I've been playing a fair bit of Destiny the last few weeks, which translates to doing a fair bit of thinking about Destiny, which translates to forming opinions about Destiny. I'm at a point where I feel a need to deposit them somewhere, and this is as good a place as any.

Let's start with a super unpopular opinion. I finally wrapped up the Ace of Spades quest two nights ago. Late. Stupid late. Should've been in bed for work two hours ago late. I signed in last night, loaded up an adventure to put it through it's paces and... It's garbage. Ace of Spades is trash. It looks good on paper, I was psyched to get my hands on it, but it does not live up to any expectations. It's slow to fire, slow to reload (even with a friggin buff), takes forever to proc arguably it's flashiest perk, and doesn't punch hard enough. If it wasn't the highest light Kinetic I had, I'd have already vaulted it. I gave it a fair shake and went back to absolutely wrecking with Crimson. You heard me. Crimson is better than Ace of Spades, which just feels wrong, but that's the world I live in. It fires faster, it hits harder, it stays on target better, it reloads faster, and it's flashiest perk is more useful than blowing things up, which is sad. To be clear, I'm talking about the fact it reloads itself. Not the health buff. That's just a nice bonus. Dudes, even Sunshot is better. Seriously. The hell? Take Sunshot and square it, and that's more or less what I was expecting out of Ace.

Speaking of Energy weapons...

Badlander is the best shotgun in the game. It's Immobius crossed with Party Crasher. Keep your Ikelos Shotgun. You know, the one I'll never get because RNG and keys that take forever to get and farming that sucks. But that's fine. Because I have Badlander, and it's better.

Also, Misfit. Misfit is a beast. Misfit plays into my deep-seated desire to fire all of the bullets at that one thing that just will not die, and then reload so fast it doesn't physically make any sense so I can continue to fire all of the bullets. If I could have Misfit and Badlander at the same time, I would be a very happy hammer throwing flaming wrecking ball.

Moving on, and in no real order...

They should've called the expansion, "Loading..." because I sure as hell see and am held up by that FAR more than I used to be. Destiny 2: Loading. Half of my experience with the game is loading. Turn on Xbox, launch game, walk away, mix a drink, maybe return and sign in, wait some more, travel to destination, wait some more, run 600 feet around a corner, stuck loading. Even if, you know, I stood around for several minutes to perhaps give the game time to precache or preload or whatever it does to the areas immediately around or close by, nah. 50/50 chance you're gonna load, son. You know how annoying this is in Strikes? Hey, I was first out of the area, lead the charge to the next encounter, and then managed to miss the entire first half of it because I GOT STUCK LOADING. Oh and god forbid I need or want to check my inventory. It was slow before. It's a slug inching through salt now. Some nights are ok... I'll only get truly irritated with it's inability to keep up once or twice. Others are awful and I consider playing something else.

Hey, let's talk about how awful the Director is now! I sure do like having a hundred things demanding my attention with no idea what they are until I dive down into the locations! This was a bad idea. I liked being able to pop the trigger, get a briefing, quickly keep track of progress, see what was next, and 'dismiss' notifications. I got no interest in all that Crucible stuff. Be nice to not have it begging for attention. But really, it's a pain to keep up with now, it's a poor redesign, and I hate to say that most of the time, I feel like there's so much flashing at me begging for attention that I want to give none of it attention. Also, stuff is still splintered off in the Pursuits tab, so the Director continues to not be a one-stop shop.

I continue to have issues with the economy, and have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Apparently my play style is either not profitable, or what time I have to sink into the game isn't valued enough. Legendary shards? What Legendary shards? Masterwork cores? What Masterwork cores? And no, I haven't done that much infusion. I've found two cores in the wild since the expansion dropped. Two. I've bought the rest piecemeal one or two at a time, and use them only when I HAVE to bring something up to par. So, 10+ light levels. And shards? I was broke on shards before and never spent them aggressively, and I'm broke on shards now and don't spend them aggressively. Meanwhile I have a friend that claims he's sitting on 3k+ and basically doesn't do much more than me. I don't even. World mats are easier to deal with, but the added micromanagement introduced with needing to decide if I should bank them for an engram, or save them for an infusion because god only knows what this item will want, is not welcomed.

TLDR;

The game is too grindy and I hate it. Thanks Bungie, you took a nice thing and ruined it for people with actual lives and commitments.

Oh, and the Dreaming City... Yeah. Made it there, haven't done anything there yet, get the impression I won't be able to do much there, because everything will insta kill me and I can't hurt it. So that's fun. Here's a new area, have fun dying and not doing anything in it until you grind out 50 more light levels! Thanks for that. I'm prolly wrong here. I hope I am. Like I said, I haven't looked or done a damn thing since I helped Petra talk to the Queen. This is just the vibe I get from everyone else I play with. Lowly 504 me though isn't super pumped to find out, because if it does require that much of a bump to my light, it's gonna be another few months before I have anything of substance to do.

Positive stuff, because I'm being super negative and don't mean to be.

The story was surprisingly good, it's kind of a revenge story in the same vein as John Wick, so what's not to like? Aside from my Guardian finally speaking up and proving she isn't mute, only to say like, five words total. And Petra totally smoked Uldren.

The Scorn are pretty fun. Certainly more fun than the Taken, especially in a horde.

The Prison of Elders strike. Best strike ever? Or BEST strike ever? I haven't had that much fun in a strike since, ironically, THE CELL FROM THE PRISON OF ELDERS strike in D1. More like this plzkthx. It took us five attempts to beat the Warden first time, because we were so concentrated on melting him we were completely oblivious to his solar/nuclear/whatever attack that'll damn near insta kill you if you don't have cover. Bonus mechanic touch I love: If he follows after you, the shadows of course move, and as long as you stay with it, you're safe. It's a simple, logical thing that makes me really happy. We keep wanting to drag out that fight and see just how much he throws at you, and keep getting so caught up in it we kill him and move on.

Seriously. That strike though.

The Tangled Shore is pretty slick. I have a lot of questions about the hows and whys of cabling a crap ton of asteroids together and giving them an apparent atmosphere, but maybe it's in a lore card somewhere that I have yet to bother reading.

On that note, putting the damn lore in the friggin game. THANK YOU. I haven't read but maybe a fraction of it, but I WILL once I've collected it all.

New supers. Dude. I thought I was Thor before. Then I got a hammer I can fling any time I want, is super effective, and is prime ammunition for stupid awesome comedy. The jokes that are made when I lose my hammer are worth the price of admission alone. I love it's an instant regen if I pick it up after a throw. I WISH I could perform a recall and have it fly back to me for a half regen, or a third, or whatever. It's all good though. And the giant flaming maul... Dude... I feel like a space age Harley-Quinn when I twirl around like a ballerina from the depths of Hell. Like, I'm legit salty with the way they're handling acquiring the other two. It's pretty much opaque if all you pay attention to is the game. But I damn near don't care because THIS HAMMER THO.

