DE puts Bungie to shame with a "Persistent World". (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Sunday, March 22, 2015, 10:15 (3325 days ago)
edited by Korny, Sunday, March 22, 2015, 10:51

It's time for the weekly "Korny won't shut up about Warframe" thread. This one will discuss a topic that bugs me more and more each month. Out of the gate, Destiny was hyped to be a "persistent world", and Bungie never made any attempt to counter or clarify that claim.

Almost seven months down the road, and the only change to the game world has been the Crota content: A few MP maps, four short story missions, a bug-riddled Raid, some new gear, and UI/Interaction tweaks. Which is frustrating, because needed improvements were easy to find and call out during the game's Alpha, and to date, almost none have even been talked about, much less addressed:

From my Alpha writeup:

It may have just been an Alpha thing (which I may end up saying a lot), but it did feel like some vital features were missing from the options menu...

• Audio- The music in Destiny is amazing, bombastic, and constant... Which may be a problem for some players... I loved the ambient noises, whether it's hearing a firefight outside of the building that I'm in, or when I'm reloading inside of a quiet cave, the audio design in the game is hands down the BEST that I've ever heard. Crisp clean sound and environmental effects. Unfortunately, a lot of this gets drowned out by the music, and having the option to turn it off (or at least turn it down) would be greatly appreciated. Sliders for voices, effects, and music would be ideal.
  -Also, one of the settings allows mic voices to come through the speakers, but the game still makes voices extremely difficult to hear. Prioritizing microphone volume should be an option.
  
• HUD elements- While the HUD isn't cluttered by any means, I'd like to have more control over it. The option to disable HUD elements is extremely important, whether it's disabling the Radar, having ammo or XP bars fade out when not in use would be nice, and would assist in taking great screenshots. Being able to reduce the size or opacity of HUD elements would also be appreciated, as screens come in many sizes. (see: Battlefield 4)
  -Also of importance, the ability to turn off damage feedback and enemy health bars should be given as an option. While seeing numbers fly off an enemy that you shoot is extremely helpful when assessing combat situations and weapon efficiency, it does hurt immersion somewhat. (see: Dead Island)
  
• Colorblind settings- This doesn't apply to me, and from what I've seen, the game does a pretty good job of avoiding common color clashes, but it's nice to keep other people in mind.
  
• Queuing- Besides being able to join the fireteam, it would be very useful if we could queue up to join whenever an opening in the game becomes available.

I hate to sound like someone else here, but this is super basic stuff, and the fact that it's taken this long for some of these issues to even be addressed is really unacceptable.

But I'm going off on a tangent. Back to the topic at hand. Persistent World.

Even with the addition of Crota's End, nothing has really changed in the world of Destiny. The only permanent change has been the appearance of Eris, and her ship (and the loot cave Easter Egg, but that doesn't count). Literally everything else in the game has remained unaffected.

Now let's go take a look at what Digital Extremes has done with Warframe. But in order to understand, some quick lore info and summaries of player-driven events are required. While there are many different stories and arcs in the Warframe lore, we'll focus on a single one: The Fomorian arc, and Councilor Vay Hek.

There are multiple enemy factions in the game, two of the Primary factions are the Grineer, and the Corpus.

The Grineer can best be compared to Halo's Covenant. Scavengers. Immitative rather than innovative. Powerful ships and large invasions had helped them conquer the Solar System, until turmoil and War pushed them out to the edges of the System:

To a man, the Grineer are a race of clones; products of ancient, half-remembered technologies. Copies of copies, Grineer are produced in industrial quantities, and all Grineer are genetically defective, their genome damaged by the invasive cloning procedures used to birth each generation. However, these defects are as mass-produced as the Grineer themselves, allowing for the rapid standardization of techno-augmetic adaptation between such generations. Indeed, it could be argued that the Grineer are better at fixing broken bodies than they are at making ones that function to begin with. Their homeworld is a ruined, uninhabitable Earth. They are people acting on an ultimate xenophobia, fueled by hereditary madness, and a burning hate of anything and anyone not like themselves. In the end, should they succeed, there will only be Grineer left alive in the solar system.

In some of their lore, there is mention of massive ships that the Grineer used for war: Fomorians (Think CSO-class supercarriers), powerful warships that could help them regain control of the countless territories that they'd lost over time.

Another major faction is the Corpus. They can somewhat be compared to Halo's Prometheans, in that they have advanced technologies that help counter their lower numbers, but they hold no real allegiance. Profit is their one true driving force, and they'll readily ally themselves with either the Grineer or Tenno (players) if it suits their needs:

The Corpus are a conglomeration of commercial and industrial interests unified by a single trade language and a common goal - the acquisition and trading of ancient Orokin technologies and Warframes.

• Sling-Stone Event-(July 2013)
  
  In the game's early days, the majority of planets were controlled by the Corpus. The Grineer became aware of Orokin (think Forerunner) artifacts that were both extremely powerful and valuable, and decided to fight the Corpus for their control. They launched attacks with their legendary Fomorian ships, and it led to a major event where players had to help the Corpus push back the assault and stop the Grineer by doing a series of sabotage infiltrations to disable (and destroy) the Fomorian fleet.
  
