We've known about the new content and changes that are coming to Destiny when The Taken King launches next month for a little while now, but Bungie's livestream that aired yesterday really nailed its overall message home. It's a clear statement of intent from a developer that's obviously learned a thing or two since Destiny's release last year, and it's as follows: Destiny should no longer waste your time.
If you've put any decent amount of time into the shooter over the last 12 months, then you'll know what that means. The game's progression system has, by and large, been a thorn in its side from the moment that players jumped above the soft level cap of 20 and had to start grinding the same missions countless times to be in with a chance of getting good loot. It's no exaggeration to say that you can put entire days into Destiny and end up with nothing to show for your efforts – and this is what Bungie is striving to change.
Back at Gamescom 2015, the studio stated that it wants to be more respectful of players' time, and that's exactly what yesterday's livestream showed. Taking viewers on a tour of the newly improved Tower social space, the public hub is getting a dramatic upgrade. Vendors are getting their own specific bounties, the cryptarch is actually selling legendary engrams, and there are more ways than ever to exchange your unwanted items for stuff that you need.
In short, proceedings are being streamlined and expanded at the same time; getting your most-wanted gear or items is going to become much simpler, but there are also going to be more ways to reach your desired goals. This also seems to be the case with the new character progression system. Instead of being bound to annoying light levels, your base level is now determined by a standard experience bar, and the cap is level 40. Killing enemies, completing missions, and fulfilling bounties gives you experience points, which, of course, promises to be far, far less of a grind since you're not purely relying on random loot drops to power up your Guardian.
But it's not just about streamlining things – it's also about making sure that you're constantly moving forward. Arguably Destiny's biggest flaw is the fact that, as mentioned, you can play for hours on end and feel like you've accomplished next to nothing, but with The Taken King, the whole gameplay loop is being revised. Sure, you're still going out to Mars to complete bounties and you're still slogging through Strike playlists, but you're supposedly getting rewarded properly for doing so.
Legendary marks will replace both vanguard and crucible marks, for example, and these can be used to purchase everything from legendary engrams to the equipment itself. What's more, there's now no limit to how many you can earn in a week, meaning that those who are most dedicated to the game won't be forced to stop once they've hit the limit. A simple and obvious change, you might say, but it's another instance of how Bungie is taking feedback seriously – although it is perhaps a shame that's it's waited an entire year to implement such an alteration.
In December 2014, this particular author wrote an opinion piece on how Destiny's progression system was destroying the title from the inside. It argued that with the light level system, you're always gambling on chance, and a lot of the time, it feels like you're moving backwards before you can take a tiny step forwards. It's an article that perhaps now seems more relevant than ever, since Bungie's obviously gone ahead and taken our superb advice on board. Joking aside, it's been clear since the release's first expansion, The Dark Below, that the light level system just wasn't going to work over the long-term. Tying character levels to equipment means that the goalposts are always moving, with the maximum power of legendary gear in an almost constant state of flux. As such, you could say that Bungie's had no real choice but to change things for the better, but at least it all seems to be happening at once.
Now, we're not saying that Destiny's flaws will be fixed with the arrival of The Taken King – that's what reviews are for. What we are saying, however, is that its creator is attempting to move on from its mistakes in order to make a better experience for everyone involved – and that's absolutely crucial with a title that supposedly has a good few years ahead of it yet. Destiny's 'Year 2' plan promotes a clear message in that it no longer wants to waste your time, and that could well be a statement which finally changes our perception of the divisive sci-fi shooter.
Do you agree that Destiny finally seems to be heading in the right direction, or are you still undecided on The Taken King and the changes that it'll bring? Vote in our poll and then have your say in the comments section below.
Do you think that Destiny is now moving in the right direction? (64 votes)
- Yes, I can't wait for The Taken King to launch
- Maybe, I'll need to try it for myself
- No, it's fine the way it is
- I don't care – I was done with Destiny a long time ago
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Comments 42
I might start playing again.
Year 2 is going to be a lot better I am really looking forwards to it, some of the new exotics look smart but sadly Ice Breaker with some others are not making it. But new exotic weapons will take Ice Breaker & Gjallarhorn place no doubt, Suros Regime, The Last Word 2.0 are going to be bad arss.
I'm very interested in these changes. The only problem for me is, I'll have to pick up Destiny again since I got rid of my copy back in April.. 😞
Its too late for me... They should've done this ages ago.
Unless they add a whole base-game worth of extra content I'm not going to bother playing Destiny again. They might've made all these changes but you still need to to play the same missions over and over again, unless you buy the new "expansion".
Seriously...If they had done this when House of Wolves came out I would still be playing this game.
Swords as heavy weapons!! Everything they are doing just looks so right...so looking forward to taken king and punching even more hunters to death inside my bubble...just a shame some people are gonna continue the hate campaign and not bother even trying destiny again
Destiny had an entusiast me at launch and then it bored me to death with its silly loot mechanics and general lack of contents....
I am done with it, and I have plenty of old / new games I wanna play, so I have not even the material time to think of going back to it....
Bungie really surprised me (and not in a good way) with Destiny. The "expansions" were not good value for money at all, and I'm not ploughing more into what (imo) was one of the most over-hyped disappointing games I've played.
