Old Main Title: Bungie Hates PvE

MEGA INTRODUCTION!!!11!

STANDARD INTRODUCTION

Greetings to you all, fellow Destiny.Bungie.Org forum goers and of course, to our very namesake Bungie as well. I hope where ever you are lurking from you are in a moderately comfortable chair and are ready once again for a read. Seriously. This mega post is to be a culmination of so many things already said and unsaid. Its contents are to be just a sample of my many sporadic thoughts about Destiny Year One. Its comments sparked not just from my experiences and impressions, but of past posts made both upon this forum and elsewhere among the net. Within this tiny rhizome of embedded links before you I hope to enlighten, inspire, and simply imbue understanding. Or perhaps I'm just inadvertently wasting your time; there is always that available default.

Since this post is SO large at approximately fifteenish thousand plus of words, I became concerned that this post would not be read. I am also aware that my ability to format the written word has its moments of want. I decided that if I am going to try and communicate my thoughts in such an amount, that I might as well give another option. I have been told a number of times that my voice contains dulcet tones, so I figure, what the hey. If you don't want to read it, but still would like to know of my thoughts, I present your second option. I'll just read it to you at risk of me causing your eardrums to bleed while I adlib it along the way as I pretend I can do voice work. In this audio I shall start at the beginning, and read everything including this. Heh. Wow. What the hell am I reading? When does this happen in the post? Now. You're reading at now. Everything that happens now, is happening now. What happened to then? You passed then. When? Just now. You're at now now. Go back to then. When? Now. Now? Now. I can't. Why? We missed it. Ugh. :P

If you don't want to read this post (or be read to), or even want to understand what I have to say then what are you doing here at the beginning? The TL;DR is at the end of this total post. Too long still? Here is a Super TL;DR!!

So…yea. Welcome to my “short story”; my mega post. As I paint with words in an artist’s wild abandon, I hope it becomes very obvious that this post is not from your average Bungie fan. A degree of my incite comes from the knowhow of videogames that a majority are not aware of. I don't know quantitatively how much that might be though. After all I'm not even a junior...yet.

Since there is so much to be said, let's just start with the fine print the internet seems to require, and speak about the very meat that was to originally spark you onto this page. The reason why I started this post in the first place.

Bungie hates PvE.

------- Chapter 1:: Awareness of Self -------

At first glance this phrase of "Bungie hates PvE" is hyperbolic nonsensical click-bait, and I say as much upon my first mentioning’s of it here.

A snippet of which reads:

"I've had this thought rattling around in my brain. I'm not really sure where it came from right now, or the actual cause - nor do I have anything to back it up with at the moment. Yet I have had this thought, that has a certain taint for hyperbole upon it, that has given me serious pause in considering whether or not I should even bother playing Destiny anymore.

This thought is - Bungie hates PVE. Total nonsense... right? If you concur, then I agree. Yet I can't shake it. Bungie hates PVE.

So… In my original post of the 27th of May, this PvE phrase for me had existence but no purpose, which I should add, is a fancy way of saying I was thinking it but I didn’t exactly know why. So I decided to look into it. From this spark, the flame of my search begin to grow, and since thoroughness (or at least my attempt of it) became a very time consuming thing, this flame was able to observe E3, Gamescom, and the gradual build up towards Destinies Year two.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am doing. All that you shall see before you are my very own observations and conclusions, where in which I strived to present how I have come to my conclusions.

I am also aware that my conclusions can’t be perfect, as the total data I have been able to collect and surmise from is hilariously incomplete. Furthermore I’ve come to the enclosed conclusions with information before us that could be and likely is in some cases, months or even possibly even years old. For better or for worse I've tried to concentrate two years of sporadic data into this pot, along with my experiences playing Destiny in its first year and tried to present the biggest chunks in the simplest way that I can.

*Sigh*

This invariably leaves a number of my examples to be open to the retort "but what about", "you didn't conceder", or some other lot-of-things. This post is stupid huge, and I felt that if I explained every single thing, then this post would never see the light of day. In other words, vanilla Destiny. Possibly.

