At launch, Destiny 2
was the biggest game for many gamers. For a good month almost, every gaming
website was playing or writing about Destiny
2 and how much fun it was. It was the first thing I like thought about
after work and before I sleep. Just like the first Destiny, I was hooked, but
this time I got a crew to play with. This made my time with Destiny 2 much more enjoyable. However,
after the initial release, Bungie’s
decisions in adding or changing aspects of the game failed me, my friends, and
everyone else in the community. Then after Curse
of Osiris launch, there was no fuel for me to keep playing, my friends stop
playing and slowly I drifted away.
Now that another Destiny
2 expansion is right around the corner, and the “go-fast update” launched
not that long ago, Bungie has peak my
interest once again. I haven’t had the chance to try the go-fast update, but
from the way the community reacted it seems it was the sandbox change they
wanted since the first month of launch.
Bungie has big
plans for Warmind, though they didn’t
show us the next raid lair, they did show off changes to exotics, new crucible
modes, new open world event, and hints to the story regarding to Ana Bray and
the Bray family. There were 3 majors things from the Warmind stream that made
me think about coming back; the exotic sandbox changes, custom crucible
matches, and the new raid lair. All of which was talked about on the stream that you can watch here.
Exotics in Destiny 1 was this rare, strong, over the top
equipment that players sought after, even if it wasn’t the best, seeing that
yellow weapon or armor filling out a slot was weirdly satisfying. Exotics
during the release of Destiny 2 didn’t have the same reverence as it did in the
first game. It lost its rarity aspect when Bungie decided to give an exotic to
everyone and calling some of these exotic weapons/armor strong is a joke.
Rarity in exotics might not increase with Warmind, but I am sure that a lot of
the exotics from now on will become powerful and effective in more activities.
The stream showed off some of the weapons in action with the
new changes, along with detailed explanations of other exotics that weren’t
shown in the stream. One of the weapons we saw in action was the Skybuner’s
Oath. This weapon was this slow Scout rifle that does damage through
legionnaire shields. In the expansion, Skyburner’s Oath will have higher impact
when aiming, and when hip-firing a slow projectile will hone-in on your target.
These drastic changes were what I was looking for. Though Skyburner’s Oath had
this massive overhaul, other exotics might have minor implementation. HardLight
is a good example for that, as you can still rotate elements but now you will
be able to change them on the fly. Another cool addition to the HardLight is
that bounce shots will double damage when hit successfully. This was exactly
what I wanted in terms of exotic sandbox changes, more powerful exotics that
can be used in multiple situation.
Crucible was a huge talking point during and even before the
game released. The 4v4 style gameplay started out well, but over time it wasn’t
the way players wanted to play a PvP match. Staying close together and shooting
together was the only way to win the game, there was no other viable strategy.
Crucible hasn’t changed the player limit, but it has been the most evolved
activity in the game with Iron Banner’s 4v4 then reverted to 6v6 just a couple
of weeks ago.
Bungie promised a ranked and private match for crucible in
early 2018. It now 2018 and these additions to PvP will come with Warmind. These modes have the potential
to gain back the competitive players in the community giving those players the
item chase that wasn’t really exciting for PvP. There are 2 ranks to choose
from, Valor Rank or Glory Rank. Valor Rank are for the more casual players,
this rank is only available for quickplay and weekly playlist. Completing a
rank match will earn you points, winning will grant you will extra, and losing
will have no penalty. For the hardcore PvP players, Glory Rank will only be
available for competitive mode. Winning will give you points, losing will take
away points. The difference here is that going on a winning streak will
progressively increase your points until it reaches a cap, then it will reset
back to normal until you go on a streak again. The “Streak Bonus” goes both
ways, going on a losing streak will do the same but instead it will decrease.
Your rank will decide which weapon you can get from Shaxx. The rank modes are a step in the right direction with PvP.
Finally, there is something I can start chasing when doing crucible.
The best thing about Destiny are their raids. They went away from doing raid after raid for every expansion, now they are adding to the current
raid with raid lairs for Destiny 2. The first raid lair” Eater
of Worlds” was the best part of Curse
of Osiris expansion and the only reason I kept wanting to come back. The
next raid lair hasn’t been announced yet, but the one thing that I know Bungie
is amazing at is creating and designing raids. I hope this next raid lair will
be as fun and challenging as Eater of
Worlds.
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Destiny was always the game I came back to because of all of
it post game support and how they listen to support the player base, but in
Destiny 2 there wasn’t anything that caught my attention. It wasn’t until about
a month ago after the go-fast update that Bungie has made me notice the changes
and additions. Changes from the crucible progression system has improve immensely,
more of the item chase is connected through PvP which is what most players want, more
things to do with more rewards.
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