It's taken me a little longer to post this than I'd hoped, but it obviously was a crazy week for me and I did not get back home until late yesterday evening and was pretty jet lagged today. There is a lot of speculation and discussion about the Destiny Community Summit and I know my fellow attendees have been posting their thoughts, so here are my impressions of the event.
To begin I want to say that I understand how incredibly fortunate I was to be invited to be a part of this. I know all the speculations going in about motivations by who was on the list and even within the group of attendees there was a wide range of opinions on what the event would be. I believed the first and foremost reason for the summit and most important goal would be to try to rebuild and repair the relationship between the community and developers, beyond that we had a lot of discussions before hand of what the community would like addressed/discussed. To that end I wrote up a summary of those discussions to take with me as things I hoped we could cover.
As this will go well beyond the forum word limit, I’m going to link the sections below.
[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/244629481?sort=0&page=0&path=1]Thoughts and hopes going in[/url]
[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/244629507?sort=0&page=0&path=1]Day 1 experience[/url]
[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/244629542?sort=0&page=0&path=1]Day 2 experience[/url]
My fellow attendees have written and talked about what their experiences were and I know there is still skepticism in the community as to motivations and intent on all sides, but this event was literally everything I hoped it might be and then somehow proceeded to exceed that exponentially. I’m as hopeful for the future of a Bungie game as I’ve ever been.
Thank you.
Edit: I want to add something else to this as I've been seeing and reading takes on the summit and I want as honest a narrative as possible.
I don't agree with any notion that this is the first time Bungie has listened and that their listening to us at the summit is going to potentially "save the game".
I feel that discounts things we were shown already being developed as well as not only easily identifiable player impact throughout D1, but everything that we've seen in developer comments, TWaBs, updates and roadmaps since launch.
I know we did have very direct impact on some things and were very helpful in thoughts and opinions on a lot of things going forward at the summit, but I don't want to take anything away from the impact of your feedback and the things we already saw them doing and/or know are coming/in development that are directly from them listening to the community at large.
What I saw was a company that has heard your voices and feedback on the game and this summit was another step in that process and a chance for more intimate face-to-face discussions on those thoughts and ideas.
Thank you again.
[spoiler]The measure of this moment is the measure of the hope it can bring and if it's gonna make a difference, the difference will be easy to see.
-Swell[/spoiler]
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Who are you
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Man, nobody cares what ya did or what ya know...
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Was darksydephil there? 😂😂😂😂😂
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[spoiler]sorry for the spam oops, just trying to inspire the community[/spoiler] [b]#WeMessedUpWithD2[/b]//the new #RemoveEververse [b]#WeMessedUpWithD2[/b] has one simple goal. [u]To encourage Bungie to [i]begin[/i] their next blogpost with that [b]exact[/b] statement, verbatim. [/u] A blogpost with an opening admittance that things went wrong along the way of Destiny 2's development would go [i]leaps and bounds[/i] to give the community understanding, closure, and most importantly - an opportunity to respect Bungie again. Bungie could right many wrongs and establish a direct and clear connection for feedback, and all it would take is 5 words and 1 number. [spoiler][quote]"[b]We messed up with Destiny 2"[/b][/quote][/spoiler] We have an opportunity to fix this game. It started at the summit, it can continue here, in the forums. Let's see it happen.
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1 ReplyEdited by Doc Walker: 4/24/2018 12:24:51 PMStreamers and youtubers are losers
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Ever thought about getting into Politics? You said so much and yet said nothing.
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Just more swallowing
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Shut up
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The game sucks.
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May you forever be t bagged.
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1 ReplyDo you play destiny? Are you some random person from the forums that received an nite? I don't see any characters linked and only two years on the forum. I don't mean any of this as an attack. I'm just curious.
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9 RepliesThe salt in this post is unbearable, my only guess is that most of you don't want this game to be fixed. I can't understand why you would waste you precious time being here. It absolutely baffles me.
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man, I thought you made a video -blam!- I'm trying to limit computer use and eyestrain and backache and I just can't deal with this!
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2 RepliesThis guy has no characters? How was he able to post? Did they lift those lame sanctions that you needed to get to the farm?
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Thanks for the heads up , I always appreciate any type of support and useful information about the game I enjoy playing .
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That’s a lot of text for something that would’ve been better suited for a 5-10 minute video.
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Thank for the update
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4 RepliesEdited by Demon_XXVII: 4/24/2018 12:10:37 AMI listen to this chap [b]Datto[/b] - Invited https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h8M7l5fX7lg And this chap - [b]Byf[/b] - Not invited https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Mu1ISni1s ([i]How on earth the OP was invited, is baffling[/i] Not only just Byf - many other Lore communities simply weren't represented Thankfully a greatly respected Destiny Lore Scholar was - [b]MyelinGames[/b] (along with putting together his own questionnaire, asking the Lore community for feedback/critique/questions & opinions - if our questions and concerns were put to Bungie with conviction, making the Devs/Writers quiz and question their past choices and alter future plans for the positive - then at least he tried) Hopefully upon seeing/reading reviews/evidence & a playerbase stabilise/increase/return (inc my own once dedicated Guardian friend list) opinions both positive and (hopefully less) negative will emerge from Exp2 & Autumn/Fall DLC reveals but from hearing the opinions [b]Datto[/b] and [b]Byf[/b], at least we're hearing that Bungie might just actually [b]BE[/b] 'Listening' [i]Bungie - Veritas Liberabit Vos[/i] Let us [i]BECOME LEGEND[/i]
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2 RepliesWell while y'all get the AAA treatment with free cookies and doughnuts at Bungie HQ we're still dying of boredom over here man. Sorry to sound harsh but I'm just frustrated my friend. I've wanted to enjoy this game for 7 months now and I still can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe you can now you have inside information but are you able to say when there might be a spark of hope for the rest of us? Love Meow
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Edited by MetzgerPete: 4/24/2018 1:22:18 AMWhere's byf? Where's unknown player? How big was your check? Oh, right, nda....