  The community FAILED the event, and the Grineer gained control of many territories (though players were able to disable/destroy a sizeable portion of the fleet), which provided them with enough resources to be taken seriously by the Corpus, and a quasi-truce was struck, as business arrangements and contracts were made.
  
  
• The Gradivus Dilemma- (October 2013)
  Alad V of the Corpus has discovered a cache of Tenno in cryosleep and intends on exploiting them for his secret weapons project. The Grineer are outraged at this contract violation. They are using this as an excuse to invade Corpus space, enslave the local population, and grow their power. The Lotus is your guide but not your conscience. You will have to choose which side to support:
  Choose Loyalty, and side with the Grineer to destroy Corpus forces and free your kin. Choose Sacrifice, siding with Corpus to halt the Grineer conquest and enslavement of colonies. Both sides have reached out to the Lotus with reward offers for each contested location as well as rewards for the conflict as a whole.
  
  This is the turning point of how successful Digital Extremes has been in merging changes and additions to the game with the lore and events. And where Bungie should start paying attention.
  
  
  
  The Grineer began to wage War against the Corpus, and a new gametype was added: Invasions. Players were tasked with picking a side to support (each side offered different rewards and promises, and players directly affected the outcome of the event).
  
  
  The Event was massive, and even existed outside of the game proper, with the Faction leaders exchanging taunts (and bringing new insight into some of the lore) on the Warframe Forum. Ultimately, players opted to side with the Grineer, which gave them even more resources and power. Though the event was over, the Invasions continued (and are ongoing to this day), often providing players with opportunities at extremely rare resources.
  
  
  I noticed at one point how our own greed manipulated us, because a player doesn't think about the long-term consequences of his actions. For 10,000 more credits, or for a rare resource, players were willing to help the Grineer (or Corpus) gain control of a sector, which slowly gave the Grineer more control and resources.
  
  On top of this, a rare and powerful weapon could only be gained by killing a certain enemy that only had a chance to hunt players if they sided with the Grineer during invasions, which players did, causing the Corpus to lose a huge amount of territory on the game map.
  
  The Grineer were becoming more and more powerful, and it was all because of the players.
  
  
• Tethra's Doom-(March 2014)
  Vay Hek is rebuilding the Fomorian Fleet. His aim is nothing less than complete domination of the Origin System. Thousands of these monstrous ships are in production. The Grineer will become unstoppable if they are completed. We must not let this happen.
  
  This event introduced the Hijack gametype to the game, where players must guide a heavily-guarded Fomorian Core across a map while fighting off the enemy. The catch is that the core can only be moved by players letting the mechanism sap their shields, making them extremely vulnerable while they move the core. Coordination and teamwork are essential. The event also had exclusive items that became extremely valuable due to their usefulness (the game includes a trade system between players), which was something seen to a lesser extent in previous events, but now the items truly were exclusive, and to date are extremely expensive in Trades.
  
  A consequence of players' actions, the Tenno had to deal with a reinvigorated Grineer force, but players were successful in completing this event's objectives, which cost the Grineer enough resources that they had to make scattered deals with the Corpus again (and ostensibly bringing an end to the Fomorian threat.
  
  
• Archwing- (October 2014)
  What's a feature that people have been clamoring for from Destiny that Bungie introduced in Reach? Space Combat.
  Guess what game got Space combat? Warframe. Through a new quest, the Archwing was introduced. Players had to piece together the pieces of the Archwing as they investigated suspicious goings-on between the Corpus and Grineer. The final mission in the quest brought everything to a head in a pretty awesome way:

Note how references to earlier events come into play. The world has been constantly changing since day 1, but the characters acknowledge these events, rather than Destiny's stagnant tower characters.

• In early December 2014, seven different Relays were introduced to the game. Relays are similar to Destiny's Tower (a trader that makes occasional visits, Faction representatives, Stores), but are promising to be more expansive, as they allow up to 100 players in one instance, allow people to build teams for different missions, and with the most recent update have received a Grimoire Library of sorts that will be community-driven (based on scanning special enemies throughout the System)...
  The different Relays have different barriers to entry, such as the low-level Mercury (Larunda Relay) allowing anyone to stop by and trade; compared to Pluto (Orcus Relay), which requires a Mastery Rank of 8 for entry (unless you get Taxi'd by a party leader). This helped people find ideal player groups with which to play with and chat. DE has gone in depth about the expansions and value that they want to add to the relays, which has given players a lot to look forward to.
  
  
• The Eyes of Blight- (December 2014)
  Vay Hek is making his move. We have just detected a Balor Fomorian traveling on an interception course with Vesper Relay. The beast moves slowly but if we allow it to get within firing range, it will surely obliterate our new Relay. We need to destroy it before that happens.
  
  This video describes the event in a pretty concise way. What's great about the events is that they are either unique, one-off gametypes, tweaks to existing missions, or they introduce brand new missions to the game that will remain. This event was one of the one-offs, but did use existing resources and gametypes to enhance it.

• This is the most recent event, and one that will stick with me for a good while. LISTEN UP, BUNGIE!
  
