Dear Bungie,
Destiny simply isn't what I expected. I've had great respect for the work you guys do from the first time I played Halo with my friends, and I followed the Destiny buildup until its release with edge-of-my-seat anticipation. To me, there's no story more compelling than that of humanity's very survival, and no pursuit more noble than fighting for the preservation of our species. It's what drew me to Halo, and what drew me to Destiny. It's teams of artists such as yourselves, who recognize the inherent nobleness of this concept and seek to bring it to millions, that inspire me, that give me something to look forward to after a long day at the office, that offer me the chance to escape a reality where the difference I make is marginal at best, and enter a reality where I have the chance to make a difference that feels like it matters, if only for a couple of hours every night.
You brought me that sense of purpose and inspiration with Halo. But I don't feel this anymore. In Destiny, with a full loadout of legendary and exotic gear and having played through the full story, experiencing what the Crucible has to offer, battling my way through countless strike missions, finishing every bounty 100 times over, and exploring the complete extent of every map, I'm...bored. But it's worse than being bored. I don't feel anything. I've stuck with the game all these hours, whole days, desperately seeking to feel what I expected to when I first read about Destiny so many months ago. It isn't there.
Although I initially thought that the lack of story was the problem, I've come to realize that the lack of story is only the tip of the iceberg. It's the part that's visible, that every Guardian who's also searching for that sense of purpose and fulfillment in Destiny can readily point to and say "That must be it". And it's a very valid concern. But the core problem with Destiny runs much deeper. The core problem, as far as I see it, is that you're utterly alone in the game.
I'll attempt to expand as best I can. The reason the raid works so well (and is arguably the most successful part of the entire Destiny endeavor) is that it requires massive amounts of teamwork. It provides, upon beating Atheon, a sense of reward and togetherness that no other part of the game currently gives you as a player. I feel as though the team at Bungie would like to bring this experience to the wider majority of the game, but is confused as to how to do so, or is otherwise very conflicted as to how to go about doing so. I want to assure you that doing this would be exceptionally easy, and would make Destiny the game you want it to be and the game that we, the players, want it to be.
My suggestions operate on the assumption that most Destiny players care about the notion of fighting for humanity. It is the premise of the entire game, the reason anyone who enjoys PvE wanted to become a Guardian in the first place. With that in mind, Bungie needs to begin addressing the issue of feeling alone in the game by giving players a shared experience outside of the raid. Sure, if you have enough friends with the game, you can link up a fireteam and do some of the same 4 strikes (now a staggering 5 strikes for only $19.99 on Xbox) you've done 5,000 times over, but the only emotional appeal to this is that you're doing something with your friends for a while, until you get bored, and let me assure you, killing the Archon Priest for the zillionth time is boring - boring enough that the friends I used to play with have quit the game. I feel that many can relate to this situation. In order to make your players feel something deeper and continue to invest in Destiny, we need to be able to actually fight for the very survival of humanity.
Other people have left comments regarding this, and I'm mirroring their ideas and sentiments and not claiming them as my own, though I've had the very same thoughts as them for some time now. Bungie needs to actually put humanity on the brink. As Guardians, we need to be able to get an alert from The Tower while we're out collecting Spinmetal that The City is under a massive attack by The Fallen. We need to be able to see all the players around us disappear, heading to orbit just like we are, mashing our controllers to take us all back to defend The City. Upon arriving, we need to see droves upon droves of enemies marching to the walls, and have a way to get out in front of the walls to fight them in the plains before they reach the gates (troop transport ships on a loop that fly you over the city and drop you into battle, anyone?). We need to see dozens of other Guardians fighting tooth and nail to defend the last bastion of humanity alongside us, and we need this on at least a weekly basis. These kind of encounters can play out all over the solar system, and last a day at a time, giving many players the chance to enter the fight. Ground must be gained and lost, territories threatened, The City seen teetering on a precipice before you and your fellow Guardians prevail (or don't, which leads to many other, ridiculously interesting options for the game, and opportunities to fight for what is lost).
Again, I don't claim such ideas and sentiments as my own, but I wanted to articulate them here in the hopes that someone with a voice inside Bungie HQ might raise these ideas that I very much believe thousands of players yearn for. If ideas like this were baked into the game, this crippling sense of solitude that one often feels while playing would effectively disappear, because we'd all be fighting for something together - something tangible, that we could see and feel and believe in.
While you, Bungie, continue to release patches nerfing hard-earned exotic weapons, killing loot caves, restructuring the raid to prevent players from beating it with human ingenuity, and announcing DLC content that is quite honestly very lackluster and addresses none of the deep, even psychological ineptitudes within the Destiny universe, I assure you that even if the current numbers say otherwise, you are not building a 10 year franchise. Or a 5 year franchise. I'll be curious to know what those numbers reveal once other games are released through the holiday season. Somehow, I don't think they'll be very promising. Not considering what you gave us at launch, and how little you continue to give us. Destiny was a promise of something incredible that never was and still isn't. It could still become that, but my hope is waning, and that's a real shame, because this world you made for us, this repetitive, empty world - it's very pretty.
