Casual players are the single largest audience in gaming; there’s no getting around it. This is the audience that every major publisher wants to appeal to; the one group that every development studio hopes will latch onto their game. After all, capturing the attention of the casual or mainstream audience usually means massive success and wondrous profit. So it’s understandable that they, publishers especially, would have a vested interest in making their games more accessible and appealing to that audience. Making that appeal often means simplification. The simpler the game is, the more accessible it is, the more mainstream appeal it can have. While there’s nothing innately wrong with making one’s game more accessible to the wider gaming audience, doing so always comes at a cost. Just as a game cannot be both simple and complex, neither can it simultaneously serve its niche and successfully appeal to the mainstream audience. Therefore compromises must be made, usually ones that rob the game of what made it special in the first place.
Speaking of space-magic, more lore has been filled in with the arrival of new ghost. Yes, not everyone wants to crawl to the internet to discovery the intricate workings of just what makes Destiny tick, but for lore-nerds like me, this is a dream come true. I will gladly take more lore, because for those who don’t know, Destiny has some crazy cool sci-fi/fantasy lore. When is space-magic a bad thing? It’s not. Any tad bit more of lore to leak out will be greedily consumed until the next one arrives. It might seem like a small thing, but all those NPCs aren’t just spotting nonsense, they are referencing things. It’s the same reason every item has a cryptic description. In fact, this might be the best time to get to know Destiny. Might as well see how it all came to be while waiting for Destiny 2, right? So, go read that lore. It’s crazy and out-there in the best of ways. Just know it’s heavy on the space-magic — a wizard did come from the moon, after all. If that doesn’t sum it up, I don’t know what does.
Including all content from Curse of Osiris in the base game might have helped ease some of the end-game pains that the launch brought with it. It’s not too much more to do, but it might have smoothed over a few wrinkles by including that extra content. It would also have made the loot pool larger; maybe Guardians wouldn’t be as frustrated at the limited item sets, lackluster exotics and other cosmetics. Giving more isn’t always the best idea, but in this case, it could have been.
Convinced yet, Guardian? Ready to come back to the fold instead of drinking your woes away locked in a dark dingy Tower bar? Sure, you might see Cayde-6 roll on through, but does he really have anything interesting to say yet? He’s just waiting for the action he has no idea is on the way. The Cabal have been a long time coming and what better way to kick off Destiny 2 then an all-out assault on the place Guardians call home? Get it while it’s hot Guardian, the Tower won’t be around for much longer and all that hard work you’ve put in over the years (or ignored), well either keep at it or kiss it good bye. See you in space, Guardian.
Mercury sits happily at the top of the destinations menu like it was there all along. Brother Vance welcomes Guardians with open arms to the Lighthouse (only reserved for the best of PvP in Destiny), waiting for Osiris’ return. Like everything else to follow though, Mercury quickly proves that it is a veiled guise for a rather bland play space. It’s small while giving of the illusion of unlimited potential. It only has one public event, and while covering much more ground than other public events, it’s still the only one (plus sparrows don’t work). At least the other destinations have multiples. The Infinite Forest is a clever trick, that has been pulled before, it’s just on a slightly larger scale, not confined to a space like the Prison of Elders from House of Wolves in Destiny. It’s doing the same thing though, just changing the facade.
Upon release, one of the main criticisms hounding Destiny 2 was its conversion of shaders from permanent unlocks to single-use consumable items . In response, many were quick to point out that shaders in general were easy to come by and that players wouldn’t actually be hurting for them all that much. In general, this is true. Shaders as an item are indeed relatively easy to come by. However, most of the best shaders are only gained through opening “Bright Engrams”, items which are loot boxes in all but name. They’re obtainable through in-game means but only at a snail’s pace unless one decides to fork over some real cash. Players also have absolutely zero control over what they get out Weapons of the Nine event them. So while those cool shaders are technically obtainable, there’s no guarantee that a player will ever get the one they want, much less more of it. So instead of encouraging players to enjoy Destiny 2’s new system that allows every piece of gear to be individually customized, the game instead pushes players to do the opposite and hoard what shaders they do get until they manage to obtain a piece of endgame gear that won’t be immediately scrapped. Armor and weapon mods suffer from a similar drawback too, though they can at least be bought with in-game currency. This problem isn’t just limited to consumables either. Thanks to Destiny 2’s deplorable token system, there’s been wholesale reduction of player control over the gear they earn. The system is probably meant to promote grind, but instead it does the opposite. Why should the game’s players bother with the grind loop if they can’t grind for the things they actually want?
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