Void 2.0, Void 3.0, and Game Design Philosophy (Destiny)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Monday, February 14, 2022, 12:19 (1013 days ago) @ cheapLEY

I don’t have a great answer for you, other than that the subclasses don’t feel very distinct to me. Top tree Nightstalker might as well be bottom tree for how it feels moment to moment. I know there are differences, but they don’t seem to matter other than just being a slightly different flavor. Are you building around dodge uptime for invisibility or melee uptime?

That’s in massive contrast to Stasis, where piecing together different aspects and fragments make some pretty diverse builds. Maybe it’s not actually more diverse, but it just feels like it because I pay more attention due to actually having to make those choices versus just picking one complete prebuilt kit with the other subclasses.

I like the differentiation they’re leaning into—the specializations of each class. Hunters get in invisibility, Titans get overshields, Warlocks get Devour, etc. I want class to feel like a meaningful choice, and not just a slightly different flavor. I kind of wish they were going even more extreme in that regard, honestly.

Why is it when I make a post, I can almost always expect a response from cheapLEY?
That's not me hate'n on ya, by the way. Just, I was hoping for a slightly larger response. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Actually my intention was far more granular then that, and, on paper, to me their "differentiation" seems a backward step hence;

We now have more options, and yet it all feels more restrictive in possible play-styles to me.

Tangent. What do you want to be when you grow up? Classic question. Probably a good chance all of us had it asked to us at some point in our youth. But, there is a problem with this question, I've observed. Whatever response a child may give, it's often only about the end result. It is rarely, if ever, about the work to get there. Or the process involved in the professions day to days work. And if you don't enjoy the process, it could render the joy from the seeked end result moot. Results may very. Batteries not included.

Returning to Destiny, how do we have our fun? And how do we keep it that way? Well, it's with variety, which over the years has been built multiplicatively into Destiny. Warlocks! My main with Void 2.0 has set ideas, top tree (Attunement Of Chaos) is Power. Powerful grenades, Melees which also build that grenade energy back (Entropic Pull), Bloom which makes void abilities also explode, and then the Super. A big, fat, homing "slow-va" bomb with it's very own "wolf pack rounds" to match after it blows up.

Middle Tree is about a Warlocks favorite four-dimensional manifold, SpaceTime. Dark Matter makes it so that any void ability use not only gives back all ability energy, but heath too! That's important, as while top tree is about brute force, middle tree is about creating momentum, or at least changing it. That tide of battle. Middle Tree melee, Atomic Breach, it not only puts on a delayed explosion (though not like titans can), but also drastically pushes whoever dared to get close BACK. Again, momentum, creating that space, giving you time to make your next move. Play on words, but... that's what it does. It works! Handheld Supernova, whatever it's form, needs no introduction. And the Super "Nova Warp" needs no introduction either.

Then there is Bottom Tree. The "energy absorption" tree. When I say "Heart of The Pack", any Destiny Vet knows that means Hunter. Weapons of light? Titan. It is known. Devour? Warlock. Which, by the way, triggered with melee (or super). Or, eat a grenade. Everything about bottom tree is about surviving your own death through the death of other things. And while that's not going away... reading all of this...

...*waving arms* this whole thread and its linked content...

...it seems like this forced approach of "what a void warlock is", or any class for that matter, may have muddied things. Are warlocks just going to be the rift guys? I'll only have one melee style now, cool as it may be. Can I still push folks back? Is there going to be a fragment for that? I'm losing abilities I don't know If I'm going to get back. We all are.

Having said all that, I'm getting the impression that it may be something else about the 3.0 sandbox which has been slowly taking shape as bothering me, but I still don't know what it is. My brain, Oy vey!

DANG IT WITCHQUEEN HURRY UP, I'M GOIN' MAD OVER HERE! ._.