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2 RepliesDid anybody ask about dedicated servers, paid carries or any sort of PvP cheating? Was dedicated servers brought up?
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Nice, appreciate you sharing.
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38 RepliesEdited by Lost Sols: 7/22/2018 7:35:09 PMThose were my hopes going in and so I boarded a plane very early Wednesday morning and began this adventure. I won't go deep into the first night, but I will say that it was a really unbelievable experience in and of itself to be in one place together with a bunch of members of the community again. From walking in and meeting Goth, Tashed, Fuzzle, Hovey and Ekuegan, to literally almost running into Myelingames getting off the elevator and going out to lunch with him, it was really an unbelievably cool experience. We all spent that evening together in various size groups just getting to know each other and every single person there was as welcoming and friendly as could be and it really brought home what made this community so incredible to begin with. The next morning we got together for breakfast and then headed to studio where we checked in and were given lanyards with our gamertags. We then headed into the little conference theater where Bungie records its live streams. After setting into place DeeJ greeted us and presented us with their hopes for the Summit and the things they wanted to discuss. We then spent I believe about 2 hours in our initial discussions with the first panel of devs. During this panel the format of the event came into focus as developers were introduced and told us what they did within the studio and we talked about future ambitions for Destiny 2. This was paired with lots of questions and opinions by the attendees and showed us right at the start that the developers were there to really hear what we had to say about the game and franchise. Attendees would for the most part raise our hands and either DeeJ would call on someone or the onstage devs would point to us. This is the format we followed for the rest of the summit, but after that initial session we paired down into two groups by lanyard color. We then proceeded to play unreleased content and then spent the rest of the day discussing it. One of the content teams went with one group for an hour or two while another talked to my group and then the dev teams switched rooms. The second day was essentially the same with the only difference being that this time we started in our paired down groups and ended the day with the final 2 hours being all grouped up again. So what did we discuss? Pretty much every single thing the community was hoping would be asked were. Every single thing on my hope list either someone asked about or I myself had discussions with developers about. There groups were incredibly intimate and candid with players being extremely frank with opinions about the game and what we feel hasn’t or has worked and why as well as our thoughts on the directions Bungie are taking with the franchise going forward. What was unexpected was in-between sessions we were taking our breaks alongside the devs and were able to break down into personal engagements with them. These could be groups of 5-6 people talking or just one on one conversations. I was able to talk to Urk, Lars, Hammy, Weisnewski, Peter Sarrett, Chris Barrett, Kevin Yanes and Scott Taylor amongst others throughout the day. Some of the conversations were just short discussions of topics on my list while others were a little longer and more in depth. I talked to Lars about team sizes, my experience with 6v6 finally back in the game and the need for not only more things for 6 player fireteams to be able to do together at endgame, but meaningful solo endgame as well. I talked to Peter about the possibility of 6 player fireteams being able to play together in 4v4 game modes by allowing the game to put two players on the opposing team. I talked to Chris alongside Myelin, Aeroknight and Mercules about the campaign, story, lore and our thoughts on if future versions of Destiny should not reset like D2 did and my thoughts on missions like Paradox and Praedyth’s Ghost’s in D1 and how it was such a perfect way to build Grimoire into the game with special extended optional missions. It was a very productive day with pretty much everyone asking a lot of deep and often hard questions and giving feedback on their community’s thoughts on the game. To their credit Bungie were very candid about what it was they are hoping to achieve, why they felt they needed to do things that they did and why they felt some things worked and others didn’t. They did not pull any punches either and were not afraid to tell us that there were things they thought were going to be good things and they were wrong and that they f***** up. I think all of us walked back to the hotel that evening a bit in shock at how candid and personal the conversations had been and then after everyone taking some time to gather themselves and grab dinner, we all went and met in the downstairs lounge to hang out with some of the devs for the evening. This was really the coolest and most intimate part of the Summit as we were able to once again have very small intimate discussions on the game and the franchise as well as really getting to know each other and sharing personal stories as well. First I talked for a bit with Matt (Bungie events manager) and Andrew Elliot from Activision and then I saw Hamrick, who was one of the people I was really hoping to get to talk to before the trip began. He was talking sandbox with Slayerage and I joined them and we proceeded to spend about an hour really getting deep into our thoughts on the Crucible. Then Slayer went to join another group and I proceeded to talk to Hammy with Ekuegan, Merc, Lupo and a few others who joined at various parts over the next couple hours. Then I saw Weisnewski and got to go talk to him for a couple of hours and that was really one of the most unexpected highlights of the trip. I was very critical of the way the sandbox unfolded throughout D1, but I also understand that is why D2 kinda had to be what it was to reset things and it was really cool to be able to share my thoughts on what had made Destiny so great at its best and what I hope D2 can be. We then were joined by Merc who really questioned Newsk on why certain changes took place in D1 to which Newsk straight up told us why exactly he chose to make those decisions and what he hoped they’d do and why he believes they were the right decisions. It was a very straightforward discussion and deeply humanized both of them. I called it a night after Swainstache made it in and I got to finally meet him.
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So bungie let's the you tubers and bloggers do their shitposting for them now? But hey, expansion's just around the corner!
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1 ReplyGood read. Glad to hear the experience was such a positive one. Hope to hear a podcast discussion on it later!