Playing “just for fun.” (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Sunday, May 17, 2020, 22:24 (1651 days ago) @ cheapLEY

All good points. Just to add to your post, one of the many problems that I have with this whole sunsetting idea is that it will directly remove gameplay variety from D2. The weapons we choose to equip are, in a way, additional nodes on our skill tree. Playing the game while equipping Revoker, Hardlight, and a sword is a very different gameplay experience from equipping Mountaintop, Recluse, and Line in the Sand. And while there is a great deal of overlap between many of the guns in D2, some of them are quite unique. Luna’s Howl and Not Forgotten sit in a category all their own. Even after their nerfs, they are the only 150rpms that handle and feel like 180s. They’re not my favourite hand cannons purely because of their effectiveness... they’re the only hand cannons that feel and hit like they do, and when they’re gone, that’s it. There go the only hand cannons in the game that I really enjoy using. (Unless Bungie goes and replaces them with a “new” hand cannon that feels and performs just like LH and NF, to which I would say “then wtf is the point of sunsetting, other than adding MORE needless grind?”). Or how about Mountaintop? There is no other weapon in the game like it. Martyr’s Retribution is similarly unique. There are plenty of more subtle examples too. Bygones is the only adaptive frame Pulse Rifle in the kinetic slot. Randy’s Throwing Knife is the only Scout Rifle that does what it does. The list goes on.
These guns are often the centrepieces of our entire builds and play styles. They are where the gameplay variety in D2 comes from. Let’s face it, there are no encounters in the Destiny franchise on the level of the 3 scarab battles in Halo 3, or warthog sections on Earth in Halo 2, or the hot landing at the beginning of Silent Cartographer in Halo 1. 99% of the content in Destiny 2 is dull and repetitive by comparison, until you start to add the weapon variety into the mix. Halo has Scorpion Tanks, Destiny has Sleeper Simulant. Halo had Warthog Chased, Destiny had Fatebringer. Taking away our ability to use the guns we want to use, in the activities we want to play, essentially kills my ability to “play for fun”. Because for me, fighting D2’s enemies with most of the guns in the game isn’t fun. Fighting them with my favourite custom loadouts is. But Bungie just can’t let us do that anymore, can they?