O Hai (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Thursday, September 06, 2018, 22:15 (2061 days ago)

I loved D1's pvp and it's high skill ceiling, steep learning curve, and incredibly rewarding gameplay.

Then I got D2, and hated it. One of the biggest issues for me was that the dramatically slower TTKs resulted in teamshooting trumping everything, and it was impossible for a skilled player to make up for three uncooperative teammates (thanks, bizarre and slow matchmaking algorithm). But that wasn't all that frustrated me. The advanced movement was gone. The weapon choices were nearly meaningless. The rewards were meh. After the initial gleam, I lost interest in PvP completely.

But the single, most heartbreaking issue, was that the PvP balance was completely garbage, and it became obvious to me that hunters simply could not compete at a high level. For a while, I changed to warlock (and my K/D went from 1.3 to 3.2, no joke).

Then CoO happened, and my GOD it was bad. I'm sure you remember, but just in case you don't, the opening mission on Mercury ends just after you get to the entrance to the "infinite" forest and much ado is made about the fact that you can't enter it.

Two levels later, your mission starts with you just waltzing through the door. Not a single line of dialogue is dedicated to any explanation for why this is now a trivial event. Of course we can guess that Sagira knows how to open the door, but that's US filling in the glaring holes of Destiny 2's plot.

So I was done. I quit. I uninstalled. And I'd already paid for the Warmind expansion. Which I still have not played at all.

A while after that, Bungie released their "roadmap." It did nothing but convince me I had done the right thing. PvP wasn't being addressed until December 2018, more than a year away.

And, well, here we are. Bungie has beaten their timetable and changed the game's PvP balance. And it's MAGICAL.

I've been playing for the last three nights, and the pvp is goddamnned GLORIOUS. It feels like season 1's best balance patches, which good decisions made on all fronts. Movement is fluid and responsive. Engagements are quick and deadly, but not so much that you can't escape if you recognize you're outmatched or you miss a shot. There is far less lag that I remember from D1, even. The weapons feel crisp and a wide variety of them feel effective. Matchmaking is still atrocious; Fortnite can match 100 players in less time than Destiny 2 can match, well, 2. And when playing doubles, I've been matched with the exact same teams 3 times in a row, twice. And I've only played 6 rounds of doubles since I came back. But that actual play, holy god it's FUN.

And here I am, back home, as it were, wondering how all you fine people are doing. I'm not sold on the new xpac yet - gonna give that a few weeks for the shine to tarnish and honest reviews to come out, but the PvP changes are a massive shift in the right direction and I'm having a blast right now.

So, how are you guys? How's gaming?