I had my doubts about the new weapon system. Still do. It feels hacked together and forced into an existing system. Square peg, round hole. I mean, it is, so it isn't surprising. But I'm loving the newfound freedom. And it isn't even that dramatic for me. My loadout hasn't change that much at all. I just get to go shotgun happy like I used to, or swap for a fusion rifle if I'm feeling something with a bit more zap.

TLDR part deux;

Forsaken has introduced a fair bit of stuff I do not like, or exacerbated problems I already had. It also, however, came with a bunch of stuff that's super awesome, and does a fine job balancing out the package. It got a few of my friends playing again who previously walked away because it wasn't as fun as D1. That's excellent. I'm enjoying myself despite my beefs.

I'm done performing a stream of consciousness dump now. Thanks.

I lied. I just remembered I forgot to have a bitch about Clans.

We're three seasons in? Four? The Clan system feels useless. My biggest grief with it? The milestones.

Why am I, in my humble little clan of friends with just under 10 members, subjected to the same qualifications for completing a milestone as DBO, a Clan with probably 5-10 times as many members? I have never seen any return from my Clan, and never will, and I think it's disingenuous for Bungie to claim that anyone can make a Clan and get rewards out of it. This isn't even a hard problem to fix. Just tier the Clan system and implement a restriction on bailing and rejoining Clans. The more people in your Clan, the harder those milestones should be to hit.

I'm not arguing that I'm entitled to, or should have access to, all of the things. I made my peace with that long ago. I will never have or do all of the things in Destiny. That's fine. A large portion of it I can just comfortably ignore. The Clan system, however, was a "Big Deal". It's Hawthorne's only purpose in the Tower. It's a major part of the game you're walked through and pushed towards, and I get no benefit out of it. It's a dead-end system for me, which makes it a failure on their behalf.

Now I'm done.

Probably.

I haven't posted anything of substance in forever. I guess my brain is making up for lost time.

Let's start with a super unpopular opinion. I finally wrapped up the Ace of Spades quest two nights ago. Late. Stupid late. Should've been in bed for work two hours ago late. I signed in last night, loaded up an adventure to put it through it's paces and... It's garbage. Ace of Spades is trash. It looks good on paper, I was psyched to get my hands on it, but it does not live up to any expectations.

I'll likely never have one, as that grind is not my idea of fun, but you may be doing something wrong, as people with Ace tend to beat me pretty consistently in 1v1s. I figure it's something like D1's Jade Rabbit, where it's not flashy or "exotic" in a traditional sense, but in the right hands packs a nasty/unfair advantage. Most of the people who got it early tend to be the upper-tier Crucible players, though, so the scale of scary has been diminishing over time.

Badlander is the best shotgun in the game. It's Immobius crossed with Party Crasher. Keep your Ikelos Shotgun. You know, the one I'll never get because RNG and keys that take forever to get and farming that sucks. But that's fine. Because I have Badlander, and it's better.

If you think so. I do recommend farming for the Ikelos, though. RNG definitely feels nicer than before, and you don't need any key or anything (None of my characters on Xbox have completed Warmind's campaign, and I already have four shotguns, three of them dropping in a row). Just drops on Boss kills, which everyone is over-leveled for now.

Also, Misfit. Misfit is a beast.

Can confirm that Misfit is great. All of the Tangled shore weapons are fantastic with the right rolls, and there seem to be more good rolls than bad.

They should've called the expansion, "Loading..." because I sure as hell see and am held up by that FAR more than I used to be. Destiny 2: Loading. Half of my experience with the game is loading. Turn on Xbox, launch game, walk away, mix a drink, maybe return and sign in, wait some more, travel to destination, wait some more, run 600 feet around a corner, stuck loading. Even if, you know, I stood around for several minutes to perhaps give the game time to precache or preload or whatever it does to the areas immediately around or close by, nah. 50/50 chance you're gonna load, son. You know how annoying this is in Strikes? Hey, I was first out of the area, lead the charge to the next encounter, and then managed to miss the entire first half of it because I GOT STUCK LOADING. Oh and god forbid I need or want to check my inventory. It was slow before. It's a slug inching through salt now. Some nights are ok... I'll only get truly irritated with it's inability to keep up once or twice. Others are awful and I consider playing something else.

Man, I'm right there with you. When I play the game on Xbox, I've been committing to at least a five minute wait before I can even pick my character sometimes (I think it was Robot that I was going to join the other night, and they were almost done with a match by the time I made it to Orbit, and they jumped into one after I booted up Destiny.
It's nowhere near as bad on PS4, but still, the loading screens are easily twice as long as they were before. Wonder why Bungie can't seem to get it right.

Hey, let's talk about how awful the Director is now!

I agree that the director needs a serious overhaul. I especially hate that the Traveler is no longer centered, so you have to wait longer before you can choose your destination. And the fact that every Director screen is subject to loading, and requires you to travel around with the cursor all around the screen? Terrible. The Director's foundation is great, but what they've built on it is a Winchester House mess.

The game is too grindy and I hate it. Thanks Bungie, you took a nice thing and ruined it for people with actual lives and commitments.

I understand why they went back to a more "streamlined" approach with world mats, but items require far too many for infusion, and if you don't have Forsaken, there's no other way to acquire them besides grinding Patrol on every destination. Yay. What an engaging experience. In fact, if you think grinding is terrible in Forsaken, I can guarantee that all around, it is way, way worse if you didn't pony up the $40 for the expansion. Bungie literally made the game harder in every way to punish you for not having the expansion:
-Weapon and armor mods? Only if you happen across Y2 gear that has one built in.
-Masterwork Cores? Forget it. They're all but impossible to acquire now outside of raids, so forget infusing or Masterworking gear.
-Difficulty? The highest light that you can be is now 380, and endgame difficulty has been bumped up. Whisper, for example, is 390 now. And with the latest change, being underleveled hurts. And God help you if you go into Iron Banner. Even Speedracer was getting more kills than I was.
-Weeklies? You're stuck in the Legacy playlists, which don't really reward you with anything worthwhile (and fewer Tokens). Y2 gear is hard to get, and without Masterwork cores, you can forget taking it with you into Endgame content.

Oh, and the Dreaming City... Yeah. Made it there, haven't done anything there yet, get the impression I won't be able to do much there, because everything will insta kill me and I can't hurt it. So that's fun.

Yeah, Sammy was having a great time with Forsaken, and we started doing stuff in the DC, but then she got two-shot, and then one-shot, and nothing we did there was helping us progress. So she got bummed out and bounced. It's really nice that they added a proper endgame area, and that cool stuff is happening for no-lifers at a steady pace, but for those who aren't up for an extensive grind. there needs to be more on the other locations (and not just on the Shore). I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised? Why are there no expansions to the existing content? Is Mercury just going to sit there, Sparrowless and dead despite the "infinite" possibilities?
How is Bungie taking care of the playerbase that doesn't have the latest expansion, or who has an actual life?

The story was surprisingly good, it's kind of a revenge story in the same vein as John Wick, so what's not to like? Aside from my Guardian finally speaking up and proving she isn't mute, only to say like, five words total. And Petra totally smoked Uldren.

