Destiny (Video Game) Discussion

[Rook 3]

I don't think the new DLC has been bad, but it IS heinously difficult. I've run the first part of the Crota
raid solo with my hunter, but I've NEVER made it through the lights with anyone but a hunter. The raids
are really all about strategy, and by strategy I mean dodge-and-weave the enemy fire.

The problem I've had with destiny since the beginning is the lack of story. I don't feel connected to ANY
of the NPCs in the game at ALL.

In Halo I cared about the Masterchief, I cared about Cortana, Sgt. Johnson, etc. I don't have that
emotional connection to ANYONE in the tower. And that's a failure of the storytelling. Even the "Stranger"
is a total mystery and you know nothing about them.

People rip on Halo 4. I LIKED Halo 4. I liked the Special Ops missions that added additional story to the game.
The characters seemed more real. I cared about most of them.
Don't have that emotional connection to Destiny. I don't know JACK about any of them, except Eris, and that's
only because I looked online to find more about her.

Likewise about the Queen of the Reef and her brother. So many lost opportunities.

Don't get me wrong, as I have 868 hours into Destiny I obviously LIKE the game... but it's NOT perfect at all.

 

[Withers]

Hype train is full steam ahead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kDXbn9mC9Y

Nathan Fillion goodness
That FWC Ship
Exotic Blueprints?!

- - - Updated - - -

This new DLC could make or break the franchise because after 3 bad DLC people are going to just stop caring. Destiny would live on but I could see Activision removing Bungie from the project and this has tarnished Bungie's reputation alot already. Then again this Bungie has barely anyone from the Halo era left, they all stayed with 343 or quit when Destiny showed signs of development issues.

I don't personally think any of the DLC's have been bad. HoW especially had so many quality of life improvements it really boggles my mind how much this game has improved since its state at launch. It still has a lot of room for improvement, but the game itself is incredibly successful. It still has a massive, helpful community almost a year out from launch. When Xur sold Gjallarhorn last week it was the number one post on all of reddit and the #1 trending topic on twitter. It's very far from being a doom and gloom scenario.

The story was a massive letdown, even for someone like me who cares much more about the social content than the solo content. But until we get a true expansion, I don't think they will be pushing the story line forward very much.

 

[Wes R]

The sad part is there is a lot of story in the grimoire but they lost people's interest by forcing you to read it on the Bungie site. Rumor has it that it's going to be in game now like the encyclopedia in mass effect and narrated by Nolan since he's the ghost now. I want Nathan Fillion to have more to do in the game but with him being Buck again in Halo i'm not sure if he's got time to spare on top of Castle. Funny he's the only one besides the Chief who survives in the halo universe lol.
Oddly enough the lady who voices Ikora worked with him on Firefly too. I wish there was more NPC interaction or missions like they had talked about in the original release, they paid big name actors for hardly any lines. Heck they replaced Claudia Black's Special orders character with a terminal in the basement by the Speaker. Cayde is the only NPC with any real personality.

Edit: Has anyone come across the Destiny Red Bull cans at walmart? They were supposed to be selling them starting on the first of August and I have yet to see a 4 pack or a single can anywhere at our 2 walmarts.

 

[Rook 3]

The Hunter Vanguard mentor (Fillian) is Hilarous! I wish they used him more.

Complete waste of time: The Titan Vanguard. That guy has NO interaction in the game whatsoever.

HE might as well be a terminal in the tower.

I totally forgot about the Redbull. Are you sure it was Walmart? I thought it was 7-11? Or was 7-11 the limited strike mission?

 

[Withers]

Yeah let's hope. The issue I have with it is the utter lack of a decent narrative. There are no interesting characters outside of the Stranger, who is only interesting because we know literally jack all about her. There's no cohesion to the story, there's no betrayal or twists or anything to make you care. The Traveler is just a giant ball in the sky. You don't really care about trying to save it and you don't really understand how you're saving it in the first place. I personally think if they had done a decent job with the story Destiny would potentially be the best game out on the current gen systems right now.

 

[Wes R]

The Hunter Vanguard mentor (Fillian) is Hilarous! I wish they used him more.

