Strikes and Raids

Strikes and Raids are the most popular modes currently in Destiny because of their high risk high reward gameplay and are the modes the current community are yearning for Destiny to expand upon as most players see only two real tough tests of skills - The Vault of Glass and Crota's End.


Strike

Strikes are a 3 player based team set up where 3 players will take on a level that is very tough to clear on its own and requires some reviving. This mode can be attempted by a fireteam of friends or a team that has joined each other in the tower. The missions themselves are very long usually taking between 30 and 45 minutes to complete on average. At the end of the strikes players will receive loot as a reward and usually because of the added danger here the loot is equally rare. After 50 strikes the extra armour bits are added to the table - Titan's mark, Warlock's bond and Hunter's cloak.

Vanguard Strikes
Also known as the Strike playlist is a mode where players ply random strikes with increased difficulty in order to gain reputation and marks from their vanguard and maybe earn some gear too. The current difficulties are Eagle (level 18), Viper (level 20), Wolf (level 22),  Tiger (level 24) Roc (level 26). Attempting at higher levels will of course yield better rewards.

Weekly Heroic Strike

Every week a random strike is chosen for players to attempt at level 24 with certain modifiers active to give players more/ less of a chance e.g. Solar Burn: Solar weapons do more damage will all others do less damage. A challenging prospect that yields better rewards. Matchmaking has been recently added to his mode so you can attempt it with random people. Guardians can, if they want, choose to attempt a harder level which will reward more Strange coins, an odd item in Destiny that can be traded to Xur for exotic weapons, armours and shards.

Weekly Nightfall Strike

Very similar to the weekly heroic strike except the Nightfall is played at level 30 no lower and it always includes the Epic and Nightfall modifiers alongside some extra ones the heroic strike didn't have to give it an extra kick. Also matchmaking is no available fr this mode as Bungie (Destiny's developers) have said the mode is too hard to be playing with unorganized teams so it has to be a fireteam of friends who attempt it in order to show co-operation. This mode has a big chance to drop legendary or exotic equipment compared to others along with Strange coins and 6-12 Ascendant Materials. Completing this difficult mode also give Radiant Light, a buff which lasts until the Tuesday weekly reset for Heroic and Nightfall strikes that awards a 25% bonus to all reputation and experience gain (except the Iron Banner Tournament)

Raid

Raids do no have matchmaking mechanics because the mode is far too hard to progress through without some co-operation between the team members. This mode focuses on telling Guardians nothing and they have to figure the way to proceed themselves so communication is key. The raid can be played on normal or hard - normal allows players time to figure out how to move forward and learn how the raid works and strategizing with team members. Hard mode throws deadlier enemies, new behaviors for raid mechanics and a harsh death penalty. However, you cannot choose to attempt a raid straight off in hard mode it must first be completed in normal. On Tuesday however all progress is reset. Raids offer their own exclusive loot to tempt players to attempt these modes and as such has caused a lot of the community to want more raids for more exclusive loot. Both normal and hard mode only drops 1 set of loot each per week so re-attempting the raid again on that difficulty setting is pointless until the reset on Tuesday when you can gain another set of loot. Currently in Destiny there are two raids - Vault of Glass and Crota's End both are highly received for their difficulty and their rewards and will most likely be he mode that is most expanded upon in the future thanks to community feedback.