I also know Bungie has awareness, that they read the posts and are too the players, yet I don't nor can I know the totality and the nature of their awareness. Perhaps that is a problem to be addressed in the future? Perhaps I'll talk about that. I don't know how they act on the data they gather or how they come to their conclusions. I am left with only to base the benefit of whatever ability I may unknowingly have to think out with the little bits of context I have. I haven't had a full and through conversation with any Bungie employee directly about Destiny post launch, but would love the opportunity to at least do so. Yet even if I did, I suppose I couldn't. It’s the NDA, It’s the contracts, and it’s the business of videogames. If only I was as cool as Wu. ;_;

｡◕‿◕｡Mr. Wu, when I grow up... :P.

------- Chapter 2::Learning from History (with tinfoil) -------

Destiny is an ambitious game. Its creation really is a culmination of what Bungie has learned. It should be noted that I originally had mentioned in my retrospectively hyper beta review it seemed Bungie had not learned from the many facets of its past and in a way this is also still true, even now. To understand what I mean you have to look at what Bungie has done and, for the sake of this post, how I see it. Tinfoil at the ready please.

While I’m not going to start reading scripture of its humble-ish beginnings in a Chicago basement, I am going to point out a few key moments that you, my dear compatriot in creation, shall likely find are nice to know for the sake of breadcrumbs down the line.

As may be known... there once was a 3rd person action game called Halo. From its spark of creation, a divine wind would rush through the stars, propelling all who were worthy along the path to salvation; and so Bungie and all it touched prospered. It is from this game among other games that I feel the core idea(s) of Destiny would be born. That’s not to ignore Myth nor Marathon, past Bungie games which are the storied bones for so many things Bungie. That's also not to ignore, for those of you with a fascination of heretical nonsense, other possible games beyond the marbled pillars of the Ivory Tower that would make in part what could be considered an inspiration for Destiny. It's just that Halo changed things.

It just all comes back to Halo. What did Halo do? It thought it would shoot its way out, mix things up a bit. It brought legitimacy to the Xbox as a gaming platform. It proved that shooters could work on a console with a little help to a thing called magnesium. It presented with a monks grace the power of an extensive musical score upon the enjoyment of game play. Yet among all these things there is one thing that Bungie did with its Halo franchise that truly changed everything. The game is Halo 2. The mode is Multiplayer. The platform that made it possible was Xbox with its “Xbox Live” functionality. While Halo 1 LAN parties, the literally best thing in all things gaming onwards and forever till the end of time, were no doubt the best thing since Halo 1 LAN parties ; Halo 2 in a technological scope would be better for all. (Especially for unsupervised very-NSFW 12 year olds. >_<)

To quote the marketing of the time, which by far is the most honest thing to ever come out of a marketing house; “It’s good to play together”. From this... Bungie learned.

After surviving the post-E3 Halo 2 production, since it feels very wrong to call it a cycle. A Race? A Frenzy maybe? …they made more Halo ; some of which because of contractual obligation. Of these next few games, I myself feel that these next Halo games would be only slightly less revolutionary when compared to Halo 2s overall effect. So...Halo 3. It has this fancy “Forge” and “Theater” thingies. Those were cool, but no one used them which is why it isn't in Destiny. Obviously, you silly goose. You know what the big feature of Halo 3 was?

Of course you do! Say it with me!

They improved the enemies by making them less like bullet sponges and more like enemies. Yep! There is no foreshadowing in the formatting of this post. In Halo 3 we got things to shoot, not because it was just trying to kill you like in Halo 2, but because they were an army trying to kill everything and you just so happened to get in the way. I hope you can see the subtly in that difference, and even if you can’t – that's probably why it’s so easy to miss. Simply put, just like animation, it's about character. Animation is how it moves, and AI is why it moves. In Halo 3, there was very good communication about the why.

From the existing Halo 3 engine; ODST used what they had and made it new again. In one year ODST was made, and within ODST Bungie had all sorts of story mechanics to help immerse the player into the world. You could play the main campaign of course, that goes without saying; But you could also search the free roam “world” to find a secondary story in audio form. Or you could just wander the free roam world, and stumble into a continuing living story (which admittedly we had context for) right in front of you. Why are there so many dead elites? Hunters are bonded pairs, so where is the second hunter? What battle happened here? Why does this AI keep making all these alarms go off? It’s the end of the world, and someone used that time to spray paint graffiti on the walls?…

YOU DID ALL THIS IN ONE YEAR BUNGIE!

