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Destiny 2

Discuss all things Destiny 2.
2/27/2020 12:40:39 PM
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Reinforcing Core Content & The Narrative- Revamped Story/Exotic Missions

Alright, this is an idea I had a few weeks ago and have been bouncing around, and after reading in the Director's Cut that Bungie realizes they need to reinforce the Core replayable content of the game, they want to invest more into questlines, and have an involved narrative, I want to pitch it, as it ties into all three. Story Content is the Heart and Soul of Destiny, and people don't care about it enough. Chasing gear is a nice drive, sure, but when it comes down to it you're not talking with your buddies about, "Remember when I found X gun?", you're reminiscing about, "Remember going to Phobos and seeing the Cabal actually scared? How awesome was it when we faced down Oryx? Man, I loved the whole ominous atmosphere of Whisper, Vex machines moving and Xol whispering. Dude, going back through the old Tower in Zero Hour was SO cool." It's the action framed within these real conflicts, the beautiful areas and atmospheres, the unique encounters, the triumphant feel of DOING something that affects the world, that makes us fall in love with the game. So why, then, are so many of those best stories, those incredible moments, a one off thing? Some of the Community's most beloved missions, like Whisper, Zero Hour, The Draw, and the Saint-14 missions are completely abandoned after completing them. Incredible, weight-carrying moments like those latter two, the Wish-Ender mission in Sjur's Rest, defeating Siviks for Izanagi's, and returning to the Cosmodrome to reclaim Thunderlord are even forcibly locked away once you've done them, and I have to ask, WHY? I've talked to so many people about the wonderful story of this game, and so often they completely ignore what's being presented to them in these scenarios in pursuit of the loot at the end. When I take the time to explain to them, "Here's where we are, why these enemies are here, why we're fighting them, what we're hoping to gain or change," I'm almost always met with 'That's awesome!' and 'Hell yeah, let's do it!' but usually also some variation of "How do you know all this?" or "I'd love if they told us that." What this says to me is that: 1. People really do love the story of this game. They like to know why they're doing what they're doing, and how they're contributing to saving the galaxy. 2. The rewards they earn from these activities (Namely Exotics) carry more weight when they know the lore surrounding them. It allows us to form personal connections to them and gives them value beyond "Is it super good?" 3. The game both does not convey enough of that lore up front, and in many cases does not allow you enough time or repeated interaction with the scenario to appreciate it. (Lore tabs and entries are awesome! But we would benefit greatly from having that narrative woven into gameplay and readily accessible, not just set aside.) My solution to all of this: Add a new Core Activity to the set; Heroic/Legend/Master Quests. Yes, I know that we already have a rotating list of Campaign Story Missions, but the reality is that it's useless, overlooked, and doesn't contain many of the really monumental achievements that we've made. It needs to be refreshed and revamped, and what I want is a return to something like the D1 Heroic Story Mission playlist, that allowed you to re-engage with these epic moments, and gave you relevant and useful rewards. (Not just blues or a single T1 Powerful.) That playlist also hid the amazing Exotic Quest variant missions for Black Spindle and No Time To Explain, some of the best we've ever had. I would love to see a weekly rotating mission (or a few), containing some of these epic Exotic Quests and Story Missions that are locked away or have fallen to the wayside, and allowing you to experience the narrative with them while also earning actually useful gear. Imagine turning Whisper, The Draw, The Saint-14 Missions, The Other Side (Bad Juju), Symphony of Death (Deathbringer), etc, up to a higher difficulty, and having them as a weekly objective that rewards T3 Powerful or Pinnacle Gear, or even the Exotics themselves, at your Current Power. Imagine adding some real narration into some of those missions that lack it, possibly having Ikora mystified as we work through Whisper, Mithrax actually guiding us through the Tower in Zero Hour, Petra informing us of Sjur's tragic end and being outraged at the scourge in her Grave, Ada-1 or the Spider anxiously urging us to catch Siviks before he can escape with any more powerful technology. Bungie, give us a Core activity that immerses us in the world, while also rewarding us for taking the time to explore it. The list of things we could potentially see from this are: Whisper Zero Hour The Saint-14 Missions The Other Side (Bad Juju) Prove Your Worth (Wish-Ender) The Draw (Last Word) Black Armory Story Missions (Could reward Jotunn & Le Monarque) Lock and Key (Izanagi's Burden) Symphony of Death (Deathbringer) Enemy of My Enemy (Rat King) O Captain (Sturm) Risk/Reward (Riskrunner) Lost Cryptarch (Thunderlord) There's even room to revamp or streamline things like the final Strikes/Adventures for things like: Malfeasance (This already has unique dialogue, takes an alternate route, and feels challenging) Thorn Legend of Acrius Sleeper Simulant Polaris Lance Or, to take another route, they could create new missions for Exotics within this playlist, hitting missable seasonal guns or some of the most lore entwined Exotics that are currently random drops, (They could be as simple as having us engage enemies within Crucible maps for things like Devil's Ruin or Vigilance Wing), giving you a guaranteed path to obtain them. This could encompass things like: Eriana's Vow Leviathan's Breath Symmetry Devil's Ruin Bastion Black Talon (Please!) Crimson Telesto Vigilance Wing Lord of Wolves Queenbreaker Skyburner's Oath And there are great possibilities for so many of the others. Even if they weren't to develop new missions for current Exotics, this at least makes an opening for them to drop in new Secret Quests like the old Black Spindle and No Time, and creates a home for any amazing and unique missions from Exotic Quests that may drop in the future. This is something I would absolutely love to see implemented in some form, and people I've pitched it to have agreed. Is this something other people would be interested in? Is there any possibility we could see this in the future?

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