I would call a solid strategy, but others would call cheesing, including Bungie when they patched some strikes to reset progress if you were hanging back too much). I had a blast doing Nightfalls like this, with and without a fireteam.
So I started playing again, and worked a character up to about level 305. Hoping I can be in somewhat respectable shape for the next Iron Banner. A few things in the Crucible I still find infuriating:
- I constantly get 1-shotted with a shotgun from what seems like 20ft away. And yet when I try to use a shotgun, I often fail to kill anybody with 3 shots, from what seems like an ever closer range. I know lag pays a part in this, but still doesn't make sense.
- Similarly for fusion rifles. At least I can get a few one shot kills, but from an in-your-face rage. But again, I seem to get one shot from 20-30ft away. From that distance, I can barely damage anybody with a fusion rifle.
On the other hand, things that are incredibly satisfying:
- Setting up the perfect tripmine, so that that someone turns the corner, you hit them with a few shots, and they advance, falling into your trap.
- Throwing knife headshots
- Taking on a fireteam of 3-4 well-coordinated players with a ragtag team of individuals, and beating them.