ODST was a story presentation smörgåsbord! All of which aided by ODST’s only-just-sort-of-ok-music. Obviously. All in all Bungie did a pretty good job with ONE YEAR to create content into an existing engine. For many Halo fans ODST is one of the top games of the Halo franchise. One would think Bungie would have used these elements that it had learned and applied for story presentation into later games... *deep breath* yet I digress.

Then there is Reach, where we got more customization, a larger Forge world where you really could go "over there", addictively fun to do assassinations (at least for me), and one of the best (because I say so) gameplay endings of any Halo game ever. I LOVED playing the Lone Wolf. It has so much...weight.

Spartans Never Die. With all this said I ask you – did Bungie use everything they learned and place it into Destiny Year One? Or did they try to re-invent the wheel and get run over? And of course, why am I asking questions like I’m being coy or something? ;)

------- Click here for Chapters 3 - 4 -------

------- Chapter 3 :: Reviving Ghosts -------
(Before the Fall)

What has been the goal that Bungie has been reaching to do with Destiny? What was it that Bungie said that got me SO PUMPED for Destiny? That got me to believe that Bungie wouldn't fuck this up.

Well. Yet again the past shall tell us story. I present to you links to the respective ViDocs, and the … basically they are transcripts of said ViDocs below (some of you may be reading this from work for some reason). Let these videos fill your head with how you felt during the weeks before launch, and let the context of retrospect fill you into the now.

For those of you listening along, I shall skip this part and see you on the other side of Introspective.

Feb 17, 2013

"A fantasy you have when you're creating an experience is that someone else is going to enjoy it. One reason the game was so intriguing is that we're reaching players in ways we haven't before. We're really going to make a conscious effort to build an experience which is going to be meaningful for people. Like how do you keep players going for fifty or a hundred hours over some number of months, and to not only want to play the game, but to play it with their friends?

"We needed something that challenges and inspires all of us. Something that I think has enough ideas in it that will last us the next ten years."

"We are blazing a ton of new trails.”

"We're building something alive, it has a nature that we don't totally control. Things are going to happen, that we don't plan, and that's amazing.

"The best thing with Bungie is that when you have these crazy ideas you know they're going to get funnelled into a game that's fun.

"We're creating something completely new and it's a scary place, but if it's not scary then it's not going to be good.

“We've gone from continuing to make Halo games to doing something which certainly draws on our past experiences and plays to our strengths, but it's new and exciting. It's going to take on a life of its own.”

Aug 22, 2013

“The number one priority was to make a world that people wanted to be in. Something that you want to go back to and you want to explore and to have enough variety where you never get bored. “

“What I believe is going to be most exciting for people who play destiny is the social experience of colliding with other people in this big world. It’s not something that happens in most action games.”

“You choice of the character class, the character race, will condition how that character is going to evolve over time.”

“We want them to meet different people or invite their friends into that experience. We want them to have a great public event in this cross roads space where some players are moving towards a strike or on a story journey.”

“You want to play with other players, you can absolutely do it, and if you don’t, you just go off to your own adventure.”

“Getting loot is really dam exciting. It’s a satisfying feeling. What is this going to enable me to do? What did I win? What ability? How this going to look?”

”If we can simultaneously capture amazing action game, but still allow players to customize it for themselves and they can pick the path that they want to take. We can hit all those elements; we can bottle up that lighting a second time”

Published on Jun 11, 2014

Hey everybody. I’m Jason Jones. And I wanna show you what we've been working on here. At Bungie since we first introduced Destiny back in 2013.

Destiny is our next gen first-person shooter, where you’ll explore the abandoned ruins of ancient human civilization, long after it has been overtaken by our enemies.

But there's still hope. A candle in the darkness. The last safe city on earth.

At the center the city is our home, The Tower. The place we return after every adventure.

To claim our rewards. To buy and sell weapons and gear. And meet up with our friends.

In Destiny you choose who you want to be. And who you want to become.

You go out into the world earn powerful weapons. Cool armor. And combat abilities that change the way you fight.

The choices you make say a lot about the type of player you are in Destiny

There are so many ways to upgrade your class. And perfect your style of play.

As you defeat your enemies, you’ll discover new places to go, and uncover more reasons to head out on new adventures. So we created the director. It answers the question, what’s awesome to do right now and what's my reward for doing it?

And that's important because in Destiny there's a ton of cool stuff to do like a great story campaign where you’ll explore the mysteries our lost worlds.

