The "Darkness" ate the story, it wasn't bungie's fault... It was that damn "Darkness"! Bad "Darkness", bad! Go sit in a corner and think about what you did! No, but seriously there is no plot tying those repetitively designed missions together, it's as simple as that. The game's "plot": "You're alive even though you were death, you must have so many questions, we will not answer a single one, not even try or start, so let's do stuff. Why? Because we light and they darkness. Warmind Rasputin. What did you say? Nevermind. Let's go to the moon. Why? That's where wizards come from. Lets visit their huge cave, every tourist guide recommends it. Oh someone just called us from Venus, that's neat, that call must have been expensive, let's go there. Oh finally someone will tell me something... ah ah you wish! "Darkness! I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain." Well can't you just call or text me later? You already have my little light's number (somehow, stalker...) oh she's gone... Well where is that black garden of legends that I never heard about? Let's ask for directions to some rude condescending people... Man, they really were ass holes, well to Mars! Did you know that during the collapse the vex pretty much turned mercury into a machine within days. What?! Nevermind that. Rasputin again. What are you talking about?!! And who are these fat guys I'm killing? Was the exclusion zone excluded because of them? Hmm forget about that let's go to the black garden... But why? Because a stranger told us, pay attention. In the black garden: oh look a big blob surrounded by dusty vex. What is it? What is it doing? Why is it doing it? How is it doing it? How do we even know it is affecting us? Does it matter? Shooting the robots will undoubtedly solve everything that is wrong with our high tech mini moon that seems to be sick for some reason. (Personally I think it needs a hug and a night light to be less afraid of the dark) Literally the moment we destroy the blob by killing its guards (because logic): oh look our mini moon back on earth seems to be better already, that was fast, everyone seems to have noticed and the speaker that doesn't say anything useful is already calling us back to hear a speech that also doesn't say anything and makes him sound like the leader of a cult. Well ok... The stranger robot that for some reason has boobs: "you and I know the truth, the darkness is still out there". Well it better be because so far this game really needs a plot to go with the setting and universe (that actually sounds really interesting and full of potential). The end. For the actual plot stay tuned for the expansions. This is not a plot it's just a series of unfortunate events lol Want more of the game you literally just bought? Here play the same missions on higher difficulty (like you couldn't do that already) and a few "queen bounties" and pink coloured weapons, and now the "Iron banner" which is basically the same but for PvP. Bungie: "Aren't we generous?" Everyone: hey "free" "content", for the half game we bought to keep us busy until enough time passes that they can start selling us expansions that start telling the actual story. Bungie can't start selling them so soon after release, it would look bad, and they sure aren't going to give you for free the game they should have shipped! Destiny 1.0 feels like a rushed pilot episode of a TV series that will have many seasons, or just the prologue of the first book in a series of several books but it should have felt like a first whole book in a series. I thought there would be more, even the first halo game more than a decade ago told us more: we had just landed on a massive unknown ring in space after being attacked by the covenant, our enemy we were at war with. Eventually we found out what the ring was, why is was built, why the covenant were interested in it, what it would do if it was activated and why and how to stop it and that there were many others "facilities" like it. That set the tone, it had its own satisfying self contained plot that left plenty of room for a lot more than 10 years. I wish destiny 1.0 felt like that, I would be begging for DLC and the "10 years plan" (which by the way almost every new AAA game nowadays has) because I would want to know more and see what was coming next and not because I feel there's potential, and it's bungie, and also, I want to know what the hell I just did and why. It would have felt very different even it the amount of missions etc was exactly the same. This game made my guardian just feel like grunt taking orders without knowing why. That would have been a great start for a franchise with such great ambitions. This is just "meh, it will be amazing eventually, maybe, hopefully". So far bungie's reputation and activision's marketing dollars are this game greatest "achievements". This game's plot is disappointing and just plain embarrassing. Oh and the "Darkness" (Guess what? It doesn't sound mysterious after saying 100 times as a justification for everything, it sounds cheesy and lazy), it better not eat the story again. (About "the plot is in the grimoire" comments. The grimoire doesn't have the plot, it has a few descriptions, curiosities, background info, like every single other sci-fi game has except this one is not in the game. The grimoire is like a small encyclopedia. I hear an encyclopedia is very different from a novel.)

