Feature: The April Update Is a Short Term Fix for a Still Flawed Destiny

With Bungie's main team busy beavering away on Destiny 2, which is set to launch in 2017, the studio's secondary group, dubbed the 'live team', is now responsible for keeping the original Destiny alive and kicking. To ensure that the shooter doesn't completely dry up, the live team's job is to pull Guardians back into the fray with timed events like the underdeveloped Sparrow Racing League. Despite the team's efforts, it's safe to say that Destiny isn't quite the time sink that it used to be.

Ever since players exhausted the content that came with title's last expansion, The Taken King, it's been a rocky old road for Destiny. Aside from the King's Fall Raid and the odd Crucible match here and there, there's been little reason for many hardcore fans to dive back in - and that's where the big April Update comes into play.

Making a few rather significant changes to the game, the April Update improves the overall Destiny experience - as far as we're concerned, anyway. For starters, the new infusion system makes the grind for your ideal set of gear far less tedious, as items now jump to the light level of the equipment that you destroy instead of only partially improving. Likewise, faction reputation gain has been increased across the board, meaning that you can get access to worthwhile reward packages a lot faster than before. In short, the grind's been toned down a notch, and that's good news for everyone.

There's an even bigger tweak at the heart of the April Update, however, and that's what people are calling the new "smart loot" system. In short, loot now scales with you - at least, if you find rare enough equipment. If your overall light level is 320, for example, the next exotic engram that you find will very likely be beyond that figure, allowing you to slowly but surely develop your character. This is a more gradual system than what was in place before, but it at least ensures that you're almost always moving forward if you're keeping your equipment up to speed. All in all, it's another positive change.

Outside of these fundamental fiddles, the patch also introduces a new, rather short-lived quest, a somewhat fun new Strike, a reworked Strike, an increased maximum light level, and a slew of new armour sets. The co-op based Prison of Elders activity has been revived as well, and now offers up some worthwhile rewards at times. For a free update, Destiny's latest can't really put a foot wrong, but unfortunately, it isn't long before the game's everlasting flaws begin to emerge once again.

Indeed, the April Update does a lot right, but as with The Taken King and Destiny's other expansions, it's built upon a creaky foundation that's been present from day one. The problem, really, is perception. So many players went into Destiny essentially expecting an MMO - a release that they could play for years and years and years without ever running out of entertaining content. What we ended up with was a top quality shooter with light role-playing game mechanics that were stretched out to a dangerous degree.

Ever since its initial launch, Destiny has struggled to live up to the aspirations that many had for it, and with every expansion, it's tried to set the record straight - it's attempted to fix its issues. But the problem is that Destiny's issues can't be treated with simple band aids - they're deep wounds that keep reopening. Destiny will never be the MMO that people want because its core elements are still limited in scope, and the April Update is just another example of Bungie trying to stop the bleeding - if only for a few weeks.

We've seen it time and time and again - and it's happened here, too. There comes a point where your Guardian hits a certain light level and things start to become a slog once more. At first, you're enjoying yourself because the game regularly rewards you with new, effective equipment - and then you hit a brick wall, and you're unable to find anything of use even after taking part in a gruelling run of endgame activities for hours on end. It's the Destiny slot machine at work, of course, but experienced players will have seen it all before - they'll have hit their head off that brick wall numerous times, and they'll know exactly how disappointing it feels.

Destiny continues to be a love-hate relationship, then, but even with all of its flaws, it remains a talking point, and will no doubt continue to create discussions well into the future. The April Update is an admirable attempt at trying to reinvigorate Bungie's shooter, but again, it's a short term fix for persistent problems. We're hoping that the game's final expansion, due out in late 2016, will prove to be a fond farewell to the title's second year, but really, we all know that Destiny 2 will be the next truly pivotal moment for the property.

So, what do you think of the April Update? Has it been enough to entice you back to Destiny? Did you ever leave? Spray and pray in the comments section below.