What I mean is: the aliens don't seem to be bothering us. We go out and hassle them on their turf. We haven't fought them in the streets of the city.

Maybe we should see something like that in order to establish that the aliens are a visceral threat and that it's wise to be going out and taking them on.

We have been told that the city is under attack but we haven't seen it. And although we can see that they could pose a threat if allowed to grow in power... It's more of an intellectual exercise.

But having civilians running for cover and having to drive back an assault through a breach in the wall would drive home on an emotional level that our people were in danger and that we were truly being Guardians.

The Devil's Lair assault wave was just that: a timed section of gameplay where you have to hold out for a fixed length of time until a gate is opened. It didn't have emotional weight or any meaningful story stakes.

Remember the h2 trailer where the Chief was the reinforcements on the spoke? Contrast that with what we've seen in trailers for Destiny to date.

What I mean is: the aliens don't seem to be bothering us. We go out and hassle them on their turf. We haven't fought them in the streets of the city.

The Traveler. The City exists because the location beneath the traveler is safe. Or presumed to be.

then where is the danger?

I imagine that the campaign will introduce the darkness and then we can see that the shields might fail once that metal band starts attacking. But, prior to the campaign kicking off, where is the sense of threat?

Maybe the city could have grown since the Traveller took root. Maybe refugees from the wilderness have built shanty towns outside the main walls and shields. These areas would have their own ramshackle walls that are less formidable. These communities could be vulnerable and our player characters could be from those communities. So we would have something to protect.

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Is there some way that the shielded city can be attacked?

How do the Traveller's shields work? What do they shield us from?

• our enemies have jump capable ships that can launch surprise attacks
  
• they are space capable so could bombard us from orbit
  
• some have dark magics

Maybe these are the things that the Traveller shields us from.

It can:

• generate an anti-jump field
  
• deflect bombardments
  
• suppress dark magic
  
• maybe the Traveller's fields can explode anything flying at high speed under its shadow

So air/space based attacks may be ruled out, as are quick raids via jump capable ships.

This may leave land based and amphibious attacks as a viable option for attackers.

Our enemies seem to be a rag tag collection of vagabonds. And except for the Cabal (who don't seem interested in Earth right now) they aren't set up for a large scale, land based or amphibious assault.

Nevertheless they could still do raids and lay siege to us.

This would give our Guardians something to do. And an increase in raids or increased raiding success would give us an incentive to patrol around the city and bring the fight to them. It's always best to have soldiers outside the walls to defend them and scouts to give advanced warning. (Though isn't that what satellites are for? ;-)

Air Defence Expansion Pack

It's hard to imagine any modern warfare being conducted without an air force. I know that Destiny will be a FPS but it would still be nice to have an expansion pack that let's us fly in the city's air force :-)

then where is the danger?

I imagine that the campaign will introduce the darkness and then we can see that the shields might fail once that metal band starts attacking. But, prior to the campaign kicking off, where is the sense of threat?

Maybe the city could have grown since the Traveller took root. Maybe refugees from the wilderness have built shanty towns outside the main walls and shields. These areas would have their own ramshackle walls that are less formidable. These communities could be vulnerable and our player characters could be from those communities. So we would have something to protect.

We know there is the looming threat of 'The Darkness' somewhere in the background that caused those gaping holes on the Traveler. But, I was under the impression the main point of Destiny was outward expansion - taking back old territories and killing alien invaders.

There probably will be an arc involving a threat to The City itself but I would be kinda surprised if that occurred in the first game.

EDIT: Otherwise you get the 'Earth is under attack... again!' syndrome that Halo fell into.

I don't know how much of this is meant literally, but if you go watch the Strike video again, the narrator at the beginning mentions that the Fallen are clawing at the walls of the City. Now, this could mean they just keep moving closer and closer, or it could mean they are actually attacking the City. I hope there are at least occasional events where we defend outside the city at the very least.

My speculation is very similar to yours here. The Traveler must be doing SOMETHING that keeps the air clear of enemy ships and incoming weaponry or else someone would have just tugged over an asteroid by now. It's a neat plot point really providing players with a place to always come home to while also giving them a reason to defend the walls and stretch out and strike at The City's enemies. Can't let the Fallen build too big a base in Russia or wherever because while the Forces of The City excel in small raids and Strikes, we probably don't have the out and out firepower to fight back a full scale ground invasion.

