Halfway through writing this, just gonna say up at the top here: This isn't exactly formatted well. I am trying to be a little professional about this, but at the end of the day, it's Bungie Forums.
Bungie posted their essay on what they plan on improving in Destiny, and even how they are getting started on doing so. A lot of it had to talk about some really good stuff, and this post will not deny that good is coming to Destiny. At least, the plan and the vision is good. The execution... we will see in due time.
A portion of the post talks about putting more focus on ritual content. Updating and upgrading strikes like Arms Dealer, and Lake of Shadows, while putting Exodus Crash and Inverted Spire on the backburner to adjust (If I understand it correctly). Upgrading the difficulty in strikes by adjusting their "knob" and tuning to player abilities. Particularly, the adjustments to abilities can also affect (hopefully) Crucible too, along with giving more love to the modes in Crucible and the Crucible player base. And these changes sound good, and we will see if they are executed well.
But, for the talk about ritual activities, if you even Ctrl + F on the entire page itself, the word Gambit is found nowhere. Not even the tiniest tuning, not a whisper of motes or Primevals or the Drifter. And this scares me.
Perhaps they want to focus on strikes and crucible first, as those are far more prevalent in the game and more at the core of Destiny itself. If they all go well, then they will talk further about tuning Gambit. But this post talked further about the entire [b]YEAR[/b] leading up to The Final Shape. Their plans up to the final expansion in Light and Dark saga, laid out for us, and yet silence on this controversial game mode.
I know, perhaps, this is a good thing for a lot of people. I've heard so many claim that the game would just be better without it entirely, and this is a step towards that. Though, I've also heard plenty argue that the game would be better without Crucible, but we all know that would kill the player base entirely and utterly. If not from alienating an entire section of Destiny's player base, from the resulting aftermath of conflict.
I know full well that Gambit does not hold nearly a spot on the board quite like strikes or Crucible. But I am here to argue that it should. Gambit is a game mode that is so utterly unique to Destiny it would be a true shame to see it fall away into nothing. It has potential to be better, and it has a potential to be more.
A little tangent, if I may: You may disagree. I know plenty of people say that Gambit creates a negative fun value in the game, hence why they ask for its removal entirely. My counterpoint is this: that is how I, personally, feel about Crucible, especially at the moment (minus the removal from the game, as aforementioned). And that's okay, because different people like different things. I, truly and honestly, have a better time on average in Gambit than I do in Crucible. The ritual playlists are meant to be different ways for different types of people to engage with the game. Gambit is in a bad spot, for sure; but I believe it can be so, so much more.
If you played the game when Gambit was just newly created, either just before Forsaken or the year afterwards, then most likely you do know that potential. The feeling of just playing something entirely new, not to mention unique to Destiny as a game as a "PvEvP" game mode, the feeling when you invaded, got a 4k and Drifter shouts your ear off like Shaxx but better, the tough fights where each team raced to melt their Primeval's health bar. Yes, there were still monsters back then, Sleeper Simulant particularly being dreadful to fight against from what I remember. But the entire experience as a new concept was - get this - fun to play, engaging, and challenging in the proper way.
And those times definitely didn't last. Whether it be heavy economy changes, map removal, or priorities elsewhere, Gambit has become a small shadow of what it used to be, and what it could be. It can still be fun at certain times, but mostly it has only lost value in the game as a whole. I desperately want that to change.
I want to imagine a world where Gambit isn't left to rot. I'm scared that's where it's going since it isn't even mentioned in the plans for the future. I want to see invaders overcoming real challenges to accomplish what can be done way too easily at the moment. I want to see heavy ammo economy reworked (this time for the better). I want to see Gambit take back it's place in the game, and then to take it even further, I want to see Gambit expanded on. I want to see the menu fill out, with multiple game modes. I want to see more focus on Gambit during a season, and, Bungie willing, I want to see Gambit taken to endgame proportions, with Trials-level gear and equipment as rewards (The perfect opportunity to bring back Trials of the Nine?).
I know that's a little crazy to talk about, so I'll take a step back.
I, ultimately, want to just ask Bungie to please, please give Gambit more love. Make a point in your plans in the future that, after you tune Vanguard Ops and Crucible, to give Gambit some serious attention. Because it can be so, so good. It doesn't have to be like this, it doesn't have to be left to rot. Bring back some maps and the enemy types. Fix the heavy ammo situation. Adjust the outliers like Eyes of Tomorrow. And when it maybe finally has some stable footing, give us more. Give us game modes. Give us maps or even an event similar to Iron Banner. I'm well aware that all of that won't happen over night, you're just starting to touch Vanguard Ops and Crucible as is, but bring the vision of Gambit to life again.
I guess I should do a TL;DR: Gambit can be fun again, please Bungie don't leave it to rot, give it some serious love with the other ritual activities.
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No. Into the DCV with the waste of space!