Thanks! Follow up questions: (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, March 31, 2016, 15:31 (3253 days ago) @ Funkmon

Imagine a version of Destiny that existed without any form of rank or light levels. Our guardians could still unlock new abilities in our skill trees as we play. We could still acquire new, better gear that is more powerful or has unique perks or abilities. We could still "become more than we were" over the course of the game without having a 3 digit number assigned to all of our stuff.

This sounds awful. Needs numbers so we can analyze the stats. It's a loot game where we keep an inventory. It's not Halo or Doom. There are thousands of guns and they need to be comparable.

Would it not still be possible to compare weapons on a granular level without having a "318" next to it? What I mean is, there are still plenty of ways to make a gun different from the others or more powerful than others without having a global light level attached to it. A 320 Black Spindle does more damage than a 320 Thousand Yard Stare, for example, because it has a higher impact rating.

This leads me to ask myself:

"what does the rank and light level system really add to Destiny?"

Difficulty choice in an online only game.

I'm not sure I agree with this one, because of the way Destiny handles power leveling. If I jump into Old Russia, I am no more effective against level 2 enemies now than I was back when I was level 8. On the flip side, levels do give them a way to "gate" certain areas, but they could still do that without a level 1-40 system or a light level system. We could still acquire guns that do more damage and armor that provides more health over the course of the game, without tying any kind of 1-40 or light level system to it.