Destiny
51 Achievements
1,250
310-400h
Public Defender
Earn the highest tier of completion in 10 public events.
20
How to unlock the Public Defender achievement in Destiny - Definitive Guide
Complete public events around any of the planets 10 times with a gold tier rating to unlock.
Extra Information:
What are public events?
Public events are "random" events that occur when patrolling. It's also possible to run into these during the open world parts between mission instances too since you are essentially put in the shared world where they occur.
They ask you to do things such as take down the devil walker/Defend the Warsat/Kill X before it gets to X /Defeat the extraction crews and Prevent the vex sacrifices etc etc. They generally will have some form of time limit to accomplish them.
You will know one has occurred as the sky gets very dark momentarily and a notification/way point should/will appear directing you to it.
The highest tier you can get for completing one of these events is "gold". This can be done alone (Especially higher levels on lower level worlds like Earth etc) but of course it is much easier if others join in. Be it fireteam or randoms in the world.
So far it seems completing the event before the time runs out should net you the gold or the majority of events. HOWEVER, some do appear to need something more. For example the event to stop the vex sacrifices on Venus. Simply allowing even just 2-3 vex sacrifice themself will net you only silver-bronze so you need an almost perfect run at it for the gold. Thanks to HolyHa1fDead for that info.
If you manage to complete these events with a Gold tier rating 10 times it should unlock.
Spawn times:
EDIT:
I got a few messages about this link: It's a handy site that tells you (with countdowns) which event is due when and is auto updated so you need just check/watch the site http://destinypublicevents.com/. It's not infallible but it often provides good rough times.
Using it as a guide it may be possible to make a circuit and grind out vanguard marks. You receive 4 marks per gold tier for example. (Three for silver and 2 for bronze.)
It should also be noted that sometimes instead of a PE you'll get the message "The enemy is moving against one another" and an AI enemy fight will break out instead.
Also DesertFoxHunter has a solution for a one area grind if you want to work through bounties, do public events and get the achievement. You can find that under the following spoiler also.
It was mentioned that it wasn't working for at least one person but Exalted Entity has mentioned in the comments that sitting idly may not get it to spawn and that someone must be killing the enemies around the area in order for it to trigger ("Calling for backup" as you will). Thanks!
Achievement popping problems:
It should also be noted that people seem to be having trouble unlocking some achievements on this game. You should try going to settings, log out, switch profile, re select your profile and they usually pop just after selecting your character.
You can also try exiting the game fully (not just dashboarding but pressing start and exiting the game whilst on the dash) and starting it up fresh or even a hard reset of your xbox too if the others don't work.
Extra info:
I added a video found on YT by Leon Kaspers. It shows you the sky getting dark prior and shows the fireteam getting a gold taking down the devil walker public event. Just if anyone wanted visuals/examples.
The events I've been apart of in the retail game have also been around that time as well. Not sure if it's just a coincidence or not but now if I go to do patrol missions to farm bounties I make sure to do it closer to that time.
Again could just be a coincidence or I could just be trippin.... but thats the only pattern I've seen so far.
Bronze - If time runs out before the objective is met
Silver - If time runs out but the Guardians manage to almost complete the objective
Gold - If the objective is completed before the timer runs out
You get 4 Vanguard marks for gold, 3 for silver, 2 for bronze.
Types of Public Events(as of now):
I found this site while i was searching for spawn times, tried it once and it was spot on.
http://jsfiddle.net/9yab3qzq/13/embedded/result/
It was created by a reddit user called eem5.
Here's another site: http://destinypublicevents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQrj7YcXTTI
I also get gold tier in it, its Defeat the Extraction Crews event. Feel free to use in your guide :)
http://destinypublicevents.com/
The highest tier is Gold, (Three gold "flags" will appear on the top of the screen when the public event is over)
Public events happen often, you'll get this over time if you play enough bounties and missions and just join any public event you can.
Bungie is currently setting it up so Public Events will happen every 15 minutes. When that hotfix goes through this will be a lot faster to complete.
You WILL see public events as you're walking towards your missions, strikes, and patrolling as you progress through the game. and again participating should give you a the highest tier of completition.
Public Events occur at set times on the various worlds in the game. You can find the schedule here. If you are near the area where the event is to occur at the proper time, a blue waypoint will show up on your screen, the sky will darken, and your controller will rumble. If you're close enough to the event, a large message will show up on screen to confirm, "Joined Public Event." A Gold rating is earned so long as the missions is a success, by completing the requirements before time runs out or allowing the timer to run out without the objective being destroyed/overrun, depending on the event.
Public events are found on patrol on Earth, the Moon, Venus, and Mars. The events vary in type from defeating Fallen extraction crews, defending a crashed WarSat, defeating a Fallen tank, killing a target, and preventing Vex sacrifices at a conflux (Venus only). You will have a bit of notice before one appears because the sky will target and your Ghost will say something. They are optional events and can be skipped. You must earn gold tier completion in 10 events. For example, in a Vex sacrifice event, no Vex can reach the conflux to sacrifice themselves.
The public events are timed and they must be completed before the timer runs out for gold tier.
Use destinypublicevents.com to track the timing and location of the next event.
Note: The events with the Taken appearing in areas and Court of Oryx do not count towards this trophy. They are public events, but they are not rated. Therefore, they only count towards your Grimoire score.