Bounty changes to put the player back in control (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Wednesday, June 24, 2015, 20:05 (3261 days ago)

So my depressed thread below sparked a conversation which eventually landed on me listing out all of the things I feel like I *have* to do in order to improve my gear for the one thing that I *want* to do. And I realized that a lot of this is because of how bounties are doled out. You go to a board and see all of the bounties for the day. You can then accept or decline up to 10 of them. Maybe you also go to Eris and the Queen's representative. So that's 3 bounty boards in two different locations just to start your day, every day. 4 if Iron Banner is in season. If you're like me, you don't even bother with Eris because you don't really need the rep anymore, but I digress.

These bounties that you get are all over the place. Some are crucible, some are patrol, some are strikes, some are missions, some are weird special quest things and so forth. You pick up a bunch and then kind of map out "how do I do these the most efficient way possible," right?

The result is that the game is telling you what to do. It encourages certain activities and behaviors, and greatly encourages you to spread yourself thin through many different modes of play. This isn't overtly harmful, but I still think this is a bad thing, in a subtle sort of way. The bounty system, as it stands today, is a subtle attack on player agency. It encourages you to do the things that the game is telling you to do, rather than rewarding you for doing what you want to do. Over time, you grow accustomed to doing what the game says, lose your sense of agency, and burn out on the game. I hope that makes sense.

I think a shift in bounty philosophy would greatly improve the gameplay experience.

What if, when you logged in, there was no bounty board. You no longer had a bounty inventory, except for certain persistent things like quests and exotic bounties. Instead, when you're in orbit, the first thing you do is decide what you want to do. There's no "let me check the bounties" because they don't work that way. Okay, I'm going to Venus. As you fly to Venus, during the loading screen, several bounties show up. Venus bounties. Ones that can be completed in patrol or missions. Then you pick your patrol or your mission or your venus strike, and as that loads, further bounties are added to your inventory for that activity. The bounties now serve as a "bonus" reward for doing something (collect 200 sensor mites), as well as providing a new avenue for extra challenges (think bounty: Get 2 kills with a fusion rifle, 20 times, but it's only available during that strike... much more challenging). You were going to do the activity anyway, and now the bounties load in as you join it, complementing your gameplay and rewarding you for making your own choices.

Player agency is pretty real in Destiny, but the bounty and reward system undermine it in a very soft, subtle way. This change would reinforce agency rather than work against it.

Now, I'm sure some will say that I can play however i want to right now. You're completely right. My point is that the game is encouraging me not to. The reward systems and bounties steer me towards activities I'm not really into and that reduces the overall fun of the game. Without changing anything else but how bounties are acquired, I think the game could be much more fun for all of us.