Hypothetical - Guardian Trainer (Destiny)

by Claude Errera , Monday, June 23, 2014, 13:31 (3600 days ago) @ Cody Miller

The problem with this argument (and it's been a problem every time you've tried to make this argument, actually) is that you assume that your idea of 'fun' matches mine (or Bungie's, or ANYONE's). A system that provides multiple ways of getting from A to B means people who don't like method 1 as much can try method 2 - or maybe people who've done method 1 a dozen times are tired of method 1 and want to try something new. (Your depiction of an investment system as a critical piece that must be 'worked' before you can do the real 'meat' of the game is also a pretty shallow view; from what I saw in the Alpha, you've got that wrong, too. The investment system gives you a way of shortcutting the normal progression; they build a system that they think will make most people happy, but if you're, say, more impatient than the average bear, you can skip ahead by collecting Y and making weapons powerful enough to take on enemy Z before you've actually played enough to learn all the skills that might be useful against Z. There is no 'right' way - you might be happier with the shortcut, but I might be miserable if I haven't had the added practice against enemies you deem 'redundant'.

The investment system gives the entire ecosystem greater robustness, allowing a wider range of playstyles to coexist. The idea that there is an optimum level of 'fun' and that anything that doesn't contribute to that level is 'filler' is a kindergartner's view of the world. You're brighter than that.