Before I begin, I'd like to mention that Destiny is still my favorite game franchise of all time. I have played the game since the first year of Destiny 1 and some of my fondest gaming experiences have come from this franchise. I think of Destiny like my child, who was very well-behaved in its childhood, but now, in its adolescence, lets say, has dropped out of school and is currently addicted to heroin. I still love this child of mine and I still want it to succeed, I'm just disappointed in it at the moment.
Destiny is a one-of-a-kind game with untapped potential. However, I feel that this potential is being wasted in many ways. I don't know if I'm the only one that feels that this game isn't as fun as it used to be. Whether this is due to the fact that I've been playing the game for so long or whether it's Destiny's lackluster state.
In my opinion, the biggest issue with Destiny 2 in its current state is the lack of loot and loot incentive. It is slowly killing this game for me, so I'd like to explain my frustrations here and then propose a possible solution.
I'd like to take you all back to Destiny 1; to a land where strikes actually had a purpose, a land where vendors would reset more than once a year, and where you would stock up your legendary engrams in preparation of a mass opening at the cryptarch. These weren't huge parts of Destiny 1, but it was these little things, like the reward screen at the end of a crucible game, which kept me playing the first game even through the dreaded 3-4 month dry periods. To be honest though, I'd rather have a few months of dryness in between larger content drops than this constant state of half-hearted interest in the game, where I'm being drip fed the same, formulaic content, just dressed up differently.
In Destiny 1, if you count the 3 factions as well as other activities like Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner. We had at least 7 vendors which would bring fresh weapons and armor with every major content drop. As well as this, most of these vendors would refresh their gear every week I believe? Bringing in new rolls on gear and rotating the gear available.
Compare this to Destiny 2. There are no factions in Destiny 2, and the vendors haven't reset since the Forsaken expansion, which released nearly 18 months ago. By now, It is likely that I have received every conceivable roll on every single one of the crucible and vanguard vendor weapons...TWICE. At this point, every time I receive one of these weapons, I just instantly dismantle it, without a second glance.
Trials of Osiris, once a weekly draw for me, is currently nowhere to be found either. I mean honestly, you were able to hire Nathan Fillion to voice Cayde for 4 years, and you can't bring back ToS or give us a yearly vendor reset.
Also, can we talk about the exotics that are being pumped out lately?
Lately, it seems that every season, we get the formula derived "1 exotic armor piece per class," and most of the exotics are the most gimmicky, uninspired creations of the modern era. I mean, I get there were some terrible exotics in Destiny 1, but who the hell came up with the idea to create warlock boots that spawn rifts whenever you kill something in dawnblade?
Anyway, in summary of this part of the rant, I believe that the current vendors and lack of inspired, original, worthwhile gear available for me to chase in Destiny 2 is turning me away from the game.
Now I will propose some possible solutions to this issue. I am not sure as to how difficult this would be to implement, or if it would even be effective, I'm just throwing some ideas out there.
The most obvious solution to the loot problem would be to just add more loot. However, I understand that there is a clear limit to how much content Bungie can create for us, and just blindly demanding more loot will probably result in more re-skinned assets and/or empty, uninspired formula type content.
THE SOLUTIONS
And so, that brings me to the other solution. I propose that Bungie implements a randomized trait system into the game, similar to the system found in The Division. (I AM SUGGESTING THAT DESTINY BECOME MORE LIKE DIVISION! I just feel that adding an extra layer to the loot received in the game would tremendously improve its replayability in the long run.)
Picture this: You get a Go Figure for the 100th time.
"Oh cool! It has outlaw and rampage.."
"Too bad I already have this exact roll.."
(Dismantling occurs shortly after.)
Currently, it is almost guaranteed that this Go Figure will be identical to one that you've already received before, and will therefore be instantly dismantled.
Now instead picture, like before, a Go Figure drops for the 101st time.
"Oh Cool! It has outlaw and rampage!"