And from the beginning we built Destiny to be played cooperatively, either match made or with your friends.

On your adventures through the world you'll stumble on public events where you can join up with other players on the fly to take on huge targets of opportunity

Before returning to your journey right where you left off

When you ready for a little downtime, you can go off the beaten path and explore

And when you wanna team up with two other players and fight through waves of enemies to take down an epic boss, you head into a strike

There's so much amazing stuff to find in Destiny. So many ways to combine your class, your abilities, your armor and weapons, to build the guardian you want to become

And you can even take that Guardian into the crucible, our intense competitive multiplayer.

As you build your character, grow more powerful as you take on greater challenges, and maybe one day become powerful enough to finally find a way inside the vault of glass to defeat the most challenging experience with ever created and earns Destiny's ultimate rewards.

So that's what we've been doing here at Bungie. We’re having a great time playing this game and we can't wait for you experience it too.

------- Chapter 4 :: Introspective -------
(I speak from the past)

Among all the possibilities that were swimming in my head as I eagerly and painfully waited for Destinies sweet sweet release, by far the most important element. The most... important ...element. What had the most impact on me was the "Destiny: Official E3 Gameplay Experience Trailer". Jason Jones was front and center and telling me "Story", "Explore", "Things to do", and all these were key words that I as fan of Bungie had. When the founder speaks you take note. It was because of this trailer here that I had planned, perhaps foolishly, perhaps very foolishly, to have Destiny be my core game. If Bungie could deliver what was being sold, if it could deliver the quality of the past 10 plus years of Bungie games, there would have been no need for me to play anything else. I wouldn't have wanted to play anything else. Why bother? Even if you just dumb it down to just being clever tactic of ... or whatever... just "marketing"; I got hyped up because when Bungie says they are going to do something they do it. Bungie doesn't bullshit, or at least it seems to be much less in comparison of general marketing. In retrospect what other context did I have? Even for the Bungie games I did not play, there was a certain degree of expectation.

Bungie games, after a certain point in its history, always had amazing game play that stacked on to an even more amazing story which feed into the amazing game play of an even more amazing world. I was also curious to see how Bungie would handle a new game of this scope and, in a way, a new community since as far as I could tell (at HBO) they had done so well with Halo. The way I saw it, even if they stumbled at first, they could and would right the wrongs. They had a whole year to correct it. They had already allotted time for two whole batches of DLC after the initial release. I also at the time didn't even conceder the constant patches and updates. So. I stayed because I was watching. I wanted to see what Bungie would do. How would they adapt to this social game? What issues would arise and how within a year they could fix it, and If they couldn't in that time how would they speak up about it. I figured that the last thing they would want to do to their fans is leave them floundering. I stayed because Destiny is a social experiment both in and for play. Both literately and figuratively. It seems that neither Bungie nor its fans, and even I in retrospect to a degree, realized the totality of this embedded social nature within the game play its self. Still, even with the little I did realize with my expectation of growing pains, and the declarations for 10 years of play, I found the possibilities of Destiny fascinating. Amongst all my want to say what I mean, for this, you're just going to have to trust that I see something that I can't currently find words nor a metaphor to provide an idea. All I can say is that they have yet to do it, but they are close to doing something no other game I know of can do. I figured so many things, and being so filled with intelligent guesses and expectation may be why the outcome of Year One has hit me so unusually, uniquely hard. I suppose that is the downside to being a inscrutably, inescapably, insatiably curious Warlock. This is the risk I took without releasing it; I went all in without knowing the hand.

To that end it may very well be my fault for expecting Bungie to be able to do so well simply based on what it did in the past. I did not consider the nature of new things, the nature of creating a videogame. I did not know. I’m smarter now though, and I know better. Sometimes 3ds Max, Maya or whatever… just wants to crash to spite ya. Sometimes a teammate has to work on other things, and now instead of going home today you are going home tomorrow. Sometimes that super interesting idea you had on paper just can’t be made right now. Sometimes months of time can be cut, and now you have more work with even less time. In all of this we are human... in some form. We err and can only do so much with the time we have. OF my time, I made a choice. With the exception of a few days attempts here and there of the Master Chief Collection, I have played only Destiny on my Xbox One. Solid. That could impact my outlook too couldn't it?

