After watching bdbobbinsftw's latest video(s), I've become inspired to take my torch and hopefully light a fire or two along the way. Destiny is going on a year of high potential and low realization; the sky's the limit and Destiny has long tumbled on a slope meant as a runway to send it into the heavens. Much of what's to come in The Taken King certainly sounds enticing, but remember how Destiny (and its expansions thus far) touted itself? The shared open world experience was like two people communicating to each other via morse code, despite the fact they have new Samsung smartphones at their disposal; The Dark Below's "fixes" and "improvement to storytelling" were like volatile grenades crammed full of rapid fire ants and an elephant with one flea removed, respectively; House of Wolves' approach to storytelling were like playing Halo missions without Cortana's personality and no actual cutscenes to speak of; Deej assured us we'd get "something better" than new Year 2 players for dealing with what continues to amount to an overpriced, oversaturated and over-marketed beta test. So I'd like to present a three-part post in where I list reasons we should be apprehensive about Destiny altogether, and consider what can be done to rectify some of the problems. Part One 1. We've Experienced This Build-Up and Marketing Before: As I said, Destiny has a history of grabbing and enticing us only to drop the ball, except said ball contained a new HDTV and was made of the most fragile glass. No new storytelling was taken with either expansion, something that we were told would be addressed. Sure, if switching our Ghost's voice actor makes that much of a difference while playing point-defense horde mode missions for the 1832749664703388th time is a different approach to storytelling, then yes, it was so so innovative (sarcasm alert). Destiny was supposed to offer us wonder and awe, we got a fraction of that with heaps of frustration and hollow feelings that continue to affect the game today; The Dark Below and House of Wolves got us excited with the touted changes coming, only to open a whole new can of worms for many players, particularly the hardcores and, in the case of House of Wolves, those who simply didn't gravitate towards the Crucible and it's embarrassing state. Most of The Taken King sounds awesome, but remember how awesome Destiny and its first two expansions sounded going in? Did the build-up and vague promises match the final product(s)? Was the Reef a new and truly awesome social space, or was it a drab, small-scale vista barely allowing half as many Guardians as the Tower (more on that later)? Will the Dreadnaught really be this grand, explorable area with a colossal Raid like it's being build up to have, or will there be a few things amiss again? I'm not ready to spend $40 on another gamble that might pay off like a rigged fairground game. Oh, and the Red Bull campaign going on with locking out content from players who don't buy or support such product? Insult to the nth degree. I feel Bungie/Activision put more thought and effort into this than into the game's current story. 2. A History of Lies: This ties in to what I've already highlighted. We were promised a shared open world, fully explorable. What we got was, to quote Honest Trailers, "a beautiful mansion full of cheap IKEA furniture," except the furniture was scarcely scattered about. Neither The Dark Below nor House of Wolves brought changes, fixes and improvements to the story. No, that sounds like something The Taken King might touch on. That is, if we can expect it to deliver what Bungie are telling us. Remember when Deej told us that Year 1 Destiny players would get "something better" than the stuff people who bought The Taken King collector's edition are getting? Even considering the quantity of items, Year One Destiny players are being shortchanged. Factor quality and overall value into the mix and we begin to feel like customers who ordered a Blu-ray on Amazon only to receive a VHS tape. And no, there was no complementary VCR to go with it. 3. Lack of Communication from Deej and Cozmo: I'd love to see a single person tell me about an actual interaction they had with either Deej or Cozmo. When I say interaction, I mean more than a single, basic, nonchalant reply to a forum topic. If I were to compare Deej and Cozmo to a retail store, just based on their presence and engagement online, I'd compare them to the quiet, cold-shoulders of Wal-Mart. For the money we spend and the content we're promised, we should be getting treated like we're at Publix or Chick-fil-A at a bare minimum. Deej and Cozmo have shown about as much personality and lasting impressions as the NPC's in the Tower. I think even Xur has an edge on them, and he doesn't even get a cutscene! 4. A Superior Deal Awaits: You know what waiting a year has gotten upcoming adopters to Destiny? Value. You know what Year 1 players who joined and even stuck with from day one? Frustration. Destiny and its first three expansions would cost a bare minimum of $135 for Day/Year 1 players, while the virgins get a fat discount at $60. That's a nearly 60% discount! If there's any lesson that Bungie and Activision are teaching us, it's that they don't want us buying their product until it's been out for a year. It may seem like a long time, but with all the other, likely superior content coming out, an extra $20 for something different (and likely superior) might do you some good. Fallout 4, Need for Speed, Battlefront, Rock Band 4, Guitar Hero Live, Metal Gear Solid 5, Forza Motorsport 6, Halo 5, Rainbow Six, Assassin's Creed, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Just Cause 3, the list goes on. Not all of these games are necessarily the best examples, but it gives you an idea of the competition facing Destiny and The Taken King. What real competition did Destiny have last year? If you need more incentive to hold out, there may be a Black Friday discount, although if it costs more than $25 even with said discount I'd still hold off on buying it. Besides, if you're not a user or advocate or Red Bull, you won't begin to get all of the content until New Years Day, so why buy when you're already inherently getting shortchanged for 2 1/2 months? 5. Redundancies Persist: Destiny is a grind. This has been its synonym since release. However, it's what I'd consider the wrong kind of grind. You rarely feel like that extra time is truly fulfilling, because the content is rehashed to the point that a 12-year alcohol addiction would feel exciting 9 years in. The Dark Below and House of Wolves did little to rectify this, outside of the Prison of Elders' locations and, to a faint extent, its bosses. And guess what? We're already seeing signs of this in the content for The Taken King. That Playstation exclusive Strike? That'll be another run through the Endless Steps with a lead-up to an oversized Vex boss, please. We can probably expect the other "new" Strikes to follow a similar pattern, unless they take place on Phobos, Demos and the Dreadnaught, but I'm not ready to bet the Hawkmoon I've still yet to get on that (even if I could). Even the enticing idea of having previous content become more interesting is still having us revisit stuff we've played and experienced before, and at this point I imagine it will be too little too late. While this approach may or may not be necessary, I still think it's all the more smack to the face for those of us who endured the terrible, stripped away content from the get-go. Unless these enhanced missions and elements involving Ghost-scanning are available to all players, even non-DLC players, I think that should automatically mean a price cut for those buying The Taken King (which I still discourage anyway).