Space magic was the most disapointing part of the demo

by electricpirate , Monday, June 17, 2013, 10:40 (4188 days ago)

As cool as #SPACEMAGIC could be, what was shown in the demo struck me as... lacking. Here's a rundown of what we saw.

1. Some kind of Damage over Time solar flare magic (Warlock)
2. Some kind of explosive magic with a large impulse (Warlock)
3. Some kind of direct damage magic that would stay in place for other people to damage (Hunter)
4. A gun buff which seemed to make the next two - three shots extra explody (Hunter)
5. A ground pound ability that created damage in a local area (Titan)

Each ability had a separate cooldown.

Okay, so out of the 5 abilities shown, 3 of them act just like Grenades from Halo, with some minor twists. 1 other (the Titans pound) is like a grenade that explodes at your feet. The only twist was the gun buff used by the hunter, but even that was basically a boost to damage. Direct damage dealing abilities seem like the wrong way to go. Why do you need to shoot magic to damage enemies when we already have dozens (hundreds?) of neat guns that do just that?

What do these abilities add to the game vs. grenades? As far as we've seen, not all that much. Due to the transition from a resource to manage in combat to a cooldown, it actually looks less interesting than a grenade to me. If Bungie wants to reclaim something interesting, they need to make spacemagic do things that change the way you play.

So what are the options?

While a couple of direct damage abilities make sense, I'd like to see bungie roll with more variety. The way I see it, abilities should fall into one of a few groups
1) co-op focussed abilities (Heal, restore ammo, charge friends cooldown)
2) Movement/ abilities to avoid damage (Teleport, speed boosts, portable cover, distraction abilities)
3) Restrict enemy movement, Lay traps, debuff, open weakpoints,
4) Damage that can combo (Think biotic explosions in ME, or doing a fire-crow combo in)

So while I'm sure Bungie has more cool stuff in store, seeing all the focus on the least interesting type of abilities was disheartening.