"OH WOW. It also has: + 31% Precision Damage
+ 14% Magazine Size
+ 6% Fire Rate
+ 13% Damage To Fallen
- 10% Overall Damage
[ONLY ACTIVE IN PvE]" <<< To Avoid Destroying Crucible
Something like this! PLEASE! For me at least, this change alone, would bring me back to the game in an instant, and I might never leave. Again, I understand that this may be difficult to implement and that this might have adverse effects on the game, but I have realized, that compared to other looter-shooters, the gear that you receive in Destiny is really quite basic and shallow. In 90% of cases, you get 2 perks, which pretty much always end up being (on primaries) outlaw + rampage/kill clip, and then call it a day. I feel that a expanded trait system like this would exponentially increase the potential for PvE builds and extend the lifespan of the game.
Infact, for PvP players, you could even have certain traits that only work in PvP, say traits that improve handling, stability and other, non-damage related stats.
This could also fix the current state of raid weapons and raid armor. At the moment, most raid gear is no different from regular gear from legendary engrams, aside from say 5 or 10 extra stat points. With an expanded trait system, legendaries that were earned traditionally may only have 2 or 3 traits on them, whereas gear that drops from more challenging activities may drop with 4, 5 or even 6 traits. This would actually grant some much needed value to raid gear.
Bungie, I'm begging, please, if not this, please try something to help the loot economy of the game. I really don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep coming back to these stupid seasonal content drops. I will however, always love and remember this game, regardless of where it goes in the future, and I shall cherish the experiences I've had playing Destiny.
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219 RepliesThanks for the post. Cozmo went through this on the Destiny subreddit, and I'm currently going through replies here on Bungie.net. Bringing his comment over: [quote]Sorry your not enjoying the seasons. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I went through your post and took some key takeaways to pass on. • Vendor Resets • More loot • Bring back Post game reward screen • Bring back Trials • Better Exotics • Extra RNG stats on drops Is that a good summary of your feedback? The extra stats seems like it could be a fun idea, but would add another layer of RNG on each drop and create the potential for even more "less optimal" drops. I'd love to hear what others think about it as well. [quote]As well as this, most of these vendors would refresh their gear every week I believe? Bringing in new rolls on gear and rotating the gear available.[/quote] We rotated the rolls on gear towards the end of D1's Year 3. It was kind of done as a last hurrah since we would be moving on to Destiny 2 in the short term. I can pass along feedback that you would like to see vendors offer weapons with weekly roll refreshes.[/quote]
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4 Repliesone major thing the game is missing imo is more incentive to raid. in D1 raide gear was not only cool looking but had unique and meaningful perks that really changed gameplay. perks that helped you in the raids and elsewhere more often than not. Oversoul edict comes to mind, shooting through a knights shield changed game play and helped in the raid. it wasn't only the weapons either, armor gave you unique perks that helped in their respective raids. move faster when torn between dimensions, more resilience when holding the chalice, Faster weapon reload while in an Aura etc etc. In D1 there were exotics worth chasing as well as raid gear worth chasing. in D2 i can't remember that last raid weapon that everyone felt they had to have. granted there have been some good ones but nothing to farm for and get hyped about when it finally drops for you. and remember, black hammer was a raid weapon that was so powerful they made it an exotic in D1's life span then they brought it to D2 and people got hyped for it, again a weapon that was originally a D1 raid legendary.
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14 RepliesI find myself in the same boat. I have put down thousands of hours. Playing all 3 characters every week for years. Literal years. Can't find the motivation anymore. Bungie gutted out the fun out of the game. It is sad. Feels bad, man.
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This game is falling apart and I'm glad...just end it Bungie
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2 RepliesI too am the exact place you are... this game became my absolute favorite game when I first played the beta release. It’s become the only game that I hold long-term “want to play” with. But the past few weeks, I’ve lost interest, and don’t want to play any more. Today, I hopped back into Destiny 1. [b]MAN WAS IT A REFRESHING CHANGE[/b]! Went to the plaguelands, kicked some siva butt. I had fun patrolling Venus, Mars... even went and visited the reef... But in my [i]heart[/i], I [b]WANT[/b] Destiny 2 to make me feel that same enjoyment as Destiny 1. [b]But enough of the nostalgic memories of how fun Destiny USED TO BE[/b], because they won’t ever make Destiny into what it was really and truly supposed to be... I enjoyed your post, and thought you have some very good suggestions for weapon reworks! I hope that someone will not lie to our faces, and actually do as he said he would, and legitimately pass your post to someone whom will take it into actual consideration.
