Initial Reactions to Season of the Haunted: Mild Spoilers (Destiny)

by Malagate , Sea of Tranquility, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 16:07 (914 days ago) @ cheapLEY

-YAY: Relieved that we don't seem to be getting a Leviathan Raid remaster.

Their use of the Leviathan is brilliant here. Turning it into a miniature Patrol zone is genuinely cool. Being able to run the familiar halls with a new twist is extremely neat. It's also twisting the knife a bit, as I miss that raid, and content vaulting still fucking blows. They truly should have just made Destiny 3. At least the content still would have existed that way.

I can't agree more. The fact that you know the space, it's familiar-but-strange (hat tip to those who know), and there are things you're going to think and feel and be nostalgic about; little corners or pathways that you used to know and want to go investigate, but when you do, it's all changed; Bungie has really cultivated a way to work with geometry we know (and assets they already have) to squeeze even more life out of them in a way that genuinely feels fresh. I really love what they've done. In this specific instance, it makes the spookiness and creeping dread tangible.

With that said, can you imagine if they ever did something within the canon to devastate Earth? What would that make us as a community feel as we played through it? I still want them to do the Human exodus thing. But I digress.

I've only played Hunter so far, but Solar 3.0 seems cool. Definitely need to play around with builds, which leads to the frustrating part. Building armor sets is so fucking tedious, especially with power level being attached to it. I didn't play much of last season, I'm at 1532. All my stuff is set up for Void, so I either need to collect more armor and level it up, or I need to convert some pieces to Solar affinity to make shit work.

Okay, so this makes me just want to hang out with you for a couple evenings and play with builds, because for me that's where 3/4 the fun is in Destiny. Don't get me wrong, everything new always feels beautiful and crisp, whether it suits me or not, so I'm not saying there's nothing else to enjoy.

If you want my advice, I would say don't use anything if it isn't within 10 points of your desired power level. Keep some cores on-hand to use a blue or a high-power trash drop to bring whatever piece of gear it is up to somewhere close to where you want it. If you're the type that over-focuses on max light, well. You're going to be frustrated. At least, that frustrates me, and makes me feel incredibly limited versus playing just a little under-levelled and having access to nearly anything I want.

I don't know if you obsess over owning every possible mod available like I do(damn you, Adept mods), but I think that's the only real limitation. Also, not sure if you're a DIM user, but saving loadouts and swapping on the fly is such a game-changer, I honestly feel like anyone not using third-party apps to manage their gear and loadouts is really missing out on the quality of life that's possible in Destiny. I can swap all my gear around without a second thought, and equip entire builds at a single click. I'm constantly swapping out every last mod on a piece of armor to fit some particular build I'm in the mood for, and that build will only last 5-6 activities at max. Building on the fly is kind of my playstyle. (I'm only spending so many words on this in an effort to suggest a way to ease the parts that frustrate you. <3)

Speaking of power level, when are they gonna ditch this shit? The new activity is 1580, but the tool tip says you will straight up just be brought up to power to play it. So why the hell does it even exist? To be clear, this is a good thing, as without it doing that, I'd be looking at who knows how long just grinding power to get it, and I absolutely would have just uninstalled the game again instead. Just ditch it already, everything they've been doing is moving that direction anyway. I'm tired of the constantly moving target.

I can appreciate this, but it's never really bothered me outside of IB, Raids, and sometimes the Invasion dichotomy in Gambit. I can't say that I think it's necessary, but I realize it makes much of the ingame economy work, and if every possible combination of our gear would always result in the same power (ie, efficacy against enemies), then why would anyone ever be moved to use any other combination of weapons or gear? People would get bored with a flat meta, wouldn't they? If my gear from last season is just as effective as this season, with no impetus to go after the new and different things, then my own game experience stagnates, doesn't it?

I do realize I begin to sound like someone who's been pounding the Kool-Aid there, but the point stands. I'm not in love with the concept of investment systems (enjoy yourself here, Cody), but I've got to say it truly hasn't ever bothered me or conditioned my play habits to exist within that particular system. If I find myself too under-levelled for something, it's usually a matter of a few quick infusions, or swapping a couple pieces of gear, and that's it.

I hear you about the constantly moving target, and no judgement whatsoever, but I'm here to have fun, and chasing a number because that's where we're supposed to be to enjoy the game just feels like bunk to me. As far as I'm concerned, I'll get there when I get there, and so far that's always turned out to be near the middle of a season, so I can't say I really feel like I've ever had to grind to enjoy myself playing the activities I want to play. But as with everything, YMMV.

~m