I hate that I was right about our Guardian's dialogue being just a one-off. And that there was no personal choice put into Uldren's fate... but yeah, that aside, it was a decent campaign. Not great (and the bosses were not given their full potential), but serviceable, and fun. Tons and tons of wasted potential due to a lack of ambition, though, but at least the Lore is filling that hole.

The Scorn are pretty fun. Certainly more fun than the Taken, especially in a horde.

They can be. I wish they were a bit scarrier to fight, though. Outside of specific abilities and annoyances, they're pretty bland in the grand scheme of things. We need flying enemies! We need enemies that latch onto walls! We need mimics, and traps, and allies, and grabbers, and...

The Prison of Elders strike. Best strike ever? Or BEST strike ever? I haven't had that much fun in a strike since, ironically, THE CELL FROM THE PRISON OF ELDERS strike in D1. More like this plzkthx. It took us five attempts to beat the Warden first time, because we were so concentrated on melting him we were completely oblivious to his solar/nuclear/whatever attack that'll damn near insta kill you if you don't have cover. Bonus mechanic touch I love: If he follows after you, the shadows of course move, and as long as you stay with it, you're safe. It's a simple, logical thing that makes me really happy. We keep wanting to drag out that fight and see just how much he throws at you, and keep getting so caught up in it we kill him and move on.

I think it falls somewhere between best strike ever and BEST strike ever.

New supers. Dude. I thought I was Thor before.

Don't have Thor hammer, but... I never thought I'd see the day, but I prefer to play as a Titan in Crucible more than Warlock now(!). It's just pure, unadulterated mindless fun. I've always loved that unlike the other classes, playing as a Warlock actually requires skill. So there's always been a sense of satisfaction that comes with floofing over a sea of my dead enemies... But Ground-pounding on hapless saps for days? infinite shoulder charges? Supermaning across the map at a panicking group? This!?

https://xboxdvr.com/gamer/kornymunky/video/61419219

Titans too much fun, Bungie plz don't nerf.

We're three seasons in? Four? The Clan system feels useless. My biggest grief with it? The milestones.

Why am I, in my humble little clan of friends with just under 10 members, subjected to the same qualifications for completing a milestone as DBO, a Clan with probably 5-10 times as many members? I have never seen any return from my Clan, and never will, and I think it's disingenuous for Bungie to claim that anyone can make a Clan and get rewards out of it. This isn't even a hard problem to fix. Just tier the Clan system and implement a restriction on bailing and rejoining Clans. The more people in your Clan, the harder those milestones should be to hit.

100% Agree. There is no good reason for why Clans aren't tiered. Especially now that Bungie has stated that leveling up your clan will be more meaningful. They did the exact opposite, by making clan XP bounty-based, thereby decreasing the rate at which you can level up your clan. I can't remember the last time that I've heard Hawthorne's stupid speech, because I did quit. Grinding specific bounties all week is not fun. Why did they take away the game rewarding you for playing what you want to play?

I'm not arguing that I'm entitled to, or should have access to, all of the things. I made my peace with that long ago. I will never have or do all of the things in Destiny. That's fine. A large portion of it I can just comfortably ignore. The Clan system, however, was a "Big Deal". It's Hawthorne's only purpose in the Tower. It's a major part of the game you're walked through and pushed towards, and I get no benefit out of it. It's a dead-end system for me, which makes it a failure on their behalf.

Right. Bungie said that Clans would be better. Guided Games was supposed to encourage Clan activity, and clan rewards were supposed to be neat. Instead, they abandoned GG, and the whiny neckbeards who didn't want to share their toys with their clan got Trials engrams removed.
So... what is there to do with our clans now?
Why do we not have something to work for or build together?

Why can't we work together as a clan to use our resources to build a giant memorial to strippers that we then have our community managers explore during an official stream? ... Oh. Guess I just answered my own question there...

I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised?

I'd call The Broken Throne quest a Whisper-tier event. It has all makings of the Whisper quest. It was unexpected. It is not always available. It takes place in a surprisingly large and varied play space. It has several combat and traversal challenges. It has that feeling of being almost impossible that will melt away to being totally doable in time. And, it ultimately rewards you with an Exotic weapon.

I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised?

I'd call The Broken Throne quest a Whisper-tier event. It has all makings of the Whisper quest. It was unexpected. It is not always available. It takes place in a surprisingly large and varied play space. It has several combat and traversal challenges. It has that feeling of being almost impossible that will melt away to being totally doable in time. And, it ultimately rewards you with an Exotic weapon.

Honestly, even the Ascendant Challenges are a good step in that direction. They're not Whisper-tier exactly, but they're also not just adventures.

Also it's been three weeks. I'd love them to give us some time with the Dreaming City. Lots of folks are just now really getting to appropriate level to really start doing the stuff in that destination, and we're now in the second cycle, giving those folks a chance to see the stuff they missed. If there is a Whisper style thing they haven't unleashed yet, I'm totally cool with letting us sit with the stuff we already have for another month or six weeks or something.

I just felt the need to say it. I love hand cannons, and Ace of Spades in the first one to make me not miss Fatebringer quite so much. Memento Mori is a great perk. Firefly is just a bonus, really.

I think it falls somewhere between best strike ever and BEST strike ever.

This reminds me. I saw a milestone for surviving the warden's burn attack for ten seconds. I stepped into the shade and survived ten seconds… no milestone. I guess you have to be burning the whole time. So I try that, but I die before ten seconds without being shot by another enemy.

Is this one of those things you can only do with 10 resilience or something?

I think it falls somewhere between best strike ever and BEST strike ever.

This reminds me. I saw a milestone for surviving the warden's burn attack for ten seconds. I stepped into the shade and survived ten seconds… no milestone. I guess you have to be burning the whole time. So I try that, but I die before ten seconds without being shot by another enemy.

Is this one of those things you can only do with 10 resilience or something?

The new Titan super with the wall blocks it, and I suspect that the Warlock Well of Radiance might let you survive. I don't get the impression that you actually have to be burning, just that you can't be hiding in the shade.

I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised?

I'd call The Broken Throne quest a Whisper-tier event. It has all makings of the Whisper quest. It was unexpected. It is not always available. It takes place in a surprisingly large and varied play space. It has several combat and traversal challenges. It has that feeling of being almost impossible that will melt away to being totally doable in time. And, it ultimately rewards you with an Exotic weapon.

The issue that I have with that one is that it’s only available to people who have Forsaken, so it feels like prepackaged content, which I guess should be fine, but I was hoping for more universal events.

Firefly, check.
Outlaw, check.
13 shots, check.

(I never ran Explosive Rounds on Fatebringer)

I mean, it’s pretty much Fatebringer with the added bonus of a theoretically infinite Kill Clip. I’d hope it would scratch that itch.

takes forever to proc arguably it's flashiest perk, and doesn't punch hard enough.

I'm confused here. In PvE it can take only 1 shot. Shoot any low level enemy in the head and then reload. Now you have 6 high powered shots. After the 6th, reload. Get 6 more. Repeat. On top of that, firefly is great against tight packed groups. I can clear a crowd of those annoying taken psions in 2 shots.

