I mean that genuinely. I know I always feel bummed when something I like starts to go in directions that make me like it less. It sucks.

That said, I disagree with a lot of what you said. The milestones system and soft cap sucks and always will, I’ll give you that.

The rest, though . . .

I won’t go point by point—I don’t have the time. Maybe I’ll come back this evening. I’ll jist say that the Forsaken campaign and the Dreaming City is the best story stuff they’ve done since when’s they were still making Halo. It’s not perfect, but it was compelling. And the newest cutscene we got this week continues that thread in a really interesting way with pretty far reaching possibilities.

The music is still great. The themes on the Dreaming City are some of the best in Destiny, and a lot of the Forsaken stuff in general was great.

The investment stuff is a toss-up, and I understand it’s a bummer because it gets in the way for you. But I was just telling Claude the other night how good I think Destiny is, how I just want to stay up late every night and play it, something I haven’t felt about a video game in ages. In fact, I did stay up until 3am last night.

Last night was actually the perfect example of the strengths of Destiny. I jumped on and grabbed some Black Armory stuff. I knocked out a bunch of my Dreaming City milestones while working on a weapon frame for the new Forge. I finished both of those at the same time, jumped into the Forge for a weapon, then joined Cruel and Malagate for some Blind Well. After we visited Mara, we ran the Shattered Throne and I got my Wishender. After that we ran a few Crucible matches. They logged off and I joined up with Claude for the rest of the night while he went through the Forge quest on his third character. We ran the Forge, then switched over and played and few matches of Gambit to finish my night.

You look at all the milestones and see a list of chores. I look at it and see a list of opportunities to do fun things with my friends. That’s a hard switch to flip in your mind, I know, because I used to feel as you do, but if you can find a way to flip that switch, Destiny becomes an amazing game.

I think, fundamentally, you just don’t like the type of game Destiny is, and you’re fighting against it. When it comes down to it, Destiny is far more than the sum of its parts, and if you have the willingness (and, admittedly, the time it requires) to meet it on its teens, there’s nothing else that’s as fun.

For the most part I agree with everything you said. I find myself in a weird loop of technicalities with the game. Mental hurdles that I can't get over. Mechanically, I still think Destiny is the best feeling, best looking, best handling game out there. The worlds are vast and vibrant full of enemies and activites. No shortage of options and things to do...yet it all seems pointless. One of my biggest torts is telling people "...how 'bout you just play it because it's fun!" yet I get discouraged by how long it takes me to earn anything worthwhile.

To me, it SEEMED like Destiny 1 satisfied everyone. Yes, many people had critiques and complaints, but for the most part, everyone across the board was happy with it.

To me, it SEEMS like Destiny 2 has just been a divisive little bastard breaking players into two groups. Casuals and hardcores, and somehow managing to alienate both groups. So it SEEMS in an effort to appease someone, they are leaning more towards the hardcores. I fall into the casuals category, so it feels like I'm being left behind.

BUT! That's ok. If Bungie is wanting to take the game in a new direction, I hope they succeed. That would make this current micro-era "growing pains" that will eventually work out. I just need to change my mental expectation towards Destiny. It's no longer the game I can pick up as I please, play, have fun and still stay in a competitive range of progression. It's now just a game I pick up on occasion, play for a bit, then eventually move on to something else.

I can't change the game, so I just need to change my view point and attitude. And that's a tough mental hurdle to leap.

I see where you're coming from. I even agree with the underlying premise - that if you're not enjoying the activities for themselves, the game feels like a series of chores.

Ultimately, though, I think I lean more towards the view espoused by Cheapley and Cruel - that the game, right now, is fun, and even though I'm being guided to tasks that I might not have picked (or in an order I might not have picked), I don't find those tasks to be 'chores'.

And I agree wholeheartedly with Cheapley that it's a bummer that you don't feel the same way.

I don't think it's perfect, by any stretch. I'm still finding myself annoyed by the extra steps required on the Ada quests - at least 3 times (in each quest), I have to stop playing and return to Ada to basically have her bless my progress. That's an utter and complete waste of my time. And now that I've done it on 3 characters, in three separate forges, I'd love it if I never had to do it again. (I know, though, that next week, I'll be doing it again. 3 times. And that's irritating.) The Gateway Between Worlds quest that pops every week on the Dreaming City makes me go do the same thing every time - visit the Oracle - but there, I get a new story snippet each time. And it's once (per character per week), not 3 times.

But in the grand scheme of things, that's a minor irritation (for me) - in general, I'm enjoying almost all the things I'm doing.

I realize it's not, for you - and that sucks. The spectrum of players is so wide now, though, that I'm not sure you can please everyone any more. There's a point of view (you've expressed it yourself, I think) that 'the grind' was re-added solely for the streamers, and it alienates everyone else. But I don't think that's true. They're the most vocal proponents of a system that requires a large time investment, yes... but I think there are a lot of people who enjoy that investment. Unfortunately, that investment is at direct odds with the desire of another subset of the player base that simply wants to run around and do stuff, and not feel like they're on a hamster wheel. (Let's be clear: I think that the concept of a hamster wheel is not universal; it's felt most by people who don't want to be on it. The perspective of folks who enjoy playing more does NOT include the idea of a hamster wheel.)

::shrug::

It's possible that Destiny is just not the game for you any more. It clearly was, once - but it doesn't sound like you've had fun in a long time. And that sucks.