State of Destiny 2

[J4MES OX4D 10,039]

Been another bad period after player decline, delays and other issues

Bungie tells Destiny 2 players "We know we have lost a lot of your trust"

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After a week that's seen significant layoffs at Bungie, as well as reports of a delay for Destiny 2's The Final Shape e…

 

It's a shame Sony aren't more supportive after acquiring them but Bungie were always very cocky about going it alone after departing Activison and it's clear they are struggling and that's not just taking into account the operating costs. I actually think they should've remained with Activision as they were pretty independent under them and had the luxury of having the extensive running costs paid for. They only survived a year or two  before desperately trying to seek a buyer and even then it's felt like it was just for them to be bailed out rather than wanting additional support and direction. Quite sad they've got into this mess on what should be a simple game with a proven foundation and with their experience. 

 

Gonna be nigh-impossible to turn it around now. 

[SWAINEY84 68]

I know everyone likes to take the piss out of the game these days but it’s an unfortunate situation it’s ended up in, Destiny has given me a lot of good memories like getting to know the clan members past and present and was a key factor in helping me rise from depression, I’ll always have a soft spot for this game and will see the conclusion to the light and darkness saga but I’m afraid my Destiny days of grinding is over, it could of been so much more and hope it reaches its potential one day.

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Agree completely @SWAINEY84  A lot of my fondest memories are with the large assortment of FGers since the D1 days, and just having a good fucking time.  It's those days that I miss.  I know a lot of FGers, and Non-Fgers stopped playing far sooner due to the grindy nature of the game or just not having the time to continue supporting it. 

 

 Honestly, I stopped due to the seasonal model being utter dog shit, the drip-fed story each season, and forcing people to play certain game modes they may not want to play.  Also, the seasonal play mode was literally the same thing with a different twist, but essentially the same.  Calling old D1 weapons, armor, and locations "new" showed just how lazy they've become as a developer, and it's unfortunate.  The last straw for me was the last season before nightfall using reskinned lost sectors and calling them "New." (Whatever the Rasputin season was called.)

 

I still say that Destiny, to me at least, has always been the best FPS gameplay-wise out there right now.  Granted, I haven't played at all since the previously mentioned season, but It just controls so damn well.  I'm forever grateful for the friends I've made thanks to this game, as well as this group of amazing people, and I owe it to Destiny.

[GazzaGarratt 11,056]

Ahh man. I've been putting this off for abit, not too dissimilar to how I've chosen to shelve the game for the past 6-9 months.

 

I think Chad hits the rusty old nail on the head spot on tbh. With a live service game, if you end up being too same-y for too long people get apathy and the interest each season isn't as hyped as they may want it. Everything is cyclical in the world, so usually you need to be ready to cycle round to the next way of working to make the game feel fresh to players.

 

I also believe the other pain point is not being able to engage fully with new players for YEARS. I think whilst some of the UI changes have been getting better over time to support new players, the main issue remains around the whole package and how they've got into to a stage of a game that looks fundamentally different to D2 when it started (which would've been made to flow in the right way from the start).

 

You could argue that we/they need to create the game again as Destiny 3 or rebrand to Destiny 1, to effectively make people feel like they are starting from scratch. I also think how they've bundled the game up, it is so confusing to new and existing players on which bundle you are supposed to buy to get into the game.

 

The way that people have been let go is incredibly frustrating to watch, especially when I held this company in a great light on how they do things with people. Don't fall into that trap though that just because of the layoffs that Destiny is going anywhere because it can't. This is Bungie's current only revenue stream, so they need it to pick up the cash for them to keep delivering updates continuously. I could see the inevitable delay in The Final Shape (not confirmed yet but pretty obvs) dropping with some nostalgia stuff to help players move back into the game - I really think that they need to find a way to get the game engine to house all the previous missions, stories, etc, into the game so people can take that journey. I would love to see that all content too is easily bought in one reasonably priced bundle - it feels like the only way to get people into every bit of content to do together.

 

On 11/3/2023 at 11:43 PM, Riff Machine said:

I still say that Destiny, to me at least, has always been the best FPS gameplay-wise out there right now.  Granted, I haven't played at all since the previously mentioned season, but It just controls so damn well.  I'm forever grateful for the friends I've made thanks to this game, as well as this group of amazing people, and I owe it to Destiny.

