My concern (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Thursday, April 23, 2015, 16:34 (3445 days ago) @ Cody Miller

It wouldn't be right if I were completely satisfied, would it? :-p

Heh. Indeed. :p

My concern is that too much of the House of Wolves experience will revolve around grinding to upgrade, with not a lot of new things to do, and the activities that are there mainly being there to service the grind.

I've always wondered what was the point of having great weapons drop from end game content. So you've just done the hardest content in the game. But then, what do you need the best guns for? If I'm running Prison of Elders every week, and doing Trials of Osiris already, why would I need the new guns? There's a reason you don't get the best stuff from the hardest optional bosses in JPRGs; the game makes them so hard that you have to use your best stuff to defeat them!

Well, it's like when we all started doing Vault of Glass. Everyone started with mostly blue armor and blue weapons and even once the puzzles had been solved just surviving was still a decent challenge because everyone was weaker and did less damage. Then there was hard mode. Improving your armor and weapons wasn't strictly necessary but it also wasn't pointless. Same for Crota's End if not even more so since enemies there actually outlevel you. The grind still had relevance. I imagine it will be similar for the Prison of Elders...

I'm just worried that the ability to upgrade old gear is going to replace content that could have been in the game to spend time on instead. I foresee the story missions being easy, and the poor storytelling continuing. This leaves Prison of Elders, which I cannot possibly imagine being as challenging as a raid that is expertly crafted by hand. I guess we'll know more when that's revealed. I'm hoping it's not like firefight.

My fear is that the grind will simply get worse, since so much gear has to be upgraded to 365. Everything you buy looks like it starts at 331 and needs to be ascended. I'm playing out this scenario in my head, and a lot of it just seems pointless… at least with raids I can run them because the activity is inherently challenging. But judging by the activities that drop upgrade materials, it would appear you'd need to do them often.

Even if the Prison of Elders is Firefight, wasn't Firefight challenging? To me it was more challenging than any Halo mission or Destiny Raid because I never survived through an entire Firefight... ever. In some ways Firefight was the purest form of Halo combat.

I wonder if I'm making sense at all. I'm just in general sick of the idea of grinding and upgrading, and would just rather play cool shit. Granted, the system they have is probably the best I could have imagined for what it is, and so they have my admiration. The only thing that would make it better is being able to use commendations to buy legacy gear (which could then be ascended!).

I guess from my point of view I don't see grinding as necessary. I do Crota and Crucible and Iron Banner at level 31 most of the time. Perhaps consider just playing when you feel like it or when you have a good group to play with and letting the grind and upgrades come to you naturally? Instead of seeking them out?