No. Not for this. Not to say it isn't possible, but this is what I signed up for when I started watching. I'm not burned out and I know the difference. I love videogames and will mention this again later in these MEGA posts. Yet in turn from all my observations, I became surprised in what I saw. It seems all we are doing when we post about Destiny in Year One, is "teaching". One in the same of course, but I can’t understate my surprise on how things turned out. I guess that's just me being ignorant too. I blame Tantalus.

I present to you a Calvin and Hobbs story, where Calvin wants to get a toy hat from the back of a cereal box that he thinks will make him fly. I find the events of this strip to be a fairly solid example of the pitfall of expectation. For those of you listening, I’m going to continue on, and leave the reading of Calvin and Hobbes to you.

At this point I expect you have read the strip, or at the very least understand the point in my above synopsis of it. Yet do not presume I did not have fun in Destiny. I did have fun, but it was very limited in scope to what I was expecting and was a lot of work to get there by myself. Fortunately, my version of Destiny came with a big one hundred and fifty dollar box, so that's cool .

It seems that amongst all thisss...if-only-I-had-a-nickel-for-every-time-someone-mentioned-it'sss... potential, which is simply ridiculous in its amount; Destiny Year One felt mismanaged, inconstant, and at times even incompetent. What kind of Marry Jane were you all smoking in production? It's like you forgot yourself. Must of been good shit, am I right?

I never had to do this directly with Bungie before, though I'm not too sure if that means anything. I mean, yea, we fans are your teachers I get it… but it wasn’t so direct. I don’t recall constant posts of game theory at HBO, I recall constant posts about Story, Recon, and Cannon... so story again for some reason... at HBO. So why is it that this occurred with Bungie in Destinies year one?

Well, fortunately for you all I have enough tinfoil here to guess. ;D

------- Click here for Chapters 5 - 6 -------

------- Chapter 5 :: Coyote Bungie -------
(We Fans to Bungie)

In thinking about it, I found one of the problems Bungie has, though the term "problem" may be a bit strong, is that Bungie is no longer the Bungie we the established fans knew. The Bungie that made Halo, Marathon, and Myth that I presume we as established fans picture in our heads is now something else. Sort of. This Ship of Theseus, still has a few of the old boards, yet has mostly been replaced or has even added new boards to the ship. This ship has grown; Is it the same ship? That does not mean that this Bungie, that this ship as it exists now can no longer do great things, as vanilla Destiny was quite the technical achievement. Really. Destiny is amazing. From its technical achievements Bungie has made many new fans. Most of them from Playstation for some reason. Huh... weird.

The question I found myself asking was what the difference was in the views of Destiny between a new fan and an established fan? Yet to such an end I cannot answer this question, and so I ask it to you DBO. Based on past Bungie games that you have played, how has Bungie done with Destiny Year One? We are all fans here of varying degrees of tenure, and I am curious if my hypothetical question has merit. I myself am not a new Bungie fan, I am roughly a Middle Skool Bungie fan. I have been a fan of Bungie for at least half of their existence and had I access to Macs in my home (as my school as I recall had a bunch of Macintosh 128Ks mixed with the PCs), then perhaps I would have been an even older Bungie fan then that.

It may very well be that my view of Destiny has been tinted because I came from only one set of Bungie Games. Halo undeniably casts a lofty shadow and in fact I'm fairly sure we have those measurements in the Stephen Loftus diagrams somewhere. Forgive me as I speak presumptively for you, my fellow DBO community, where I presume at risk of error that we would like (and Pete would love) the Halo Forge system. We want the Halo Theater system. We want the grandeur and gravitas of the Halo musics that Marty & Michael created. We want the ability to play and create custom games just as we did in Halo. We want to play campaign and be endeared by its game play and story just as we did in Halo. We want Destiny to be Halo, but we want Destiny to be so much more, and we know that Destiny can be so much more. We are Bungie Fans and we know what Bungie can do.

*Sigh*

But what does Bungie say to that group of dedicated fans? How do you transition from 10 years vs to be 10 years? Could Bungie have assisted in that change? While I think that it is up to each individual on how to change, I think that there is one thing that Bungie could have done. This ONE thing is bigger than ANYTHING ELSE Bungie has ever created.

Communication with its fans.

