What about stuff locked behind hard mode Raids? (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, June 19, 2017, 18:25 (2804 days ago) @ DEEP_NNN

I want and sometimes need, an alternative method to getting those special equipment (more powerful) locked behind HM Raids. I see little benefit to the 'already highly skilled' to get special equipment. Some may replay the Raids but making it easier for them makes no sense. If the Raids are good enough for replay, that's the only incentive required.

Claude just provided an excellent example of why it is sometimes a good thing for activities to be made easier over time.

Speaking for myself, I love the feeling of grinding against what feels like an impossible challenge, getting slightly better with each attempt, and then eventually beating it... once or twice. But I don't necessarily want it to be such an uber-hardcore slog every single time I want to run VoG with friends. In the long term, raids have become the primary social activity within Destiny for me and my friends. The rest of the game is just too easy, too mindless. Raids getting a little easier over time hits the perfect sweet spot for an activity that is still exciting and challenging, but not too sweaty. (Perhaps some of this could be alleviated if the rest of Destiny's content was as fun and replayable as the raids, but I'm basing my thoughts on what we actually have to work with).

There's also the Sherpa dynamic. If players who beat the toughest activities get gear that helps make those activities a tiny bit easier, that only helps them go back in and sherpa other players through. Again, we're talking about co-op experiences here.

Bungie should have created alternative (perhaps more grindy) methods to get those same special equipment. That incentivises the lesser capable players to keep playing with the ultimate goal of doing Raids.

As I already said, you don't need to be highly skilled to beat a raid. You just need practice, and maybe some friends to help carry you through. As far as more grindy methods to acquire top-level gear, IMHO that is the absolute worst thing that could happen to a game like Destiny. The game is already too grindy as it is. Within the context of a loot-based game, I'm a big fan of "you beat this activity, you get x reward".

Now I do think Bungie has screwed up the nature of their end-game loot many times since Destiny launched. I hated the King's Fall situation, where playing the rest of the game could get you leveled high enough to start the raid, but not finish it, and finishing the raid required grinding the first half of the raid over and over until you got the right drops. That was terrible.

In an ideal world, playing the rest of the game (story missions, strikes, quests) would lead the player right up to the raid, at an appropriate level to start and finish the entire activity (TTK is the closest we've gotten to that, but the raid itself totally screwed things up). Completing the raid would get you cool unique gear, perhaps specialized towards the raid itself, but not higher level than gear that is available elsewhere. Very much like the system we have right now, actually.

Bungie already recognizes that only 50% of the community finishing Raids is a horrible number. I hope they make better choices for D2.

I'm not sure I buy the "50% completion is a horrible number" argument. Most single-player games have lower completion rates than that. Most games sit somewhere between 20%-40% depending on length, last I heard. So if 50% of the Destiny community have beaten a raid, in spite of all the barriers Bungie put in their way (level-up grinds, lack of matchmaking, length of the activity), I'd say that's pretty darn spectacular.

It's just a philosophical thing, but I have absolutely no problem with Bungie including end game activities specifically for the more hardcore players... as long as they aren't leaving everyone else without stuff to do. Requiring the player to make specific commitments is not something that should be shied away from at all times.

I have no confidence in their new LFG built in system. Seems like they were just too lazy to figure something better out. Like hire Cody. ;)

I think Guided Games will work out great, for players who are willing to put just that tiny bit of effort into it. If a player can't be bothered to scroll through a list of groups and decide who to join, is that really someone you'd want to attempt a raid with?