In PvP, you've got always on radar, and after your 1st kill you've got the high powered rounds. It is a little more tricky if you miss some shots, but it's a good high risk high reward mechanic.

And you get a gun flip on reload. It's worth it just for that.

Badlander is the best shotgun in the game. It's Immobius crossed with Party Crasher. Keep your Ikelos Shotgun. You know, the one I'll never get because RNG and keys that take forever to get and farming that sucks. But that's fine. Because I have Badlander, and it's better.

If you think so. I do recommend farming for the Ikelos, though. RNG definitely feels nicer than before, and you don't need any key or anything (None of my characters on Xbox have completed Warmind's campaign, and I already have four shotguns, three of them dropping in a row). Just drops on Boss kills, which everyone is over-leveled for now.

I think a lot of players are confused about the stuff from the last boss in EP, not knowing that the weapons just drop from the boss, and it's the armor that comes out of the chest. TBH the chest is pretty pointless now unless you're wanting to complete the armor set for some reason, since that armor doesn't have any perks.

The shotgun itself is pretty legit, and I do recommend grabbing it. In general use it's not a lot different from other full-auto shotguns like badlander, but the trench barrel perk does give it a lot of potential for melting large enemies. Personally, I try to have one of each damage type for each weapon class. So, I've got Ikelos SG for solar, a Badlander for arc, and a Basilisk for void (I still think full-auto plus auto-loading holster is a killer perk combo). Purely by coincidence, they're all full-auto with 8 round mags.

Yup, gotta think strategically for that one. It's not just "stand there for 10 seconds using only your own hitpoints." You can be doing any number of things to heal yourself or not take damage, so long as you are still exposed. I got it while using the sentinel super and guarding. I'd wager a warlock using devour could manage it too, provided there are enough adds to kill. Come to think of it, I wonder if guarding with a sword would block enough damage, too. I always forget that they can do that.

I lied. I just remembered I forgot to have a bitch about Clans.

We're three seasons in? Four? The Clan system feels useless. My biggest grief with it? The milestones.

Why am I, in my humble little clan of friends with just under 10 members, subjected to the same qualifications for completing a milestone as DBO, a Clan with probably 5-10 times as many members? I have never seen any return from my Clan, and never will, and I think it's disingenuous for Bungie to claim that anyone can make a Clan and get rewards out of it. This isn't even a hard problem to fix. Just tier the Clan system and implement a restriction on bailing and rejoining Clans. The more people in your Clan, the harder those milestones should be to hit.

I'm not arguing that I'm entitled to, or should have access to, all of the things. I made my peace with that long ago. I will never have or do all of the things in Destiny. That's fine. A large portion of it I can just comfortably ignore. The Clan system, however, was a "Big Deal". It's Hawthorne's only purpose in the Tower. It's a major part of the game you're walked through and pushed towards, and I get no benefit out of it. It's a dead-end system for me, which makes it a failure on their behalf.

Now I'm done.

Probably.

I haven't posted anything of substance in forever. I guess my brain is making up for lost time.

The only real difference that be in a bigger clan gets you is two things, one grinding out the tiered bonus rewards and having enough people to do the major events.

So the tiered bonuses aren't really all the special, at least in my mind cause I've never actually looked at them. What you really care about is when your clan finishes the raid, nightfall, trials... and other things I can't remember. Everyone gets a clan engram for those no matter who finishes it. So it shouldn't matter if you have 100 people or 10 people, what matters more is if your clan is active and playing. Yes, I'm not saying it doesn't help, but they shouldn't be help back anymore than any other clan as long as they have at least 6 members.

Also, Bungie has made it very clear that community makes the game better so it makes sense that the bigger clan the easier and better it is. I'm not trying to say tell you that you are doing it all wrong just that you still get 2/3 of the rewards of a maxed out clan with a small clan and that 2/3 gives you the best items :D

Yup, gotta think strategically for that one. It's not just "stand there for 10 seconds using only your own hitpoints." You can be doing any number of things to heal yourself or not take damage, so long as you are still exposed. I got it while using the sentinel super and guarding. I'd wager a warlock using devour could manage it too, provided there are enough adds to kill. Come to think of it, I wonder if guarding with a sword would block enough damage, too. I always forget that they can do that.

Oh duh. Stand in a warlock rift. I'm an idiot sometimes.

Yup, gotta think strategically for that one. It's not just "stand there for 10 seconds using only your own hitpoints." You can be doing any number of things to heal yourself or not take damage, so long as you are still exposed. I got it while using the sentinel super and guarding. I'd wager a warlock using devour could manage it too, provided there are enough adds to kill. Come to think of it, I wonder if guarding with a sword would block enough damage, too. I always forget that they can do that.

Oh duh. Stand in a warlock rift. I'm an idiot sometimes.

Heh - this is going to have to be one of those things I cheese with teammates. I've played that strike a half-dozen times recently with randos, and the Warden gets burned down LONG before he ever gets a chance to cast his attack for 10 seconds (hell, he doesn't even get it off, much less give us a chance to survive it for 10 secs).

Yup, gotta think strategically for that one. It's not just "stand there for 10 seconds using only your own hitpoints." You can be doing any number of things to heal yourself or not take damage, so long as you are still exposed. I got it while using the sentinel super and guarding. I'd wager a warlock using devour could manage it too, provided there are enough adds to kill. Come to think of it, I wonder if guarding with a sword would block enough damage, too. I always forget that they can do that.

Oh duh. Stand in a warlock rift. I'm an idiot sometimes.

Heh - this is going to have to be one of those things I cheese with teammates. I've played that strike a half-dozen times recently with randos, and the Warden gets burned down LONG before he ever gets a chance to cast his attack for 10 seconds (hell, he doesn't even get it off, much less give us a chance to survive it for 10 secs).

I didn't realize he had an attack, let alone a special one...

Heh - this is going to have to be one of those things I cheese with teammates. I've played that strike a half-dozen times recently with randos, and the Warden gets burned down LONG before he ever gets a chance to cast his attack for 10 seconds (hell, he doesn't even get it off, much less give us a chance to survive it for 10 secs).

Being too good is a burden. Trying to get precision kills in Crucible for ace of spades? Oh no we are doing too well and the game gets mercied… Nooooo I need more kills!

I especially hate that the Traveler is no longer centered, so you have to wait longer before you can choose your destination.

This criticism resonates with me. It was great how it was, with your cursor by default being on the traveler not just on the top layer, but once you drilled down too. Easy peasy to get to the launch screen to go to the tower.

The only real difference that be in a bigger clan gets you is two things, one grinding out the tiered bonus rewards and having enough people to do the major events.

So the tiered bonuses aren't really all the special, at least in my mind cause I've never actually looked at them. What you really care about is when your clan finishes the raid, nightfall, trials... and other things I can't remember. Everyone gets a clan engram for those no matter who finishes it. So it shouldn't matter if you have 100 people or 10 people, what matters more is if your clan is active and playing. Yes, I'm not saying it doesn't help, but they shouldn't be help back anymore than any other clan as long as they have at least 6 members.