I think communication is by far the biggest play Bungie has when compared to most major game developers. I have watched Bungie use Twitch and Twitter and their forums to connect to the community. I do not and cannot deny the efforts Bungie makes to communicate. Yet just like its Super bowl team of late, they made these plays that seem counter to what would have been best for we the fans. Or is it the plays that they don't make? Bah. I know... I know..., yes I’m going to back this up, keep your pants on, or if you are Funkmon, put on some pants. In thinking about communication, I asked myself what could be gathered by just looking at the overall past DBO forum reactions. I concluded, while it is not a lone factor, it is a major factor. I think the forums drama at the very least did not come by chance. It is not on purpose, but it is not an accident. Even Cody Miller in all his ideological honey badgering had very little part in the fourms overall drama. I think it's all a symptom of the same kind. While I could go into detail about all sorts of forum drama, if I did then it would make the rest of my post even more moot then it already is at the eve of Year 2.

Caption: What most may see.

Don't infer too much, but at the night of Harry Houdinis last show, as he did his part with a ruptured appendix and a fever of 104 °F ( 40 °C ), reportedly the patrons who had seen the show before said that something was wrong, while the patrons who had never seen the show before thought it was a great act. What do you do as a established fan when you can see something is wrong?

------- Chapter 6 :: Bungie Makes Mistakes -------
(Bungie to the Fans)

It has been said that it’s not what you say but how you say it. Yet no matter how much Bungie tries it seems they don't realize what they are saying when they don't speak. Is interpretation their fault?

It has been said that it is easier to ask for forgiveness then ask for permission. This is done under the presumption or gamble that with a simple whim, any action taken and any repercussion from that action can simply disappear and be forgotten as if never acted. If only it was true, then there would be no need for lawyers.

Now what pray tell do these sudden declarations have to do with Bungies communication skills? It has to do with how I have perceived Bungies actions in the last year or two with its fans both new and old. This observation was a very... very... gradual thing that came to head with the House of Wolves DLC. This happened because of my so called stature in being a Bungie Fan. Had I been new, I think I would have just... probably... just brushed it off. I don't know.

Being a fan of something is a tumultuous thing. Being a fan generally changes an outlook. Changes how a person would react. It changes what would be worth said fans time and effort. Being a fan changes who a person is, in a number of ways, because being fan is a relationship with... whatever. As imaginary as it may be, it is a relationship with whatever can garner the term of fandom. For the sake of this post, of course, this is of Bungie.

In one of the many 2015 E3 videos (which I can no longer find), it is mentioned that Bungie was learning their audience. Such a thing is fair considering the updated social style of play that is Destiny. Yet, in light of learning ones audience, I find myself falling back on the conclusion (and even the motto) of people making games that they want to play. Bungie...you have 500 people. It may be more. It may be less.

Things got through that shouldn't have. Things that were not fun or worse, insulting. In answering my question for E3 (a transcript of which is in Addendum Two), Noseworthy mentioned about how in the lab what seemed like a good idea behind the walls, on the couch was realized to be a horrible idea. For which I can only rebut - I don't understand. What I do understand, is that creating a videogame is not only a science, it is an art. I know this because I have both taught myself and been taught about both sides of the video game equations. Sometimes things get through because you've been playing it behind those ivory walls for months. Day in and day out. That's fine, even more so now-a-days. The thing I just don't understand is how it could happen, again and again, to such a large degree. Arbitrarily speaking - Fool me once. Twice. Three times? Four times!? Five?!?!? What the fuck are you doing Bungie?

Pro tip: Surprises that aren't good for everyone tend to be bad surprises. Bungie should know that thanks to xbox players, since they apparently didn't know it before.

To that end as mentioned, again, I think communication is the major player to a number of Destinies Year One woes. There is a reason why the ability to communicate is on all the job applications. I have personally experienced the effects that communication can have on a team, and I imagine there are some of us here who have as well. Lack of communication can kill even the most experienced of teams, and since this is a relationship after all; bumps, bruises, and flaws happen. Again... we are human. There is a breaking point.

We, the fans, have mentioned our want of communication before. Of these fans I have yet to see anyone give an example, and state why. In the end these posts here are simply expressing aggravation or a misunderstanding of the game creation process (which I can still very much do) with "this is what we want”. I think I can make something better. I'm not expressing or rewording these posts you can click on in this paragraph, but my experiences and frustrations. I want to help Bungie do better. So here and now I shall try.