Complete waste of time: The Titan Vanguard. That guy has NO interaction in the game whatsoever.

HE might as well be a terminal in the tower.

I totally forgot about the Redbull. Are you sure it was Walmart? I thought it was 7-11? Or was 7-11 the limited strike mission?

It was announced that after August 1st more retailers would get to carry it and it'd have both the mission and the xp boost. 7-11 was just a timed exclusive. http://planetdestiny.com/red-bull-destiny-content-update/

 

[Wes R]

Nepal shaders and emblem codes have been sent out if you bought the tshirt for charity.

 

[Withers]

Awesome

 

[Withers]

Live stream happening now. Insane amounts of info being released, all really good improvements to the game.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3hm1b9/the_taken_king_reveal_destiny_year_two_live/

I may actually be more excited for TTK than I was for the original release at this point.

 

[Mr.Spider]

I'm stoked for alot of the improvments to the endgame, I actually created a Warlock after deleting my 2nd hunter 3 weeks ago and now that theyre streamlinging the missions and story around it i may wait and actually play through the whole campaign again just to see if its any different.

 

[Withers]

Crucible montage with all the new subclasses, modes and weapons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPYlGzZXPvA

I honestly can't decide which new subclass I'm most excited for. I assumed it would be the hammer titan but now that shadow hunter has me seriously intrigued.

 

[Wes R]

I really wish they'd just do a trailer or list of stuff instead of streams, I have yet to find any of their streamers likable and it annoys me they pass off these streamers as representing the community when we know they get kickbacks from Bungie. I managed to grind in the POE on level 28 since last friday and burned through 25 keys to end up with over 100 strange coins and 150 motes of light. I think i'm ready for Xur. I heard that the Titan's new dance moves look like MC Hammer's, that I want to see lol.

 

[Westies14]

Westies, what bounties are you trying to complete that you need a fireteam for?

A Request From Ikora, Part III: Complete a Weekly Challenge Activity
Toland's Legacy: Complete a Weekly Heroic or Nightfall Strike
Corrupted Thorn: Kill Xyor, the Unwed (I did read a way to solo this. Trying it once took forever and was the most boring thing I can imagine doing.)

They're just taking up space in my Bounties queue...

 

[Rook 3]

Westie, what console you playing on?

Regarding the new classes, I HOPE the Hunter has some good bonuses, because although it's my favorite class,
it's really weak in crucible compared to the supers of the Titan and Warlock.

The Warlock's "force lightning" looks pretty nasty.

 

[Westies14]

XBOX One, Level 32 Hunter I think, User name "Ever and Oak"

 

[Withers]

I can't help this weekend, but the weekend after that I'd be happy to help you finish all 3 of those bounties. My GT is Reklis Abandon.


I'm baffled by this decision of theirs to leave behind a bunch of exotics as we enter year 2. It seems to go completely against the whole idea of what exotics are and it's a bit of a slap in the face for those of us that spent an entire year trying to obtain all these items. If I have to leave my Young Ahamkara's Spine and Nighthawk helm behind I was not be pleased.

 

[Westies14]

I can't help this weekend, but the weekend after that I'd be happy to help you finish all 3 of those bounties. My GT is Reklis Abandon.


I'm baffled by this decision of theirs to leave behind a bunch of exotics as we enter year 2. It seems to go completely against the whole idea of what exotics are and it's a bit of a slap in the face for those of us that spent an entire year trying to obtain all these items. If I have to leave my Young Ahamkara's Spine and Nighthawk helm behind I was not be pleased.

Wait - we're gonna lose items??? Why not retire them, make them things you can no longer obtain but leave them in the hands of people who've earned them?

I don't play Destiny (or video games in general) often but its evolution should be much less destructive than it's been. In that last round of rebalancing, not only were my preferred (and heavily upgraded) weapons made to be much weaker, it threw off the whole ecosystem of my character. Kills with a certain weapon fed grenade refresh, grenades fed super refresh, etc.

I don't care much for the story levels. They take too long, and I don't get the same satisfaction or enjoyment that comes from playing against real people. I don't care for the missions because many require a skilled fireteam, and I don't have friends who share my schedule or intermittent interest in this game. I do love multiplayer combat, but I never see the original arenas that I really enjoyed when I play Control anymore - they've all been replaced by less interesting new levels.

