Tourists, Collectors, and Hobbyists (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Friday, December 01, 2017, 18:51 (2346 days ago) @ Harmanimus

He specifically says that on one hand that the easy ascent is really positive, because it can suit life. He follows that by saying "you could make a case" and relating the rest of the comment about how Power is specifically a player facing advancement so perhaps it should have been slower.

As it relates to your supposition of 3 game phases elsewhere in this topic, you are identifying the power cap as being when the end game starts, which is inherently false. The end game starts at End Game activities. Which is 230 Power for the Nightfall. The Raid is 260-280. Offhand I don't remember if Trials has a Power Requirement or not. If you hit 305 I would consider that you have had a 75 power increase during the end game.

This fact is not lost on me, and I did point out that Destiny muddies the classic mid-game with the endgame by having power (I think I said above 250) be basically meaningless.

Now, is your time spent during the end game to power up further too fast or easy?

That being said, end game is not about powering up. This is an important distinction. Endgame is where optimization occurs. Conflating that with power level makes it confusing for players to know what's actually a better choice: Power level 250 gun with great perks or power level 260 gun with crap perks? The answer is to keep BOTH in Destiny, the 260 so your engrams are higher power, and the 250 for actual use, but how can you expect someone to know that given how obtuse these mechanics are? Most people won't. Down the line, you'll hear them say "man, I wish I'd saved my..." and you'll know Bungie did a poor job of communicating the true value of the items. I blame the everlasting power level increases for this.

When power level caps, players then KNOW that they are meant to compare the stats and perks and feel of similarly capped items rather than keeping whatever has a bigger number. That's true endgame loot progression. Forcing those comparisons alongside the increasing power numbers (as in D2) is awkward, counterproductive, and confusing.

That is a totally different question, I think, than what you pose. And in that context with what Luke says, I think it is "has that power gain been devalued to players because it goes so fast/easy" and just a consideration of power increase in vacuum.

See, I think he's the one asking the wrong question. The power gain doesn't have any value because power level in Destiny 2 is basically meaningless. "has it been devalued?" No, because it doesn't have any value to begin with. This question implies that Luke thinks bigger numbers have value independent of having any actual effect on the game. May as well go play the calculator on your phone then. Bigger numbers all day, there. Mechanically speaking, there is not much to do once you've crossed that endgame power threshold. It has nothing to do with the value of getting up to 305 power. It has to do with the value of having interesting mechanics and fun activities that allow players to optimize their characters in order to tackle increasing challenges. Destiny 2 dumbed all of that down from D1, and suffers as a result.