If you happen to go by the tag DeeJ or urk, please get out that notepad you already have out and take note. Cosmo, you’re cool...for now. Take note anyway. This part is by far the most pertinent for you lot.

If the leaks of the past are to be believed, and they were ... House of Wolves at one point did have a Raid.

About one month before House of Wolves dropped, it was announced that the House of Wolves would not have a raid. For myself, after finding out, I'm pretty sure I still have the headache caused from the extreme of my facepalm. I wrote a scathing post that never got posted. At risk of sudden uncensored vulgarity, the last thing I as a fan want to do is give Bungie a new Bun hole, even though the reason I was so angry was that I had found myself covered in shit from the totality of Year One. This was that last straw.

The sudden vulgarity also happens to be the summery of my scathing post never posted. It takes a lot for me to lose my cool, seriously. My post never posted was the result of a year of frustration and disappointment. A sum of ill moments stacking upon silence. So what would make ME, MYSELF, and I so angry as to have an urge to make a post that wasn't myself, even after EVERYTHING ELSE that came before. Thus far when something went awry, I often was able to respond in a fairly logical, calm, and perhaps even sarcastic and satiric manner. So basically this post, but shorter and much more succinct. Was this last straw because of some sort of expectation for a Raid?

Heh. Please. It's not so much because of what you did; it's simply the perceived incompetence of how you did it, or perhaps how you didn't do it (which seems to be a recurring theme).

Of course, not everyone had issue with " how Bungie did it ". Furthermore "how Bungie did it" was done so in a fairly professional manner. DeeJ & urk (IN.THAT.ORDER. :P) do good work as far as I can see. At times it is a thankless job. They put up with a lot of internet shit and salt on a daily basis, all to find what the heartbeat of the community is. For example: DeeJ can make a better beard then urk. It's true. You can tell because it's on the internet. For this internet , DeeJ and urk give Bungie a voice. So ... what's the perceived incompetence?

The thing that got me so hot and bothered was, how it seemed Bungie did not see how a Raid had become an expectation within the community. Even if you were someone who didn't like the Raids, they are a big part of Destiny since...well... day one. The first day players played the Vault of Glass it became a Destiny thing. So logically, if Bungie really cared, if Bungie really read our posts and secretly interacted among us, then -with no excuses- (not even Cosmo) Bungie would have known how important Raids had become (due to flaws possibly,) to our enjoyment of Destiny Year One PvE.

So with the announcement of no raid, there was also a mentioning of the "Prison of Elders". It was this that got me so angry.

Prison of Elders did not come out of nowhere. This sort of thing is planned. Even if it wasn't planned at the start, If say in late December someone said "This Reef raid isn't our quality; It isn't going to work - Cut it", well then this means the Prison of Elders has eventually became planned and that for months Bungie watched us speculate what the raid was going to be in futility, even though Raids are THE PvE thing. While the masses outside DBO were bitching about No Raid, I was bitching in my aforementioned unposted post about no communication about the raid.

Here is what I would have liked to see. I don't know if I have the knowhow to do so, but I have to try. I want to try. I hope I can describe well what it is that I see .

------- Click here for Chapters 7 - 8 -------

------- Chapter 7 :: How to take it to 11 -------

So check this idea out, possible required approvals be dammed because I don't know what they would be. Here is what would have been nice. What would I have said in this ever imaginary case if I had the power AKA the job to do so. Let's say It's late February and Bungie is having a crunch week. At this point there is now no chance of a raid in HoW. Prison of Elders is the thing.

I have a number of options. I can post on the Bungie Forms, I can post on Reddit, I can post on the Bungie Front Page, I can post on the Bungie Twitter, and I can even post to NeoGaf if I'm feeling sadistic. Depending on where I am to post what it is that I wish to say, the "Official Nature" of what is said will change due to where I have said it. Sort of. Posting on the front page for example has abit more prestige then, say, the reassesses of the Bungie forums. It's kind of the same thing yet location location location. Either way Kotaku will probably pick it up and let us know how awful we are. Fantastic.

In this case I choose to make a post on Reddit & Bungie Fourms. I don't post it to DBO because last time I did Miguel bit me, and now I can never see the moon again. That's also why I keep sending Vex to DBO headquarters.

