Criticisms 2: Arc Boogaloo [3] (Destiny)

by Harmanimus , Wednesday, January 03, 2018, 16:16 (2365 days ago) @ Harmanimus

Ornaments and Rewards
[3.1a] I will put this out front. Ornaments are underutilized. Additionally, too many of them are behind a pay wall. And on this site I'm probably one of the folks with the least issues with Eververse and Microtransactions in general. However, when you take what should be one of the items easiest to make an activity draw and put it in EV it feels a little awkward. If cosmetic change is the desired end game, why is most of it in EV?

[3.1b] As it stands, there are something like 8 armor sets with ornaments. 9 Exotic armor pieces. All exotic weapons have 1-2. The exotic ornaments could have been questline/activity-based rewards for the exotics as you got them. Include alternate and flashy Ornaments in EV for events or with the change of seasons, but that is a lot of rewards tied up in EV. I understand monetization of content and that games are a business. I don't think spreading out ornaments would be substantially detrimental.

[3.1c] Not gonna lie, I am fine with transmat mods and shaders in EV. I am fine with EV specific armor sets and that most ships/sparrows/shells are within EV, now more that there are non-EV options starting to be present in loot tables, though that is just a first step and needs to be taken farther. Sparrows and Ghost shells are still a somewhat sore point, but I've already gone on farther than I wanted on EV.

[3.2a] Obviously, there is a disconnect with some players about Cosmetic Rewards vs. Gameplay Rewards. I am happy that the overall push is still for Cosmetic Rewards at the high end for most activities. But there are still missed opportunities. Specifically in Armor Ornaments and Strike Specific Loot. On the latter we need a way to select specific strikes, or items like Skeleton Keys to allow us to be engaged in our reward process. Tie activities in that specific Strike to the Strike Specific Gear to grant Ornaments.

[3.2b] But back to ornaments for a moment. If you allow the Seasonal Secondary Loot (the stuff that shows up just in Engrams, cannot be currently purchased from Vendors) then we have 6 more armor sets which would greatly benefit from having ornaments. Ikora's Meditations (see, 2.2a) could now be your method for getting ornaments on her gear. This could help keep the old content from being left behind. To the same goal (see, 2.2b) destinations should have Ornaments, specifically tied to their Flashpoint Activities. These can tie into Heroic Adventures, Lost Sectors, and the FP Bosses who are only their on Flashpoint weeks. Currently FPs are just another powerful engram.

[3.3a] I do not think that Tokens-as-Reward is enough to really engage players with the game. At this point I have so many tokens because there is no other gear I care to get from Destinations that I use them to get Legendary Shards. It is not super encouraging, especially when systems exist within the game that would allow me to engage with the play space in a different fashion than I am currently motivated to. EV does a similar thing, compared to the weekly rewards that were for set activities at the end of D1. Even if that rotates week-to-week, it would be nice to see some EV-related Milestone activities, and I think that would help with players feeling their time is better valued.

[3.3b] And a returning point to MW rewards (see, 1.2a) as the context of Goal-Oriented v. Random Reward is important. Skeleton Keys were Random Drops, but had a Goal-Oriented method to acquire at least a small number on a reliable basis. MW Cores/Drops, Bright Engrams, Strike Specific Loot, and Ornaments would all greatly benefit from Goal-Oriented rewards. We are now able to acquire all Vendor armor sets and weapons (on a rotational basis) with Goal-Oriented acquisition. I also think more could be done with auras, but that is already getting long in the teeth and I am not finished.