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:
While Destiny might not be your standard MMO because it’s also a shooter, it's nonetheless doing something similar to the likes of the original FFXIV. Destiny is raising itself to the ground and just like a flower that finds a way to bud up through the ashes, just maybe Destiny 2 will deliver on things its parent game couldn’t. By the likes of the new trailer , as flames consume the Last City and the Towers burn with it, it gives cause to rise up and begin the fight anew. This is a time for Guardians new-and-old to band together and join in what is sure to continue a name of legacy, even if Destiny didn’t quite get everything right. Before any of that can begin, Destiny is turning it on and by far this is the best time to give it the send off it deserves.
Playing Destiny 2 with others is what makes the game so enjoyable. Destiny 2 may have widened the pool, but everyone must stay in their lanes. Seeing a game like FFXIV pull off cross-play so effortlessly makes one wonder why Bungie couldn’t pull this same move. Part of it has to do with licensing agreements, but dividing Guardians is a sure way to push those same Guardians out. If a group of friends wants to play Destiny 2 together, but they all have different platforms, then why should they play at all? Much of the content in Destiny 2 is built on the idea of social play, even more so than Destiny, it just comes with limiters. Those limits are hurting Destiny 2.
The Destiny 2 beta is showing positive things, but the cracks are easy to see for any veteran Destiny player and that’s nerve-racking. Destiny 2 should not just be a glossed-up Destiny with a fresh coat of paint, it needs to prove that it is the FPSMMO it always intended to be. When hiding things like the item menu from players, however, those feelings of unease just won’t go away.
The Strike is a good place to start. It reveals a little more of the world players can expect, showcasing great improvements to Destiny. The most notable thing about the Strike is just how open it felt. Instead of running casually down one big hallway that twist and turns, the Strike makes use of all the space available. The number of paths available was astounding and never has it been so easy to get separated from the group, Nonary Manifolds farming meaning communication (or keeping an eye out) is key. Party members can’t just run ahead to go off and do their own thing; the Strike actually requires some teamwork and that’s a good thing. More than a few times, imminent danger is awaiting any careless Guardian who might think "I’ve got this." The mechanics of it all also helped with this feeling, giving the Strike enough complexity, but not so much that it felt bogged down. It’s hard to get an exact read, though, because this is only one Strike and without leveling of any sort, it might just seem tough. This is how every Destiny expansion has played out. Things feel like they were getting more challenging, but level up enough gear and light, and those Strikes become cake-walks. I even encountered some of this already, by just breezing past the giant drill without stopping. What looked like a challenging set piece became just a set piece. No interaction required.
Still, the EDZ is a gorgeous area to explore, and more visually impressive than the vast majority of Destiny’s worlds with only Venus giving the EDZ a run for its money. While its size may be a bit deceptive, what matters more is if there’s enough content to make exploration worthwhile.
Destiny released in September of 2013 and with it came an avid fan base, not necessarily for the game itself, but for developer Bungie as a whole. Unfortunately, Destiny wasn’t the most well-received game and its history is marked by scars of mistakes past. Nonetheless it pushed ever onward and a healthy fan following remained to keep it alive-and-well. There’s even a Guardiancon now and the game is still in its child years if breaking it down. It can think, play and be socially engaging; it just needs to grow a bit more. Thankfully, Destiny is giving the ultimate gift in its last few months before Destiny 2 comes out.
The most exciting thing by far is the fact that all the Raids are back. Updated Raids matching appropriately the light level of Guardians and its fair because it’s not even the max light level of 400, it’s 390. This ensures that more people will get to experience the Raids, instead of just the top tier level players. Besides having free reign on all Raids and smashing in some old baddies' faces, the updated Raids come with something even more worthwhile: the coolest armor to ever come out of Destiny. While I haven’t been the biggest fan of some of the armor choices made by Bungie, whoever thought of this totally revamped package of all armor was a genius. Seeing the new Raid armor was enough to sell me on Age of Triumph — Vault of Glass aside. It just looks so space-magic, and isn’t that what it’s all about?
