Better hooks (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, December 05, 2016, 16:40 (3002 days ago) @ Kermit

Makes the game feel less like a to-do list. Just play, have fun, you might get something cool.

I think I'd have an easier time feeling this way if the missions and strikes were the real draw to the game for me. But the part that makes Destiny replayable to me, aside from the few activities I love, are the guns themselves. That's why keeping them trapped behind RNG barriers can be so frustrating for me.

Jason Jones talked ages ago about the idea of having players replay stuff over and over, like many of us did with Halo, except we'd be getting cool little rewards along the way. I really like that concept. But for me, that's not how Destiny has panned out. I would never want to replay 95% of the content in the game, except that the cool toys I want to play with (guns and armor) require that I replay specific stuff, sometimes for months before I get to experience the content I want to experience.

I should specify that I absolutely do not fall into the "gotta collect it all" trap that some people fall into. I don't care about having everything. I just wish I had the ability to experience using the gear that excites me BEFORE I've completely burned myself out on the strikes/raids/whatever. More often then not it takes so long to get the cool gear to drop that I'm sick of playing large chunks of the game by the time I finally get the weapon I was hoping for.

What I'm hearing is that Destiny needs better hooks other than loot if we want the loot to be considered bonuses. Two suggestions: better narrative (having an emotional stake in or an understanding of what happens greatly increases the replayability of levels, at least for me), and better AI (in Halo enemies had behaviors you could relate to--in Destiny I often feel like I'm in a shooting gallery).

Those are both excellent suggestions. I would add to that list the possibility of having more diverse activities throughout the missions and strikes. More "setpiece" moments that stand out from the rest of the game in their own unique, memorable ways. The raids achieve this.
I've said it before, but I firmly believe that the reason some fans still complain about "lack of content" is because too much of the content in Destiny feels exactly the same. Destiny has a boatload of content at this point... but a great deal of it just blurs together because so much of it is very "1 note".

Another thing that I believe would make life in Destiny more pleasant is if drop rates were just higher across the board. I know some people enjoy the purely random element of RNG-based loot rewards. And I do see the fun side of it. It was a thrilling moment when I got my first Mythoclast. The sour side was getting my 7th, 8th, and 9th Mythoclasts with Speedracer in the same party, watching him get progressively more frustrated because he wanted one more than anything else in the game and it just. wouldn't. drop. for. him. Any joy or excitement I experienced from random loot drops over the past 2 years has been overshadowed by my own frustration, or the frustration of the people I play with.

Some people would say "if drop rates are too high, then we'd have no reason to keep playing". To which I say "good". If you're not having fun, and the only reason you're still playing is to get more gear, then something is wrong. I'd rather get the cool toys quickly, and then spend all my time having fun with them rather than spend all my time trying to earn the cool toys and be burned out by the time I get them.