There is so much more to it than just gating progress (Destiny)

by slycrel , Monday, January 26, 2015, 14:47 (3380 days ago) @ scarab

I think it's all about the "fun" illusion, and keeping enough people around for extended periods.

They need to have a good balance on time put in vs rewards. They can keep their math, but how it is perceived by the player can be changed. Some perceptions are more "grind-y" than others. Legendary engrams dropping less frequently but being more of a sure thing are an example of this.

There's got to be a progression path or it feels worthless to put in the effort as a player.

I'm currently stuck at lvl 31 due to waiting for drops. I'm okay (ish) with this as I've not put in the time (or same class characters I guess?) that other players have. However, the price of this is that people are moving onto hard mode and me being artificially restrained from it. That pain point can cut both ways. On the one hand, this makes me want to play more and get the gear to move forward with fellow players. On the other, I'm barred from doing so other than once a week at this point "for the greater good". The early treadmill formula, which was good early on, is now working against me in (uh, likely?) unintended ways. This is why everyone was pissed about the VoG drops being truly random -- the more you geared up, the greater the chance of getting items you didn't need.

Balance in progression is a hard thing in game design, even harder when it's an MMO (because everyone has to move together or the system itself needs to compensate). I think bungie is being intentional here with their system, and rightly so... I think they are just pushing a little too much towards diminishing returns on time spent. It's a fine line between making something a challenge and making it too big a grind. Altering the perception is the best they can do without significant rework. I hope some of the groundwork is being laid for that rework with house of wolves, but in the meantime we will continue to see these quick fix types of changes.