Wow, about to give up (Destiny)

by tadboz, Fort Collins, CO, Friday, September 12, 2014, 21:15 (3735 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I've read the whole thread up to this point and I think both the Cody camp and Pete camp have good points. It's a lot about the mindset you take when approaching this. Now, what I'm about to say might make people's heads explode, for a variety of reasons, and I apologize up-front if I'm out of my gourd here.

Cody, I understand what you're saying. The game should remain fun and interesting at any point in the progression. Should. But... think about this:

What is college? College is like Destiny pre-20. You're doing new classes each semester, working towards a goal, building accomplishments. Then, out of some sense of masochism, you pursue grad school. Then it's the same classes you took before, just more brutal. This is Destiny after level 20. But the enticement of further accomplishment (high level gear) spurs you to keep going, despite not wanting to--because the activity itself has lost its appeal, whether from difficulty or the sheer amount of time spent. So you go for the PhD. So you can, what, teach? You go through that to limit your prospects? But... but... it's the measure of success! Right? We all want that full set of Exotic armor. But what will that REALLY take?

We came here to Become Legend, no? To forge our stories in battle. Whether intentionally or not, maybe Bungie has made something deeper than just an FPS for us to dick around in. Stories, stories. Put your fan-fic hats on for a sec. You're a Guardian, reborn into an unfamiliar world. You meet other Guardians as you lash out at the forces of the Darkness. Is every day going to be epic? Is every encounter going to be like the battle below Halo 3's citadel? No, of course not. You go out in your jump ship, poke around the wastelands of our former empire, and return maybe that night, maybe days later, with whatever you've found and tales of those you drove back into the vacuum of space. Periodically, you rest and scratch your ass while watching vids off the net (like we all ought to do once in a while IRL; this game's been out 4 days only, people). You mingle in the Tower, enjoy nightlife in the City. You go beyond the Wall again. You come back. Rinse, wash, repeat.

See, this is an allegory for our real lives. It's not every day we feel like Legends. But when those times do come, it's awesome! The rest of the time, we should keep things in perspective. We do our Guardian jobs and it's not always fun. We live, we play, we laugh. We meet another Guardian, form a bond, fall in love. We have a family. You don't land that Exotic gear in a day. It might take years. You go too fast and all the you get is exhaustion, frustration--as is the case in anything! The point is, if you focus just on how annoying it is that a grind lies between you and Ultimate Victory, you're going to drive yourself insane. Just as the grind between burger flipper and CEO would drive us to drink/drugs/suicide if it was all we could think of. There's more out there and it can't be had instantly.

So maybe I'm crazy and you all want to rend me with shovels for this inane metaphor. But that's none of my business.