Thanks for your time. I hope I get the chance to thank you for your efforts in the future.
English
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Very well put! At present this isn't the game we thought it would be
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Cool essay bro. Tldr
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Read it bro it's sexual and violent
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Because your blind to the extortion? Your a joke kid. Keep getting your money stolen...
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Hear hear!!
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Well said
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Edited by CrocsWithSocks: 10/30/2014 6:41:13 PM
Started a new topic: Pop-up Event Communication?(1 Reply)
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That's just the thing people, he's not complaining, he's being a diplomat we need and articulating criticism in a professional and effective matter. Take some notes from this bro before complaining further. This is how you get through. He's passionate, concerned and wants to see the better. It's not a matter of boredom or disgrace towards Bungi, it's that we all deserve much more, Bungi and us, the fans. Great job TwoBeersMears and I truly hope Bungi directly notifies you and they confess towards some mature problem solving.
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Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the support.
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I vote that YOU, TwoBeersMears, become the Official spokesperson for our Destiny community; I feel EXACTLY what you describe, but you bring it so positive. I wish I had your diplomatic skills to make such a good, powerfull and correct statement. I salute you, Guardian of Guardians ( <--- see whay I did there ;) )
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I was going to say the same thing. TwoBeersMears for President
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You win -blam!-ing beautiful
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F-ing 20 dollars for one expansion wtf you'll get 2 lvls 5 missions 1 strike 1 raid and 3 crucible maps. Probably a few new gear that look the same as we already have. And that for something that's already on the disk. F-ing 9.5 MB for the download. That's a waste of money and time. Promised us a great game advertised with stuff they already cut out off the game letting us believe something about the product that is even there. In most countries this will get a lawsuit misleading people to buy something they tell you is this and that and once you bought it its crap. If you bought a car and they'll show you it has this monster of a engine in it so you buy it and then find out they cut the engine out a few months earlier to reduce costs but still tell you that its the same engine even if you know its a scooter engine you could sue them and definitely win the case because they mislead you into buying a product that is with it seems to be. And that's what happened with destiny. They should be very lucky that nobody took the guts to sue them for this. Because they mislead us al with this crap and the asking 20 dollars for something thats on your freaking disk.
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That's a horrible analogy! Also content wasn't "taken out" of the game. Plus its norm 15 bucks for COD or Halo DLC and that's just maps for vs. Oh, you have all the right for disappointment but those weren't great points.
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Oooh the sue will come I'm sure. It's nothing but false advertisement and extortion. It's the reason the creative director left. He didn't want anything to do with the fraud. DeeJ was there and just watched. He needs to fall with the company. Because it's a joint operation we need to file a class action and hit both bungie and Activision.
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[quote] If you bought a car and they'll show you it has this monster of a engine in it so you buy it and then find out they cut the engine out a few months earlier to reduce costs but still tell you that its the same engine even if you know its a scooter engine you could sue them and definitely win the case because they mislead you into buying a product that is with it seems to be.[/quote] That sentence gave me cancer.
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Because it's true? Another ostrich blind to the truth. It's called false advertisement and then ontop of that... Selling us parts of the game that are already part of the game so they can make more money is called extortion... It may not be through for or threats but it's still stealing.
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... ok.
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Lol sorry for that. It's just not worth it to write correctly for this game.
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Good feedback! Thank you ;)
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Couldn't have said it better.
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I got goosebumps thinking about the City Defence style gameplay, and it sadly made me more excited than Destiny itself ever has. I feel it would take a long time to build, but whenever it was done, that alone would make Destiny worth playing. Excellent points sir, I'm sure someone will take your suggestions into consideration.
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Edited by Joan of Sól: 10/30/2014 6:34:26 PMJust think about it- City Defense wouldn't even have to be limited to the Last City on Earth. If we are liberating the galaxy, humans would have to start rebuilding cities on other planets, like Freehold on Mars and whatnot. We could accept missions to assist and guard those people as they rebuild and venture out on a mission to get artifacts or scientific gadgets and conduits to power the city. Then once the city is working again, more people come and make a living on those planets. There will be a constant need to protect each city as we expand into the stars, and depending on which one needs it the most it could have a severity rating, and more Guardian forces could gather to a certain city and risk possibly losing one or another. That's what a war feels like. That's the kind of war I feel the Guardians should be waging against the Darkness. Right now it feels like I'm just expecting to see the same Fallen and Vex spawn whenever I start a Strike and that we're on a Pokemon hunt for Exotic weapons- which the latter is pretty okay in my book. It's not just about Guardians becoming legend with cool weapons and gear, it's about the bigger picture, the resettlement of human race among the solar system.
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EXACTLY Sandstormander! (Although your name does kinda sound like a Pokemon...) [spoiler]That was an attempt at a joke, no pun intended[/spoiler]