Thanks for reading my thread.
Let me first start off by saying, that I have sifted through the toxicity of these forums for what will mark 10-Years in the coming months. Things never used to be as bad as they are now, but expectations and entitlement have pushed people to new lows, so take what you read ahead to your own liking, it is merely my insight, analysis, and opinions..
[b]EDIT NOTE #1:[/b]
Thank you all for your words, wisdom, input, and thoughts. I appreciate the time and effort you've put into both taking the time to read my thread, and reply, good and bad. Didn't know this thread would take off the way it did.
[b]EDIT NOTE #2:[/b]
Perhaps some of you misunderstand, I'm not permanently quitting, I am shelving the game until things are fixed, preferably in the near future, or unless my friends message me to help them in activities. To those giving me the obligatory "Git Gud in D2", I have a 2.0~ K/D Ratio in both games, and I only Solo Queue unless my friends need help, thank you.
This topic will culminate my final thoughts of Destiny 2, why I'm going back to Destiny 1, and why it is not only the biggest letdown I've ever had to my gaming history, but to why it is also a lifeless shadow/shell of Destiny 1. [url=https://i.imgur.com/XyErfav.jpg]The game will now sit in my game room, as of tonight, as a collectors item, and nothing more[/url]. The only time I will play it now, is if somebody on my friends list personally wants/needs my help.
Let's begin.
I decided to log into Destiny 1 tonight and play 5 games of Crucible.
[url=https://i.imgur.com/XyErfav.jpg]I cannot even begin to explain how much better Destiny 1 not only feels after playing Destiny 2, but how it handles, and how much stronger, faster, and less held-back you feel. I felt like a god jumping into Control and quite literally slaughtering the enemy team single-handed.[/url] I had more fun again than I could put into words.
Then I remembered Destiny 2 was a thing again.
Bungie has literally watered down everything we ever loved about Destiny, in Destiny 2.
Everything feels weaker, everything feels slower, everything feels forced.
The truth of the matter is, while processing the hype, taking in the story-line (something we can all agree was better than Destiny 1's) and going through it all, many began to fathom the realization that there is essentially no end-game, no reason to grind after a certain period of time. I even deleted my Titan to make a second Warlock and ran through the Campaign, again... Then deleted my Hunter and lost motivation entirely after I created him again. I often find myself sitting in orbit thinking of SOMETHING to do to have fun in this game.
Destiny 2 eliminates any sense of individuality that the first game presented, and instead tries to force us to cope with relying on people we don't even know, which in turn causes frustration. Bungie has essentially weakened everything to the point where it FORCES teamwork in order to even get through a casual Crucible match.
Abilities take far too long to recharge (Even with EVERY piece of armor having the "Abilities recharge quicker when using <Subclass>", Supers take far too long to get, and feel significantly weaker now, due to energy weapons doing 1.5x damage to someone in their super (Honestly, who thought this was a good idea, especially since you essentially only get ONE super per game now, I could see it being viable if it was like D1, where you could get 3-4 supers per match). A lone guardian can now take someone out of their super with an energy auto rifle faster than if they didn't have their super active. That's extremely backwards, considering a super not only takes ages to charge, but is supposed to be...Well, Super.
A not so-super choice, Bungie.
PvE has almost nothing going for it when you bridge your power level at around 280, apart from the Raid - But wait, that essentially has nothing going for it either besides the smallest bit of vanity. Why do I say that you ask? The weapons have near-nothing special about them besides appearance, which brings me to the biggest problem this game faces:
Fixed Rolls / Stats.
Many assumed this would be a good thing, many assumed a bad thing. I've stuck with the bad, and for good reason(s). Fixed rolls have made this game extremely stale. Customization and Play-style have both been hindered and extremely limited by this simple thing. If you want specific traits (Resilience, Mobility, Recovery) you have to give up customization almost completely to get the stats you want. Not only that, but having fixed rolls / stats also has removed 95% of replayability. By removing rolls on weapons / armor, you've essentially removed almost any need to continue playing after you reach 305.
Destiny 1 had it right; 3 Years, and there was still things to go for. Perk rolls made a gun or armor have dozens and dozens of possibilities; Dozens! You could essentially customize your ENTIRE playstyle, both gameplay and vanity wise. Like that armor? Get it to drop with the right stats you want and you could wear it doing whatever you pleased. Like that gun, but it has bad stats? No problem, get the right perks on it and you could fix / balance the stats out and make the gun usable and fit your play style needs. These things don't exist in Destiny 2.
