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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The simple fact is that they just don't care about the game that much to put any of these frankly brilliant ideas in, and if they do you can expect to be paying even more for them.
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Bumpp
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I somewhat agree! They have legends and stories in the Grimoire like the battle at twilight gap - why not have a battle like this again? Destiny has so much potential, that is not fully used - there are hundreds of areas left to create, a thousand possible new storylines and even more possible vents and game modes to invent. But it is not happening! Also, I do not have any friends playing Destiny and I do not intend to look for random players - how am I supposed to beat the Raid? How about anything for single players, lone wolfs? Something that means the same experience for a single player? A harder story mission? And moreover: I kind of feel like my story doesn't even effect humanity. The only time I felt like achieving something was when I killed the heart of black garden. I want choices, I want decisions, I want more ways to save humanity, I want more responsibility for my guardian. He did not loose his eye in battle to find some spinmetal or say hello to some random Vex gate lords! He fights for humanity and not to see, if the fallen may have found some random fusion rector at the moon - I want to feel a lot more substantial, important!
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I find it very funny how people put 200 hours into a game they paid 70 dollars for, and still feel ripped off. What else can you do for 200 hours for $70?!! Stop complaining people and realize the society we live in.
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Edited by YaBoyJoshh: 10/30/2014 3:30:04 PMMore like 200 hours of the same content over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. For what exactly, just an exotic gun that doesn't help you in crucible much at all. Thanks bungie
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[quote]Wow I can't believe I read the whole thing! and agree with much. How about we battled for the tower, we lose the tower, get scattered into smaller groups and form a plan (Battlestar Galactica ) to retake the (city) tower While you're out saving the game, how about some interstellar travel? Planet seeding (colonizing) / firefly A Nother unifying idea would be finally getting close to restoring the traveler. But then you probably already have that planned don't you?[/quote]
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BUMP..!!!
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I thought i remembers Bungie saying at some point during teasers and amidst the hype buildup, that if you can see it, you can go to it. I was so looking forward to exploring and finding something that no one else has yet. Maybe an expansive cave with a fallen leader waiting to ambush unsuspecting guardians, or the fact that concept art showed Tigers at your side. What if in a raid you could earn an ai companion that actually helps you do things. Maybe a multiplayer map that has multiple levels stacked directly on top of each other with hole all over to blink through, or toss a grenade. A map where you must always be on your toes. A patrol area that doesn't feel so linear. It feels like I fight something in this small field, go through a tunnel, fight in another small field, etc to no end. With not even multiple tunnels to choose from. Like how there is only one way to get from place to place.
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I'm bumping this so hard right now...
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This guy for president.
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So emotion. Much feels. [*whispers* I still love you, Destiny.<3)
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For real! Listen to this guy Bungie! I havent played this game, other to sign on and see if anything has changed every once in a while, in weeks! If you actually made changes like this im sure im not the only one who would come back! BUMP
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Edited by DesPaws: 10/30/2014 7:46:11 PMThank you for that post, well written. I like your Tower defense idea, and the other idea I saw posted in here regarding weekly horde mode planetary defense battles (sorry, lost the original OP on that one). I do think, however, that your initial gut reaction of the story being the problem was more correct than you now give it credit for. I think a lot of the "empty world" problem you describe (while still being a problem, no question there), would be mitigated if there truly was a story that gave a true foundation for what was going on, and a true sense of direction, what was going on, and what was at stake. And those could all be done without letting the full 10 year story arc out of the bag. Taking out some of the internal plot point contradictions in an already excruciatingly short story would help as well. And before I get swamped with replies of "it's an acceptable story", "just wait, it's a 10 year story arc", "this is what an FPS story arc is now in this industry", etc., let me give you this pre-emptive answer: Bungie did this to themselves. VidDocs, and even the game description/box blurb state(d): "A Bold New World - Embark on an epic action adventure with rich cinematic storytelling where you unravel the mysteries of our universe and reclaim what we lost at the fall of our Golden Age." No where does that state " . . . in/over 10 years across multiple games" or "industry leading FPS mechanics with average to non-existent story". It says, in Bungie's (or Bungie approved words): [i] [b]EPIC[/b][/i] and [i][b]RICH[/b][/i]. I don't know how anyone can call what is in the base game either of those things. And as I pointed out, the marketing says that is what is in the box - nothing about a 10 year time frame. [i]What is in the base game.