The Destiny 2 Beta was definitely enjoyable. It felt fresh while still feeling familiar. The visuals and UI look super crisp as well. I'm more of a PVE person, but I did play a match or 2 or PVP so I'll be focusing more on PVE. Warlocks: Still enjoyed playing as a warlock just as much as I do in Destiny 1. They do feel a little more squishy in D2 though, but they can be overhauled with added armor bonuses. Dawnblade is a neat super, especially with the Icarus Dash and ability to float in the air while raining fire down on adds. My concerns for this subclass would be the super duration. It felt like you're able to swing 5-7 times and not really do that much damage. I'm interested to see how the other perk tree plays. Voidwalker (aka Slowva Bomb) still feels fun to play as. I do like the grenade over charge ability in the Attunement of Chaos tree. It essentially added Destiny 1 exotic perks to your various grenades. Scatter gets tracking (nothing manacles), Axion has more seekers that last longer (voidfang vestment), and void lasts longer as well. The super itself is kinda neat in that it tracks and has a larger AOE, but I'm going to go with the other skill tree when the game comes out. There were times where the super wouldn't track enemies at all and slowly float past them or it'd blow up too early. The Rift class ability is great because it gives warlocks more utility in combat, being able to either heal or empower you and your team. The glide ability seems suuuuper slow compared to D1, so it'll take some getting used to. Overall, Warlocks feel pretty solid and enjoyable to play as. Hunters: Gunslinger and Arcstrider feel worlds apart. Arcstrider feels like it last quite a while opposed to Gunslinger which last five seconds because of the six shooter perk. Just like Warlocks, Hunters feel a little more squishy then in D1, but again once we get our hands on the full game and get armor with resilience perks I'm sure that'll change. Arctstrider was loads of fun to use because of the unlimited dodge in super and the flashy combos too. The grenades were fun to use as well. The perk tree we had access to was all about dodging and meleeing adds. I felt like was kinda pushed towards using gamblers dodge because of this. Gunslinger on the other hand, felt very lackluster and underpowered. Yea it's neat to have six shots with six shooter, but as mentioned before, the super lasts maybe 10-15 seconds? Not sure. Maybe more. Maybe less. One Golden Gun shot couldn't even take out one red bar enemy. The explosive throwing knife is neat and kind of a call back to with tripmines stuck to people. For me, Gunslinger is kinda meh, and I used to love it. I'm definitely going to be picking the second perk tree for the precision damage bonuses. One main problem I have with Hunters in D2 is that their class ability is more self-serving opposed to the Warlocks Rift and Titan Barricade. While the dodge is neat, I feel like it's kind of a waste especially since Dawnblade Warlocks can get a dodge ability in Incarus Dodge (which is on a 10 second cooldown), while Hunter's dodge abilities are on a 17 second cooldown. It would have been nice if the benefits from the dodge ability applied to everyone nearby. I do like how Chain of Woe is applied to everyone now unlike in D1. Main thing is that Hunters class abilities should have more utility and group synergy. They should also have a Bones of Eao like perk to show off how agile Hunters are supposed to be, especially since Warlocks can get a Twilight Garrison like perk in Dawnblade. Titan: Still pretty fun to use in general. Sentinel and Striker fell really good to use. The Barricade class ability is a great addition to the game for having extra cover or to pop some quick protection when reviving a teammate. The Titan jump feels a lot slower then D1, but it makes sense since they're supposed to be the bulky tanks. Sentinel is a great new super to have. The grenades were all useful with the addition of Voidwall over Spike (kinda wish they replace Suppressor honestly) Even though the perk tree we got to use had the option of Ward of Dawn, I never felt like I HAD to use it. Smacking adds with a shield was way more enjoyable. Yea it has the Aegis moveset in a sense, but it's still a fun super. The shield toss is a nice range option, but you can close the gap between you and enemies pretty quickly just by swinging. Though I do kinda wish the throw wasn't based off your grenade/melee energy. The shield guard is also great for covering/reviving your team. The Sentinel subclass is a lot of fun to use, I definitely look forward to using it more. The revamped Striker is also really enjoyable to use. Since it is now a roaming super, you can do a lot with it. You get a speed boost using it and can either fist the ground to take out a group or do a shoulder charge for single enemies. The fist AOE has been reduced, which is fine since you can still take out a decent amount of enemies. The grenades were all fun to use though I still really like Lightning (which has a little bit of a charge before it starts to pulse). Honestly, I feel Titan's a pretty balanced from the Beta, but who knows what might change in the full release.