Also, Bungie has made it very clear that community makes the game better so it makes sense that the bigger clan the easier and better it is. I'm not trying to say tell you that you are doing it all wrong just that you still get 2/3 of the rewards of a maxed out clan with a small clan and that 2/3 gives you the best items :D

Fair points. For the longest time I haven't even seen that much though, because I was one of maybe two or three people logging any significant time in game. I'm still not likely to see much of it as my group doesn't care for Crucible and never Raids because we literally do not have time and they've become too mechanically demanding. Nightfalls are a possibility now that they aren't on a timer, maybe. Gambit is... We're still trying to figure out if we even like it. Every match I've played has been over just as I'm starting to find a groove, or an obnoxious mess that I wish would die in a dumpster fire. So better than standard Crucible. Sort of.

I think a lot of players are confused about the stuff from the last boss in EP, not knowing that the weapons just drop from the boss, and it's the armor that comes out of the chest. TBH the chest is pretty pointless now unless you're wanting to complete the armor set for some reason, since that armor doesn't have any perks.

I am definitely one of those players. Obtaining the key was an opaque experience for me. I still don't know how to get one without looking it up.

I'm also probably one of the rare breed that hasn't found any armor in Foresaken worth wearing. Ok, that's a small lie. I've seen bits and pieces in a few sets that would make for a banging western themed Titan, but by and large, nada. And perk wise? Just like D1 the perks always feel largely irrelevant to me. Probably because this is a loot based game, and the loot doesn't tell you anything relevant about the stats and perks it carries.

For instance: I have a pair of Scatterhorn Gauntlets with Fastball and Fusion Rifle Scavenger. Just how much of a boost does Fastball add to my grenade throw distance? Just how much bonus ammo am I getting for fusion rifles with that scavenger perk? Even the base stats for Mobility, Recovery, and Resilience feel meaningless.

Diablo and Borderlands do it right. Give me hard numbers, or comparison bars, or something. The vague descriptions are unhelpful. For now I'll settle for, and be happy with, using my Year One armor and infusing it every time there's a significant stat boost.

This is way off course now, but I've always felt like D1 had more meaningful perks that would dramatically change your situational viability than D2. I think I have most of the Exotic Titan armor now. You know what I use exclusively? Lion Rampant. Why? Because it's been the single most useful and utilitarian piece of kit I've acquired. It's never NOT useful, and that's been a blessing and a curse. I miss D1 where if I ran hammer, it was Immolation Fists. If I ran bubble, No Backup Plans, Immobius, and Monte Carlo. I don't feel that connection with D2. Never have.

Now shout at me for playing the game wrong.

The shotgun itself is pretty legit, and I do recommend grabbing it. In general use it's not a lot different from other full-auto shotguns like badlander, but the trench barrel perk does give it a lot of potential for melting large enemies. Personally, I try to have one of each damage type for each weapon class. So, I've got Ikelos SG for solar, a Badlander for arc, and a Basilisk for void (I still think full-auto plus auto-loading holster is a killer perk combo). Purely by coincidence, they're all full-auto with 8 round mags.

Now that I know it just drops from bosses, I'll consider pursing it. These are on a rotation right? We've been doing a lot of EP recently now that we don't get smoked so damn fast. It'll give us a reason to poke at it every week.

I'll probably still use Badlander though. It feels satisfying in all the right ways, and I was never much for punching before I fired.

I especially hate that the Traveler is no longer centered, so you have to wait longer before you can choose your destination.

This criticism resonates with me. It was great how it was, with your cursor by default being on the traveler not just on the top layer, but once you drilled down too. Easy peasy to get to the launch screen to go to the tower.

YES. This was a beautiful piece of UI work, and once you caught wind of it, impossible to not appreciate. Lore wise, everything revolves around the Traveler, and that was represented in the Director simply and discreetly. Placing the cursor hotspots dead center all around by default was icing on the cake and genius. The fact it is no longer a thing is criminal.

Part of me genuinely wonders if it was ever intentional now.

takes forever to proc arguably it's flashiest perk, and doesn't punch hard enough.

I'm confused here. In PvE it can take only 1 shot. Shoot any low level enemy in the head and then reload. Now you have 6 high powered shots. After the 6th, reload. Get 6 more. Repeat. On top of that, firefly is great against tight packed groups. I can clear a crowd of those annoying taken psions in 2 shots.

In PvP, you've got always on radar, and after your 1st kill you've got the high powered rounds. It is a little more tricky if you miss some shots, but it's a good high risk high reward mechanic.

And you get a gun flip on reload. It's worth it just for that.

I'm becoming convinced it's down to playstyles. It felt like I had to be nailing crits constantly to get anything out of it, which meant I had to dial back how quickly I moved through an encounter dramatically. I think as a Titan, I'm too used to being a wrecking ball and bombing through enemies for that to ever feel good, and part of that being possible means I'm usually gunning at center mass, not heads. Conversely, Crimson enables the rapid fire encounter bombing I'm used to, while only requiring I pop a headshot kill every few enemies to have my mag auto loaded.

Either way, the whole thing werids me out. I'm using a Handcannon as my primary. That just ain't right. I'm an Auto Rifle man. Pulse Rifle MAYBE, but only if it's either full auto, or has a killer RPM like Lincoln Green's 540. Scouts are reserved for plinking at things far away, because I can't be bothered to carry a Sniper Rifle. But Handcannons? Never had need of one.

Now that I know it just drops from bosses, I'll consider pursing it. These are on a rotation right? We've been doing a lot of EP recently now that we don't get smoked so damn fast. It'll give us a reason to poke at it every week.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/9gu46t/escalation_protocol_weapon_drop_schedule_updated/

That has a table that's pretty useful.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/9gu46t/escalation_protocol_weapon_drop_schedule_updated/

That has a table that's pretty useful.

That's exactly the sort of thing I see and just have to shake my head a bit. Why did fans have to go and make a table?

At a certain point, why does Bungie make everything so obtuse? Would it really that bad if the tooltip when you mouse over Escalation Protocol told you what the weapon was for the week? Just give the players some actual information. It really doesn't need to be as difficult as they apparently think it is sometimes.

I'm becoming convinced it's down to playstyles. It felt like I had to be nailing crits constantly to get anything out of it, which meant I had to dial back how quickly I moved through an encounter dramatically. I think as a Titan, I'm too used to being a wrecking ball and bombing through enemies for that to ever feel good, and part of that being possible means I'm usually gunning at center mass, not heads. Conversely, Crimson enables the rapid fire encounter bombing I'm used to, while only requiring I pop a headshot kill every few enemies to have my mag auto loaded.

Either way, the whole thing werids me out. I'm using a Handcannon as my primary. That just ain't right. I'm an Auto Rifle man. Pulse Rifle MAYBE, but only if it's either full auto, or has a killer RPM like Lincoln Green's 540. Scouts are reserved for plinking at things far away, because I can't be bothered to carry a Sniper Rifle. But Handcannons? Never had need of one.