Bungie, you've essentially limited everything we're able to do, mainly for the sake of player-vs-player. Individuality in PvP is nearly gone, and you're forcing teamwork. Customization has been limited to the point where we have to sacrifice nice looking armor or weapons in order to obtain optimal gear for activities, due to perks and stats being fixed, Everything feels exponentially weaker, especially in PvP, everything is too slow paced, and you can essentially walk away from 1v1's if you're losing. I want to feel like I'm shooting more than a marshmallow gun at my enemies. PvE has non-existent replay value after you've completed the campaign / adventures, apart from Public Events, which is only used for farming exotics at this point, what little exotics there are. I mean, at this point, I have essentially almost every single legendary in the game vaulted right now, it's ridiculous.
Also, Exotics feels extremely...Not-Exotic in this game. Even after Three of Coins became a thing in Destiny 1, atleast exotics felt superior over legendary gear. Not so much in this game.
Things need to seriously change in this game, Bungie.
I want to love this game, I really do, but...I just can't, not right now.
According to logs, players are leaving this game faster than I've ever seen.
Things needs to feel stronger, we need to feel less held-back, we need incentive to keep playing; Stuff to work for, stuff to grind for, stuff to desire.
[u][b]I'll end with saying this:[/b][/u]
Pop Destiny 1 back in your Xbox / Playstation, give it a try again for a day.
I promise you won't regret it, I'm even deleting a character and starting anew.
[b]
Final Note: ALL the Playstation Exclusives are now available on Xbox on Destiny 1.[/b]
Thanks for reading my thoughts.
Remember, this is all opinion / insight.
You'll know where to find me; On the game I love.
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I'll only comment on two things out of the entire thing but you'll find I overall agree on D2 being a let down and at some point I'll put it down when my friends don't need me. Going back to D1 won't be an option for me however as I still despised it, it is better than D2 however minus the pvp itself but even the pvp still carries issues. Point one: the gameplay/crucible: I don't think one can really say a matter of preference can be "watered down". I've heard the complaints on the slower pace of the game, the restrictions on your supers and abilities and the ttk being raised giving weapons the "appearance" of being weak. Naturally I'm a fan of the games with a longer ttk, more so when they're becoming less common to find due to industry trends which makes me lose any appeal to the games. There's hundreds of games with sprint, clambor and other means of mobility so it makes the newer games bland when they follow suit, which destiny has (and I expected being how they're paired with Activision). The gameplay is absolutely smooth, fluid maybe even the best, but it doesn't do anything unique from other games to make me see it as special. So I can appreciate D2 going a little more old school in this case when it comes to the slower movement and ttk being raised, it still isn't unique as older games have done this but it does help separate it from the other 70% of the industry. Crucible itself is more tolerable from me as I despised D1s various ohk capabilities and the random slam it created. That doesn't fit in any pvp environment and that's why there's no such thing as a lasting pvp that has a chaotic nature to it. D2 has put more emphasis on balance but even then it's balancing will only go so far till they really limit the weapons. The biggest turn off in D1 was the unnecessary nerfing it did as that isn't a solution and actually adds more trouble later on, something I hope D2 can stay away from. The team shooting in D2 was also there in D1, especially since the more players you have, the more it'll occur so it's why I'm dumbfounded with the "being 6v6 back" as the team format really doesn't effect team shooting, it's everything else around it. How small is the map? Is it actually fit for the said format? What is the movement pacing and residents timers set at? All of these help make team shooting a thing and the quicker the pacing and the smaller the map, the more you let people get right back into the action to team shoot. I will agree D2 lacks in self empowerment, but there was really no self empowerment to D1 when you can carry a shotgun 90% of the game, real self empowerment comes from a great utility weapon which both destiny games have lacked. Point 2: as for the static rolls: they could've been a good thing had it been done right. The issue is the severe lack of weapon variety and various copy and paste weapons. If you get the variety then the static rolls wouldn't be so bad. The issue with D1s weapons with the random perks is they too showed a lack of variety so they're solution to give the illusion of variety was random perks. I'd still take that over D2, but nevertheless D1 still carried the same issue in the end, but in a different way. The SMG is a new weapon to destiny right? Honestly I don't think I've seen over 10 versions of it. Pretty poor for something many consider a loot shooter. Same applies to the grenade launcher, the side arms and even some of the original weapons. It's a situation where I think Bungie should work with gearbox (borderland developers) to rework the loot system and to create more variety as I think Bungie has damn near run out of ideas for creative variety.