The Mission Homecoming was fantastic to play! Just walking throughout the once pristine Tower now in shambles really struck a chord. The added Easter Eggs were great, from the Purple Ball to Hope for the Future playing out of the busted juke box in the Tower bar. My main concern is how emotion and storytelling can be conveyed through our completely silent characters. I understand Bungie did this to make us feel more like we're the protagonists, but what it does is completely breaks the immersion. Take for instance when Ghost falls of Ghauls ship. I was fully hoping I'd hear a Darth Vader-esque "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!", but what I got was...... That totally ruined that moment for me. I really wish they actually had voice actors like the did for each race and gender in D1. For me, it really helped to have my character ACTUALLY talk and interact with Ghost or other characters. Thought the dialogue with few and far in between, it still added more then silently reaching out as your closest companion falls several hundred or thousand feet to the destroyed city below. The Inverted Spire strike was what I played the most. I tried out every class and subclass multiple times to get the feel of each one and to see how they played at various stages. If this is how all strikes are going to be, then I'm pretty excited to see what they come up with in the full game. The map was pretty large compared to D1. I also really enjoyed the balance of gunplay and platforming. Coupling that with the Vault-esque feel of the final boss (minus the raid mechanics) The one thing that did bother me were the Ghost and Failsafe dialogue. It was way too corny and childish for me, especially when Failsafe switches personalities... I mean really? You had to go that kitchy? Those kind of moments have me slightly worried about the story, but the main mission puts me at ease a bit. For PVP, I only played 2 matches of Control, so my knowledge of Countdown is only based off Destiny Youtube videos. PVP has definitely slowed down and team shots reign supreme. It takes AGES for 1v1 gunfights to conclude....if you can even kill the other player before they run off that is... At the start of matches though, people still chuck grenades anywhere/everywhere, but they don't get them back quickly anymore, so that helps push things towards gunfights, which I like. I honestly really can't say much else about PVP, but I think it's going in a better direction then D1.

The weapons where all pretty okay I suppose, nothing really stuck out as a super fun/powerful weapon to use, with the exception of The Main Ingredient. Primaries are SUPER weak, energy weapons have a little more of an edge on them, and power weapons were okay though the shotgun was fun to use. Linear Fusion Rifles are a neat addition, but we're gonna need to get out hands on a couple different ones to gauge how they're role is going to be defined. I know some didn't like the hand cannons, but I generally used those or the scout Does Not Compute. The pulses Nightshade and Nergal were decent in their own respects, but again none of these weapons really set themselves apart. I and I'm sure many, many others are happy Bungie is listening to criticism and applying to the game, like primaries being weak or power ammo not dropping frequently. As for the armor, there wasn't all that much to go on. We know there's going to be ability regen perks, shaders on each individual piece of gear, and mods. The armor design in the beta looked fantastic, except the vanguard armor. Kinda lackluster in terms of visuals. The heavy, mobile, etc designations on armor are an interesting way to retool out stats and perks. I'm excited to see how this will turn out in terms of visuals and gameplay. When I first popped in to Homecoming, the first thing I thought was how crisp and refined the visuals and UI were. It's honestly a big step up from D1. The menus made sense even though it took a little getting used to after playing D1 for three years. I've always really enjoyed Bungie's creative design work. Very crisp and clean futuristic yet minimal design. The two main glitches that were present were the glitching into the Vault of Glass pillar door and the returning infinite super glitch. I managed to get into the spire with Dan and Laurence which was really neat to experience with them. Also tried the super glitch but to no avail. The only other glitch I encountered was briefly not being able to see Dan or Laurence at the beginning of the strike. Lasted maybe a minute or two, then they popped right in. Again, the Destiny 2 Beta was very enjoyable and got me very hyped for the full release! I'm glad Bungie made changes to power ammo, ability recharge rates, weapon damage based on player feedback. Only a month now till we get to experience new adventures together! Here's to Destiny 2!

Characters: [u][b]Warlock[/b][/u] [b]Dawn Blade[/b] Pros: Healing rift is a plus. It’s nice to see a form of a support class in Destiny. Cons: The jumping on a Warlock still feels odd to me. The jumping speed is slow too. [u][b]Hunter[/b][/u] [b]Gunslinger[/b] Pros: The grenades are still useful and fun to play with. Cons: The golden gun super goes too quickly and the aiming feels off. The extra 3 shots are great and I wonder if the aim assist was turned down for the extra 3 shots? [u][b]Titan[/b][/u] [b]Sentinel[/b] Pros: The barriers, both tall and crouching, are amazing! They really change the way pop engagements happen and help teammates capture ground. Cons: There’s no more skating. I understand it may not have been useful to fight against but the sprinting all together feels very sluggish. [u][b]Homecoming Mission[/b][/u] Pros: Cons: I did find an issue where one of the higher leveled enemies teleported, going from in the air to being on the ground immediately. This was while I was playing as a Titan. Find footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN0Vn9feH2c. I also found another issue where a cabal enemy was floating in the air after being killed. This was found while playing as a Warlock. Find footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6PY2yL8sYE [u][b]PVP Mode: Countdown[/b][/u] Pros: Awesome mode. It really feels as competitive as Trials of Osiris. Cons: N/A [u][b]PVP Mode: Control[/b][/u] Pros: Great game mode, as always. Cons: N/A [u][b]Weapons[/b][/u] Pros: I like the changes to radar. Cons: N/A [b][u]Armor[/u][/b] Pros: N/A Cons: N/A [b][u]UI[/u][/b] Pros: Great layout. Easy to read and doesn’t get in the way when playing. The menu us easy to access too. Cons: N/A [b][u]Glitches/Bugs[/u][/b] Please see above mentions in Homecoming Mission. No other glitches were found while playing the Beta.