Destiny 2... I hear and have seen in my own way that you want to be an MMO. An MMORPG maybe even? Well... You're missing a LOT of key features people kind of want out of a persistent MMO experience. So would you like to know what those things are? First, I'll preface this by saying... I'm an MMORPG veteran. I've played so many MMORPG over the decades, and so I have a fair amount of experience with mechanics that I found enjoyable and ones I did not. So I'll start in with a big one. Destiny 2's character creator (On the basis of other MMORPGS) is hot garbage. Don't get me wrong, your armors and shaders are amazeballs. But the actual options for your guardians faces are "WOEFULLY INFERIOR". The way our characters look can be a massive part of how we connect with the world. You want to be an MMO and you can't even reedit your character? That isn't going to fly. No offense intended. Destiny 2 needs a more robust character creator, maybe add some face sliders, give us more hair options, more cosmetic face details, eye options, et cetera. Let us make our guardians truly suit us as people, and players of Destiny 2. And let us re-edit them on the regular. But there needs more here... The sinew of these things doesn't flow unless we have a COMPLETELY REMODEL of the Emote system, and environmental interaction. Destiny 2's world honestly feels flat sometimes, if only because "Oh hey, there is a bench... Oh, I can't sit on it"... FFFFFF. Your social spaces feel cold and unwelcoming. If you want people to socialize in these spaces, there needs to be more objects thta people can interact with. Chairs, benches, let us eat the -blam!-ing RAMEN even at the ramen shops. You know? Emotes as they are now are so standalone, and it feels like we're living ON TOP of Destiny 2's world, not in it. Shoot, if there was a kids playground, I can imagine players getting on the sawhorse and bouncing up and down. Places to sit, and eat, and roleplay into the world need to be present. There may even be a case for having some amount of location purchasable food items that give buffs, or just "Make your guardian less depressed" you know? This may even lead into making more social spaces, or maybe even having "Social Camps" added on to all non-raid based destinations. You know, where you could sit around with the cast, or just your friends, and chat, and roleplay. And environment that suits and encourages role play here is a must. Content repetition is next on this list, and different games have handled this differently. And there is merits to each, and I'll go into those. Some games with lots of different kinds of activities use an "Emergency Model". What this means is... Lets say (after this season is done, and Seraph stuff isn't chilling everywhere)... And Rasputin is like "There is a threat on the MOON, we need to mobilize", and then for a set period of time you have access to and activities related to the Moon Bunker, and Seraph events. Then tomorrow, or next week... "Oh The Vex are in a tizzy, we need to go quash their invasion again", and so that is the "Emergency" for that week or what have it. Warframe, and PSO2 both have a model related to this, and I'm sure some other games do as well. Next, I think strikes need a redo from the ground up. Structurally, they're not bad for your first or second visit, but it is after that wear they get a bit thin. I think strikes need more randomness. Perhaps even Random Boss encounters. As well, I feel strikes should have multiple pathways or randomized maps. Essentially, every time you go into a Strike little things should be different. Imagine multiple curated routes that are randomly accessible or not, when you enter the strike. And maybe some of the bosses have changed, or maybe even use entirely different mechanics. You could even have a system where for 1 week 2 or 3 strikes get -blam!-y, and suddenly what you thought you knew about them is all turned on its head. Like "Oh before this strike was Cabal", why is there nothing but Taken... Oh no the Boss is Taken too? WTF". I mean, some strikes already have this to a degree, like some have the chance of having Fallen instead of another mob, et cetera. But this needs to be turned up to 11. Different routes, different mobs, and maybe even different drops, and mechanics, randomly, or on a per week basis. Make them feel fresh again. This could apply to any activity in the game. The best way to break up repetition is to throw unexpected shit at people. And even, that itself makes for a better challenge than just "Oh I need a Barrier Mod" BLEH! Lastly, I feel all activities need more specific loot associated with them, perhaps every season or expansion, they need a new batch of specific content for them. As well, I've mentioned before, that old Raids and activities without Matchmaking need to be added to matchmaking after a certain amount of times. I'd love to do RAIDs, but my Destiny 2 social group isn't robust enough for that to be feasible often. Also please for the love of Zavala's Sexy Buff Smurf Head, LFG needs to be a feature IN GAME! Period. And this leads me in to the last big thing that feels like it is dying out that is a big factor in MMORPGs and community connection. We need a Persistent Chat Window. It needs to be a feature you have to turn off every time you sign in. Games these days have transitioned away from persistent chat windows, but every one of these games has a lack of community. Seeing what people are saying and doing encourages other people to contribute. I don't know what kind of persistent chat systems could help Destiny 2, but some games have active voice chat in social spaces. Obviously, the text chat box needs to be seemless as possible, but it needs to be persistent. But considering the kind of game Destiny 2 is, there should be an Area Voice chat maybe, where you can hear people talking when they're near you, if their mic is enabled. Maybe even make your gaurdian mouth the words? I mean, maybe that could be a step too far depending on execution, but.... Also back to this and some of the social aspects, but you need to have a toggle for first person in the Tower for gaurdians. With the other social elements, it would feel like a lived in world more. Imagine talking with your fellow Gaurdians via Face to Face voice comms. You can see them reacting and talking. It could make Destiny 2 feel really lived in. Also, lastly and a biggie... PLAYER HOUSING! Best way to make a game world feel lived in is to give them a space to call their own. Whether that be a ship with custom interiors like Warframe, or an Apartment or room they can decorate like other MMOs, it doesn't matter. Hell I'd even be fine with the size of ingame ships being scaled up to accommodate a "Cockpit with a Bunk" style like you have in Semi-Tractors that move our goods around the world via highways and byways for us so much. But we need a space to live in and customize, maybe even show off our loot. Mind you, a bigger social space for this would be more ideal than a tiny little cubby like the Semi-Tractor version, but maybe a space with room for up to 6 could be nice. Also, story beats for this kind of social upgrade to Destiny 2... Bungie, you need to let us see the city we're defending. You need to include the world as a part of the story, and a lot of Destiny 2's story looks at the world at a breakneck pace, going from here to there as part of a mission. But the spaces themselves need to be integral to your story telling. And I don't think your story telling as is, is up to that level of "MMORPG" level of connection between player and world. LIke, for example in the very first mission of Destiny 2. You're fighting to get the Cabal out of the tower, but your exposure to the total picture of what is happening to its people is very shallow. Afterwards when you're going through the mountains, you just show little snippets of your journey towards meeting Hawthorne. It feels like you rush through bullet points for story beats, and neglect the self-lead journeys that bring a player there along the way. Not to say that I think Destiny 2 needs a lot more faffing about in the story, or just things to pad it out too much more, but the way you skip through shit so quickly makes it hard to digest the gravity of the story. This may be a remnant of the Activision formula, but it sucks for an MMORPG. It makes the world feel about as deep as a kiddy pool. I'm not against the story taking a more RPG direction with story beats, but you have to let the players more naturally migrate there. Give them time to soak in what is happening. From the time you get kicked off the shit, to getting your light back, barely anything happened. Some games faff about too much, but Destiny 2 story feels rushed through more than anything. But yeah, these are my "As an MMORPG Veteran" commentaries on Destiny 2 embracing this new direction. And this is anything but an inclusive group of ideas. So many things can be done. Anywho, everyone be safe and take care of yourselves. Sincerely - A Veteran MMO Lover