 

However bad this may all be currently for Destiny, we all know that this statement is so god damn true, even now. That is incredible given how long its been out and how many games have tried and failed to get to their level of gameplay. I think its why I and hopefully others here, will always be open to this game when the time and game feels in the right spot. I would want to see the Light/Dark Saga with as many FGers as possible, regardless of what the next 6 months holds for the game. Kind of feels right to share and make new memories with everyone at such a pivotal moment for the franchise.

[techno 3,511]

They also seem to have driven the PvP side into the ground by either not really supporting it or driving long term players away with the usual ridiculous sbmm. 

[Diddums 4,346]

So no more new content everybody then? 

 

Shame really, I absolutely fucking loved taking my PS4 to work on night shifts and gaming with everyone from all over the world for a full 10 hours solid. Like most here, some of my fondest gaming memories were in this game and funnily enough on Monday was wondering if it'd be worth installing it to see if I could resuscitate that old flame but reading this has put that idea to bed. 

 

Ah well, 11 more camos to go.

[GazzaGarratt 11,056]

13 hours ago, Diddums said:

Like most here, some of my fondest gaming memories were in this game and funnily enough on Monday was wondering if it'd be worth installing it to see if I could resuscitate that old flame but reading this has put that idea to bed. 

 

Yeah, I never want to be too deep and profound to say 'this game is dead', mainly because how many times have we heard that in the last 10 years and its still here lol. I think games that are in your life so regularly like this one, just need to evolve and move with the audience and its hit a spot where that hasn't matched for a while now. Having said all that, and with the new season actually kicking off some crazy stuff until something that hasn't been talked about for a while (The 15th Wish), I think the hype i've seen over the last 48 hours shows it still has the ability to shine. And it can shine and be played alongside us feeling really crap that some good people got let go from this studio.

 

There are so many people at FG that never really ventured into this game and I know that if we actually managed to get them on it, we'd have an absolute blast because their minds would be blown away by so much stuff thats in it. No other game can compare to it, so maybe the break for a little bit longer will just do us all some good. No need to care for the grind anymore, just hang out, complete some fun missions and quests together and have a blast like we've done on so many other games.

[GazzaGarratt 11,056]

It would be cool to get non-Destiny players views here sometimes too...I mean, in my eyes so much success and memories were built from CoD and Destiny like @Diddums and @Riff Machine  said. Insane thinking back how it all happened through the years.

[J4MES OX4D 10,039]

On 11/8/2023 at 6:29 AM, techno said:

They also seem to have driven the PvP side into the ground by either not really supporting it or driving long term players away with the usual ridiculous sbmm. 

I wish they abandoned PvP altogether - it feels like a watered-down version of Halo with no balance or meat to the mode. Always felt like it was included as filler and that's the way it's always persisted yet it was never really needed as it still only represents a minor part of the game, yet still big enough to alienate new and even longstanding players. Bungie have spent way too much time half-assing so many aspects and then tweaking others and it's no wonder they could just settle down and comfortably make expansions when they couldn't even get the foundation right after a decade nearly.  

[techno 3,511]

31 minutes ago, J4MES OX4D said:

I wish they abandoned PvP altogether - it feels like a watered-down version of Halo with no balance or meat to the mode. Always felt like it was included as filler and that's the way it's always persisted yet it was never really needed as it still only represents a minor part of the game, yet still big enough to alienate new and even longstanding players. Bungie have spent way too much time half-assing so many aspects and then tweaking others and it's no wonder they could just settle down and comfortably make expansions when they couldn't even get the foundation right after a decade nearly.  

I totally disagree, PvP back in destiny 1 was great what they should have done is not try to balance both PvP and PvE as one entity. The new abilities added in destiny 2 just broke PvP imo. I wouldn't personally compare it to halo either. 

I think the PvP community would definitely argue on wether it was needed or not 🤷

[Riff Machine 2,105]

That's always been D2's biggest issue balancing.  So many times, abilities get nerfed due to over-preforming in PvP, but that in turn fucks the PvE side of it and the same for weapons.  

 

While I've never been a hardcore PvP player, I agree with @techno  I fondly remember having a much better time in D1 PvP.  D2 became really bad with the aforementioned balancing issues.

