Gamefragger's Love/Hate From The Destiny 2 Gameplay Reveal
Destiny first launched back on September 9th, 2014 to a horde of gamers clamoring to get their hands on the new Bungie franchise that promised 10 years worth of content. Since then there have been highs and lows when in comes to the Destiny game. Everyone at Gamefragger definetely got their monies worth (more on this later) out of the game.
Today, we look back on Destiny and look forward to Destiny 2 with our loves and hates from the gameplay reveal. Click on for the full list!
Hate: Bungie pretty much gave up on Destiny
Many gamers thought the 10 year plan would involve games evolving from one to another. In a sense they have, but not in the way fans of the franchise were expecting. Yes it is old news that nothing from Destiny transfers to Destiny 2, but it is far from the first person shooter meets World of Warcraft model everyone thought they were getting. The 10 year plan appears to be headed more towards a first person shooter with elements of a an MMORPG.
The price tag players paid for the Destiny experience was a steep one. Some gamers no doubt got the value out of the game, but others did not.
There are a bunch of rumors out there that Activision plays a bigger role in the developement than we think, but none of them have been substantiated.
Love: Bungie pretty much gave up on Destiny
What the hell? Yes, you read that right. While there are elements of the original 10 year plan we like, there are other parts to it that failed miserably in the original game. When Destiny was first launched there wasn't a story to found at all. In fact, unless you dive deep into your mobile phone its hard to tell what the hell is going on in most parts of the game. In fact,
Kotaku does a great job at breaking down exactly what happened to the game starting way back in 2013.
The original Destiny game was indeed spliced up to make the plethora of ridiculously (at times) overpriced expansions. The games first two expansions were 100% not worth the price tag that they carried and hopefully Bungie and Activision have learned over the past three years. This isn't Call of Duty... we are all more than happy to wait for a complete polished game. If it wasn't for the great graphics and fun raids and strikes, there wouldn't be a Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 will actually have an in game story with more cutscenes (seen in the video) and story missions. Dominus Ghaul believes the traveler chose the wrong people when it entrusted its power to humanity. Ghaul and the Red Legion are here to take the travelers power and light for themselves
Hate: The "new" class supers
During the gameplay premiere they unveiled the new supers for each class and boy were we dissapointed. They introduced the Dawnblade (Warlock), Sentinal (Titan) and the Arcstrider (Hunter). The new Sentinal super is great (Captain America anyone?), don't get us wrong, but the Dawnblade and Arcstrider look like bungie took the Bladedancer and Sunstrike supers and rehashed them into "new" supers.
Love: No more of this orbit nonsense!
In Destiny 2, guardians will no longer have to return to orbit to go to another planet. Just pull up the menu screen, select the place you want to go and then you are off! This feature of the game will be a significant upgrade over Destiny. Guardians will no longer get bored grinding the same stuff over and over. Okay, maybe that part was a little bit of a stretch, but at least we get the addition of "adventures" and "lost sectors." These places and side missions will be marked by certain in game characters that provide unique bosses and of course some great loot.
Hate: We still have to worry about "Money Grabs" and unfinished products.
This isn't from the gameplay premiere, but this is something that has to be on the minds of guardians everywhere. Yes, gamers know you have to fund your projects somehow, but there is a fine line between giving us the stuff we want and bending us over. There was a lot of holiday content that required you to make purchases through the eververse trading co. Bungie and its execs are also kings at luring consumers in and then not living up to expectations. Not to say that they haven't delievered, but they certainly lost a lot of people along the way with stuff that should have been in the original game.
For example: At Gamefragger, we started off with six guardians and we did everything! Tuesday through Thursday we'd do all of the weekly stuff like nightfalls etc. Friday nights we would raid with our Red Bull Destiny cans right beside us. Saturday & Sunday nights we'd finish up any raid content. The House of Wolves and The Dark Below completed the finished product we should have had when Destiny was first released, but we were still together. When the Taken King hit, we already lost two of our guardians to boredom of the grind. We had two weeks where we raided then it ended. By the time Rise of Iron launched we were down to two guardians and we couldn't and still haven't finished the raid.
We had the numbers to finish all the in game content, but there is a lot of stuff that we got bored and frustrated with (in game purchases) and hopefully Bungie has learned a valuable lesson.
Love: Clans and "guided games"
Everything from the mobile app is heading in game with the release of Destiny 2. Solo gamers are now and afterthougth. Not having enough players was the one thing that frustrated us more than anything at Gamefragger. After three years, we didn't have the numbers that we did back in 2014. Which left us scouring the forums on our phones to find a group to play with, but even that became to time consuming that we ended up leaving the game. Destiny 2 introduces Clans and Guided Games to the in game content.
Now you and all your friends can create an online community of gamers to complete everythign that Destiny 2 has to offer. If being in a clan isn't your thing, that is alright. You can be matched with other clans to complete the nightfalls and raids. Bungie bragged about how many players they had over the past few years, but during the gameplay premiere they said only about 50% of all gamers finished the raids. OUCH!
Hate: Is this Destiny 2 or Destiny 1.5?
Many of you are probably thinking why do you guys hate Destiny so much? The answer is, we don't. In fact, for about two years it was the only game that was really played around Gamefragger. The question is, however, is everything that has been revealed so far enough to bring back all the gamers that left Destiny?
There really isn't a definitive answer for this hate, especially since we haven't gotten our hands on the BETA yet. However, there are a lot of things that are concerning too. We will still have Strikes, Nightfall Strikes, Raids and everything else from Destiny, but is there enough new content to keep guardians happy for the long run. We will have to wait and see what they reveal in the coming months, but this could easily be turned to love after the BETA.
Love: That we can finally get back into Destiny again!
Everyone should be excited to eat unhealthy snacks while sitting on the couch well into the night to complete a raid. The last love could have been many things, but it will be crammed into one. Here at Gamefragger, we did everything from the crucible and raids to just sitting at the tower discussing how we'd improve the game and chatting about our families. We are stoked for the new crucible, new planets and moons, and everything else that the game has to offer. We will destroy Gary and all his Red Legion followers!
To everyone that will be joining the Gamefragger clan at the Destiny 2 launch know this one thing. There is no ledge I won't push you off of.