So, Bungie revealed Destiny 2, and it was a 2-hour spectacle. As a Friends and Family Beta tester for Bungie (close to a 4-year player), there’s no doubt I’m super hype for this game. Almost all of the requested items Destiny players have asked for have been incorporated into the game. Clan support is also finally making it into Destiny; so rather than use Bungie.net to get a clan to partake in the Raids, it’s now be part of the game. Clans will schedule from the in-game menu: aids, NFs, and Strikes. They can also hand pick new members, add players with no Clans to help them in game activities, and now design their own Clan banners.
Matchmaking is finally part of Raids and Nightfalls, called Guided Games. Usually, these were off-limits and hindered some single player people into never enjoying the end game activities. They also incorporated things even the most “casul” Destiny players craved: longer story missions, campaigns, more in-game activities, and the ability to join public events right from the director (the game’s map). Oh–and no more having to go into Orbit to do random things, thus equating to a lot less load times. Sidequests will be part of the game (p.s. they already were, but, now, reward-specific loot will drop along with bosses). Exploration–due to larger maps–will be part of that activity, too. The Crucible will now be 4v4 only and everything was reworked. Countdown, Bungie’s first Attack/Defend mode, takes advantage of the 4v4 aspect.
Look, I know others will go “same old, same old”. But until everyone gets a chance to see what the game has in store, this Admiral will hold off on the negative criticism until the beta launches. Why? Bungie has delivered. They listened to the longtime, cor3 Destiny audience and gave them what we wanted. The only thing missing? Will Grimoire be a part of the game, or will it still be on Bungie.net?!??? – Adam Bowers
@Dan Witt (Facebook)
I don’t buy it. We’ve been hoodwinked before by Activision. We’ve seen our great expectations turn sour after a week. What is there to make us think this will be different? You can paint an old car a new color but guess what: it’s still the same damn car. Maybe it’s sour grapes, maybe this sentiment comes from loving a title for so long, being perhaps the biggest apologist the franchise has; but the fact remains, I’m just not convinced. I’m not convinced that these new features won’t be plagued by more bullshit. And this bullshit isn’t necessarily an Activision thing; it’s Bungie. Nerfing, senseless RNG, and countless hours and effort not rewarded with fucking Strange Coins. They’ve lied before, they’ll do it again.
What I hate the most.. is that I can’t for the life of me claim that this game won’t be head and shoulders better than Destiny 1. It looks great, it looks exciting and some of the updates and changes my colleague mentions, at the very least, sound nice. The complaints he lists — for the first installment that have been addressed apparently for the sequel — I never had an issue with, and I could care less about gamers who don’t have friends to play with, or if you can grow, participate in clan activities, or design your banner. I was most put off by the fact that Destiny was about 1/3 of the game that was promised. Every damn DLC should have been in the game. Wait–it was. It was all in the damn code to begin with! But we had to unlock it by paying for it. Fuck that.
I’m encouraged by the claim that there’s more of a story, and it certainly seems to be the case, but I’ll hold off believing that until someone tells me it’s true — because I’m not buying Destiny 2 (out September 8 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4; PC release yet TBD), at least until my clan begs me to come back and I see changes that I want to see. RNG needs to go. Nerfing needs to end, and there needs to be a damn recognizable path to glory, not dumb luck. I don’t even care about microtransactions, keep them, just give us the damn complete game. New subclasses look sweet, and the Sentinel, Arcstrider, Striker and Dawnblade appear to be just as rivetting. Because, hey — that’s what Bungie does; they make awesome, easy-to-use gameplay that looks absolutely tremendous. But it’s everything behind the scenes that has soured me indefinitely. – Dan Witt