I have been playing Destiny since the franchise first started in 2014. I have stuck through with this game through literally everything that has ever happened. I have been through the highs and lows, and I have a passion for Destiny that is unparalleled by many of its current playerbase (key word "current"). But that's why I cannot in good faith defend it any longer. The franchise I loved since D1 is just... gone. Replaced by what I can only describe as the most despicable display of greed, laziness, and incompetence that I have ever seen in the entire gaming industry, which means a hell of a lot when you've played as many games as I have. Destiny has fallen so far from grace that I don't even know how to begin talking about everything that's happened. Let's start with what little good remains in Destiny 2. [u][b]The Good:[/b][/u] As usual, the visuals are stellar and the music continues to be good. Gunplay has always been a great staple of Destiny and that feeling hasn't really changed. Despite lacking a continuous addition of new weapon types, exotics still feel really fun and satisfying to use, assuming you don't touch the boring ones like Sturm. [u][b]Standards:[/b][/u] Before we go any further, I need to address a problem; the community's standards, or to be more specific, its [i]lack[/i] of standards. You see, the Destiny community doesn't hold Destiny to the standards of other actual games. They hold it [i]only[/i] to the standards of Destiny. And those standards are so pitifully low that the moment Bungie adds a basic industry-standard trait to the game, they get praise for it. That's why you don't see the community comparing Destiny 2 to other games. And this aggravates me to no end. You have seen this with the concept of Guardian Rank, Loadouts, and Commendations. These are the most basic features of any multiplayer game and we're acting like Bungie are god-tier developers for finally adding them? It has been almost a decade since Destiny 1 and we [i]still[/i] can't access our vault from orbit without using third-party programs. But the worst part is that once it's finally added, Bungie will be worshipped for it. This is why I can readily say that Destiny 2 is a terrible game in almost every single way. I can compare it to Warframe or even Wynncraft it will just seem inferior in comparison. And that is foreshadowing; I will be [b]heavily[/b] comparing Destiny a lot to other games for the rest of this thread. [u][b]The New Player Experience:[/b][/u] Let's talk about the overall journey of a new player and how little there is of one. You see, in any MMO game there is always a ton of content to look forward to and different games handle that direction in different ways, but Destiny 2 just doesn't. Let's compare. Final Fantasy XIV has a great story that very evenly progresses with your level and is the main draw of the game and all of its expansions. Wynncraft has a massive world and does a great job at leading you in the right direction at the start due to how nicely sculpted the landscape is and its many questlines do a good job of fleshing out the parts of the world that they present to you while very clearly showing what level the content is of that area (A Journey Beyond being my personal favorite questline). Warframe gives you a huge amount of planets that you can look forward to actually unlocking, unlike in Destiny 2 where destinations have no real journey to get there. And while I struggle to call Warframe's new player experience "good", each and every single ounce of content that gets added to the game is completely free even if you're confused at the start. As an MMO game, Destiny 2 has an obligation to direct a new player to what they're supposed to be doing. It fails miserably at doing so because of how remarkably little there is to do. What can you do in Destiny 2's base game? There's Strikes... there's this one tiny tutorial questline on Earth... and that's about it. There's no campaign to do like there was in Destiny 1 and the Red War. I guess you get a few exotic quests too...? That's really all I can think of. I mourn for the lack of content that new players have to deal with. [u][b]Progression:[/b][/u] Remember when I said that Destiny 2 has no journey to get to new destinations? That's something known in games as progression. And to show how far we've fallen, allow me to tell you about the time that Destiny actually had progression. As a basic example, let's talk about the Dreadnaught. When you start the Taken King, you see a cutscene of Mara Sov's fleet wiped out by the Dreadnaught. This is important because it sets up a threat. You can't just waltz in there, you have to find a way to get aboard. You play The Coming War mission on Phobos, a cutscene with Cayde and the gang, and then you play Cayde's Stash to get a stealth drive to sneak onto the Dreadnaught. From a story standpoint, it is a small journey to get there. Flash forward to Beyond Light and the first cutscene has you already on Europa. Witch Queen doesn't fare much better, and don't even get me started on Lightfall. But progression is more than just getting to a new place. Also in Destiny 1, you had an actual character level, and separate subclass levels that let you unlock your exciting new abilities. This gave you something to truly grind for. Destiny 2 used to have a very similar progression system, but it was removed and instead, every single ability is already unlocked and you just have to buy them from Ikora for Glimmer. [b]HUH??