I'll start with the good.
Crucible:
- The Control playlist is the best Destiny PvP since D1. There are still some lopsided games when a bunch of brand new players join a lobby, but I've played all day and haven't seen a single instance of 1-2 players just destroying everyone else.
- having a set mode allows players to get into a groove that wasn't possible when the game mode switched ever match or so.
- The player vs player engagements have been incredible.
- Heavy weapons no longer dictate play
- Supers can be attacked with a good chance to defeat them. Have shut down multiple roaming Titans today.
- Twilight Gap and Widow's Court are incredible. The best decision Bungie made with them is to bring them over unchanged vs the reimagined versions of previous D1 maps. It feels like I'm actually playing D1 again but with a D2 sandbox and it's so freaking nice.
- Fragments. This new map is awesome. Feels like a better version of D1's Floating Gardens.
- Primary play is back. Don't know how many games I've played today, but I've barely died to special weapons. A few snipes, shotguns and fusions and I've seen Jotunn twice and died to it once.
- solo play is light-years better. I've played solo all day and won way more than I've lost. Currently on a win streak well past 5 games.
- blue and purple drops have consistently raised in power so far. I don't know if this will cap out at some point, but being able to just play Crucible all day and continue leveling has been a huge improvement over last year where we had to constantly move to new activities and couldn't just play what we enjoyed.
Pve:
Having D1's First Light as part of the moon patrol zone is really cool. I wish all PvP maps were explorable patrol spaces.
And that's about as far as I got in PvE because...
We get to the bad.
- Infusion. Going into Shadowkeep I thought from the original ViDoc that Luke and Mark had said they want us to be able to play and look how we want and craft these ultimate armor sets. So I was incredibly surprised to see an infusion system that actually is more punishing than D2 Y2.
Granted it's offset to a degree by the constant flow of upgrade drops, but that's in PvP where it doesn't matter if I keep on my gear I love and stay 750. I've already seen posts from friends playing the campaign of their Guardians looking like clowns because they need to just use whatever is highest power and I don't get how the decision makers don't understand how much players hate this and how much we love using things we love.
I feel bad for the players who did all that grinding for the day one mod 2.0 armor sets... That cost them all their martials to get... Only to have to ditch them for whatever blue gear drops.
-Old D2 PvP maps. The addition of Fragments, Twilight and Widow's further highlights the deficiencies in the rest of the maps. It's nice some were removed, but there are still some really awful ones in the rotation.
So that's some initial day one thoughts. Definitely have had the most fun I've had in the game since before Season of the Drifter, but I have absolutely ZERO desire to play PvE with the current infusion/investment system. I have no issue with grinding to level my gear, but let me where it while I do and not look like a clown.
Thank you.
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[quote]I don't get how the decision makers don't understand how much players hate this and how much we love using things we love.[/quote] They absolutely do understand it, just as they also understood how much players hated cores as part of infusion. But in a game where they apparently can't deliver any real new content anymore they simply rely too much on their grinds, timegates, and currency sinks to inflate our play time. They simply have no other tools to keep us busy at this point, and it's sad.