A real shame because the actual game play mechanics were great but really not for me, and wouldn't buy this or any other Destiny games going forward and I'd be really wary of Bungie games going forward.
If you enjoy the game and look forward to the Taken King, more power too you - I can totally see why it could hook some people, I played WoW for years so I do get it.
@AyeHaley most mmo style games tend to be repetitive though when it comes to missions/quests...its an accusation that can be fired at many many games
@teknium_ #9
While your statement is valid many times I would say that:
1) You start grinding the same stuff right after story end (not to speak about the "go here, defend Dinklage-bot while he opens that door, get the monster, rinse and repeat" mission structure. And that's all you can do
2) Then Diablo III RoS came, showing the world how you can implement a great grinding/loot randomize system that keep you enjoyng the game almost forever....
I played the demo to level 8 and enjoyed it. I know from experience, though, that this kind of thing can't hold my interest for that long. The kind of game where you do the same thing endlessly for the chance of better items so you can do the same thing endlessly isn't really my cup of tea. It feels too much like a sport, like while each football match is technically different, it's still just a load of people trying to get the ball into a net for 90 minutes without using their hands. Even then, at least there can be a different narrative framing certain matches, like "they need this to win the league" or whatever, but that's few and far between.
Same thing with Rocket League; I enjoyed it at first, but before I'd got the plat for the base game I was already bored of driving into a ball repeatedly. I had to force myself to play it to get the plat in the end. It does still remain a good choice for the situation where you have a friend around and you're both too drunk to do anything particularly complicated or to follow a narrative in a game or film.
Anyway, tl;dr, if this can make it all feel more like I'm actually doing different things and less like I'm just walking dumbly down a corridor and pressing R2 whenever something moves, I might actually buy it. I'll see what the reviews say about that.
Stick a fork in it!
@arnoldlayne83 ill agree with you about diablo, im huge fan of that game, and what you said about destiny is true as far as year one goes, but in year 2 at least there isnt going to be a time where you feel your character isnt progressing making the quests/missions way more bearable.
I like it in the same way as I enjoy games like Bravely Default. The stories are both fairly average in each but I enjoy getting into the world, exploring the combat systems and customising characters to make them as effective as possible with new gear/skills. It helps that I really like the world each is set in, along with the soundtracks/general ambience.
I don't play much Destiny on Mars because the location bores me. I bloody love playing in the Cosmodrome, though.
The races in Destiny are pretty cool, I can't wait to learn more about the Vex. I'd reckon it'll turn out the Traveller is actually evil and the Vex is hunting it down to destroy it. The warminds are interesting too, I read that Rasputin supposedly shut down earths defences and wiped out the bulk of mankind to generate enough light to repel the darkness, saving only a few humans in the process who became the Guardians. I wish more of that stuff was readily available in the game. Hopefully it'll come.
@teknium_ That's good and I am happy for the people that are still hooked by the game. It took a while at bungie to fix it, but at least it seems they got it.
Still, nothing will take away the sour taste in my mouth about what Destiny could have been. Imagine just a random loot generator, coupled with 7 - 8 basic strike / mission structures (defend a base from alien attacks, escort a civilian caravan, assault an enemy fortress, kill the alien general and so on.....) with random planets and foes (with maybe some random attributes such poison or heavy guns..... and merge it with the open planet exploration (which was under-used for me, it was well worth just for grinding some material in the boxes). It could have been something massive, something we will still all play, with our ingame (no money) trade, with our teams going on and on.....
With that budget, they could have done it..... they decided to invest everything in marketing and ads, instead.....
@arnoldlayne83 yeah i know what you mean, but who knows, they are supposed to have ten year plan for destiny, it may(and i kinda think it will) end up exactly how you say...become more about the exploration/rpg elements
@teknium_ I really hope. In that case, I will jump on board again. Because the shooter nucleo is fantastic, is the rest that lacks a lot, imho.
Just for the record, my ideal game will be Diablo III with the camera and the combat mechanics of dark souls....
@kyleforrester87 Funny you should mention the areas - I too enjoy playing in the Cosmodrome the most. I wonder why that is? Personally I just find it the most interesting location, I suppose. Would love to see another area set on ruined Earth, to be honest.
@arnoldlayne83 @teknium_ I think Destiny's already heading in that direction with The Taken King. I mean, now that the level cap is based on experience, the endgame is going to become more and more about building characters. Finding the right gear, equipping the right skills, all to make your ideal build. I think, in a nutshell, that's going to be the main reason people will keep playing once they hit 40.
@ShogunRok actually yeah that is the way its heading in TTK, and i dont think its too late for these changes like some people are suggesting
@ShogunRok Still for me they should find a way to fix to make the PvE experience more interesting on the long term. As I said before, introduce procedural generated missions (a la Helldivers for example)....
If they keep relying on dlcs for variety, with that sort of price, it is still milking the fanbase..... a more clever milking, I agree with you....
