I’m truly disappointed, Bungie. Let me explain. Your company brought us Halo for God’s sake. Halo… a game with a beautiful musical score, amazing graphics (for its time), masterfully crafted story, and memorable characters. Halo’s legacy is still felt today… and I believe I speak for many fans when I say that it is still regarded as quite possibly one of the best and most memorable gaming experiences of all time. When Destiny was announced I couldn’t have been more excited. Waiting for the release of Destiny was like being a kid trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. The anticipation was heavy. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited for a massive online shooter developed by the legendary Bungie? I couldn’t have been more let down. I remember the article posted in Game Informer magazine entitled “Bungie Reveals the Staggering Scope of Destiny.” However, the reality is that “staggering” is only a word I would use to describe my horrible disappointment with this polished turd, and the complete lack of regard for producing anywhere near the level of size, scope, and quality that gamers were promised with this game. Here are 7 reasons why I’m seriously considering hanging up my guardian’s weapon for good: 1. Lack of depth – The game seriously lacks depth for several reasons. For one thing, it’s probably a bad sign when one of your top writers leaves to go and work for a rival company – mid development. If I was project lead at that point I would seriously be rethinking my decision to “water down” the story for this game. I mean, come on Bungie. There are enough articles posted all over the internet about how deep and complex the original story for this game really was – before you made the decision to send the original script to the chopping block. But wait – I know what you’re going to say. “But The Taken King has far more story. See fans? We hear you.” No, Bungie. Adding a few additional CGI cut-scenes supplemented by a little witty banter between the leaders of the Vanguard does not count as deep story. That’s called filler. People that appreciate depth in story telling see right through that half-assed attempt for what it is. Don’t pretend we don’t know where your focus lies. You insult our intelligence. The most infuriating aspect of the game’s lack of depth? It’s the fact that we were promised the opposite – and continue to be promised the opposite – only to be spoon fed the same recycled nonsense repeatedly for 30 to 40 bucks a pop. Again, Bungie, we know where your focus lies. 2. Lack of creativity – I’m just downright sick of seeing our own solar system in this game. Seriously… What year is it in “Destiny land?” Isn’t it like the 24th century or something? Later maybe? We seriously can’t travel beyond our own solar system? Why? Because of “the darkness?” What exactly is “the darkness” anyways? Oh wait… maybe I should have put that in the “Lack of Depth” section regarding how watered down the story in this game is. “Here, guardian, here’s a gun. Point it at these aliens coming out of the big dark blob and don’t stop shooting until the 10 more of the same bland expansions stop coming.” Along those same lines – No, Bungie. “The Taken” do not freakin count as NEW enemies. You can’t take existing character models, paint them black with some blue and white shinny particle effects, give them a few new attacks, and call them new. I call BS. 3. MICRO-TRANSACTIONS – We were promised no micro-transactions… or at least a severe reluctance to resort to micro-transactions. But what do we have now? Micro-transactions. But wait – there’s more… What you get from your precious sterling boxes is still COMPLETELY RANDOM (with a supposed higher chance of getting something you don’t already have). So that means you can spend 10… 20… 30…. or more dollars – and still not be able to complete a full set of desolate or spektar gear. WTF. Seriously. 4. SEVERE lack of customization – I have lost count of how many times I have passed up a good weapon or piece of gear because what I had just simply looked better. Call me vain… but I’m one of those players that likes my character to look like a badass too. Shaders are ok, but is it too much to ask for you to add a mechanic that allows us to apply a specific look to a weapon or piece of armor? Another big title did this… Diablo III. Best thing ever. Learn from it. Also, what about the randomness of weapon perks? Why can’t we pick and choose some of the perks we get on weapons? Yes, I know you might argue that all snipers would want “Hidden Hand,” and whatnot, but there’s a solution for that too… Like better perks overall that make you really think long and hard when choosing one… or perks that force you to stick to a particular strategy for PvP or PvE without there being one “fool proof” method. I think you guys really need to look up the word “variety” in the dictionary and speak it repeatedly like a mantra. Maybe then we can actually see some of the customizability that we were initially promised. 5. Repetitiveness – This goes almost without saying. One can only do the same missions, bounties, strikes, and raids over and over again before one gets terribly bored… and no, making the loot horribly random to entice players to experience such content over and over does not increase “replayability.” It only creates the illusion of this, and instead becomes what many, many MMO players across the globe have truly come to loathe. It’s called grinding. Grinding sucks. Fix it. I mean, I still have some faith in your talent, Bungie. There are ways of solving this. Making the game truly more “open world” is one solution that many players would welcome. Figure it out. It’s the 21st century. It CAN be done. 6. No trading between players – I have heard arguments for, and arguments against this mechanic, but the bottom line is that every major MMO that has ever existed has at least allowed some form of trade amongst players. Allowing players to trade amongst themselves not only makes it simpler to obtain some of the games more rare items, but also adds depth to a game that is already severely lacking in this area already. It would also eliminate the need for micro-transactions completely. When you can trade with another player for that last piece of gear you need, there’s no need to shell out 10 bucks for some silver and a chance for it to drop at random. But wait… maybe I’m missing the point of micro-transactions in the eyes of Bungie… because again… we know where your focus lies. Might as well keep milking that cash cow right? How many millions have you made so far? I bet it would take me many lifetimes to save it all. Good for you. You jumped on the marketing bandwagon that is squeezing your fans for money for shinny things. Be proud. 7. The road most travelled… This is where it all comes together. Everyone remembers that great poem by Robert Frost that ends “…and I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” Well Bungie simply does the opposite. Micro-transactions are huge money-makers. Many marketing studies prove this. As long as people keep spending the money they will keep getting more and more popular. It would not surprise me if entire sets of armor or weapons were sold in bundles for 30 bucks a pop a few years down the road. Count me out. As a player I would rather earn it… and legitimately by being challenged… not by getting my ass kicked repeatedly, finally to prevail, and only to be left disappointed when RNJesus doesn’t drop the rife I want. It’s also easier to write a lackluster story, supplement it with filler, and then slap a big “to be continued” on it. Bungie does this masterfully. I call it laziness. Yes, telling a story in an MMO is hard – especially if players are looking for a more open world experience. But it can be done. Not even trying is just plain lazy. It’s easy to take existing character models, slap on some new skins, and pretend that players will be fighting all new enemies. But we’re not stupid, Bungie. What we are, however, is bored. For the record… I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Iron Lords. They’re dead. Let them rot. What myself, and many other fans would rather see is something truly new like… I don’t know… another star system… or an entirely new race of aliens. It’s been almost two years guys. Come on. As for all of you reading this… stop paying them for this nonsense. They don’t care about you. It’s about what’s in your wallet. If you really want to see Bungie start listening to fans and start giving them what they want then stop supporting the crap they keep releasing. If you continue down this path you might as well run off and play the next Call of Duty. How many of them are there now? 37? Feels like it at least… Destiny is getting old, Bungie. Time to show us what you’re truly made of. [spoiler]Moderator edit: This thread has been moved to #Feedback forum so that other Destiny players can weigh in. See [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139533839/0/0]Cozmo's thread[/url] for more information about the #Feedback tag and its uses. Feel free to private message the moderator who moved your post, link to topic for further clarification about why this topic was moved.[/spoiler]