Which brings this full circle back to the Strike. With only one Strike to tackle, any Guardian checking out the beta will probably play this a few times. It was with my second group that more problems started to crop up. The beta is a stress test on Destiny 2’s system, so having such sparse…everything...became more noticeable. There is a limited arsenal in Destiny 2 at the moment, and when the party hit the boss, we started to wipe. After the third wipe I began switching out weapons in every combination imaginable, but we just couldn’t land it. Having played Destiny since vanilla, I’d say the skills are there. But here is Destiny 2 presenting itself as challenging, but there is always that inkling that it’s a façade. Again, every Destiny expansion has done this. New encounters, new mechanics, new gear. It makes it all seem like the game has changed, but level up enough, equip the right stuff and that boss that was causing so much grief becomes laughable. One can only hope that this beta is not tricking players into a false experience, but that won’t be revealed until September. So, for now it’s the waiting game.
Starting with Record Books seems like the appropriate place. Destiny took the idea of achievements or milestones, whatever they might be called, and put them in the form of Record Books. A way for Guardians to keep track of all their glorious achievement plus receive gifts for leveling up through the Record Book that can be shown off when around other Guardians. Nothing like a sweet skin, Nonary Manifolds Farming right? Much like its Age of Triumph title comes the ultimate Record Book. Not only is this Record Book the largest seen so far, but it also is tough as nails to get through. It is sure to keep any Guardian busy, especially those that might be returning. What’s nice about the Age of Triumph Book is even if it seems like a slog (nothing new for Destiny), the records are easy to achieve, especially before September. Nothing bombastic or hardcore. Just a challenging but fair checklist. Things players will find worth doing, hell maybe even starting up that class you’ve always wanted to play but never got around too. September is a long way away after all and that Age of Triumph book wont fill itself out.
The people running Bungie and Activision aren’t stupid. It takes a great deal of smarts and business acumen to successfully run and grow any kind of company; they know exactly what they're doing. They’re trying to make it sound like they’re doing their fans a favor, but we wouldn’t be seeing this if that were truly the case. If they really wanted to do their consumers a favor, they could do any of the following:
A new set of class specific abilities are being added as well. These abilities stay the same no matter which subclass you choose, and are generally meant to help your teammates. Titans can plant down a shield, Warlocks can cast an area of healing and Hunters get a dodge roll similar to the one that was part of the Nightstalker subclass. The first two are activated by holding down the circle or B button and the Hunter's roll is done by double tapping it. They are all a nice addition to each class' set of abilities and are super tactical. They were all incredibly useful in both PvE and PvP.
Destiny launched in 2014 on PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360 to disappointment. Fans and critics alike found the game to be lacking in about every department; story, mission design, content, world design, etc. The past few years have been about evolving the experience and making Destiny what it was intended to be.
AI has been improved to where enemies don’t just stand there waiting for players to off them. They will duck and weave and attempt to drive players out of cover. They aren’t as aggressive as, say, Uncharted or Halo, but it’s a noticeable step up from the original game.
"Outside of the Prismatic Matrix, players may continue to earn Bright Engrams each time they level up, and they can still purchase these engrams if they want a chance to get everything from the Season 3 catalog. Additionally, we’re increasing the number of items available from Tess each week with Bright Dust, from 14 to 18 items.
With Destiny 2 though, it feels like the opposite is true. They’ve been caught lying multiple times, have made little effort to improve their communications with fans and what improvements they do deliver are hampered by the likes of the Prismatic Matrix. Destiny 2 is in deep trouble right now, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Bungie so long as they can keep the remaining players just happy enough to keep buying loot those boxes.
Taking place on Nessus, one of the two new planets coming to Destiny 2, the strike in the Beta is called The Inverted Spire and focuses on a Vex mind that has been awoken by the Cabal. Nessus is a neat world that kind of combines the aesthetics of the Vex and the Cabal since it was originally a machine world of the Vex's that has been invaded by the Cabal. The planet itself also has a new look to it, with a muted gray landscape, but one with lush red trees everywhere. It's a really cool look that brings a new feel to the game.