Gotta play the meta to know the meta (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Friday, September 07, 2018, 14:48 (2061 days ago) @ MacAddictXIV
edited by CruelLEGACEY, Friday, September 07, 2018, 14:59

Pretty much agree with this. There are now so many sources of drops that will increase your light level, levelling up is the smoothest that it’s ever been.

However...

That’s not really what infusion is about. Infusion is basically a way of taking your favourite old stuff and keeping it usable. And in a game where it can take a very large amount of playtime to acquire some of these weapons or pieces of armor, I do think it’s a bit of a dick move to make so obscenely expensive to infuse it upward. I put a lot of time, effort, and energy into my masterworked Whisper of the Worm. So obviously, I’d like to be able to use the damn thing. Now, I’m not the average player. I’m able to put more time into Destiny than a lot of other people. So I went into Forsaken with enough resources to infuse a select few favourite weapons up to 500, and I’m glad about that because I’m having a blast. But I do sympathize with players who don’t spend as much time playing as I do, and are looking at the cost of infusion and thinking “WTF?!”.

Exactly. I'm more than open to finding new gear that I'll love, but until I do, I'd rather not be using Item #153 - A Rare Relic Of The Golden Age Part 37. I'd much rather keep using my tried and true standbys, and I can't do that if I have to keep dropping whatever enjoyable activity I'm doing to spend time bouncing between planets gathering mats, or waiting for RNGeesus to bestow a Masterwork Core unto me.

I don't know about you guys, but this is a brand new meta of weapons and abilities. I personally would be living in the past if I was using the same weapon sets that I used in the last era of Destiny. Along with that, I personally can't tell a weapon is good just by looking at the stats. Sure, it helps to look at it, but until I use the gun I won't know how good it is. And the campaign is a great safe environment to do just that. I would worry about your tried and true weapon sets after the campaign when you will really need them.

I don’t see it as being cut and dry one way or the other. I certainly want to try out some of the new toys that come with each expansion. I take a look at each new drop that I get, if it looks interesting I’ll use it for 10 minutes. 99% if the time, I shard it and go back to what I was using before. I totally appreciate the argument that it’s a new expansion, so play with the new stuff! However, at this point in D2’s lifespan, a weapon needs to stand out in some significant way for me to be excited about using it. Being a player who spends a lot of time in the game, most of the weapons I use are top-tier. Most of the drops I’m getting now are just another average hand cannon or fusion rifle or sidearm... nothing that stands a chance of eclipsing what I’m already using.

And I think we all know that’s the real reason that infusion is so expensive. Most of the new guns simply can’t be as good as the best stuff we’ve already acquired, so Bungie needs to somehow force us into using the new blues and generic legendaries. Which for me ultimately makes me feel like I’m being de-powered. Even though the numbers on all my new weapons are higher than my old weapons, I feel less effective in combat. Doesn’t that run counter to the entire idea of increasing our light level? (<- this is where my inner cynic jumps in and says “light levels going up has never, ever, been about making the player feel more powerful. It’s purely about creating compulsion-driving dopemine hits while also time-gating content”, but I’ll tell my inner cynic to be quiet for now, lol).

All that said, there are ways around this trap and Bungie has already achieved it, at least partially. Bows are completely different than anything that was in the game before. Everyone will have their own opinions of them (I freaking love them), but there’s no denying that they are a literal game changer. By introducing a whole new class of weapon, Bungie completely sidestepped the power-creep dilemma I described above, because I simply can’t compare my new bow to any previous pieces of gear. It’s a new thing.

I think adding gear along these lines is the best way to avoid the tension that always seems to pop up whenever Bungie tinkers with our ability to bring our favourite old gear forward. I personally would be happier about playing through a new campaign with all-new gear if the gear was really NEW, not just inferior and forgettable versions of weapons I already have.

All that stuff aside, there’s another potential reason for some players to want to keep using their old gear (or at least some of it) through a new campaign; narrative consistency. In the timeline of Destiny 2, my guardian’s most recent actions were to rebuild the Sleeper Simulant, find all the IKELOS weapons and armor on Mars, then travel far under the surface of Io and discover the Whisper of the Worm. Now I’m on a quest to avenge the murder of my most annoying friend, which takes me to the far reaches of the Reef to tackle an entire army single-handedly. You’re damn right I’m gonna be bringing my very best gear to a challenge like that :) And if, over the course of my adventure, I find a new weapon that’s more effective or fun in new ways, I’ll add it to my loadout. That way, the process at least feels natural from an in-universe perspective.