Well, sure, but that's a far cry different from the "that hand cannon sucks" of your original post.

There was an entire fight I never knew existed in Halo until about 2010. On Silent Cartographer, after you unlock the door, you go backwards. You come to a cliff where you oversee the crashed pelican which has the rocket launcher. I always just jumped down. But you are actually supposed to go the long way down. I always assumed jumping down was the 'right' way. If you do it 'right', there's a huge fight where the Hunters were the first time you came up.

Makes me wonder what else I've missed in games over the years.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/9gu46t/escalation_protocol_weapon_drop_schedule_updated/

That has a table that's pretty useful.

That's exactly the sort of thing I see and just have to shake my head a bit. Why did fans have to go and make a table?

At a certain point, why does Bungie make everything so obtuse? Would it really that bad if the tooltip when you mouse over Escalation Protocol told you what the weapon was for the week? Just give the players some actual information. It really doesn't need to be as difficult as they apparently think it is sometimes.

There's a fine line between explaining what needs to be explained, and letting players discover the rules. In Halo 1-3, you had to figure out that the overcharge from the plasma pistol dropped the shields of elites. Combine it with a headshot weapon, and you're all set.

But ODST had a line of dialogue from Buck literally explaining this to you. That's bad.

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

- No text -

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

If the loot pool was just the loot pool, it wouldn't be an issue. Putting the pool on a schedule is something that needs to be clear to the players, in my opinion.

Wait, seriously?

I always just jump down, too. I don't know that I've ever gone the long way down.

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

If the loot pool was just the loot pool, it wouldn't be an issue. Putting the pool on a schedule is something that needs to be clear to the players, in my opinion.

Imagine a gun only available on Friday the 13th, when there is a full moon.

Huh. I've certainly jumped down plenty of times, too, especially if I'm trying to go quickly or just avoiding the other fight to save ammo or minimize risk on a higher-difficulty run. But it always seemed clear that the jump was too risky (you can hurt yourself quite badly or die if you don't hit the right spots) to be the "normal" way. I wonder now how many players considered that the default path.

Part of me genuinely wonders if it was ever intentional now.

Right? It always seemed like it was very clearly intentional. But, if that was so, then it's totally baffling that they'd change it.

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

If the loot pool was just the loot pool, it wouldn't be an issue. Putting the pool on a schedule is something that needs to be clear to the players, in my opinion.

Imagine a gun only available on Friday the 13th, when there is a full moon.

Halo had easter eggs that could only be seen on certain days of the year. (Yeah, I know, those aren't guns.)

Obtaining the key was an opaque experience for me. I still don't know how to get one without looking it up.

TBH I'm not 100% clear on the process myself. What I do know is that once you have 7 of the green version, you go to Anna and exchange them for a blue. Once you have the blue, you do EP for a bit until it changes to a purple on its own. I think you just have to clear waves for that part. What I can't remember is where those greens drop from in the first place. That's probably something I DID know back when Warmind was current, but I've forgotten at this point. I seem to find myself having them without really trying, so it might just be one of those things where they drop from any Mars activity.

For instance: I have a pair of Scatterhorn Gauntlets with Fastball and Fusion Rifle Scavenger. Just how much of a boost does Fastball add to my grenade throw distance? Just how much bonus ammo am I getting for fusion rifles with that scavenger perk? Even the base stats for Mobility, Recovery, and Resilience feel meaningless.

I agree about fastball. There might be a difference if I compared one-after-another, but I never feel a difference and think "yep, that's fastball helping me." Ditto for the ammo perks - I'm sure it IS happening overall, and I certainly equip them because I don't want to NOT get extra ammo, but it's hard to really tell for sure. Where I CAN tell a difference is in the handling/reload/anti-flinch perks. I find those noticeable. Same goes for the stats. I can't tell a difference between 4 mobility and 5, but I CAN feel a difference between a whole armor set where I've put every possible point toward mobility, and one where I put them toward resilience instead. Since I actually put together specific sets for different super/ability builds, I am switching those out frequently.

Diablo and Borderlands do it right. Give me hard numbers, or comparison bars, or something.

And that would actually help their goal of getting more play time out of people. Right now, one anti-flinch perk is the same as another, right? But what if you could get anywhere from a 10-20% bonus, with higher numbers being more rare? Borderlands does exactly that, and it's one more thing to chase on top of everything else, because you might have a +X percentage fire damage relic, but you know there's one out there with a 3% higher bonus.

This is way off course now, but I've always felt like D1 had more meaningful perks that would dramatically change your situational viability than D2. I think I have most of the Exotic Titan armor now. You know what I use exclusively? Lion Rampant. Why? Because it's been the single most useful and utilitarian piece of kit I've acquired. It's never NOT useful, and that's been a blessing and a curse. I miss D1 where if I ran hammer, it was Immolation Fists. If I ran bubble, No Backup Plans, Immobius, and Monte Carlo. I don't feel that connection with D2. Never have.

Now shout at me for playing the game wrong.

Nah, but I will say that I've found plenty of synergistic builds. If I start actually listing them all, I'll be sitting at this keyboard all night.

Now that I know it just drops from bosses, I'll consider pursing it. These are on a rotation right? We've been doing a lot of EP recently now that we don't get smoked so damn fast. It'll give us a reason to poke at it every week.

Yep, and every so often there's apparently some bosses that have all the weapons int heir loot pool rather than just one. No idea why, but if you don't want to keep doing it every week, it might make sense to aim for on of those weeks specifically.

I'll probably still use Badlander though. It feels satisfying in all the right ways, and I was never much for punching before I fired.

*shrug* I'd never tell you not to. Like I said, I like that thing. But at least with a shotgun, there's a solid chance that you're within melee range anyway. Personally, I just bring whichever damage type I think will match the most enemy shields. That shield-pop explosion's tactical utility shouldn't be underestimated.

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

If the loot pool was just the loot pool, it wouldn't be an issue. Putting the pool on a schedule is something that needs to be clear to the players, in my opinion.

Imagine a gun only available on Friday the 13th, when there is a full moon.

My problem isn't that there are things that are only available on certain schedules. My problem is that Destiny is downright terrible at communicating basic information to the players on a pretty regular basis.

Bungie has this habit of wanting to let players discover things for themselves, and I guess that's laudable in certain instances. But having to go to reddit to figure out what weapon is going to drop from an event for this week is sort of stupid, in my opinion. Just put that information in the tool tip.

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

If the loot pool was just the loot pool, it wouldn't be an issue. Putting the pool on a schedule is something that needs to be clear to the players, in my opinion.

Imagine a gun only available on Friday the 13th, when there is a full moon.

My problem isn't that there are things that are only available on certain schedules. My problem is that Destiny is downright terrible at communicating basic information to the players on a pretty regular basis.

Bungie has this habit of wanting to let players discover things for themselves, and I guess that's laudable in certain instances. But having to go to reddit to figure out what weapon is going to drop from an event for this week is sort of stupid, in my opinion. Just put that information in the tool tip.

