Destiny
came out on both last and current generation hardware on September 9, 2014. It revolutionized a new type of shooter genre that mixes fantasy, open worlds, multiplayer, and MMO features. You create a Guardian who was tasked to hold back the darkness and protect the last human city on earth. You build a fireteam of 3 or 6 players to conquer some of the most fun but demanding endgame content. Destiny became an instant hit and created a large, highly dedicated fan base that supported the game for three years. Since its release we have had full fledged expansions in the form of The Dark Below, The Taken King and Rise of Iron. Let us take a look at Destiny and see what we would want from Destiny 2.
Destiny
is often compared to an MMO and it is a fair comparison to make. Consoles have never had such a popular tittle that penetrates the mainstream in such a fashion. In a game about being Guardians and creating fireteams with your friends, there is very little option or tools at your disposal to make that happen. Destiny players have been clamoring for a Clan or Guild system to be implemented in order to join your online friends on various tasks. Bungie tried to solve this by creating a section on Bungie.net but Destiny 2 needs to have this at launch and implemented in-game. The ability to create a Clan/Guild and invite other players within the UI is a needed feature that the sequel needs!
Destiny
has created this online shooter in which your hard earned weapons and exotic gear told the story of your accomplishments. Many weapons can be acquired to be used in both PvP and PvE, this needs to change in Destiny 2. Bungie has had to patch the game several times and balance all their weapons or certain unique weapons constantly. Rare and exotic weapons that were difficult to earn were overpowered in PvP, they would eventually be nerfed to balance multiplayer but at the cost of making them useless in PvE. Destiny 2 should implement a system in which every gun has two different builds that can be balanced separately for PvP or PvE. Another solution is to have PvE and PvP only guns that can be earned in various and different ways. PvE Exotic weapons can be earned through Raids and other endgame content, while PvP Weapons are can be earned in multiplayer with currency or as drops in events like Iron Banner.
Destiny
has always been against the notion of Raid matchmaking because of the difficulty of coordination in random groups. Yet only a small fraction of the player base has ever completed and experienced Raiding in Destiny. I believe that everyone should have the option of trying to complete a Raid with random party members if they desire so. Having choice instead of restriction is a better solution than ignoring the fact that Raids are a huge investment of time and money for a select few. Even having a smaller, bite-sized version of a Raid through matchmaking would be a good introduction and entry point for players. If players enjoyed the intro Raid, then they could find a Clan that loves to Raid with its members. Destiny 2 needs to be able to have a solution to get more players into the Raids, at the very least to try them out and see if the time investment is worth it.
Traveling between Mars, Venus, and the Moon are great when considering all the attention to detail in the environment. However, all these worlds are empty, boring, and dull because of the lack of activity. The Taken King took the series in a right direction by adding unique sections in which you find hidden chests and items that unlocked hidden quests. The Tower in Destiny became the main location for gathering quests and story missions for players, thus making Patrols an afterthought or busy work. Open World games like the Witcher 3, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Zelda: Breath of The Wild have created landscapes with plenty of exploration and content. Destiny 2 needs its Open Worlds to feel alive by adding settlements, quest givers, places to explore, special timed events, and other content to engage the player to the world.
Destiny
was touted as a game that would survive a ten-year plan of post-release content. They managed to turn the ship around and deliver a robust game through the changes in The Taken King. However, here we are with Destiny 2 launching in September of 2017 in order to try to regain that audience that never came back. Destiny in a lot of ways was an experiment and beta to work out the problems for a game of this scale. Even Tom Clancy’s The Division also had its share of post-release problems and they managed to change the game profoundly. Now Bungie knows what its audience wants and have had the luxury of time to figure out what had worked and what didn’t work because of the support of its fans. The developers need to clearly explain what post-release support will look like for Destiny 2. Will it be supported through DLC? Free updates with Micro-Transactions? Or Both? Bungie needs to explain in what form the post-release content will look like in order to entice veterans and new players alike.
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