[/i] It would be like Peter Jackson telling everyone he's releasing an [b]Epic[/b] screen version of Lord of the Rings, and then the entire first installment of [i]Fellowship of the Ring[/i] comprised of 15 minutes of screen time: [i]<Opening scene in Bilbo's house>[/i] Gandalf: Bilbo, you need to put your life, and the lives of some of those you care about, in danger to the point of almost certain death, to take this ring away from the Shire to save others. Bilbo: OK, but if I'm going to go through that kind of danger, could you give me a little more reason why? Gandalf: I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain. I could tell you compelling reasons, but . . . meh. Bilbo: (against all reason) er, OK, guess I'll go. [i]<Cut to scene at Prancing Pony in Bree - Bilbo has friends with him, we're not sure how they got there>[/i] Bilbo: Hi Strider: Hi, lets go avoid some orcs. Bilbo: OK? [i]<Cut to scene outside Rivendell - full traveling group of fellowship traveling away from Rivendell, we're not sure how they got together>[/i] Gimli: "Glad we figured out that sure-fire solution we're about to do" Legolas: "I know, right?" [i]<End movie>[/i] [i]<Press conference after first screening of the movie, people yelling in anger about the content of the first movie>[/i] Peter Jackson: Shut up and go away, I told you at the start of this there'd be three movies, everything will be in the 2nd two movies. Peter Jackson: For all you self-entitled whiners out there who this isn't "good enough" for, you can look it up on wikipedia, there's a bunch of additional story content there.
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Beautiful use of absurdity to illustrate a very valid point. I salute you.
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Nice! Good comparison, maybe they will understand now... Hopefully
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Maybe this world would not feel so empty if we'd actually knew what we fight for. If we had seen the city. I always imagine walking through noisy, colorful narrow alleys full of people, wandering through exotic markets and buying strange things, looking into peoples eyes and see their admiration, their respect. I imagined walking along a small road and suddenly end up on a huge plaza with an enormous building that looks like some sort of parliament or something, walking across the plaza and enter the building, being surrounded by politicians that look at you like you were some sort of jerk from outside the city. I imagined getting lost in this huge city, walking through slums where the poor people would gather around me, coming from across the slum to see a real guradian, to talk to him, to touch him. I imagined giving them a spark of hope in their terrible lives before returning to my ship. I imagined going back into the wild, fighting fallen dregs while remembering what I fight for: the last safe city on earth. The last cheerful place that is left for a human. And I imagined so much more places and areas to discover... Bungie, please make this become reality!
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Great ideas man. Well put. I think this is a really fun game with room to grow hopefully it goes in the right direction
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I like how you were able to string your thoughts in an educated and coherent manner. I agree with every single thing that you said. I have Destiny still because there was that small, ever so fragile hope that they would do something greater with this game but I see that this is not so.....While the cost of the game and what we received was relatively disappointing, it is the overall feeling of sadness about how great this game could have been. I do think that there was a bit overhype from the community and reviewers but I think that is solely because of how Bungie pushed us to believe that this game was going to be revolutionary. I just can't get myself to purchase the DLC after this announcement. To those that do, I wish them well and fun travels.
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Well if I had to say something to BUNGIE that is exactly what I would say to them and that my friend is just what I thought we were getting mabey some day .... I mean how cool would that be each week each planet having a global conflict in different areas that last for a few days and the Gurdains must take part in it to keep the peace and balance the scales ....
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Bump.
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This what Bungie promised when the game arrived full blown (not the bata version) game released! This would've made Destiny the ultimate gamers shooter! My opinion! 😀
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Thank you for writing this
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We didnt even get beards, lol... bungie listens to no one but activi$ion.
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