To preface, I'm not referring to the situation in which console players queue alongside PC players into the same lobby; I'm aware that there are parameters in place that prevent this from happening unless players choose to queue together, knowing they are on different platforms.
I'm referring to Crossplay between consoles.
Given that playing on PC demands a certain degree of financial stability, I haven't been fortunate enough to join the master race (hopefully it's a matter of 'yet' and not 'futility'), so my entire Destiny 2 experience has been restricted to my Xbox (then One/One X, now Series X). As a console player, I exist within the group of players affected the greatest by Crossplay, enabling myself to play with and against players on Playstation and Stadia, i.e. other consoles mandatorily.
This would, at a glance, seem to be a highly commendable undertaking made by Bungie, or it would be if the issues compounded weren't so omnipresent. Issues like: de-sync, damage-glitches, low tick-rates, lag, shoddy aiming mechanics, ghost-bullets, team balancing, mis-informative sandbox and HUD elements, all alongside the slew of ancient bugs that have gone unaddressed since Day 1, now made especially glaring during Iron Banner. These don't even account for any of the sandbox elements nor the game modes themselves.
Iron Banner lends itself to be an important example, evident by its reward structure being attainable and enticing for every type of player, and the fact that it's only around for a week at a time, spurring players with the threat of FOMO. This is well enough to suggest that Iron Banner likely encompasses a larger population in a week's time than the usual Crucible modes during any other week, and where the most players from every platform would congregate over any certain period.
Despite being so populated (under these assumptions), it's concerning to experience so many technical issues. Iron Banner isn't the only place where they happen, but it's where they're the most exacerbated. These are issues prevalent with the entire PvP suite in Destiny 2, from casual to competitive modes, and from Crucible to Gambit.
However, the most poignant point to broach is that these are issues that have plagued the game since release, yet were somehow more tolerable before Crossplay's implementation. The Beyond Light-era of Crucible had its own issues, most of which to do with Stasis, a sandbox element, but much less regarding the game's stability. The worst part anyone really had to account for was to avoid being frozen; the flow of the game felt fine, the gunplay felt fine, connection and synchronization were seldom perfect, but they were considerably preferable — all until Season 15, when Crossplay was officially part of Destiny 2. Now opponents are behaving predictably unpredictable, as god-like crackshots, and many animations don't sync up to their actions. It's like the information becomes mis-translated, or delayed by the server between these platforms. As though different platforms run on different network framework that cannot communicate as easily as initially thought.
Hunter's are suddenly dodging without tumbling or spinning, Warlocks are firing their weapons during Icarus Dash, Titans are activating Consecration without going through the motions, players are seemingly taking less damage or none at all, or they're taking damage well after escaping behind cover. Sometimes players are TTk'ing you the very frame they see you, or they have no trouble TTK'ing you through your crazy, esoteric movements as though you weren't moving at all. It's like the knowledge, game-sense, and skill you've developed over the five years you've played Destiny 2 are no longer applicable. You rack your brain thinking you've gotten worse, almost spontaneously, but it really was only a matter of time before you started to see the cracks.
Much of my discontent is created from my own experience and I'm absolutely projecting, but I've also observed a noticeable uptick in complaints on the forums, Reddit, Twitter, players in-game, and friends, all of which related to these issues.
I suppose the ultimate point I wanted to make is that Destiny 2 was not ready for Crossplay, at least not the Player-versus-Player portion. It's simply too premature for it to have been implemented.
What are your thoughts? Feel free to discuss, and thanks for reading.
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22 RepliesHave you heard of the snowball effect?… This is what’s happening now. This pile of trash you’re seeing now started when D2 launched. Double primary, special are now in heavy, 4v4, small maps, slow and weak guardians, antique Peer-to-peer system, potato guns with static rolls, weak leadership and team lead that doesn’t know how to make video games, heck, is not even a game developer!😂😂😂 After they launched D2, millions left! MILLIONS!!! And they are not coming back!😂😂😂 They tried to revert everything back but it was too late. By the time they reverted almost everything back at Forsaken it’s already too late. Millions already left and are not coming back!😂😂😂 Activision knew this because they were there when Forsaken rolled out, and even that didn’t make them good return of investment. The game was failing, that’s why Activision left this sinking ship to float on shallow waters. So shallow you could literally walk on water!😂😂😂 That’s how empty the game is when Activision left!😂😂😂 What you see happening right now is just an accumulation of issues that occurred since it started years ago. It’s called a “Snowball Effect!” All that trash piling up since then up to now. And they can’t fix it!😂😂😂 Crossplay is a desperate attempt to aid in the ailing mess that has been plaguing this game for years. The thing is, companies have different agendas and infrastructures. If you don’t treat crossplay as a unified system, it will never work for everyone. With the playerbase dwindling, it will only get worse.😂😂😂 Desperation, that’s what I see here. They are milking a dying, skinny cow!😂😂😂 It’s gonna be like that until they let go of the carcass!😂😂😂 State of the game! 😂😂😂