As the Editor of a major news website with over 30 million unique monthly users that also covers online gaming, I will say this is one of the most honest reviews of Destiny yet. The issue for me is the same issue described by the original poster; Bungie's lack of ethics, morals and honesty. It shows in the arrogance of their developers when they speak to the public and refuse to give any real information about the future of the game, and their lack of ethics was displayed for all the world to see in their epic mistreatment of composer and Bungie Director Marty O'Donnell. While there is nothing wrong with making a profit, it is still possible make money and design a great game. Destiny 2 was rushed to market before it was ready, and everything players loved about Destiny 1 in year three was tossed aside. The ugly smirk on Luke Smtih's yap mocking the lore and suggesting that the Exo Stranger and Mara Sov would make good cosplay characters was the equivalent of spitting in the faces of every dedicated Destiny player. He made it quite apparent that the people at Bungie have zero respect for the people who play this game. Bungie has made it clear they are willing to toss aside everything players love about Destiny and rewrite the story anytime they please without any concern for consistency, continuity, or cannon. This, combined with the fact that they actually released Destiny 2 in the same atrocious state as Destiny 1, was just a giant middle finger to everyone who paid for this game. The fact that they expect us to let them get away with short changing us twice by releasing a game with no end game and insufficient content shows they simply think the people who buy their games are suckers. We have one way and one way alone to change Bungie, and that is with our wallets. I will never pre-order a Bungie or Activision product again. From this day forward, they will have to earn my money. Everyone who loves online gaming should do the same.

not to be a ass-hat but wasn't that been made clear for quite a wile now? the $$ grabbing thing i mean

Yep. It's a freaking RNG Las Vegas hamster wheel with Skinner box design. Scary garbage to keep players like addicts

[quote]I have been playing Destiny for quite a while, and I have noticed its - at places massive - shortcomings and Bungie's unwillingness to deal with these in a thouroughly positive and constructive way. I have been trying to figure the motivation behind this. It took me quite a while, but I think that I am now having a picture of what is really going on here. Bungie's main goal is to make as much money as possible with Destiny. Their goal is not to make players satisfied or happy with their game. Their goal is to hook them to the game and make them come back whenever they are selling another expansion. If you follow the breadcrumbs by reading the proper posts and online articles, you will notice that Bungie is optimizing the incentive given to Destiny players to expose that behavior by exploiting behavioral research and fine tuning Destiny to make the best possible use of it by gathering statistical data about player behavior and habits in this game. This is why loot drops work the way they do, why you usually get bad loot, why some loot is very hard to come by, and why Bungie rather fixes bugs that make things for players too easy than fixing glitches that break the game for players. The reality behind Destiny as an industry product is cold and brutal, and players are feeding it with their time and money. I think it is out of the question that a computer game has to offer the kind of rewards and reward mechanisms Destiny is offering. However, imo these should be just a part of a bigger gaming experience, the spice on a meal consisting of healthy ingredients. In Destiny, these rewards are the core of the game, and the way they are exploiting the human mind has a strong tendency to turn the gaming experience into a laborious grind instead of an enjoyable experience. This is emphasized by the tendency Destiny has to draw out its grinds and the fact that the design of Destiny is to reward players by getting some hopefully good loot at the end of the grind, and not by offering entertaining and diverse ways to acquire such loot. I have found myself playing Destiny far beyond the extent where I found it to be entertaining, relaxing and fun, and where it became a simple matter of forcing myself through it just to finish some of the challenges it offers for the n-th time to hopefully get some good loot - loot the only purpose of is to make playing through the same challenge the next time for even better loot easier. I am talking about the Oryx raid here - the single high profile PvE end game activity Destiny offers, because the others have been sent to oblivion in order to make players purchase the next expansion. I would like to illustrate this by comparing Destiny to Borderlands, which imo is a fantastic game with a rich game world, well thought out reward system and a great story with interesting protagonists making that game world come to life. Playing Borderlands is fun because it offers so much game lore just while playing, has so many different characters and locations, so many twists in its plot, and because the plot gives sense to the player actions and involvement in this game world. It is enjoyable to just play through Borderland, visit all its places, meet all the "people" in it, and unravel its story. Compared to that, Destiny is bland and hollow. Its lore is a mix of hardly connected, confused pseudo philosophical nonsense (yeah, I have read all the grimoire and tried to figure the meaning behind the pompous trash literature it is - the kind of literature an amateur would come up with whos self image as a writer is in no relation to his gift of story telling, or rather the lack thereof). However, the real problem I am seeing behind this is the cold, unrelenting business calculus behind this. In my opinion, the driving force behind Bungie / Activision, the people in charge, lack acceptable ethics. It is ok for them to exploit people the psychological and mathemical/statistical way Destiny does. There's no law against it, and there's a lot of money in it. The sad thing about this is that a morally intact person doesn't need regulation by laws, but obviously the moral compass of the people in charge at Bungie / Activision is broken. This is exacerbated by Destiny so shamelessly replacing content and quality with psychological tricks to make players keep playing and returning to it. Bungie / Activision give a flying crap about whether you actually enjoy Destiny or not as long as they can make you come back and wave your tail while drooling in front of the food bowl for more, by exploiting and manipulating your psyche. In my opinion this is hubris. TL;DR: Destiny is a treadmill, and it is on purpose and by design, to exploit the human brain's reward system to the max with the goal to hook players to the game and come back and pay more for it when the next expansion is released.[/quote] It is digital crack and players are definitely "chasing the dragon". I think they pushed it a little to far though and lost a large amount of their player base...?

Well said I too agree that bungie and activision have no intention of making an immersive universe filled with multiple fun avenues to loot and lore. There is only the grind. Malicious manipulation simply for profit. The longer it goes on the clearer it becomes

I was thinking last night that even the releasing of DLC is on a fixed interval schedule, releasing content when people become burnt out. They could have released it for free, but saw room for profit. Sure they're a business, but the morality is completely lost.

Easy solution. Just walk away. You won't even feel much desire to go back once you've taken that first step. Find something better to spend your time on. Life is too short for what Destiny has become.

Excellent summary. Can't see them changing anytime soon; not so long as gamers support the unethical tactics. #ethicsingaming

Use the word. Skinner box. If people don't know what it is look it up. Intermittent reward system used to manipulate a subject's behavior. It is the same science behind slot machine and usually encourages unhealthy behavior patterns. Escape the box.

Props for taking the time to lay out your argument so clearly. I always found that Destiny was good but could be so much better and feel shortchanged that all their updates affect player behavior rather than putting some meat in this flavorful but soupy stew. I wish we could mod the shit out of destiny like PC guys do to their favorite games.. I included the link underneath because I think while your post was very convincing and is a factor the real motive behind the Bungieniuses manipulations is gluttony. http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Bungie-Activision_Contract

Just because: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/177688217[/url]