Intricate yes. Harder no. I got that whole Mass Effect 3 vibe when I killed the last giant Minotaur and the heart just... exploded. I was like "seriously? Did killing your statues really bug you that much?". 1/10 would not bang.

Due to the fact bungie wanted to make gear progression stifled to the max as a result of Acti$visions redacted content to such a massive extent that you NEED 5 other decent high geared players pref all 29 with void weapons vs a bunch of extremely flawed game design mechanics (e.g. instant kills/wipes, stupid jump Puzzles etc etc). its an egomaniacs and elitists wet dream, so if you're one of those very few portion of the player base GG. Otherwise max level is 29 for all you normal players, who don't want to organise 6 peoples schedules or use a FORUM to talk to people. Your stuck waiting for new content coming S.o.o.n (somewhen or otherwise never). also people are really bad at games design. Difficulty is MEANINGLESS Rewarding difficulty is good (e.g. its not a static thing) The people who are like I want a really hard game because I have a fragile ego and want to pretend im better than others because i'm insecure. Should leave gaming and seek mental help. Sane people just want fun from games because they are "you are expected to complete this content, the challenge is limited in the context of the game, the FEELING of reward is as a result of good design". Not be hay player jump through these hoops to be able to even have a chance at the content. The content isn't actually hard or difficult relatively speaking, its careful design to biased the game down one very warped path. inb4 the flame and or trolls attack due to people not being able to take constructive criticism unless it brown noses the game

You do realize if everything was The Vault Of Glass people would rage quit this game. Trust me I got stuck on Atheon (it's my 2nd time re-running VOG for completion) for 9 hours 1 day & still he is not dead at this time & it took weeks for people to do it they're first time. Imagine the campaign was a long VOG, your sanity would break. Raids are meant to be special & unique the only thing reasonable to be said to be closer to VOG is Nightfall

First of all, I just wanted to say that the Black Garden is the most fascinating place in Destiny so far. It has a strange beauty to it that attracts yet within that beauty lies a pitch black poison of darkness. I would love to find out more about the location. I think the endgame content reinforces the story. I know I have missed several parts of information that I only gathered while redoing the missions and daily heroics. No it was nothing special about the Black Garden but how it played out was good and made sense in my book. As indicated by my first sentence, the wonder of The Black Garden is in itself. Seeing the Vex in Stasis, with vegetation that had grown onto them like weeds, to the plateau out yonder, to the gates crafted in the rocks that lead to unknown dimensions and seeing the entire Black Garden underneath the plateau, those made the gameplay worth it. Yes it was simple and straightforward, nothing that had the "end boss grandeur" that we have come to known in games but I think it takes a bit of our own interest in the story that fills out the rest that is missing. I think we will see more of The Black Garden. And like your edit states, this isn't the last of the story. It's not the endgame. In fact, if you read some of the grimoire cards or just know about time travel in general, us Guardians had already destroyed it. So with that being the case, is it still alive in another time and place? There are even some Vex that are from another time, whether they are from the golden age or a place where humans are extinct, is entirely up in the air. So since time is like a ruler, with the past, present and future existing on one plane (just like The Black Garden existed), would it be possible that the blackheart already knew of its destruction and tasked the Vex to prepare for that day by recreating it in another form in a different time? For me that blows my mind. Darkness never goes quietly into the night without a backup plan. I think the "easy, quick victory" will become a challenge at the later stages. I hope we revisit the story of the black heart later. A entity so powerful that the Vex chose to worship it. That's crazy. We shall find out though.

Your question should be, why wasn't the campaign like the Vault of Glass?

I just wish the fight was actually hard. Beat in one try and also beat it on first try on heroic as was able to beat the bosses in less than 5 minutes with Void rocket (Void was the increased damage modifier) told my friend to get the mobs and I would kill the statues before he could kill the mobs lol.

Most people want an easy story.

Agreed, the whole story was a bit of a wet fart, but that ending was so weak, I can't think of a bigger let down in a games story, at least that I've played

One is end game content one is simply a mission

In my opinion the black garden was never meant to be the final mission of the game- it's too anti-climactic. It seems like a strike mission or a mini boss fight.

Because the black garden is a story mission, designed so it's possible to beat solo. The raid is impossible without 6 people.