In the end the limitations of the changes won't be obvious until the player base has had a few months with it. I'm excited for the changes but no doubt walls will appear that even Bungie arnt yet anticipating. But provided these walls don't pop up until closer to year 3, the complaints should be less. I'm sure by year 3-4 we'll have a pretty awesome game!! Haha
at 40 pounds there pricing model is wrong & to many good games out this time of year , ill wait for it to cheapen to a realistic expansion cost ie 25 quid and then try it
No way I'm going back to that time sink, this should have been in from the start and there is no excuse as to why it wasn't. I'd consider a sequel with the lessons they've learned and if they could actually write a story but I won't be returning to this to play the same levels over and over again
@Spooke2k To be fair you'll probably be able to pick it up for peanuts within 6 months so it's not a bad way to go if you're not dead set on it.
The base game wasn't horrible, and neither were the first 2 DLC, there are little things that they could of done better but you could make that claim for a lot of games. Bungie has always been regarded as a master of its craft when it comes to FPS genre, and it was no surprise that side of the game was really good, but i think the went into uncharted territory for themselves with this game, and it defiantly showed. But they listened to the people, and went back and learned what was good and what they could do better, and i think we are getting a much better game in September as a result, giving justification to the people who stuck with it for the last year, and hopefully bringing old players back and new players in.
I've bought my copy for a quid so I'm happy, I would assume though that all these changes apply regardless of whether you buy the new content? It's still just a glorified expansion pass.
@kyleforrester87 yeah too many other games and budget only goes so far
It took a whole year to implement changes that the game really needed by the third month. I can't support a game like that, especially when the changes come by way of a $40 expansion. The idea of waiting for Year3 to get more changes that'll fix whatever they screw up in Year2 already bugs me. I dont consider the DLC as "expansions" either, that's just BS-speak like the word "gourmet" on microwavable pizza.
Destiny already has its (huge) audience and they'll be there on day1, ready to chomp up whatever DLC Bungie throws their way. Taken King is for them.
@BertoFlyingFox Is the implication then that the huge fan base are idiots?
You lot do know in Year 2 a mission is never going to play the same like Year 1, some parts of it will be different each time you play it. At first I was put off by the price especially as we pay more here in the UK, but now I know what's coming it's going to be well worth it.
@kyleforrester87 Nope, just implicating that this is a DLC-heavy game with a big audience. They should cater to those folks, lest they make changes that veterans wont like and new gamers wont care about because they've already moved on.
@BertoFlyingFox Fair does. I don't think you're right to say the veterans won't like the changes, many of the long term players see the problems in the game and are glad to see it mixed up. Honestly, I just agree with what @GhastlyMagician said in that they seem to have bitten off more than they could chew in unfamiliar territory and are now working to turn it around a bit. Being tied to Activision probably doesn't help a lot in many ways, but I'm not naive enough to think they don't need the money of such a huge publisher to keep the game going. Naturally this'll come with restrictions/obligations that Bungie must adhere too, and it's bound to tick some people off.
Red Bull, anyone?
Too late. Quit months ago.
@kyleforrester87 It's yet to be seen but yeah, I doubt they wouldnt like most of the changes being implemented. I meant it more like this could become a problem down the line when trying to cater to gamers who already dropped off and arent coming back.
Its not just time, they need to respect players money as well. Apart from the $40 DLC, there's also the absurdly priced $20 CE digital content.
Only way they could get me back is to add Raid matchmaking.
It's virtually impossible for me to find 6 friends who play let alone organise a time they're all free.
I know it's because of communication issues but at least give me it as a choice.
Destiny is one of those games that I really want to like, but just can't. The gunplay itself is fantastic and I absolutely love the visual design that supports the whole thing, but the structure itself really destroys the experience. Even though it sounds like progression is being tweaked, my problem with it is that there's no reward for progression to begin with. I don't want to level up just for the sake of it, I want to be given a reason to level up.
@MitchVogel I think a lot of people feel the same way - there is kind of a "Why am I doing this?" feeling. That's why I play for a few weeks then put it down and come back to it. I too really enjoy the gunplay/visual design.
I can't really think of an alternative way of doing it though. I mean in an offline RPG you level up so you can beat the last boss then the credits roll and you put it away for a few years, or never play it again. There will always be that "pointless" element to a game like Destiny, or indeed other, larger MMORPGs.
Was so excited for destiny at launch and even preordered the 2 "expansions" & then gave up. Not soon enough to fix the horrific let down this game was for me. Peter Dinklage wad the least of the problems, sold my copy and not coming back for more. Got better things to do like ranked Yugioh duels!
It's great to see that Bungie are making some pretty major changes, they sound like they'll improve the experience significantly.
For me though, I just don't have the time to play this kind of game at the moment, plus I grew very weary of Destiny when I realised I'd be playing the same things over and over for rewards that would ultimately be made obsolete when they added new content. The game is great fun to play, with very satisfying combat, but even with these improvements incoming, I won't be going back.
@AyeHaley "Unless they add a whole base-game worth of extra content I'm not going to bother playing Destiny again." This is exactly what Year 2 is doing... O_o
I can't freakin' wait for The Taken King. Got it pre-ordered. It launches the day right after my birthday. Lately hearing about all these changes, Destiny is in danger of becoming my favorite game ever.
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