Reimagining "competitive" Destiny (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Saturday, August 10, 2019, 17:07 (1718 days ago) @ Ragashingo

I still disagree with your base depiction of Destiny combat and not learning from failure... I think you're looking at it too much from a single encounter point of view... but that's the other thread.

That’s something I was tempted to get into, but I was worried about rambling too long :)

In my mind, a competitive player is focusing on the game at precisely that level: 1 gunfight at a time. This goes beyond Destiny. This is generally how athletes think during a game or a race. 1 possession at a time. 1 point at a time. 1 foot in front of the other. You don’t focus on “the game”. You focus on the hundreds of little moments that all add up to make the game.

In my experience with sports (both as a player and a fan) that approach is a key part of the competitive mindset. And that’s why, for me and players who approach the game in a similar way, the crucible is such an endless source of frustration at the moment. I’ll average somewhere close to 20-30 kills per game, and 10-15 deaths. And of those 10-15 deaths, roughly half or more are absolutely unavoidable. I’m either getting spawn killed by a super, or an enemy is spawning right behind me, or I’ll get the drop on an opponent, hit them with 2 clean headshots, and they’ll turn and fist-of-panic me out of nowhere. And I’ll dish out similarly cheap kills. At that point, I barely even care if my team wins or looses. The final results are so detached from the moment-to-moment competency of the players, that they no longer matter to me.

I should stress that I know that the way I’m talking about these issues can sound black and white. I don’t feel that way. I know that the team that wins is usually the team that, as a whole, outperformed their opponents. If there’s a scale between “completely random results” and “100% skill based results”, Destiny is probably ~70% towards the skill-based side of the spectrum. But my point is that for players who want a game mode or playlist that caters to a competitive frame of mind, 70% is nowhere near good enough.

And maybe that’s ok. Maybe Destiny doesn’t need to cater to those players. But I think there might be a way to do it without detracting from what the majority of the player base wants from quickplay.

But yeah! I like almost all of this. Especially the parts about the semi-set gear and weapons that still retain a good amount of Destiny's variability. What do you think about still allowing all exotics in your competitive games?

I’m a bit torn on that. I know a lot of hardcore PvP players would miss their Last Words or their MIDAs, but then I think about all the harm that One-Eyed Mask, Gwisin Vest, Lord of Wolves, or Insurmountable Skullfort have caused to the crucible, and I think maybe it’s a good idea to leave them out.

Perhaps there could be a sort of curated list of exotics that are allowed? That way, if there are any outliers that are simply too powerful, they could be excluded from comp instead of waiting 6 months for a nerf to hit?