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10/10/2022 3:55:31 AM
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Developer's Advocate: Divinity

Developer's Advocate is a forum series with the goal of talking about changes to Destiny 2 from a game designer's perspective, where we deliberately make a point of walking in a designer's shoes to see why a change that feels bad might actually be good. Today, let's talk about the change announced for every raider's favorite Trace Rifle, [armory]Divinity[/armory]. In the TWAB released on 10/6/2022, the devs announced this change "..we've been looking at Divinity for a while now, and have tested a variety of changes in Season 19 over the last few months, landing on reducing Divinity's weaken from 30% to 15%" This change will almost certainly make many, [i]many[/i] encounters versus boss monsters much more difficult to complete. I'll argue that this might be "bad" on an individual level but is overall a healthy choice in the aggregate, enriching the PvE sandbox experience. But first we have to acknowledge this is also an accessibility issue. [b]Accessibility[/b] is about opening doors for people who would otherwise be left out. I've seen others argue that Divinity, as a tool, makes Destiny 2's end-game available to folks who might not have had the chance otherwise. This is good and we should always advocate for our fellow Guardians who have to navigate disorder or disability. For all my friends who struggle with hand-eye coordination, or fine-motor control, or fatigue from chronic illness, I hope you feel seen, heard, and valued reading this. If this weapon was your on-ramp to your favorite activities, I hope they add a bigger, better ramp as soon as possible. Now we can talk about the silver lining(s) on this dark cloud looming on the horizon. The Divinity change does two things that are good for the game [b]1. Pre-empts the "solved" game problem[/b] If you've played games long enough to, well, read forum posts about said game, you're already familiar with the "solved" game phenomenon. Games necessarily hide the solutions players need somewhere in the mechanics of the game. If all mechanics are accounted for and people have determined the best, "optimal", route through every maze, over every obstacle, you could say the game is solved. This is part of why AI can play games like Chess and Go and win versus human Grandmasters. These games have been played by so many people for so long we may have beaten the idea of Chess. For every attack, a counter, for every defensive stance, a brilliant subversion. Please understand that a solved game is not a "dead" game, not by a long-shot. Chess is still played and enjoyed by people all over the world; But as a general rule when designing you want to make a game that is harder to solve than, "you, rookie, put on Divinity for this encounter". When you have a dozen different bosses and the solution a majority of your players arrive at is the same weapon, that's a red flag. This leads to our second piece of good news, when our golden hammers lose their glimmer, we get to keep something even better. [b]2. Keeps the conversation going[/b] Unlike chess, Destiny 2 doesn't have all its pieces on the board yet, no matter what a certain spooky, smokey, entity has to say about it. As a piece of popular media, Destiny 2's community ebbs and flows based on what's happening right now. Now that Divinity is getting a major de-merit, we get to move the conversation from "who has Divinity?" to [i]"well team, what do we want to use for this encounter?"[/i]. As a player and a designer I find the second question much more exciting and interesting because there are so many "right" answers waiting to be found! And if you feel exhausted by the idea of searching for the Next Big Thing in damage-per-second, take comfort in knowing your favorite streamer and video producers will be happy to find lots of right answers for you. Just remember to Like and Subscribe for future patches to the sandbox. Stay curious, and keep climbing that heuristic tree! Ygdra_Twighr PS. I am in no way professionally or personally affiliated with Bungie or their business partners. I write like this because I love designing, developing, and playing games. This makes me happy and I want to share that feeling with you. If you made it all the way to the post script, thank you!

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