It doesn't seem like the fans are widely split on these matters, like having the rug pulled out from under them every once in a while or the desire to have matchmaking occur automatically if you don't enter with a fireteam. It's not like Halo where you could be stuck with a round full of betrayals - what's the argument against matchmaking? I wonder why Bungie isn't more responsive to the kind of experience the players want, if they're interested in keeping us engaged with this game for a decade.

 

[Withers]

We don't lose them, they just won't be able to be upgraded to the new increased attack power. So they'll still be useful for all year 1 activities but they won't be as powerful as the new exotics they're releasing (or the revised version of some existing exotics). But they seem to be redesigning some of them so maybe eventually all of them will move forward. Who knows.

What really baffles me is why they'd go to all that trouble to nerf Gjallarhorn and Thorn, and then buff Hard Light and Necrochasm if they knew a week later they wouldn't be that useful anyway. So weird.


The argument against matchmaking basically comes down to two points
1. The content that does not have matchmaking requires good communication between team mates, and the kind of people you find in matchmade activities many times do not have a mic or refuse to use the public fireteam chat channel.
2. The content that does not have matchmaking requires everyone in the fireteam to contribute to the best of their ability, so you can't deal with people who join and then go AFK so they can be carried through and get the rewards for free. Without a kick function there's nothing you can do unless they join your actual fireteam.


If they had a better matchmaking system I think everyone would be all for having it for every type of content. But as it is currently implemented, it just wouldn't work.


Anyway, I've added you as a friend. If I see you on I'll shoot you a message if I've got time to help with those bounties. The first 2 are pretty easily completed but Xyor can be a royal PITA. But hey you've already beaten the hardest part of the Thorn bounty so that one shouldn't be too difficult either.

 

[Westies14]

Thanks Withers and Rook 3 (I got your message but couldn't sign on while you were playing)! Hopefully I'll get to run one of these with you.

I understand the arguments against matchmaking, but in the end I feel they don't hold up for two reasons:

• Without a team, you can't play these missions anyway. Whatever level it is with the three platforms, I can keep two clear at a time myself. It's just impossible for me to get them all at once. If the entire rest of my team could just carry the weight of 1/3 of the mission, I'd succeed and complete this bounty. Throw me a few potentially terrible teams, Bungie. If they simply toss you solo players around your level, how bad could it be? It's better than launching me alone just to waste my time discovering it's necessary to have people with me. Some chance is better than no chance!
• There's no good, clear mechanism to make friends or communicate within the game. If the "social" arenas led you to interact with one another instead of jogging for 10 minutes to go from one AI vendor to the next or if forming alliances with other players was an easy and inherent part of the game, perhaps this wouldn't be such an issue. It might be possible to get to know someone and join up in a fireteam within the game, but I've never "met" another person in a year of playing the game and in elevating my character to level 32. When someone asks, as in this thread, how to find a fireteam, the response always involves forums and websites that aren't even related to the company who produces the game! Make finding teams a part of your game if you're going to make having a team a necessity to play the game.

 

[Withers]

If you've tried doing Vault of Glass, which I'm guessing you probably haven't (we can rectify that as well), you'd realize just how much communication is needed to complete that raid. There's just no way to finish without everyone communicating. It's the same with Skolas. Without communication it would be literally impossible to finish. Everyone must understand each boss mechanic, and everyone must be able to call things out for every single fight.

I agree wholeheartedly with the second point. It's ridiculous that the community had to come up with a way of fixing this issue. There ought to be a section of the tower dedicated to finding groups. If nothing else there should be a terminal you can go to and put in your credentials and content you want to play, which then automatically puts you in a fireteam with other people looking to do the same thing. Even if the matchmaking they had right now put you into an actual fireteam and kept a voice channel open it would work. Why it doesn't is beyond me. And why they chose to implement chat channels but make you opt into them is idiotic. It should always be a mandatory opt in, which you have the option of opting out if you don't want to hear other people. It's like they intentionally try to keep you from socializing in this game.