When I was a kid, we would talk about Legend of Zelda on the playground. What secrets we found. How we found a dungeon entrance. As a group of friends we exchanged info about the game and beat it collectively. I’m convinced that’s how the game was designed to be played.

This isn’t really any different. Instead of a small group of friends, it’s a large group of Internet strangers. But the concept is kind of the same.

Obtaining the key was an opaque experience for me. I still don't know how to get one without looking it up.

TBH I'm not 100% clear on the process myself. What I do know is that once you have 7 of the green version, you go to Anna and exchange them for a blue. Once you have the blue, you do EP for a bit until it changes to a purple on its own. I think you just have to clear waves for that part. What I can't remember is where those greens drop from in the first place. That's probably something I DID know back when Warmind was current, but I've forgotten at this point. I seem to find myself having them without really trying, so it might just be one of those things where they drop from any Mars activity.

The key fragments drop from strikes - 2-3 for a regular strike, 5-7 for a Nightfall.

I'm becoming convinced it's down to playstyles. It felt like I had to be nailing crits constantly to get anything out of it, which meant I had to dial back how quickly I moved through an encounter dramatically. I think as a Titan, I'm too used to being a wrecking ball and bombing through enemies for that to ever feel good, and part of that being possible means I'm usually gunning at center mass, not heads. Conversely, Crimson enables the rapid fire encounter bombing I'm used to, while only requiring I pop a headshot kill every few enemies to have my mag auto loaded.

Either way, the whole thing werids me out. I'm using a Handcannon as my primary. That just ain't right. I'm an Auto Rifle man. Pulse Rifle MAYBE, but only if it's either full auto, or has a killer RPM like Lincoln Green's 540. Scouts are reserved for plinking at things far away, because I can't be bothered to carry a Sniper Rifle. But Handcannons? Never had need of one.

Well, sure, but that's a far cry different from the "that hand cannon sucks" of your original post.

But sir, this is the internet. You should know there isn't any middle ground. It's either good, or it sucks.

In all seriousness though, I've been reflecting and reconsidering post reading other people's thoughts. Part of me still thinks it's garbage I'd just as soon shard, but now I can appreciate that it's perhaps simply an exotic catering to a playstyle I don't subscribe to, and it's a bit more obtuse about it than others. Like Sweet Business. You have to walk over ammo drops to make it do it's thing, but how often am I really doing that while bouncing around an encounter firing all the bullets?

Like I said initially, I really was expecting something more along the lines of a beefed up Sunshot, and it for sure doesn't behave like that.

It's all kosher.

That's the most titan response I could imagine.

You know what's truly funny? In the D1 beta, I mained a Hunter. I loved it. Warlock was my second, Nova Bomb was pretty badass. Titan though? The Titan was awful.

Cut to me finally having a chance to play at my fiance's place while I saved up for a XBone. I rolled a Titan, because I wasn't intending to seriously play until I had my system and we could both play. It was a throw away character to kill time. The class I hated, became the class I loved, and the class I loved, became the class I hated.

I legit cannot play a Hunter. I can't stand it. I feel fragile, the Super feels like weaksauce, and the mobility is terribad. #TitanJumpisBestJump

(I'll conceed the supers are waaaay better now. Back in D1 though when it was Gunslinger or Bladedancer though? Yuck.)

No, seriously, holy crap. I've never NOT jumped down. I thought that's what the overshield was for! It helped you survive the jump!

I've never ever turned around there! Ever! Oh my god

a beefed up Sunshot

Whatever that would be, it would have to be classified as a heavy weapon.

a beefed up Sunshot

Whatever that would be, it would have to be classified as a heavy weapon.

I've been wanting a heavy weapon version of a hand cannon.

a beefed up Sunshot

Whatever that would be, it would have to be classified as a heavy weapon.

I've been wanting a heavy weapon version of a hand cannon.

Part of me genuinely wonders if it was ever intentional now.

Right? It always seemed like it was very clearly intentional. But, if that was so, then it's totally baffling that they'd change it.

I mean, Bungie's main UI/UX guy, Dave Candland, was run off while Forsaken was mid-development. I'd wager that the new version was cobbled together after he was gone, but who knows?

Part of me genuinely wonders if it was ever intentional now.

Right? It always seemed like it was very clearly intentional. But, if that was so, then it's totally baffling that they'd change it.

I mean, Bungie's main UI/UX guy, Dave Candland, was run off while Forsaken was mid-development. I'd wager that the new version was cobbled together after he was gone, but who knows?

Well, that explains it. What do you mean he was run off?

Well, that explains it. What do you mean he was run off?

I would also like to hear what makes you say that, Korny. I knew he left, but didn’t hear any details. It’s a shame, either way.

He’s at Monolith now, by the way.

Other than what is ostensibly the publisher forcing grind inducing micro transactions. So I'm excited to examine whatever the menu is for the next game.

I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised?

I'd call The Broken Throne quest a Whisper-tier event. It has all makings of the Whisper quest. It was unexpected. It is not always available. It takes place in a surprisingly large and varied play space. It has several combat and traversal challenges. It has that feeling of being almost impossible that will melt away to being totally doable in time. And, it ultimately rewards you with an Exotic weapon.

The issue that I have with that one is that it’s only available to people who have Forsaken, so it feels like prepackaged content, which I guess should be fine, but I was hoping for more universal events.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone can expect to be getting more content with a base game that is a year old now? I mean, the game is on 3 expansions now. You can't expect a company to be giving you free content at this point. If you are still just playing the base game then you should be comfortable with what you are playing.

Yes, including the entire D2 community would be cool but, that's like saying that Apple or Microsoft should keep making cool stuff for 3-4 OS's back. No, you gotta make cool content for current software.

P.S. I know that isn't a direct relation but I hope you get my point. I know someone will argue it so I'm just saying it now :D

In some sense, having players figure out WHAT drops is good. But not WHEN it drops. That's really stupid.

If the loot pool was just the loot pool, it wouldn't be an issue. Putting the pool on a schedule is something that needs to be clear to the players, in my opinion.

Imagine a gun only available on Friday the 13th, when there is a full moon.

My problem isn't that there are things that are only available on certain schedules. My problem is that Destiny is downright terrible at communicating basic information to the players on a pretty regular basis.

Bungie has this habit of wanting to let players discover things for themselves, and I guess that's laudable in certain instances. But having to go to reddit to figure out what weapon is going to drop from an event for this week is sort of stupid, in my opinion. Just put that information in the tool tip.

When I was a kid, we would talk about Legend of Zelda on the playground. What secrets we found. How we found a dungeon entrance. As a group of friends we exchanged info about the game and beat it collectively. I’m convinced that’s how the game was designed to be played.

This isn’t really any different. Instead of a small group of friends, it’s a large group of Internet strangers. But the concept is kind of the same.

I totally agree. There isn't a chance in hell that even my internet group of friends would find everything in the dreaming city. There is a reason why it's so big and complicated. Bungie is dealing with the internet they are trying to make it complicated so it's hard for the internet to solve. Sometimes they mess up and make something too complicated when it should be easier.

