I mean, I think (in terms of narrative, at least) you’re right that new players are definitely ‘arriving in the middle’, so to speak; I just feel like that’s going to be part of jumping into any ongoing narrative, whatever format. (Remember watching a television show from third or fourth or fifth season? That was…

I totally get how those are all issues, and I share some of them (though I actually like the seasonal model). My question is more - ‘so you’ve decided to quit Destiny, and presumably play other things instead. Why do you then feel the need to jump in on every article about Destiny to talk about how no one should play…

And here’s the thing: I agree with most of what you just said about the flaws in the current season... except your closing point. I think it’s a bit much to say that Bungie’s design ‘actively encourages’ burnout; I think there are plenty of ways to play Destiny without burning out - I stop playing roughlynwhen I hit…

Interesting! I’d actually wonder, if someone was a new player, if most of the current criticisms would really ‘apply’, given how much of them seem to be of the ‘it was better back in the day!’ variety. (Like, the number of strikes have been cut nearly in half from pre-vaulting - but you wouldn’t know that you were…

Ah; I totally understand. For what it’s worth, I more or less agree with you - that’s just not really enough of a problem for me to stop playing, let alone to feel the need to ‘warn’ others off the game. Like, yes, there are problems (the recent removal of SBMM from PvP being a prime example, as is the scattershot…

Question: what IS it about Destiny that seems to turn ex-players into such anti-evangelists for the franchise? There are all sorts of games out there people hate on general principle (sometimes without ever having even played them), and there are all sorts of games that people play, get tired of, and move on, but it…

Yeah, I’ve had the Halo Collection sitting on my Xbox for a while now (thanks to GamePass), and I keep vaguely meaning to boot it up, but... well, maybe I’ll get to them at some point, but there’s also always new stuff to play, you know?

Honestly, one of my favorite things about Destiny is how accommodating it is to different ‘time investment’ approaches. I play quite a bit - I hit at least 200 on the season pass, typically - but the two friends I play with play significantly less: one probably ends up just around 100, and the other’s lucky to be able…

Honestly, I never loved Bungie’s Halo, even - I played the first two, but they were never my ‘favorites’. Destiny just clicks for me, for whatever reason; Titanfall’s the only other sci-fi shooter that even comes close. Hell, I remember trying to go back to Borderlands* after the first Destiny came out, and just being…

For sure; in terms of ‘mechanics from last year they could bring back’, this is definitely a good one. (Though... am I the only one who misses the bunkers from Season of the Worthy? I really liked the bunkers. Hated that season’s public event; loved the bunkers.) I am curious how far they’re going to push this ‘you…

The thing about Destiny’s grind is that the game’s really only as grind-y as you want it to be: take this specific mechanic, for example. The point is to let you try for a certain weapon with a certain, specific bonus - like faster reload time after a headshot. You don’t ‘need’ that specific bonus to progress…

I never found the Recaster as compelling as a lot of players - mainly just because I don’t really ‘chase’ specific perks; I find a set of perks I like, lock that version, and I’m done - but in terms of ‘mechanics they could bring back’, they could certainly do worse. Really, the only thing that annoys me a little is…

A ‘boss despawn’ mechanic on timed stuff - while it probably wouldn’t help me actually complete the timed missions - would make the activity on the whole significantly more fun, I think: if nothing else, it would actually let me explore and figure out the jumping puzzle stuff FOR MYSELF, rather than immediately go…

Cheers; I really appreciate the thoroughness - and thoughtfulness - of your reply!

I’m actually really curious what their strategy will be in regards to power levels and content like this, since this is the first year this stuff will ‘stick around’ once the level cap increases. Not just Harbinger, but the legendary lost sectors, as well - will grinding out those exotics get ‘easier’ if we just wait?…

Ha! Yep, I was a playing a hunter as well, and that’s EXACTLY what I wound up doing to get as far as I did. The trouble with that sort of approach, though, is that a) it takes a good deal longer, which means, if you do make a mistake and die, you’ve just ‘lost’ the last half hour, rather than the last five minutes,…

Yep, it’s the ‘survive’ room that made me hang up my spurs on this one. I even made it past the first unstoppable champion, but after I got killed fighting the second one, and realized I’d have to do all of that over again, over, and over, and over, and over? Nah. That goes well past ‘fun’, for me.

Yeah, and that’s kind of what I find fascinating - to you and I, playing for two hours and beating our heads against the wall means that content’s just not worth engaging with. To a not-insignificant portion of the player base, though, that’s the only kind of content that has any real meaning. It’s like trying to cook…

I think that’s definitely a fair criticism (and certainly one I would favor in the case of the timed missions, though those seem to fallen by the wayside - thankfully, from my perspective). Again, I think Bungie’s kind of behind the eight ball on difficulty - there’s a portion of the player base saying ‘if there’s not…

I appreciate the support, I do, but here’s the thing: I barely scraped through the solo Legendary Lost Sectors at 1250. I did it, but it wasn’t pretty. So taking on something that’s designed from the ground up to be more challenging, at 1280, just flat out isn’t within my capabilities... or even something I…