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Destiny

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1/6/2015 6:46:44 PM
3

Why House of Wolves is so Critical to Future of this Game (Essay)

So my impression of the community after lurking these forums since September is that there are several broad demographics of players. The first demographic are those that love this game in totality, seemingly unaware of or unaffected by the games flaws. These are the most dedicated to the game and are the hard core (not hardcore) of the player base that Bungie is counting on to keep the game afloat. The second demographic are those who are enamored of the game but have significant misgivings about one section of the game or another due to the multiple flaws and poor design decisions which pervade nearly every portion of the game. The third demographic are those newly arrived, currently the christmas noobs, but there are still newcomers joining and they won't always be christmas noobs. They either love, hate, or haven't yet made up their mind about the game. The fourth demographic, and the most silent, are those who have played the game and decided it isn't for them and have actually left completely or mostly stopped playing. As far as the breakdown of the population into these demographics I am not sure since I do not have access to summary statistics of the player base. However my impression is that the by far largest of the demographics is the second one. I make this assumption due to the general tone of virtually all the press coverage of the game as well as the my surveying of the conversations here on the forum. I place myself in the second demographic. I absolutely love playing this game, am completely addicted, and have never played a shooter that feels this nice. That said every time I play I encounter some aspect of the game that infuriates or significantly detracts from my enjoyment. I have played to some extent all aspects of the game from PvP to PvE, from bounties to story to strikes to raids. I feel that I have a good grasp on the totality of the game and having played games for more than a decade now I also feel that I have some idea of what makes for a successful and enjoyable game. Now onto the House of Wolves. So after the release of The Dark Below I was disappointed. I was not heartbroken nor particularly surprised, and I have definitely enjoyed the new content. However if House of Wolves is essentially the same as far as content, gear resets and dependence on recycled content or simply replacing existing content with "new" content rather than the addition, then I am very worried about Destiny. I would not be able to justify spending any further money on this game despite my great enjoyment of it. This isn't because I hate the game, or hate Bungie, but simply because the price and more importantly the time investment just don't seem worth it. There are other great games out there, not just console games either. I feel that much of the second demographic feels very similarly to the way I do. This is a general dissatisfaction that doesn't come down to any one aspect of the game but the overall failure of Bungie to correct virtually any of the problems in a timely manner. Patches come too slowly, and when they fix one problem it is often bundled with another change that creates a whole new problem. Communication from Bungie is without exception terrible; a textbook example of how to fail at public relations. I want this game to succeed and I want to keep playing it. I don't think I'm alone in those wants. We've been patient and will continue to be patient. We've accepted Bungie's claim that they are learning and will improve over time. We understand it is impossible to please everyone and that it takes time to generate content. We are not unwilling to pay for more content. But you're almost out of time here Bungie. 7 months and two paid "Expansion Packs" is enough time for us to see whether you can walk the walk, not just talk the talk Bungie. Make sure House of Wolves doesn't disappoint, we'll be watching.

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  • The second demographic isn't the biggest, they're just the loudest. The First are busy playing with their friends. The Third are busy trying to get friends or learn the game. The Fourth are busy playing other games.

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