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Lack of LOOT has always been the problem. It becomes more apparent with each passing week. Every developer at Bungie should be required to play Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Warframe, and the Borderlands franchise. They will see how it should be done. I have been playing the Destiny franchise since alpha/beta. Preordered 1 & 2, and purchased all DLC available. Like many I have spent hundreds on the franchise. But, I will absolutely not be buying Destiny 3. Unless, this issue is of the highest priority for Bungie, and is addressed to be brought up to modern standards. And they have to publicly acknowledge it. I am a customer with many hobbies and pastimes, so if my time with Destiny ends with 2 I’ll be okay with that.
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8 RepliesEdited by Perfectionado: 1/23/2020 1:00:56 AMCompletely agree with all of this. As soon as Iceborne came out, I had stuff to do. Goals to achieve. Meaningful loot to collect. Exciting bosses with DIFFICULTY to master. Also I saw a comment about Destiny loosing it 'soul'. The first thing that came to mind here is the music. Throughout Destiny 1, through all the memes and poo poo I remember coming into a party chat and just saying 'The one thing thats always exceeding expectations is the music'. The opening menu screen. The ORCHESTRA. The EPIC has been removed. The 'Two steps from hell' feeling is gone from the music. There are some gems in D2 OST but just go back and listen to ALL of D1's OST. EVERYTHING was moving. Etherial. Mysterious. I get none of that anymore. Let me show you what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvQQ1eKO2bQ (I've just read the comments for the first time. Goddamn prepare for feels)
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7 RepliesDivision 2 loot is about to be dramatically dumbed down. Probably not to D2 levels, but close. D2 was created to be so simple that Luke Smith’s 6 year-old-niece could jump right in and play. Anyone else remember that? It’s an exact quote from an interview. Then Smith gave Noseworthy shit for not understanding which subclass he needed to wear to make his exotic armor piece work... That was their vision for this game. Why? What else was going on at this time? Eververse was being ramped up. The winning formula is to keep bringing new players in to sell skins. That’s where the money is. Make a simple game that any 6-years-old kid can play, and sell ‘em some skins.
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3 RepliesI'd rather have the content drought, ending with a huge expansion than a steady trickle of "meh." I've never felt less inclined to play in 5 years.
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11 RepliesEdited by AngryBovine1419: 1/24/2020 12:01:45 AMThe soul of the game is gone, Bungie has morphed into some kind of second-rate company. It’s strange what happened, D2 had such promise! Now we have this seasonal... yard sale. I just do not get it. Edit: The second half of D1 had soul, it was fulfilling, felt like you were accomplishing tasks and being rewarded. D1 was in a solid place at its end... D2 released and was garbage. The company went backwards by leaps and bounds. The only redeemable aspect was forsaken ( not a Bungie product by the way). Ever since they have been scrambling to catch up, one bad idea after another, to include this seasonal BS started out with the heap that is Shadowkeep. They are all about GRIND, artificial difficulty, different ways to keep us engaged with as little new content as possible. Bungie can do better, not sure why they don’t. I’D LOVE TO SEE WHAT BUNGIE IS CAPABLE OF IF THEY QUIT READING FEEDBACK FROM THIS FORUM FOR A BIT!!!
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Obligatory " I have played since Alpha" ... Built a PC just for Destiny 2 and stuck through the abysmal D2Y1 . I do not enjoy the current state of the game, I tried and understand that I may go through content faster than a casual player but there are so many resources already in the game that they could use to refresh with each season WITHOUT adding any more planets, zones, activities. There are 7 raids in the game already , imagine if there was a weekly "featured" raid and each season cycled 3 raids with new ornaments you could earn for guns and gear. Apply that to Strikes , Crucible, Gambit and you are essentially adding modified pieces of existing armor that would keep the player base stable as it would take even the most dedicated a decent time to collect them all. This has already been said enough times that I feel like it just falls on deaf ears. There are so many ways to make this already huge universe even better by making linear paths to ornaments for existing armor/weapons. It can't be that it's too hard because Eververse gets a slew of new content and I'm not even against them monetizing. When the only way to get additional looks to armor is through a paywall instead of grinding an activity that "X" drops from it takes the addicting feeling away that makes people play long-term in the first place. I never had the Nano Phoenix ship drop from Aksis and had it dropped I'd have been much more excited getting it from an activity than purchasing it with silver or bright dust. I don't want to see the game go the path it is, I thought without Activision Bungie would flourish but so far the only apparent thing is you don't have another studio at your disposal so the players get less content than they did before.