I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised?

I'd call The Broken Throne quest a Whisper-tier event. It has all makings of the Whisper quest. It was unexpected. It is not always available. It takes place in a surprisingly large and varied play space. It has several combat and traversal challenges. It has that feeling of being almost impossible that will melt away to being totally doable in time. And, it ultimately rewards you with an Exotic weapon.

The issue that I have with that one is that it’s only available to people who have Forsaken, so it feels like prepackaged content, which I guess should be fine, but I was hoping for more universal events.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone can expect to be getting more content with a base game that is a year old now? I mean, the game is on 3 expansions now. You can't expect a company to be giving you free content at this point. If you are still just playing the base game then you should be comfortable with what you are playing.

Yeah... this. It sounds like base game users get the "Iron Banner and Faction Rally type events" (maybe Festival of the Lost?). Hopefully, if SRL ever comes back it'll be universal. But at this point, if you want "new" content you should be ready to pay for it via expansions and the season pass.

Bungie has made it pretty clear that this isn't a free-to-play game.

Sure. By we’re not talking about something that needs to be solved. We’re talking about a rotating loot pool. That’s not a cool, fun thing to discover the mysteries of. There’s no mystery or puzzle, it’s just a weekly rotation. That’s the sort of thing that should just be clear to the player.

The access to seasonal changes and things like updates and crucible access (and seasonal events like FotL) has seemed pretty clear to
Me for a long time. But I still run into people feeling entitled to new content made to be inclusive instead of just what is incidental because they refuse to buy the expansions.

Sure. By we’re not talking about something that needs to be solved. We’re talking about a rotating loot pool. That’s not a cool, fun thing to discover the mysteries of. There’s no mystery or puzzle, it’s just a weekly rotation. That’s the sort of thing that should just be clear to the player.

Just to play devils advocate here, that sounds like personal preference and how people want to play the game. To you, you just want to be told when you are able to get a weapon. Other people might not.

To me, I feel like it changes depending when I'm doing it. When EP dropped and I was a high light level enough to do EP I would have hated doing EP because I would know I was going to get a SMG. I would have honestly not done it. I would have had no idea if I was going to get anything else. All I would have seen was "SMG will drop in this event" It might say "SMG will drop this week" but how do I know that wouldn't be true next week? There are multi-drop weeks for EP. Knowing the drop would have killed the experience.

Now, that I'm leveled and have played it, it's true that I want to know exactly what will drop because I want to farm for a specific weapon.

The difference is, Bungie made the event for that first instance of people. Not for people to farm out a specific weapon (I assume). And they aren't going to chance their UI to cater to the farmers now that we have moved on to a new expansion. They are going to let the community figure it out.

[EDIT] What I think they could do to make it something in between is to add some sort of schedule or something like "available in EP in 9 days" when you select the weapon in collections.

I appreciate the Heroic Adventures, and Wanted Targets were fun enough the first couple of days, but where are the Whisper-tier events that we were promised?

I'd call The Broken Throne quest a Whisper-tier event. It has all makings of the Whisper quest. It was unexpected. It is not always available. It takes place in a surprisingly large and varied play space. It has several combat and traversal challenges. It has that feeling of being almost impossible that will melt away to being totally doable in time. And, it ultimately rewards you with an Exotic weapon.

The issue that I have with that one is that it’s only available to people who have Forsaken, so it feels like prepackaged content, which I guess should be fine, but I was hoping for more universal events.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone can expect to be getting more content with a base game that is a year old now? I mean, the game is on 3 expansions now. You can't expect a company to be giving you free content at this point. If you are still just playing the base game then you should be comfortable with what you are playing.

I mean, you don't need the DLCs to run the Whisper quest. Sure, you get wrecked by Impossible enemies, but it was available to base game owners two DLCs in. Precedent is there.

Yes, including the entire D2 community would be cool but, that's like saying that Apple or Microsoft should keep making cool stuff for 3-4 OS's back. No, you gotta make cool content for current software.

P.S. I know that isn't a direct relation but I hope you get my point. I know someone will argue it so I'm just saying it now :D

Funny thing is that Apple's iOS 12 that just launched in the past month was specifically for their older products (all the way back to the iPhone 5s, which came out in 2013(!).
So yeh...

So yeah, Destiny 2 is not Free to Play (though it is adopting a F2P release model with the Annual Pass), but if you remember the backlash that Bungie was hit by when they started trying to lock people out of content like they did in D1, and how hard they backpedaled, they need the people playing the base game. They need the Eververse sales and the healthy population. And just because the people buying the DLCs are content, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't be giving the entire base reasons to log back in (how else are they going to encourage seasonal event sales?)

I mean, look at the fact that the base game was free on PS+. The tracked players on DT jumped from around 8.5m to 11.9m and now you see countless level 1-20s everywhere, and I've seen a bunch of level 30s on Mars, and yet there were only 1.8m total players tracked yesterday. How long until those 1-20 folks just run out of neat things to look forward to? How many of those have splurged at Eververse, or will once Festival of the Lost drops? Will they still be around come Dawning?

So yeah, Destiny 2 is not Free to Play (though it is adopting a F2P release model with the Annual Pass), but if you remember the backlash that Bungie was hit by when they started trying to lock people out of content like they did in D1, and how hard they backpedaled, they need the people playing the base game. They need the Eververse sales and the healthy population. And just because the people buying the DLCs are content, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't be giving the entire base reasons to log back in (how else are they going to encourage seasonal event sales?)

I mean, look at the fact that the base game was free on PS+. The tracked players on DT jumped from around 8.5m to 11.9m and now you see countless level 1-20s everywhere, and I've seen a bunch of level 30s on Mars, and yet there were only 1.8m total players tracked yesterday. How long until those 1-20 folks just run out of neat things to look forward to? How many of those have splurged at Eververse, or will once Festival of the Lost drops? Will they still be around come Dawning?

That all makes sense, however a whisper quest isn't going to fix that. If you compare the amount of content and time spent doing it in the DLC's vs the whisper type quests + seasonal events there is a very large gap. Adding a couple more whisper type quests is not going to keep a player base going until D3. I say D3 because apparently these people don't want to buy DLC's. It would be awesome if Bungie gave D2 players cool whisper type quests, but they have to think of the people who are actually giving them money first.

The Annual Pass is in no way a F2P model.

The Annual Pass is in no way a F2P model.

Care to explain?

Given the info that has been released as far as what the drops will entail, it lines up pretty consistently with "seasonal" changes/drops found in several popular F2P games. Except that, ya know, they want you to pay for it all up front.

For starters, the base product isn’t free...

For starters, the base product isn’t free...

In Korny's defense, he never said that Destiny was adopting a F2P model, only that the new DLC that is coming out next year is being released in a F2P pattern.

Usually for stuff to be F2P the playable content is ostensibly Free and you can pay for things like cosmetics and timegate acceleration. Maybe permanent access to otherwise rotational content. Locking content and experiences (to include Raid Lairs as an example) behind expansion/DLC purchases doesn’t exactly fit any F2P model I’ve seen.