That’s all entirely true... but none of it means Pinnacle Station is worthwhile to play, really. It’s just ‘Mass Effect Horde Mode’, a barebones experience made up almost entirely of repetitive combat, and it’s the rare person, I think, who’s playing Mass Effect mostly for the combat.

I don’t think you’re wrong about that at all... but it also wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Ubisoft rolled out a ‘lesser tier’ version of the service - Ubisoft-, if you will - which functioned closer to EA Play, and then bundled that with GamePass.

My understanding was that it was what might be termed a ‘spin off’: built out of Siege, for sure, but to be sold as its own (mid-priced) game, rather than requiring Siege for purchase.

Yeah, I appreciate the friendly advice, but it’s just one of those things where once I’ve bounced off of something like this, there’s not really a whole lot of impetus for me to go back - especially where GamePass is concerned, and there are new titles available to play (new to me, at least). Given my relatively…

It’s also worth noting that Bungie axed skill-based matchmaking about two years ago, which caused something of an exodus of less-skilled players from PvP (especially in the ‘regular’ Crucible modes).

I mean, if people want to do nothing but stand on top of the tower and play ‘the floor is lava’ all day long, I don’t really care, so long as they’re having fun. It’s more when they set an arbitrary standard - like getting a roll with a certain set of perks - and then complain that the game is ‘too grindy’ because it…

Yeah, I think we both have similar views on the raid - ie, neither one of us have any interest in doing voice chat with strangers we met on LFG sites - but you’re coming at it from the perspective of ‘I wish it was easier to convince my friends to play Destiny with me so we could play the raids together’, whereas I’m…

I mean, you’re not wrong, at all: I just find that most people complaining about the ‘grind’ involved in Destiny are complaining more about the grind involved in getting certain drops, rather than the grind involved in getting the light level to a certain height. Which was more my original point: you can play the game…

Again, as far as ‘what the raids are, really’, I wouldn’t be in a position to know, because, you know, I don’t play them. I just feel like the notion of ‘players should be able to start playing Destiny and then immediately jump into the raids’, versus having to sink at least a little bit of time hitting whatever…

I still find this hilarious about the Trials changes, too: that they’ve inadvertently made the super hardcore PvP mode more welcoming, in terms of both rewards and matchmaking, than the regular, run-of-the-mill Crucible matches.

Fair enough.

To be fair, though, I feel like (just in terms of MMO/sort of MMOs in general), ‘the raid’ is kind of the one thing where I don’t really mind a certain requirement like that: that’s kind of the point of a raid, a place to test your highest level gear. (And I say that as someone who doesn’t play the raids, at all.)

Yeah, I think the perception that Destiny ‘requires’ grind to be fun is less about ‘making the numbers go up’ in terms of power level: you’re right that hitting the hard cap isn’t too hard (though I don’t usually reach it), and also isn’t really a prerequisite for a whole lot. I think the issue is more that the…

Yeah, and GamePass definitely exacerbates that notion, I think: it’s one thing when I’ve shelled out forty-sixty bucks to play a game - in that scenario, I’m going to at least try and get my money’s worth, and so I’m much more willing to bang my head against unintuitive controls or structures.

I definitely understand what they were going for... but ‘achieving a facsimile of physics simulation’ and ‘being at all fun or engaging or intuitive’ aren’t really the same thing, unfortunately.

That’s the thing about Destiny, though: it presents itself that way - as though you have to grind, or it’s no fun at all - but that’s not actually the case. The vast majority of activities can be completed successfully with only halfway decent gear; there’s plenty to occupy players even if they don’t ‘grind grind…

I’ve said this before about Destiny, and I’ll say it again: even as someone who enjoys the game, I think the worst thing Destiny (and the Destiny fanbase) does is encourage the notion that players have to engage really, really seriously with the grind in order to have fun with Destiny.

Appreciate it; I’m not generally a big EA guy, so I wasn’t sure how deeply into their catalog EA Play went. (Like, I know Microsoft has said ‘all first party titles would go to GamePass day one, full stop’, but I wasn’t sure if EA had said something similar, or if it was more a case-by-case basis.)

Mine as well. It actually took me a minute to figure out which one ‘Arrival’ was, just because Mass Effect DLC kind of blends together for me - they’re not the sort of games where I want to go back and play just the DLC, so I usually played the game on release (without any DLC, obviously), then waited until all the…

I mean... that’s not not the sort of thing I would say.