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60 RepliesPeople really need to stop mis-remembering D1. Content droughts, horrible rewards from nightfalls like sparrows/strange coins/ghosts, the game being balanced around trials, vendor refreshes that had the same weapons with 1 different perk, etc. were not as fun as yall try to make it seem. The game was fun, but it had it's growing pains just like D2, yet a lot of yall ignore that and just go off the RoI D1. Also, yall need to accept that D2 is a better game than D1. D2 gave us more loot, activities, and is better technically (game play/sounds/graphics/etc). The only reason a lot of yall hold D1 higher is cause of the no expectations with D1. D1 was new, so people didnt expect anything from the game, and took the good/bad as it came. D2 came with expectations set by each individual gamer that intended to play it. When bungie didnt meet each person's expectations, that's when you saw people claiming the game was trash for (insert x) reason. Dont get me wrong, i enjoyed the hell out of D1, and do think they can make changes to help make D2 more 'fun', i'm just tired of seeing the D1 praise like it was this perfect game, and that used to bash D2.
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Don’t let a Bungie/dmg response pacify or appease. Dmg is good at his job but he doesn’t make resource decisions at the company. Bungie stated late last year that their goals are to transform from a studio developer into a publisher and to develop multiple new IP. So, they have lofty goals are stretched especially without Activision.
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1 ReplyMy play time with Destiny has been on a steady decline for a while, now to the point where I really have no drive to login or compelled to play. Sure I logged in for the exotic sidearm "quest", but after running around a bit and running strike with it, meh bored. For me it's the following: - No linear progression and nothing really ends. There are so many story arc's and the majority of them are incomplete. Sure you can run through a story, or update in a couple of hours, but it never really ends. There is no sense of completion. - Vendors don't change. The gear is the same, the weapons are the same, they say the same damn thing. Xur is pointless. The Vanguard is still missing a member. - Seasonal events are a joke. Run the Haunted Forest a million times, run around hunting for materials to then bake cookies. Come on these are clown events. Where is sparrow racing, you could throw that in once in a while. Faction rallies, so those just ended? What about something new, something that isn't a grind but something that has an end goal and once you have done it that is it, it is over congratulations. - Strikes need a drastic update. Commentary at the beginning to set the stage for what you are about to do, where did that go? Strike specific loot, I am a Strike guy and if there was anything to grind for I would grind Strikes out. They are so easy it isn't even funny, you should not be able to run a Strike in 8-10 mins (that isn't even with someone speed running). - There is a lot going on, too much going on, and it is overwhelming. Login and you can; patrol, Strikes, Crucible, IB (because it comes around essentially every other week), Gambit, Sun Dial, Forges, bounties, quests, etc. In a way that is cool because there is something for everyone, but maybe try to dial things in a bit with some focus. This week is a Strike focused week with increased rewards, this next week is Crucible focused and why, and so on. - Events like the Menagerie or Sundial that you cannot fail at. It's like youth sports, everyone gets a medal cause you did great buddy no matter how bad you suck. There used to be excitement on a weekly basis. What would Xur have, would it be Gally? What is the focused Strike, can I finally get a good Imago Loop? Nightfall with meaningful rewards. Original poster said it...maybe this has just been going on too long and now its stale bread?
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There have been highlights to this season, but the "maintenance costs" of keeping up with the rolling seasons just sap my enjoyment. Grinding out fractaline (because we're going to need a bunch of it when the Empyrian Foundation hits, grinding for great sundial rolls before it's gone for good, grinding out LL, season ranks, bright dust through weekly bounties just to grab some of the Eververse stuff since half of what's new ends up being there. I dunno, as boring as it was, grinding through hundreds of strikes in D1 for a small chance at an exotic was still more fun than what's going on now to me. There was still an amazing award that could be had, there's nothing like that now. Exotics might as well be giveaways, with a few exceptions. A god roll "x" is still probably only a few % better than the one I already have.
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Wow an adolescent (between 10and 19) addicted to heroin, you'd be disappointed in the child? Wow. I know you're using that as a reference but if that was the case then I'd be disappointed as a parent, especially if the adolescent was at the younger scale.
