For those players that are familiar with the raids in Destiny 2, it’s well-known that solid communication is absolutely imperative for a smoother gameplay experience. In another story of our just now made up segment of “Gamers Doing Good”, a group of Destiny 2 veterans are teaming up to make the game’s more challenging aspects more accessible for the hearing impaired.
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This is actually carrying over from the first game, with what was called a community that formed called “Sherpa”, a way for players of all skill levels to enjoy the game’s more challenging features. With Destiny 2, this is targeted towards those with hearing disabilities when taking on events such as the Leviathan Raid. This raid is infamously tough, made even rougher by the addition of Prestige, the raid’s hard mode. Pair that with with a hearing impairment, to some it may seem impossible.
The Sherpa Strategy
Below is the detailed “Sherpa” strategy list for more accessibilityย as per a post on Reddit:
“As someone who is fairly active in the sherpa community, I have been asked several times to take deaf players through the Leviathan raid. Although the new raid can be very unfriendly to the hearing-impaired, we (my clanmates and fellow sherpas) have found the following strategy to be particularly effective when tackling the Gauntlets encounter, even in Prestige mode.
For starters, we usually place the deaf player on Sun plate, which is paired with Dog plate for arrows. However, for Prestige mode, he would start as runner, then move to Sun plate for the last 2 phases. (Note that both the other 2 players for Dog/Sun would need to be comfortable enough with the encounter that later, when the deaf player is outside occupying a plate, they would be able to use the appropriate e-motes to signify which arrows Sun plate would eventually need to shoot)”
Clearing-Adds Phase and Arrows Phase
To clear the adds, we like to have all 6 players start at Sun plate and clear all the adds. Then we move counterclockwise as a group to clear the adds on Dog plate, continuing to do the same on Axe and Chalice. Once we’re done clearing Chalice (the last plate), we all go back to our respective plates to take out the four Imperial Centurions (usually with Merciless). Then the four players on plates get onto their pedestals.
Arrows Phase – As Runner
The deaf player would immediately go grab the psionic charge at Dog to get teleported inside the obstacle course. To signal which arrows Dog and Sun would need to shoot, as the runner is approaching each barrier, he would simply SLIDE if any of the bottom circles are red, HOP (or JUMP) if any of the top circles are red, or just KEEP RUNNING if any of the circles in the middle are red. Of course, the players on each of the outside plates would need to keep a sharp eye out for these signals. The reason we do this is that the runner would be able to speed thru the course without breaking stride to e-mote. Also, its best to have him run first, because there are no holes yet in the obstacle course, making it easier for him to slide or hop.
Obstacle Course Phase
“For the obstacles course, the team would be divided into a 3-person “ODD barriers” team, that would pick up orbs in the 1st and 3rd barriers, and another 3-person “EVEN barriers” team, which would pick up in the 2nd and 4th barriers. With the 9 circles in each barriers given numbers similar to a numerical keypad on a phone (1-9), players on each team are assigned either SMALLEST number, HIGHEST number, or MIDDLE number. That way, no call-outs are necessary throughout the entire obstacle course phase.
Our team was able to successfully complete the Gauntlets encounter without any barriers turning red in the arrows phase, or premature deaths during the obstacles course phase. We were also successful in helping our deaf clanmate beat the entire Prestige raid (although most of the credit for that would be due to his considerable skill). Hi, Descrution :)”
The full thread, and corresponding responses, can be read on the official post right here.
Destiny 2 is available now for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a PC release slated for October 24th.