It's going to be quite the thing in Destiny 2 when something happens to the Traveler leaving The City vulnerable for the first time in centuries. :)

Even with the Traveler overhead The City is surely dependent on securing outside resources. Humanity is probably not building its guns, armor, and spaceships only using materials directly under the Traveler. Not to mention things like food and power. I'm very interested in seeing just how Humanity manages to support a solar system wide war effort from one city stuck off on an island...

the narrator at the beginning mentions that the Fallen are clawing at the walls of the City. Now, this could mean they just keep moving closer and closer, or it could mean they are actually attacking the City. I hope there are at least occasional events where we defend outside the city at the very least.

It could also mean that the Fallen are literally clawing at the walls with their bear hands.

Finally, a use for these two extra arms!

It could also mean that the Fallen are literally clawing at the walls with their bear hands.

Fallen have BEAR hands?!? Man, how do they hold weapons?

It could also mean that the Fallen are literally clawing at the walls with their bear hands.

Fallen have BEAR hands?!? Man, how do they hold weapons?

Barely.

You could say they have the right to bear arms.

Humanity is probably not building its guns, armor, and spaceships only using materials directly under the Traveler.

I actually believe they are. Well, not exactly under the Traveler, but maybe from the Traveler itself. Silly humans.

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There was one time where a grizzly stepped into a tub of paint that caused some of his fur to fall out, and refused to go out in public until it had regrown. Nobody would have given him trouble for it...

But he couldn't bear bearing Behr-bared bear paws.

I can barely take much more of this.

Unless...

UNLESS...

...

Its a Destiny fan site.

Bear puns.

What more do you need to know. I mean... Obviously.

but aside from Voguing I'm not sure what else they do with them.

I've tried watching the game play vids for examples of real use for those arms and I haven't seen any. (Not saying that they don't do something useful but any real use hasn't registered.)

I could imagine that they'd carry short blades when they wield the large sword with their large arms and they'd use the small arms to defend themselves when they wind up for a big strike with the big sword. They can make a big back swing and be safe because you couldn't get in under their guard (the smaller arms have got that covered).

I wonder if the animators have difficulty thinking of things for the small arms to do.

Could they carry and wield the secondary weapon. The small arms (pistol) could be carried and wielded by the small arms and the larger arms (those big flame throwers) could be carried and wielded by the large arms.

From your comment I guess that I'm not the only one who has noticed that the small arms are underutilised.

We can see the threat intellectually but we don't feel it.

We know there is the looming threat of 'The Darkness' somewhere in the background that caused those gaping holes on the Traveler. But, I was under the impression the main point of Destiny was outward expansion - taking back old territories and killing alien invaders.

I wasn't thinking of focussing entirely on defending the city. I'm suggesting that we should have seen some game play where the stand against waves of enemies was guarding a breach in the wall until forces from the tower can reach the breach.

They could have shown civilians and children running to shelters and an impromptu fire team forming to defend the breach.

I understand that the Devil's Lair vid was designed to showcase real gameplay features. I just think that we could have seen an attack on the city some months ago (to establish the threat). If the game wasn't going to feature defences of the city then Bungie could have said this to the press. They could have said that the point of the city attack Vids was soley to establish the threat that the city was under.

Maybe Bungie was worried about having something in a trailer that was not actually in game.

There probably will be an arc involving a threat to The City itself but I would be kinda surprised if that occurred in the first game.

EDIT: Otherwise you get the 'Earth is under attack... again!' syndrome that Halo fell into.

Well they are probably going to go there at some point ;-)

Edit:

Maybe they could have shown the fight from the perspective of a young child hiding in cover, watching such a raid and seeing Guardians defending the city. That child could grow to be a Guardian today. I think that this would show the threat but not make a game play promise. We could be told that our Guardians will be adults and wont start as children.

I wonder if the animators have difficulty thinking of things for the small arms to do.

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Maybe Bungie was worried about having something in a trailer that was not actually in game.

Rubbish. There is no possible way that showing an "Earth defense" gameplay trailer early on and then not having that content in the final game could go wrong. ;)

Maybe they could have shown the fight from the perspective of a young child hiding in cover, watching such a raid and seeing Guardians defending the city. That child could grow to be a Guardian today. I think that this would show the threat but not make a game play promise. We could be told that our Guardians will be adults and wont start as children.

I REALLY like this trailer idea. It follows naturally from the Law of the Jungle trailer.

I imagine that the campaign will introduce the darkness and then we can see that the shields might fail once that metal band starts attacking.

Get your hands off of my city, mother****er...

Bungie always has some kind of "tutorial" mission where you get used to the controls and get introduced to the game. Perhaps the "tutorial" mission for Destiny could include the city being under attack. During the attack, the player must find a weapon to defend themselves, after which they are invited to become a Guardian.