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Destiny

Discuss all things Destiny.
11/29/2014 3:33:55 AM
1

Raid Matchmaking and the DLC

There certainly are plenty of arguments for and against matchmade raids, with legitimate points on both sides. I think, however, that there is a new and evolving issue that is born out of the impending release of Destiny's first DLC. That issue is value and what players are getting out of something they paid for. From the moment of their reveal, raids were always explained as an exceedingly difficult facet of the game, something that only the most dedicated and skillful fireteams would be able to complete. Whether you believe that is correct or not is irrelevant, what is true is that the absence of matchmaking, and not lack of skill, has proven to be an effective barrier to raiding for a huge portion of Destiny's player base. It's a niche element of the game for only a minority of the players. At release this was not a problem, there was a whole bunch of other content to engage players and reduce the demand for access to the raid. However, in The Dark Below the raid will make up a much larger percentage of the new available content while retaining its limited accessibility. Add to this the fact that the new story missions, strike, and NPCs all seem tied into a narrative that culminates in a showdown with Crota and you will have a demand to raid that is unseen in the current game. The problem here is not the absence of matchmaking, not entirely, but rather the emphasis on content that is difficult access through the game itself. If developers want to continue make Destiny raiders a niche community they certainly have a right to do so. However this cannot come at a cost to those players who don't have access to the friends lists and scheduling that would allow them to attempt a raid in its current state. While this post isn't an argument against a lack of content in the DLC, restricting parts of it will only highlight this perception. Allowing any and all players fitting the IN GAME requirements to attempt the raid, no matter how fruitless those attempts may be, will at least give players the sense they got their money's worth from their purchase. Considering that datamining has revealed future DLC will follow a similar format of content provided, the amount of content unavailable to players with the current system is only going to grow. While bumping up the amount of strikes/missions per DLC could certainly offset this disparity, it seems it would be far more more rewarding for both Bungie and players to make the raids more readily accessible. Those of us that kick around forums and third-party websites know how effective they can be at finding the requisite players to raid but we're not everyone, probably not even the majority. There are plenty of players out there who are unfamiliar with the idea of using web browsers and apps to find other players for video games that have long taken care of this process for them. They are not lazy, and just as skilled and dedicated as anybody else, it is simply a foreign concept for many. These players should not be made to jump through hoops in order to play parts of a game that they paid for. TL;DR - Raids are making up a larger % of DLC but remaining just as hard to get into, reducing the value of new content for many players. Matchmaking should be implemented to offset this.

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  • No new matchmaking? This dlc is garbage. A new matchmaking system is the only reason why I would have bought the dlc. I bought this game because I want to shoot aliens with other people. Destiny cannot provide that. Destiny provides the aliens, but you, the player, must create the multiplayer experience. Unacceptable. Matchmaking is the only reason to play online games. “Friends only’ games are best left to Mario Party and Super Smash Brothers. I will not use 3rd party websites to find raid members. Its a slow, boring, awkward process that I don’t want to be a part of. Even the act of looking for raid members online, that takes me out of the experience of playing the actual game. Again, I bought this game because I want to shoot aliens with other people. There are aliens, but Destiny is a big, empty, lonely space. Instead to searching to internet for raid members, I’d rather play a different game that already has matchmaking.

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