Difficulty, Rewards, and Patrol (Destiny)

by Vortech , A Fourth Wheel, Wednesday, January 06, 2021, 15:59 (1199 days ago) @ cheapLEY

I desperately wish patrol zones were worth anything. I like hanging out on Europa, but it’s not really “worth it” from a rewards perspective. I think it’s the closest they’ve ever come, with the way upgrading Variks and his bounties work, making VIPs and Lost Sectors and Heroic Public Events give specific rewards.

Games like Diablo 3 and The Division have escalating difficulty. Reach the power cap, then reset your campaign and do it all again on the higher tier. I don’t think that would work for Destiny (playing through all that stuff for each character already feels like a chore). However, I think they could do something. The Eclipsed Zone offers a glimpse of it, as did the old Flashpoint system.

Instead of complete with tiers, they could bring back the Flashpoint system, making that entire Destination a Legend difficulty zone. Champions could spawn, PEs would be more difficult (maybe with Champions as well). Perhaps there could be a specific area of each Destination that would be the Master difficulty area, perhaps it could rotate daily for the week.

Along with those difficulty adjustments would come better rewards. No blues from any of this stuff, higher chances of 60+ stat gear, maybe even the occasional Ascendant Shard.

Maybe it’s too ambitious, but I see this as a total rework of the patrol zones. Reworked events for more challenge. Adjusted rewards. if they’re feeling particularly ambitious, exclude rewards for events on each planet based upon the difficulty tier. Armor sets, weapons, even shaders and emblems.

Perhaps this is far too ambitious to be a season, but I’d take even the bones of this being implemented over another lackluster public event (or even more lackluster Wrathborn Hunts).

I think they need to do something to make patrol zones feel worthwhile. Doing the weekly scanner chores for a Triumph isn’t it.

I think they would need to spin up normal challenge versions for the new light players, but otherwise I think it's a good idea.