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So basically you want to nerf fusion rifles.
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Yes I loved d1, but d2 is in a way better place than d1 was. Yeah strikes aren't as a big of deal as in d1. There is a lot more to do. The loot has been trimmed down,but I enjoy concentrating on getting certain god rolls. Vendor refresh are over blown imo, a bunch of guns your never going to use, and I don't want handed god rolls on a Tuesday refresh. One thing I would like back are the factions though.
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Season of dawn ain’t so bad
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I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. I've loved this game since vanilla D1, and I've had plenty of fun throughout every expansion, but I remember when I logged into day 1 of ShadowKeep and was IMMENSELY disappointed that the vendors had the same gear I'd already farmed to hell and back in Forsaken. The whole seasonal content model is just not working in its current state. I feel like none of the new seasons have brought anything truly meaningful to the game, but have created a really annoying FOMO culture that never used to exist in Destiny (at least not in any serious way). If we're going to have this drip fed, hollow content, then at least make it stuff that players are asking for, like Trials and Faction Rallies. And please, please make vendors worth going to again by updating their stock, make strikes worth doing again with fun,specific loot, make Iron Banner worth doing by giving us higher tier pvp weapons as rewards (remember how beast IB weapons used to be?), just please give us a reason to do these things other than "well you'll miss out on this gear you'll never use"
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Adding more variables isn't going to make the game better. It will just make them do things like they did to HC, where they made the range perks pretty much meaningless. Don't get me wrong I don't disagree, but everything in the game has to be watered down because they want to try and keep things in balance. PVP vs PVE, PC vs Console, etc. What we really need is engaging content. There need to be things to do where you want to log in and play and it doesn't feel like a chore. Where you want to take the day off work to play. Daily login silver would also keep the numbers up. I'm hoping this is an intermission season and next season will be better... Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the content that we've had and moved on to play other games. The trickle feed content after that point has not been that good.
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2 RepliesI agree with 99.9% of what you said, but I'd like to say that it's not that there isn't enough loot, there's tons of loot. It's just that the loot we get is probably 80-90% garbage and instantly dismantled. It's like they're terrified of making a weapon that's actually good, like they don't wanna make another recluse or gjallarhorn. Just need to make the loot worthwhile instead of adding more useless weapon parts. Just my 2¢.
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4 RepliesSo much crap has happened in this game, five years in I kind of feel like I’ve had my fun and now time to get off the hamster wheel for good. It just all feels a bit tired and uninspired now. I loved D1, my favourite game ever, but the whole decision to release D2 and the flip flop of game design decisions since have ruined it. My clan has gone from three chapters down to one in the last couple of weeks, which is an indicator other people have just had enough now.
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Overall I agree with what you said but for me it runs deeper than just loot. It's sad to see a game with so much potential fall short. Every dlc or season makes most items redundant, I have lost count with the amount of currencies I have that I'm too scared to delete in the event that you bring their relevancy back. I want quality replayable content and quality loot to obtain through quality and well thought about missions and bounties. Getting X kills with X weapon type isn't a quality bounty. Playing X amounts of Crucible, Gambit or Vanguard Strikes isn't a quality bounty. Running from point A to point B isn't quality either. The more I think about it the more I think it's been going in the wrong direction for too long. Imagine each lost sector being a dungeon sized area with each area increasing in difficulty (or even difficulty that scales or a hard mode you can choose), each dungeon offering specific loot to obtain. A inter-dimensional portal that takes us to a galaxy where new (not re-skinned!) enemies are that are extremely difficult to kill but you need to go to in order to obtain worthwhile rewards.
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11 RepliesWhile I think alot of people remember D1 as being great (it wasn't). D2 will ever ever move fast enough to keep the player base hungry. Most of the last year has just been similar, weapons, event, bounties and quest just with a new lick of paint. Imagination seems to have gone out of the window. No new supers, interesting loot and many other things just mean the game doesn't feel fresh. While I agree it's probably harder to impress me these days after playing the same game for 5 years, it's going downhill quicker than Manchester United.
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I pretty much just play destiny and I hate seeing what this game could be vs what we actually get from bungie. Its being completely mismanaged and handled.