ALL THE HYPERBOLE. RIGHT HERE. (Destiny)

by electricpirate , Sunday, November 17, 2013, 20:17 (3815 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Wrong. Wrong Wrong Wrong.

Having every weapon unlocked and available right away may create such a system. But having to unlock them is not a strategic choice, since if you want access to all the weapons and choices YOU HAVE TO GRIND AND EARN THEM. That is the opposite of meaningful choice; you are practically required to do it.

Halo's two weapon limitation is beneficial BECAUSE YOU CAN'T WORK AROUND IT. The limitation of having a small weapons set unless you earn them CAN BE BYPASSED BY SPENDING THE TIME TO EARN THEM. Once you earn weapons it's no longer limiting you down! It's not a real limitation, since all you have to do is spend time to get around it.

If you have a system that greatly reduces any advantage from having a longer playtime (Point draft system for equipment, handicapping, counter system, weapons could have in game costs, I dunno, but it's been done before) so that two players face off on relatively even footing. At this point, what weapons you choose *is* a strategic choice, and one that is limited by what you've earned, and how they fit with your goals.

All it takes are some ways to limit the power you bring into a match, and boom. there you go. Along side that, with Destinies apparently huge variety of arms and abilities, you basically guarantee a logarithmic power scale. With so many tools, there's bound to be one that will work. So, when you go back to multiplayer, you make decisions based on a competent, but not optimal set, just like everyone else. There ya go, there's your strategic choice that would be lost if they just made everything available at the start.

There's nothing wrong with having asymmetric options for each player either, as long as the tools to balance them are done well.

This is correct, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with unlocking weapons and grinding for rewards. You can easily have asymmetric options without having grinding. Ever play a fighting game with different characters, or an RTS with different races?

Once again, we are talking about how destiny could work in a PVP enviroment that limits the firepower any character can bring into a fight. That kind of system limits the importance of grinding and focuses the player on making decisions about how to structure a build and what to pursue.