Bungie is trying to win me back (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Tuesday, August 04, 2015, 16:13 (3177 days ago)
edited by Kahzgul, Tuesday, August 04, 2015, 16:22

Thanks, Bungie. Keep it up!

Changes that I see as pure positives:
- Leveling is no longer based on RNG based gear drops. All players can achieve level 40 through direct action with predictable results. As someone who was stuck at level 31 for three months because neither of the two drops that would have gotten me to 32 would drop, I am very, very pleased to see this change. This should also alleviate the pressure of people who were running 3 toons week in and week out in order to maximize drops to level more quickly.
- Loot drops are now smarter and no longer purely based on RNG. Loot will attempt to vary gear slots and try not to provide duplicate drops. HUGE improvement in the loot system. Any movement away from pure RNG is positive.
- Dinklebot is OUT. This is also (hopefully) a huge improvement in the game experience (I reserve judgement until the expansion releases). Dinklege, while generally a fine actor, provided simply terrible VO for this game, and has been a black eye in the voice acting of Destiny since alpha. Let's hope the dialogue has also been re-written to be more sensical this time around as well (because, as many here have mentioned, the problem isn't purely Peter's fault. Direction and writing need to shoulder much of the blame here).
- I heard there's a plot this time, and it actually relates to our character's previous actions in some way. Seriously, this is the *first* time in all of Destiny that something we did earlier (earlier, we killed Crota, apropos of nothing, but hey - we did it) resulted in a new challenge later (Crota's dad is coming to kill us). Cause and effect is a new thing to Destiny, and while I'm still flabbergasted that it wasn't a thing in the original "plot" of the game, I'm really glad the writers are taking advantage of it here.
- Factions being faction-y? Rumors so far but sounds promising.
- Questification of everything. I'd really like to see more in-dept explanation of what this means, but the little I've heard makes it sound like bounties and missions are being fleshed out more (if only in text form in your menus) to make them more interesting.

All of these are improvements that make me think I may buy TTK once it's out. I stand by my never pre-ordering anything ever again stance, but I - for one - am heartened to see that Bungie is finding it's way back to the light. The goal should always be to make a game FUN, not to make it addictive.

EDIT: My remaining wish list for TTK:

- Fixes to how lag is handled in PvP such that lag-switching and other lag-related incidents no longer provide advantages to the laggers (something as simple as soaking 2 golden gun shots while lagging is something I consider a major issue, especially given how competitive PvP, especially Trials, is). The current state of PvP netcode is wholly disappointing, as is the anemic pace of lag-switch bans (one round of bans in nearly a year of the game).
- Dramatically more frequent weapon balances. Once every 6 months is not okay. There should be weekly weapon tweaks (small, incremental tweaks) in any outlying weapons such that players understand and accept that all guns will eventually move towards a nominal line of functionality. These tweaks should be mentioned in the game (latest patch notes or something) as well as on the forums.
- Integrate the grimoire into the game. For the love of god.
- Skippable cutscenes. Again, for the love of god.

If all of these things happened, I would almost certainly buy the expansion (I'd say, 99% likely).