  Players only had a little over a week to level their Archwing, and many had no warning that it would be required for the next event, so they weren't ready. The PC folk got the event first, and though they managed to band together and save Mercury, they couldn't do the same for Venus. Then they lost the Earth Relay. This sent waves of panic throughout the community, and by the time the event was over, the PC crowd had lost four of their seven relays before they could destroy all of the Fomorians. When the event came to consoles, it was full of anxiety and tension. The Xbox crowd lost Mercury. PS4 saved it. They lost Earth and Saturn. We mopped the floor with the Fomorians on those worlds...
  But then we got sloppy. I can't remember what happened, but when the attack on Europa (Leonov Relay) only had three hours to finish, and the Fomorian was still at 24% health, People started panicking on all of the chat networks. "Save Europa!" became a rallying cry, and people desperately looked to find fireteams that could run the missions. High-level players did their best to carry their low-level teams, and Clans were asking their members to drop what they were doing and run the Event.
  Two hours to go, and the Fomorian was still at 18% health. A feeling of dread was setting in. People on the chats were getting angry that people weren't succeeding at the mission, or were off doing other things. "RIP Europa" was becoming more common as people grew annoyed at the requests to fight for a doomed relay. Then we lost it (though the Xbox Crowd had banded together after two losses and saved theirs). People grew discouraged as the event grew more difficult, and I can't remember what else happened, but though we barely saved the Relay after Europa, we lost the final three assaults.
  
  And just like the PC crowd, we too only have three relays left (Xbox folk managed to save the top-tier Pluto relay, which I find impressive). Vay Hek taught the community some humility... Now we have to teach him a different lesson.
  
  
• The Law of Retribution. (March 2015)
  Tenno are out for vengeance, and Grineer Councilor Vay Hek has nowhere left to hide. Hot on his trail after the assault on Relays during Eyes of Blight, the Lotus will guide a precision strike force to hunt down and put an end to Vay Hek once and for all. Be wary Tenno. Numbers alone will not protect you when diving into the heart of Grineer military power.
  
  An 8-Player Raid is being introduced to Warframe, tasking players with the assassination of Vay Hek, ending the Fomorian arc introduced to the game two years ago. Unlike Destiny's raids, this is an assault on an enemy that we've not only gotten to know, but that we have a personal score to settle with. And upon success of the raid, the event will have a permanent impact on the game's Universe.

And this one chain of events is just part of the list of major events that have shaped what the game world is now. And I haven't even mentioned that Clans have incentive to participate in these events, as they can win large trophies that they can permanently display in their Dojo (Clan Relay), as well as a permanent spot on the event leaderboard.

Though I played Warframe early on, I didn't find the game enjoyable enough to get into it, but I definitely saw the potential. And DE has certainly felt the same way, as the game is already on version 16. And here's the thing. Bungie is a AAA developer with 500 employees, with one barebones content pack after seven months, with two more months to go until the next one. Digital Extremes is a developer with 150 employees, and they are constantly, CONSTANTLY, adding content to the game. Heck, just look at the most recent version. That's every month. Pretty much every month since launch, they've put out new content in some way or another. And the content has an effect on the world that they've created.

Not only that, but they are great at communicating with players on changes and content that they have planned for the future (through six livestream videos that they do every month). Update 16 was only announced about a month ago, with promises of the raid, a new Warframe, new weapons, a new Prime Warframe (Exotic versions of existing Frames), a PvP overhaul, and other stuff. Announced a month ago, and it's all here now. Heck, they have even teased the next major story arc that also deals with ancient lore. And to top it all off, DE has achieved all of this without ever paywalling a single non-cosmetic thing in the game. Everything has been free from day 1, with convenience fees being pretty much their only player-driven source of revenue, while Bungie has their "500 million" budget and five years working on the game already... And yet look at what DE can do in a single update, or with a single story arc, and they make it impactful and permanent.

Then you go back to Destiny:
Oh look, Inferno playlist. It's like regular crucible, only your Radar is disabled. yay.
New Bounty. Now you need 20 headshots with any weapon instead of just Auto Rifles. yay.
Upcoming UI changes. Now you can turn the game audio down and voices up a bit more. yay.

New Multiplayer maps! But they're not available to you outside of their specific playlist.
331 weapons! That don't matter outside of the raid.
Umm... Exclusive emblem for the Bungie Bounty?
...

DE has less than a third of the employees that Bungie has. What is the deal? Will House of Wolves finally give up substantial content? I mean, it was announced before the game even released...

Something I'd like to see: if the upcoming map pack has three maps, make a fourth, then have a community event, like a Faction struggle for claiming territory that leads to the discovery/claiming of one of the Crucible maps.

Fighting for New Monarchy led to unlocking map A for free for everybody.
Fighting for Dead Orbit led to unlocking map B for free for everybody.
Fighting for Future War Cult led to unlocking map C for free for everybody.

That'd at least feel like a Persistent change, because players will have had a direct impact on the world, as regardless of DLC content, every player would have one more map, maybe one with the corresponding Faction's flags or insignias scattered about, and the rest would be in the map pack.

SOMETHING to affect what the game brings to the table.