The Court of Oryx and you (simple tips to ensure big groups)

So there has been a couple of SGA posts on the CoO, this here is simply to group up the main points made to help folk maximise population in there and understand WHY they might wind up on their own.

 

First and foremost, CoO can hold 9 people in it, HOWEVER if you enter the court on your own (without fireteam buddies), EVEN IF you run in to random strangers in your instance you are taking up THREE SPACES OUT OF THE NINE. This is because the two blank slots in your fireteam essentially reserve two spaces. This can lead to instances where only 3 people are in the court as separate fireteams and take up all 9 slots between the 3 of them. This is bad, so please always make your fireteam public in there and always check to see if other players you find in there have their fireteam set to public. If it is open get the hell in there as it will make moar space for moar peeples! You will have to load in again if you join another fireteam but it means more people so it is worth it, plus gives you time to downvote suckers on reddit during load screens.

 

But therealsinky!!! I go to the court and find nobody there in the first place!!1!

This brings me to the next point that I have seen mentioned a ton of times, but folks seem to keep missing it.

You may not realise but as you walk between areas (like the mausoleum and the court) bungies magical computers start to try and matchmake you into an instance with people. This takes time to do and so you need to take your time too. And if you have potato internet or use McDonalds Wifi then you need to really take your time. Walk towards the court, maybe sit halfway in that tunnel and waste time by making your fireteam public while seeing what runes you have, or come on reddit and downvote me for USING BOLD AND CAPITALS TOO MUCH. Then push forward and see if you have some strangers to mingle with. Remember now, public fireteam, and if those guys have space maybe send them a message to encourage them to make their fireteam public.

 

But therealsinky I have more than a fireteam full of friends (I don't believe you have any friends btw but I'll humour you), what about getting all of them in the court?

Best suggestion I got for you here is for you and your "friends" to start patrol all on your own and each of you make your way to the court on your own, take your time entering as recommended above and tell each other what kind of populated instance you guys have found (does it have 1 guy, or 4 guys in 2 fireteams etc). The stars may have aligned and 2 of you have came into the same instance in the court, in which case join either of those two fireteams you now have in the same instance for up to 6 buddies and then buy a lottery ticket cos your luck is maxed out right now (but this will never happen).

More realistically one of yous will find a good instance with a few randoms in it who will hopefully have space in their fireteams. Decide who has the best instance or load patrol again. Once decided get one buddy to join your fireteam and thus enter your instance of the court. Your leftover friends should try and do the same in another instance to up success rates, as the next steps depend on polite human strangers responding to requests and we all know mankind sucks.

Now one of the other fireteams might be set to public so get your buddy to then jump into their open space (Disclaimer: No one ever has it set to public, so send polite non abusive messages asking the scrub to make his fireteam public, caplocks are optional). YES THIS MEANS ANOTHER LOADING SCREEN AND A JOG AROUND THE COURT OF ORYX ONCE YOU JOIN BUT YOU NEED THE EXERCISE FATTY NOW SPRINT. Also note it has to be the guy that isn't the fireteam leader that swaps fireteams (duh).

With your friend now in another fireteam but still in your instance you can now have two more "friends" join your original fireteam. And if you have even more friends still wanting in then keep shipping your buddies over to other public fireteams in your instance through the art of convincing messages. Or invite them to a party chat but talking to strangers is dangerous kids (and really really awkward).

The randoms might not speak English too so if you get no response from them send a simpler message saying "Public Fireteam please?". If this fails try "Publico Fireteamo Please-o?". This awful message will make them likely rage quit in disgust and an English speaking random may come into your instance at a later time who you can then message, though he may also realise what a terrible human being you are (Please note, huge sarcasm).

If everything goes tits up and no one cooperates, go to orbit and enter patrol again repeating the listed steps and hope for better strangers.

 

TL:DR Always have your fireteam set to public, always walk slowly into the court to increase chances of meeting strangers, don't use mcdonalds wifi to play destiny, bear in mind if you go in on your own you are wasting 2 further spaces (maybe 3 if you suck), join other fireteams if possible and send your buddies off to other fireteams in the instance if you have more than 2 friends wanting to do Court of Oryx with you. Using all of this I have managed to get 4 other friends in to the court, and sometimes it is relatively stress free. But seriously, make your fireteam public in there...

Edit: I'm an ignorant PS4 player (aren't we all on the PS?) and have no idea how xbox users make a fireteam public. On PS4 you open the usual (pause? options?) menu, go to the roster screen, select the little icon at the top of your fireteam roster and change it from "Friends" to "Public". If anyone can tell me how its done on xbox I'll put it up here.

Someone put this up for xbox users: https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2g4uk8/psa_how_to_set_fireteam_to_public_on_xbox_one/

And a further invite to state something obvious I forgot... You can also be the one to invite people into your fireteam. Go make friends guardians.

(Resubmitted properly to appease the gods)