[/b] Where's the sense of progression? That feeling of reward when you actually EARN your abilities? To compare, Wynncraft has 5 classes and an ability tree that allows you to follow 3 different “archetypes” that all play very differently. As an example, the Warrior is essentially the Titan of Wynncraft; a tanky powerhouse. The Warrior archetypes are the Fallen, Battle Monk, and Paladin. The Fallen is a risky playstyle that involves activating a "Corrupted mode" to take lots of damage and deal massive damage in return, the Battle Monk is a skillful class about comboing your abilities with each other and the environment, and the Paladin is durable with tons of self-sustain and support utility but deals very little damage. These paths are so extremely satisfying not just because of how powerful they make you feel, but because of the fact that you don't just get them right off the bat. You have to [b]earn[/b] that power. [u][b]Monetization:[/b][/u] Oh good lord. The big one. This also falls into the new player experience because if you're playing Destiny 2 for the first time, you better be prepared to spend money because there is right next to [i]nothing[/i] for you to do if you don't. Before anyone says it, yes I know that Destiny 2 is technically free. But you know what else is free? Warframe with all of its content, and Wynncraft with all of its content. Neither of these games charge for their massive updates (though you do have to pay for Minecraft itself to play Wynncraft since it's technically a server), and the annual updates they give are [i]actually good[/i]. Lightfall is $50 and is the next-to-last expansion for a story that had lasted for almost an entire decade. So what do you get for what is essentially the Infinity War of Destiny? A boring new destination, a new subclass for each class (of which most of the features are shared between classes), and a miniscule filler story that literally only serves as a tutorial for the new subclass. A story, I might add, that answers none of the questions we had about any previous lore and only asks new questions in the most confusing and aggravating fashion imaginable. What’s the Veil? What's the Radial Mast? Who’s the Witness? And what did the Witness do? Who cares, am I right? Now let's look at Shadowbringers from FFXIV, which is similarly their next-to-last expansion for a story that had continued for almost an entire decade. What do you get for their $40 ($10 cheaper than Lightfall)? Well that's a trick question, because unlike Destiny where you have to pay for each expansion individually, in FFXIV you get every single previous expansion for free when you buy the newest DLC so instead of buying Shadowbringers, you're actually just buying Endwalker and Shadowbringers just comes with it. But anyways, Shadowbringers comes with an entire new region which includes 8 serarate areas. But the meat of the expansion is first and foremost the story. Shadowbringers evolves the story in ways that you never imagined, questioning things that you knew about the story and offering satisfying answers that lingered on your mind ever since you first played the game. The game answered the questions you had, and the new questions it asked were exciting and not aggravating. FFXIV has tons of monetization in its game like D2 does; but unlike D2, the content you get is actually worth it. But going back to Destiny 2, let's not forget the Annual Pass costing another $50, and to top it all off, the game [i]also[/i] has an in-game store using real currency. [b][i]Conclusion:[/i][/b] I don't mean to end this post so abruptly, as I have so much more to say, but I'm all out of characters to use in this post because of how long it is. So, in my final conclusion, I implore everyone of the Destiny community to do one thing: hold Bungie accountable. Stop defending them like they're some small indie studio. They know better. And you deserve a better game. [b]We[/b] deserve a better game. But we will [i]never[/i] get a better game unless you hold Bungie to the standards that you would hold for literally any other game. Stop letting Bungie be lazy, greedy, and incompetent. Do more for Destiny and hold Bungie accountable for everything they've taken from us. Anyways, if you have anything to add, please reply down below. And with that, have a nice day everyone :) [i]-A hardcore Destiny fan since 2014[/i]