I think the biggest issue I see is that they kinda work on everything at once and throw it all on you. I wish they would focus on one thing at a time. Even if it is a small thing. Just take the time to make each aspect of the game feel right and thorough. I feel like they need to rush because they feel pressured on what the player base wants. Take your time Bungie and do it right. Honestly to me it was to soon for an expansion. The expansions in Destiny 1 seem like they took longer to come out. Which was good and you knew that more time and energy was being put into it. I know there's several issues going on, but I have a small thing to address that could add more options to the game. Can you possibly make a way where to you can keep the stats of armor, but be able to change it's look from another piece. It sucks being stuck with armor that has good stats, but you can't really stand the look of it.

A very good article! Now Bungie.. please show us that you care for Destiny 2 as much as the community does. Because, unless you do - i'm afraid the end of D2 is near. Don't be afraid to take risks, don't forsake fun for balance. Also, make exotics feel exotic, and give Destiny 2 a soul. #MakeDestinygreatagain

A very well-thought-out article. It's great to see someone iterate the general consensus of the game's predicament. Every time I start reading and talking about Destiny it ends up being for far longer than it really should, but I can't help myself. [quote]"Amassing loot and dismantling it felt like I was just making a mess in my inventory for the satisfaction of cleaning it up. I have not once in my years of experience with Destiny had such a strong feeling that I had wasted my time."[/quote] This statement made me laugh, because it's true, and not just in the endgame, but scattered along the way, and more and more as the game goes on. I've only just brought two characters up to 300PL+, not even 305PL, and I've had to do it by sharing 305PL weapons between them to get more out of the Tuesday night refresh. Catching up to most others at this level leaves me immediately flatter and flatter, for every minute of gameplay, and I've only amassed 80 hours of Destiny 2. For me, I think that's about it. It's weird, because I think I played Battlefield 1 about 120 hours, and it's far more repetitive than this. The thing is, it doesn't really promise Christmas presents every time I play the game, I simply enjoy the environment and the old school shooting. Destiny is about collection, and power, but as the Reddit post suggests, it's neither your traditional shooter or a contemporary RPG. Everything that drops is low, or useless, and my character isn't growing or gaining anything that means something mechanical, or metaphysical, in the gameplay. The Reddit posts really makes the most out of the issue, and in great detail, and this is about the brevity of it for me. But I digress... What time I've accrued is nothing compared to others on here, but I recall an important question my games design lecturer asked back in university. He asked, [b]"Would you rather an hour of the best gameplay you've ever had in your life, or twelve hours of mediocrity?"[/b] It raised two thoughts for me; I should disclaim that we don't necessarily have to choose either, but for the sake of hyperbolic theories, the point of a game is to have some serious fun, or challenge, or both. [b]A great game will probably have its own replay value built into its own brilliance.[/b] That's the point about quality, or the game's relevancy to fun. Any game also isn't the only game present at the same time. There's thousands of them now, or at least major contenders at present, such as Gran Turismo Sport, shortly CoD WWII, and Shadow of War, just to name a few I'm turning to now that Destiny has flatlined. Once one is completed, either play it again because you don't feel that your experience is complete - you're obviously enjoying yourself - or move on to the next. [b]A game doesn't need to sustain life, it can't, and doesn't need to even float anyone's gaming life, as no one really bets all their chips on a single title anymore.[/b] It does however feel like Bungie has drawn out the gameplay to opt for the hours in a bid to keep players in the loop, but what that does to quality is effectively water it down by a simple deduction of what one experiences in the density of an hour of gameplay. Yes, the game's progression clearly needs fixing, but if Bungie decides to bring each DLC out every 4 weeks, and buff each of those weeks with unique DLC challenges, gamers will feel there's a strong connection to density. At this stage, the months of nothingness is a chance for Bungie to change course, before releasing yet another Crucible mode, if there will be more, that's no different from the rest. This brings me to my second thought about my lecturer's question, and that's the hours. 12 hours of gameplay back in 2007 was a lot for a games designer to think about generating for an audience. And thinking about it in terms of hours, instead of actual gameplay, frankly made the question feel very lifeless. It's an immediate appraisal of sheer quantity, not quality, and doesn't guarantee any form of fun for the large sum of preoccupation. It's even difficult trying to imagine 12 straight hours of the best gameplay ever, because compared to real life, it inherently limits us to what can possibly be experienced sitting in front of a screen. Does 12 hours of the best life-moment come close to gaming, or is it far better, or non-existent? It maybe worth summing that up before you, or I, decide to throw another hour on the virtual band wagon. And yet, we're talking about thousands of hours of something that I have found, by example, has the ability to tire me out after 1% of the experience. Thinking as a designer, if a gamer is having to achieve something, whether it's a kill count, an area unlock, objective, loot, in-game achievement, etc every 10 to 30 seconds, let alone in a manner of minutes, that's a lot of content, and a ton of design work. To be fair, Bungie created Destiny, and everything that anyone has loved about it is inherently referring to their achievement. Everyone has the right to refuse what they've offered, because it's not a blood contract, it's a product, and a product that the owner has the right to develop in any which way they choose. I don't believe that's an outstanding promise they haven't delivered on, because the game is what it is. If you make something, and sell it, whether people love it or are indifferent, is only pertinent to you and your cause for doing it - fun, or income, or both. Most developers these days pay attention to their market because it pays back in developing a more profitable product. If people don't like the model, they don't spend money, and the developer suffers. That simply means it's bad business to make a bad product, which in short is what most people are discussing on this forum. Just remember, we're not entitled to anything in this transaction, particularly if you've achieved most everything, and have spent time replaying the game. [b]For every minute that you play the game past it's achievements, is either an intrinsic enjoyment of your own, or a oblivious waste of your expectations and time.[/b] Congratulations, you've completed the game (for now). 1000+ hours! Odin's raven's beard! Statistically, and psychologically, it's evidence that you've had an above average quantity of intrinsic value placed on the game, for all the disappointment aforementioned. [b]Is it just me, or are we oblivious to the fact we're spending millions of hours as a community doing something a millions hours longer than we've done in the past, and it's still just a re-skinned version of a half a dozen other games done to death?[/b] We do realise it's Pac Mac 2017 right? Run, collect, destroy, repeat. Or Borderlands, with mutliplayer if you will, which is a miracle that it worked in Destiny 1, with the several hundred thousand characters/weapon combinations. Ain't nobody knows what to expect around that corner. But I do agree with Reddit. The quality needs to be fixed, and the ideas are incredibly well-thought-out by the fans. It would be bad business for Bungie to ignore it, and looking at the online presence is clear evidence that there's a lot more mutual business to be score from making some major functional changes to the game. For one, reverting most of the day-to-day functionality of weapon-mods, Crucible, and challenge drops is going to make a lot of people happy. As for inherited qualities, such as the backwards higher light/power progression-to-low power drops, it doesn't take a genius to recognise that moving forward in a game is the total opposite to the existing design of the game, and makes virtually no sense to casual gamers, let alone the seasoned ones. I still don't get the 'brains' behind that decision. Not for all the lectures and business I've done in the industry. That one's a curve ball, and the box office sales of this game make no sense in progressing this franchise.

