So hey, hoping to provide some meaningful feedback for the Leviathan Raid.
So here's our experience
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[b]Who dis? [/b]
Our clan is [i]The Order of Louis[/i] (TOOL, lol) named after the often vibrating bird who can't stay on his perch behind Hawthorne. We're a small group that's at it's core 2 D1 vets with a good deal of FPS experience along with several people who are definitely in the hardcore gamer grouping but are much more light when it comes to FPS, normally they are your normal MMORPG players, but are interested in Destiny.
[b]Overall Raid Performance[/b]
Overall, not great. Any event or activity where a few skilled individuals can push through things, will win it. I.E. The opening mini boss CTF moment was able to be muscled through by planting our newer players in a defense spot, then splitting our FPS players across both objectives and protecting the split fireteam through the fight.
But then you get to the dogs, where it requires all 6 to be at top of their game. We have some people coming into it with the expectation to fail 200+ times then slowly memorize everything and win it (MMORPG style), and we have people who just hope for a carry since it's all too complex. But you can't on this one, and it ends in just failure.
[b]So whaddup?[/b]
Well as easy as it is to try and say "Get Good" which yes, I believe the issue isn't that it's too hard (It is definitely not) but the issue is that there's not a path in Destiny 2 for getting good. Usually a game's campaign trains you to become skilled in its game, but Destiny just doesn't do that. All of its missions are just crappy short strikes you muddle through to get to the enjoyable part of the game, and honestly it's about as necessary for content as Pokemon's Gym Leader tour every generation.
So you end up having skilled and unskilled players, but where that skill comes in... is usually from other games who taught them better. I know I bring a ton of Unreal Tournament gameplay into my Destiny matches. Or getting my butt royally handed to me by opinionated 13 year olds with their dad's Mic in Call of Duty, but not everyone has that experience. Teaching concepts that COULD seem intuitive but are sadly not, like "you can't just memorize an FPS, the creatures move a little different every time." or "Don't stay and fight an opponent because you shot it first, live, and don't give the opponent a kill." should be taught either directly or indirectly before reaching endgame content. If you want people to learn to play the game your way, show them what your way is.
You have an interesting blend of RPG and FPS elements, it's part of why so many people play your game, and it's still brilliant despite the lack of enjoyable content right now. It's why people are playing. People can gripe legitimately and illegitimately, but if the game wasn't fun, you wouldn't be playing it. But I think right now the issue with many of the new players (Not talking veteran players) is they're jumping in on a game that may very well be their first FPS, and right now their best form of training, is to go somewhere else that teaches it better.
Anything that could be provided to help better train up my teammates, (Other than trying and wiping) would be greatly appreciated, and I think would lead to greater enjoyment for a large number of people.
Let me know what you think.
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You bring up a very good point. I hope Bungie reads your post. The campaign story mode was just too easy. The PvE enemies don't even shoot you until either you run past them or get in their face. They should be moving and/or shooting you the minute you enter their coded perimeter. The PvE enemies are just too easy and need an A.I. boost. In addition, the raid and nightfall enemies are much more aggressive so these newb guardians aren't prepared at all. I don't think the raid is complex at all. I feel like this is what a circus animal feels like when doing the Leviathan Raid. Prestige mode definitely shows which guardians are not trained. If you didn't play D1 on hard mode or Strikes/Nightfall on Heroic, they get caught off-guard, which is what happened in D2.