Paying for Dungeons (Why Money isnt the real problem)
Please read to the end its really important Bungie knows why I'm not pre-ordering, and all of this is 100% related to that.
For the past few seasons the Seasonal event has kinda been the same thing over and over, with one or two exceptions and I'm getting sick of playing the game because of it. It started with season of arrivals where we played Gambit in public patrol zones. For those who don't remember the basic game play loop is:
Kill Lots of Adds, pick up the triangles, dump them at the "Bank", repeat. (a few big Yellows in between and an optional High Value Target)
It ends with killing a boss, and even though the bosses were copies of some Court of Oryx stuff i really liked this final step. please keep up with making simple yet fun bosses like that.
Everything else however wasn't fun, i had been playing Gambit for 2 years at the time, i didn't want a 9 player PvE version with no matchmaking. Regardless of the loot rewards this wasn't fun it was just a chore.
Fast forward to Season of the Splicer, again its Gambit with a fun Boss:
Kill stuff, pick up triangles, bank them, jump into portal for the High value target.
We get a jumping puzzle and a cool boss but i just don't want to play the activity to get to the Boss. This was way better than Season of Arrivals loot, but its still just PvE Gambit.
You probably noticed i skipped 2 seasons, that's because while they aren't gambit, they have there own crippling issues (Hunt's Loot was bad and Chosen's Loot System was bad) also Both require you to play non seasonal things to get the currency, like for example Gambit. I think Bungie has moved past that sort of blunder but... we will see, I'm excited to see.
But this season (Season of the Lost) was a step in the wrong direction.
Much like Season of the Splicer, the loot is better at the cost of fun activities. It mixes the Sundial Activity (overall a good one) with the worst parts of Destiny, making it really bad.
First you sit in a circular room and kill things for what feels like no reason at all, it doesn't progress you physically from one spot to the next,you just fill up a bar. Then, you wait, but unlike sundial where you could play in the fan blade part you just stand there waiting. This feels wrong it really feels like fluff not actual game play.
Next is the Vault from Last Wish, but again it feels wrong.
In the Raid there was a reason to defend, in the sundial (the batteries part) it was important to get score and keep the Champions from killing your allies in the tight environment. Here we are in little danger from basic adds because its so open, however in the Legendary one its too open and dangerous. this is both Boring, and Annoying, and because its a repeat of encounters its extra boring because i am constantly comparing it. (there may be things i missed but ill talk why that later)
The same wonky area design can be said about the Ether part. It's a repeat of the worst tangled Shore public event, its either boring and too easy or too difficult for a fun and farmable seasonal activity.
The kind of okay encounter is a boring version of the siege engine from Wrath of the Machine. I love that encounter from D1, it made picking up a ball and banking it fun unlike everything else i just talked about. It has good cover, its simple and farmable but it's not fun.
the intense time limit of a chase is gone. The wonderfully crafted wall pathway is replaced with a hill that highlights how much i don't want to play with Blueberries. (they keep letting the ball roll all the way back down to the bottom)
Finally we come to the Boss, after waiting for the long purple to take you. Again this breaks my immersion and cuts the fun away, at least a jumping puzzle is involved. physical progression through the world driven by the character should be standard. (Like Battlegrounds)
Bosses so far have been enjoyable. Sundial was great, Season of Arrivals was great. (Simplistic, enjoyable not to annoying unless blueberries mess it up)
However, The Trickster mixes the most annoying parts of Scorn into a boss.
She gets the very annoying immunity movement where she starts running and can be staggered but is still immune, or she gets stuck for 30 sec in her mist form unable to path to where she wants to go.
She also gets those flying balls to small to shoot with a hand-cannon reliably and fast might be personal preference but it was by far the worst mechanic on the Tangled Shore so why repeat it?.
(For real You had the perfect opportunity to force people to do the capture Public event things but never used it. Why?)
The Ogre is a repeat of a repeat of a repeat, but okay its fun enough as a boss in a vacuum.
however you put it in a circular room with minimal cover from its attacks. (and unlike its original form there are way too many balls to be fun, I miss Kingsfall) this forces most of the team to focus on the boss and the boring repeated Blight Mechanics to become 2 peoples job. It's just not fun, its a huge combination of things that make it not as fun as Sundial, Menagerie, even Season of the Splicer.
Long story short i wont be buying the Deluxe addition because I. AM. BORED.
If i missed things about the Activities its because i have CHECKED OUT. It's mind numbing now.
I miss Season of Dawn, the sundial wasn't like this each activity was unique and simple enough that i wasn't bored on day 1.
I miss Vex Offensive, it was rewarding unlike this seasons activity. 3 drops in Vex offensive compared to 1 drop in Season of the Lost (and Splicer), that's not enough. The boss was repetitive but that's the only issue i had and this season is worse in my opinion because I'm bored AND annoyed.
(Yes the Vex offensive loot was half and half but it looked unique and maybe with all the buffs we have now it could be great)
In Conclusion, it's not Micro-transactions and Dungeon Prices are gonna kill the game, I'm here to say it does upset me, but ill still pay it.
However, I wont pay when I'm bored. I wont pay when i have evidence to assume this is gonna be a repeat of stuff i find boring. You can check my account, I'm a loyal customer but I'm not per-ordering Witch Queen because I AM BORED WITH THE SEASONS, not because your asking me to pay $80 for it.
You need to balance powerful loot, rewarding loot systems, fun well crafted game play, and the right kind of difficulty. I know its a lot to ask and its hard to do but Witch Queen is going to be a test now.
I'm already playing different games more often than i play Destiny, stop making this a regular thing cause ill just drop your game if you do.