I was in the process of reforming a clan from the ashes of my old one and came across this article when looking for a clan name: [url=https://www.polygon.com/2013/2/17/3993058/destiny-bungie-first-look-preview]Polygon: Destiny: Bungie's Brave New Worlds[/url]. It's an old article from February 2013, written with contributions from Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg, Bungie co-founder, Jason Jones, and former Bungie writer/design director, Joe Staten. It's a great article. The article covered, in part, what was essentially Bungie's mission statement for Destiny. They called it the "Seven Pillars of Design", and it reads as follows: [b]Pillar 1:[/b] A world players want to be in. "This is a question players ask themselves," Jason Jones says when approaching a new universe. "‘Do I want to be in this world? Is it cool? Do I want to stay here?’ That led us to create a world full of mystery that people can explore." [b]Pillar 2:[/b] A bunch of fun things to do. Bungie calls Destiny "a sandbox with a lot of tools" that puts players in situations "where they can be successful." Jones says Bungie has been deliberate about creating a broad range of activities for players to enjoy in groups or alone, in casual or intense scenarios. [b]Pillar 3:[/b] Rewards players care about. "Imagine you could spend an hour and accomplish something," Jones says. "We have a lot of great things [in Destiny] to find, earn and make. Everything you do generates these rewards to customize your character." [b]Pillar 4:[/b] A new experience every night. Bungie wants players to have a different experience every time they play, planning rare, time-limited and emergent activities. Jones hopes that players will sign on for a game of Destiny, but get distracted by the variety of content and activities within. [b]Pillar 5:[/b] Shared with other people. "Everything that’s fun to do is more fun with other people," Jones says. "Even if you do play solo — which is a totally valid way to play — you’re going to see other people in your game." [b]Pillar 6:[/b] Enjoyable by all skill levels. "We want everybody who wants to play, to play. If you have the basic coordination to play a shooter," Bungie says, you can play Destiny. [b]Pillar 7:[/b] Enjoyable by the tired, impatient and distracted. Bungie believes that players don’t play games to "work hard, read or go the internet to figure out our bullshit." The core experience, Jones says, has to be delivered as simply and easily as possible. And that pillar led Bungie to "throw out a bunch of dearly-held ideas." ________________ I was a big Destiny fan - still am. I had a great group of guys and gals that I played regularly with. We met up on Tuesday reset day and Friday Xur day. We played on weekends as well. Honestly, we played too much. That said, I don't live life with regret. I chose to play as much as I did, because I liked it. I met good people and had great fun. By House of Wolves, I believe Destiny had achieved good success on all 7 pillars. Sure we were disappointed when a new raid didn't drop and we got the Prison of Elders, but it was still good fun. I'd be lying if I didn't say burning Skolas in less than 30 seconds in the first couple weeks with a void sniper with final round wasn't a blast. We still found reasons to play (Pillar 2). With D2, I feel like Bungie changed the mission significantly. I still play about once a week, sometimes less. I don't have clanmates anymore. Pillars 2, 3, 4 and 5 are broken. I'm hopeful though, that come September, they will be repaired and we will be back at it again, even if not as often. If you want some feels, go back through BNET "news", starting at around January 2013, and especially into September 2014, when Destiny came out in force. The PR game was for real. Deej was even rockin' the smoking jacket. I didn't get the game until December 2014 (Christmas Noob), but when I did get it, I was caught up in the spectacle. My first VOG raid happened (I think) in January, when a guardian in the tower sent me a polite, simple invite, "Wanna raid?" Since then, I was hooked. I want to enjoy Destiny 2 like I used to enjoy Destiny 1. I think May is a good step in that direction. That said, I'm still a little bitter about D2 starting us from scratch. It's like reading a great novel with characters you fall in love with and then finding out the sequel killed them all off, charged you more to get them back, and then went silent for several months except to say, "we are listening". Let's be critical, but let's be polite. I want Bungie to succeed - if they do, I do. And, I'd like to see Deej back in the smoking jacket, repping the brand. If he is, it's because we're happy with the product they're pushing. I'd like that. And P.S. - if you're looking for a PS4 clan, just ask.