[GazzaGarratt 11,056]

PvP worked in Destiny at the start very well as it was never really badged the uber competitive MP PvP game, more so an addition to the game that was phenomenally well backed by loads of players. Problem is over time gamers expectations change, especially when it lands as well as it did, people expect more and more and had to be better stuff. I just don't think Bungie ever said PvP was going to be the thing to do in Destiny, player power made them look at it in a different light, wanting more stuff and then a way to get competitive in it.

 

If PvP wasn't taken as seriously, just like in D1, then I think its not in that bad of a state. Its ludicrous for a reason and its why I think we all loved it so much. At least now after 10 years you have a mode where its now pretty much about the guns and not supers, which is what everyone wanted...but no one is probably giving it a go because its a little too late for some.

[Baabcat 1,646]

Occasionally they got PvP right and then they fucked it up by moving away from it. There was a couple of seasons of iron banner where the gear was locked behind gain coins from playing and bounties, and it made it a bit of a challenge to grind out for the 'best' efffectively curated gear. They then moved to engrams so you could drown in loads of shit roles! 

 

Also Trials had a heyday for the more casual PvP player - when it was based in the Reef, and again bounty completion could get you gear, it was worth taking the losses to an extent. In fact now its back down in the Hanger it still has some of that but I think the RNG of engrams is always a bit of a joy killer.

 

I always sort of thought PvP always sort of lacked a purpose in the lore - it was a training ground apparently, except no matter how crap you were you could drop good gear via RNG and could do any of the PvE stuff. As a training ground it had zero purpose. We all grind the fuck out of CoD for zero purpose, but somehow grinding PvP for zero purpose never appealed too much to me. Best times in normal PvP were probably the exotic bounties that forced you to do PvP in D1 - gave it a purpose (an hunter who got thorn at last will remember the feeling of relief after completing the void kills at a time when the only void option for hunters was a Heavy or one raid weapon!

 

D1 and D2 were fantastic at times but as has been said before the cookie cutter Seasonal content just became meh !  Too grindy even for me, and thats what eventually made me drop away, and honestly cant even face thinking about going back! 

 

But when it was good it was great - the FG Raid teams in particular. So many great memories, and laughs. The hours of banging heads against brick walls for that one final run when everyone at last got it right. One of the great things was they way you didnt actually have to be great at the game to finish the raids, learning a role and having a supportive team meant you'd get the completion eventually, not everyone had to be a superstar, was incredibly accessible.

 

Good times gang!

[GazzaGarratt 11,056]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:14 PM, Baabcat said:

Best times in normal PvP were probably the exotic bounties that forced you to do PvP in D1 - gave it a purpose (an hunter who got thorn at last will remember the feeling of relief after completing the void kills at a time when the only void option for hunters was a Heavy or one raid weapon!

 

Quests make this game so god damn good. Objectives are key to keep people coming back, working through the steps. I think too many people moaned back then that they needed all quests to be 'accessible', but the whole point sometimes in games is that you have to do something unique to get a certain weapon or piece of gear.

 

On 11/10/2023 at 3:14 PM, Baabcat said:

D1 and D2 were fantastic at times but as has been said before the cookie cutter Seasonal content just became meh !  Too grindy even for me, and thats what eventually made me drop away, and honestly cant even face thinking about going back! 

 

I think the grind has gone which overall means its better...but when they started teh Seasonal model, its a bit like a TV series we've watched over the years. May start well and people enjoy it as its a routine but over time will become stale. They knew they had to shake up seasons at some point, just don't know why they weren't already planning for that - i'd have started planning at the start of seasons or even before to know whats next.

 

On 11/10/2023 at 3:14 PM, Baabcat said:

But when it was good it was great - the FG Raid teams in particular. So many great memories, and laughs. The hours of banging heads against brick walls for that one final run when everyone at last got it right. One of the great things was they way you didnt actually have to be great at the game to finish the raids, learning a role and having a supportive team meant you'd get the completion eventually, not everyone had to be a superstar, was incredibly accessible.

 

Most possibly the best experiences ever lived at FG. Raids are insanely good. Nothing beats 6 players cracking a puzzle together, relying on teammates to help you and you stepping up to help in return. So many epic fails, we should've recorded far more often for the memories.