Best thread and post, hope bungie takes note

If bungie dont take notice this time though, the game, as a series, is going to die on its arse. They've already done damage control with Cozmo in TWAB, but if players dont see some big changes soon, the playerbase is going to fall through the floor, as there is a serious lack of endgame content. The veterans have already been there, and done that. But it wont take long for casuals to feel the same way. Tokens is fine, as long as it is in addition to drops from endgame activities. This includes Iron Banner btw, bungie. I hope you're taking notice. Turning in 60 tokens to get 3 fusion rifles is not time well spent. Also, get rid of shards as rewards!! Fed up of getting 3-5 shards instead of a reward, when I have over 1000 of the blasted things, and nothing to spend them on! Seriously, who thought we needed more of the bloody things?!?

Oh honey, you think bungie cares. That's so sad. Look at D1 how many things did they fix over the 2 year period that improved the gameplay? Besides game breaking glitches.

Bump

Bump

This post made me go back and watch montages of Gjallarhorn reactions. People would FLIP OUT when it appeared on screen after an activity, and your friends usually flipped out too. It was great to have an item so sought after that it got this type of reaction. Now, everyone I know just shrugs when an exotic drops, and keeps it moving. I miss those days.

Bump! Thoughtful feedback on how to improve this game. Hope Bungie reads it.

Bump. Agreed.

I thought pong was a masterpiece of gaming :(

Perfectly summed up

He hit everything perfectly. He summed it up with this question: "Would you rather have people complain because something is unfair, or because it is boring?" Thank you for posting.