Mixed feelings so far (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 07:35 (1168 days ago) @ Malagate

I feel like they’ve done a lot of things right. Ticcu’s Divination feels good against Invaders and trash mobs alike, I’m finding it useful in comp, even, to countersnipe and put a bit of damage on fleeing enemies or groups.

Every new legendary I’ve played with (bow, SMG, Sniper) feels new and useful.

I’m a bit sad that the battlegrounds aren’t 6-player fireteams. On the other hand, the battleground missions I’ve run feel like they rely more on powers and supers than strictly marksmanship; which suits me just fine.

I can’t find any downsides just yet, aside from random crashes when starting activities; which Bungie Help says they’re investigating.

How’s everyone else feeling?

~m

I’m torn. In certain ways, I think this season is already a big improvement over last season. On the one hand, that’s not saying much since I thought last season was mostly atrocious (with the exception of the Hawkmoon quest and mission), but I really do like some of what we’re seeing this season. I think the HELM is really cool, both as a destination as well as a narrative delivery device. I’d actually prefer to have the HELM fully replace the tower at this point, just to save myself the time of running from vendor to vendor.

I really love the new bow. It reminds me of Malfeasance, in that it really comes to life in situations where multiple teammates are all running with it together. The “tag an enemy with a homing hipfire shot and then make them explode with an ADS shot” mechanic works in team-fire situations. I went into crucible with a clanmate, and we worked together; I’d tag every enemy I could with the hip-fire homing arrows, while he fired precision shots. Together, we were setting off explosions non-stop. It was great!

The new Battlegrounds activity is... fine, I guess. But boy does it feel like a misuse of resources in a way. After completing the intro quest (which involves running a couple Battleground activities), I jumped into a fireteam with a couple clan mates who had started playing about an hour earlier than me, and they both commented on how sick of the battlegrounds they already were. Later that night, I was playing with Korny and Claude, and they too both commented on how uninterested they were on doing more of this activity. It’s the first day, and this activity is already feeling worn out after a handful of completions. I think it’s fine as a little diversion to jump into on occasion with friends, but as the primary activity of the season it really falls flat IMO. There just isn’t enough to it.

This is where I have a tough time judging the new content purely on its own merits. Battlegrounds is a perfectly adequate little diversion, but it has all this weight put on it because the rest of the game is in such dire shape. I’ve been highly critical of Beyond Light, but I’m starting to think that I may have underestimated how much damage Bungie has done to this game over the past ~16 months, especially with Beyond Light. It just feels like there’s nothing left in this game, which is crazy because there is technically tons of stuff to do. But I think the core pillars of the game, the bread-and-butter activities like strikes, crucible, and gambit are either boring (strikes), tedious (gambit), or a complete fucking disaster (crucible). Sunsetting has largely killed my investment in my gear, and I don’t see how the PvP side of the game will ever recover from the addition of Stasis.

So I think the game is in this really awkward spot where each new season comes along and says “hey, we’re going to redecorate your house with some fresh wallpaper and maybe a nice little throw-rug for the living room”, meanwhile the roof has been leaking for months, the toilets don’t flush, and tree in the backyard blew over and crushed the master bedroom, and the kitchen is on fire. This season, I think I really do like the new wallpaper! It’s just... not what is truly needed right now, I don’t think.