There was a lot of excitement for the Bungie’s second go around with Destiny
2. There was a lot of controversy over what was changed and what didn’t
return from the first Destiny. At first the changes were for the better, it
allowed new players to finally wrap their head around the system that was
difficult to process in original Destiny.
Rising reputation with an NPC is one
change that was assessable newcomers. In Destiny
1 it always felt like a chore, because of the bounty system. This system
made it a more difficult task due to the action associated with the bounty –
this can range from headshots with a sniper in PvP to complete 3 strikes. With Destiny 2, the reputation is more
streamline with turn-in tokens. Earning these tokens are common and I great
resource of gear/weapons when you’re first starting out. These tokens are
associated with each planet. Its great Bungie is listening to the players and
in doing so, made an assessable loot shooter for the casual players
Shooting Aliens Feels Great, Once Again
Bungie has been making unbelievable shooter since the days of Halo, you could’ve seen it in original Destiny and it came over with Destiny 2. You can say they didn’t
change much aside from an extra ability, but why change something that isn’t
broken?
The first thing
about the gunplay this the impact of each weapon. The vicious rumbles from the
controller and the recoil of the gun made you feel powerful. There’s nothing
like firing a shot that takes out a Vandal’s head. Bungie has been taking heat lately with the community breathing on Bungie’s neck about bugs being
discovered and the shallow end-game.
Even though Bungie is in a rough spot with Destiny 2
and it community, one thing that is guaranteed is that you’ll always have a
blast blowing heads off alien life.
Some Weapons and Gears Feels Powerful, Others Feel Useless
One of the biggest
draws for me since I started playing
Destiny, was all the customized equipment. A game where I can progress a
character and experience most if not all the game with that character, Destiny 2 is that game for me.
In the first Destiny an exotic item is something that
I showed off to other players – its something that players look at and think,
“Damn I need that weapon or item”. This is an extra incentive to go and try to
get that item. Not only are exotic super powerful they all have a unique
aesthetic that differentiate each other and allows the players to remember it
and its name.
Destiny 2 has some of that magic, but isn’t in the same scale. Though some
exotic does feel powerful, some aren’t even worth taking out. This was
something I didn’t feel in Destiny 1.
Every exotic felt like it has some significant advantage whether that be heal
after a kill or extra time on a super. In Destiny 2, however, exotics don’t
have as many massive impactful items that would make or break an encounter.
There are some exotics that are powerful but it’s never as powerful as most of
the exotics in Destiny 1.
Exotics like
Merciless, Wardcliff Coil, and the Mida-Multi tool are prime examples for
exotics being powerful. As the game grows and DLCs are implemented there will
be more exotic items. Bungie are
working on changes to the underplayed exotics and hopeful it’s an impactful
change. Going forward I want Bungie
to go over board with their exotics – it might be unbalance at first but it
something that can be fix – lets hope its not like the Prometheus Lens.
The Multiplayer Experience is a Great Way to Hang out
with Friends
Besides the gunplay,
Destiny has great praise on how they deliver their multiplayer cooperative
activities. This is a game where I don’t have to be serious 100% of the time –
I can just go on with ease, talking, and making jokes with friends that I don’t
get to see often.
The best time I had
with Destiny 2 was in a Nightfall with my friends. Nightfalls are a 3-man
activity that has modifiers to make it more difficult, on top of that it is
timed. This is a big activity for regulars as it will grant you a powerful
item. Though we’ve done this dozens of times – there’s always something new
that comes out of it. It can be someone dying repeatedly as we all laugh, or it
can be a clutch shot that wowed all of us – there’s was never a time where I
got frustrated and gave up when with a team of friends.
Now the raid, that’s
a different story. Because the raid requires 6 members I don’t have much
experience playing a raid with friends. My first few clears were with a random
group – even though I completed it with a group of randoms I had a though time
with it. My first time playing with some friends was fun, but not great as some
player were random and had I different mindset. It’s not a negative to play
with random players. You get a chance to meet players that love the same game,
and who know it could be a friendship in the making.
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Destiny 2 was one of
the games in the year that I really wanted to play no matter how many gamers
thought about it. The first weeks was a sign of something amazing – Bungie
finally made Destiny a more assessable game in its sequel with a streamline
token system and a weekly progression system that players can pick up whenever
in the week.
As days went on the
community finally saw the flaws in the game. Some exotics didn’t feel as
impactful as others in the first Destiny. The raid was a fun experience, but
the drop rates for it and across the board felt unbalance. Even after the
outrage of the end-game the community still has some hope left – that includes
me.
The multiplayer
activities are something that hasn’t been done in a FPS before. The
communication was something done in a PvP setting, but Bungie made an amazing
group experience that can result in friendship, trust, communication and a
triumphant victory that is shared.
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