[b]Before we begin, this is NOT a hate topic! I'm just curious if I'm the only one with these thoughts concerning the new Vestian Outpost social area.[/b]
Great expansion so far! Prison of Elders is no Raid, but it's a fun break from the Strike playlist; "Shadow Thief" is a decent Strike, though I would have liked a second Strike. Overall, a great content drop for Destiny.
That being said, I'm not sure what the purpose of the new social hub is. The Tower is supposed to be our one-stop shop for all our between-activities needs. Bounties, missions, gear, vault, Xur, Speaker, everything there was to do to either prepare for your next outing or finish up the one you just came back from was at the Tower.
Now we have the Vestian Outpost, which adds (arguably) three new necessary NPCs: Petra Venj (essentially a new faction representative), Variks (an activity point-of-contact), and Brother Vance (for Trials of Osiris). Additionally we got a new Cryptarch, bounty-bot, and a dead Servitor to roll around (look between some crates if you haven't found him yet).
Here is my thinking: why were these NPCs (and Servitor-ball!!!) not just added to the Tower? Petra Venj already had a place; they could have simply updated her character model. Variks could have found a home somewhere near the Speaker (perhaps on that farthest ledge where Xur sometimes appears), and Brother Vance could have taken up residence across from where Saladin shows up.
I simply don't see the purpose of a second social area. Perhaps this sounds like needless whining, but all the Vestian Outpost really added to the experience was two more loading screens. The Vestian Outpost could have instead been the location of a second Strike, or been integrated into PoE somehow, or even become a PvP map. The place looks cool enough (though I'm not too partial to purple myself), and I would have enjoyed seeing that map in different circumstances.
As a social hub, however, it seems unnecessary and - at worst - distracting.
Thoughts?
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At most it's a bit annoying to go to Petra and Vance and the quartermaster and factions at different places