On play styles and fun and weapons and other thoughts. (Destiny)

by cheapLEY , Wednesday, July 29, 2015, 21:56 (3504 days ago)

The events of the last few weeks have set the hamster wheels in motion. It saddens me to see people leave the wonderful world of Destiny, although I respect the decision if the game is no longer appealing. But I do not want this post to be the same old thing we've heard over and over again, although I suspect some of that may happen anyway.

Today I want to look on the brighter side.

Something happened last night that I want to lead with. As I've been doing for the past month, I signed up for Kermit's Co-Op game night, wherein we split into Fireteams and do the Weekly Heroic and Nightfall strikes and other things, depending on what folks are in the mood for. One memorable evening saw Anton P. Nym and myself knocking out some wolf bounties, culminating in a memorable Defend the Warsat, pack of wolves, and Urzok battle (the wolves got away, unfortunately).

Last night I ran the Nightfall and Heroic strikes with Kermit and Lawnmower, and it was the most fun I've had doing strikes in quite a while. After going up the gravity lift during the Taniks strike, we spent six or seven minutes staring out the window, looking at the landscape of the moon, and realized you can totally see the patrol area, and the beginning of the Crota raid.

The best thing, however, was that we actually did both of the strikes, the full things. We didn't run past anything, we fought our way through all encounters during both Taniks and Winter's Run. It's the first time I've done that in months, and it was great.

And it made me realize that I've been playing Destiny wrong, at least partly (I've been slowly coming around to this conclusion for a while.) While I've never really been focused merely on getting the event rewards and hunting loot, I am guilty of taking the quickest way through strikes, mainly because when I started playing, I didn't have anyone on my friends list that also played. So I just went into the strike playlists, and that's how everyone does them. As quickly as possible. That's how I learned to play the game.

Now, I try not to play like that, or at least not as often. I've realized that Destiny is much, much more enjoyable when you stop chasing that Gjallarhorn or Hawkmoon, stop worrying about getting that Etheric Light. Just play the game to have fun.

I realize that sometimes this is difficult. I still want that Etheric Light so I can reach 34 and attempt to take on Skolas. I still want that Gjallarhorn because it looks like stupid fun to shred enemies to pieces. I still want all the things. But I've stopped being frustrated when I don't get the things. When the rewards start driving the gameplay so much, it's time to slow down.

Which brings me around to another thing I want to mention. I received a Hard Light from the Nightfall last night. This is my second Hard Light. The first one I received the first time I opened a PoE chest. I used it for all of the thirty minutes, decided it sucked, and sharded it. Now, I'm in love with it. I'm really glad I got another one. It's so much fun to use!

So I want to ask, what other weapons are just fun to use, even if they're not necessarily good? It seems like many of the weapons focus on being good weapons, with damage or accuracy perks, or Red Death's health regen, or what have you. Hard Light's ricochet is just stupid fun, and I wish there was more of this.

So basically, what I'm trying to say is this:

Destiny is super fun, once you get off the treadmill and focus on the little things. Bad weapons are fun. Not cheesing things is fun. You guys are fun.

After some of the things that have been going down lately, I just want to say that this place is awesome. Being a part of this community brings out the best in Destiny. It truly wouldn't be the same without you all.