Title: UPDATE ON HoW Raid.
Good evening Guardians! So throughout the months of our adventures in Destiny we here at Bungie have witnessed and been delighted at your enjoyment in the Raids. So naturally, as we have witnessed, you all are undoubtedly excited for the next adventure that awaits you in the House of Wolves. I post here today simply out of a courtesy for our fellow guardians.

As it currently stands, House of Wolves will not have a Raid, but do not despair! That which is taken is given back. Verity is the spice of life. You know... that old chest nut. In its place will be a wholly new round based activity. At this point it does not have an official name that I can present due to it being a work in progress. In fact all of this is a work in progress, and if something else happens during production that I feel is important for my fellow guardians, then I shall endeavor to let you know.

In till then,

JeeDurka

...Or something. So what would the result of this be? Well we can't know since you didn't and if you did I missed it. (If only there was someplace I could go)

So here is what I think the result would be. There would of course be those who would declare "No Raid No Play" and other sorts of extremes, can't be helped. Let's talk about the bulk of players.

What we had during the buildup to House of Wolves, even IF we hadn't had a leak claiming there would be a Raid, would have been people taking about the next Raid in the House of Wolves. We fans have a tendency to hype ourselves up, myself included, which is fantastic since its free and it makes it more likely that we will open our wallets. Yet what happens when the thing we have hoped for, the thing we are expecting is not there? When it turns out all our excitement and time we dedicated to Destinies repeatedly mentioned potential turns out to be moot. Destiny is always a game in progress, but we fans can't see that. Well... we can, but we can't. This is where I thought DeeJ, urk, and now Cosmo comes into the fold. What I did in this case above would have... probably I guess, I don't know... changed the flow of conversation, creating a possible win-win scenario. Generally speaking I would expect the response to be different variants of “Well it really royally sucks that there won't be a raid, but I look forward to or am curious about this new activity for PvE. I wonder if it has check points!"

Then you have people talking about "Oh what could it be", and whatever they talk about might be helpful for the future. You get to watch people throw out ideas and just be part of the community. You get to watch and react to what is being said. Furthermore it adds to your reputation as being Head Badass of the Community. You actually care... apparently. Perhaps that is what this post is ultimately all about.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh... and one more thing.

I love what Epic has done communication wise with the Unreal 4 Engine. While I'm not expecting Bungie to put down all its plans on a public Trello board, I do think that as far as communication of Destiny is concerned, what Epic has done is a good starting point for your thoughts.

For example: Have you heard that Valus Ta'Aurc has too much heath? That -apparently- Blink is too awesome for people in PvP? That thorn as it currently is in House of Wolves is a real pain in the ass in PVP? HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW! I'm not talking about rabid fans, I'm taking about the weakest link. Support the weakest link if you can, and everything comes into place.

It was not by mistake in Chapter 5 as I mentioned what we fans loved about Halo, that I did not mention the old communication style of the Halo days. Does everyone here realize that Facebook started in 2004? That World of Warcraft launched in the US in 2004? Twitter in 2006? Halo 3 launched in 2007. In 2015, for better and for worse, we are truly in the age of Social Technologies. Shit, there is probably some freaking *actual* Star Trek tech in your pocket right now. I think I can say with some certainty, that a few million of the people playing Destiny right now don't have the same experience of Mig or Wu in just...waiting... for information. Everything is on. Data-data-data all the time. While Bungie has used all these social tools for its arsenal, I don't think Bungie has used its ability to be social to the best of their ability. Destiny is a social game. It has an advantage verses World of Warcraft because it is going head first into this age, with 10 years to its stead. That's 2024. 2024! How much do you think is going to change by then? Lawd have murcy. If that doesn't make you catch your breath a bit in the scope of possibilities, then I reckon that you aren't breathing. Instead of learning, "What's a Twitter?" or "What is a Smartphone?”, Destiny and Bungie can communicate in ways other (non-Facebook based) social game companies could not. Destiny is not the first social game, and arguably it is not the first social game by Bungie. Yet it is the first in challenging the scope of social game play and interaction for first person shooters. Bungie requires a different outlook in internal to external communication. Just so I can make you double take; I think Bungie needs to do this without falling back onto reliance of social media. Yes. I know that is counter... keep reading. Use them - obviously - by all means - but don't rely on them to get information out. I feel if Bungie relies on social media, Bungie won't keep trying to innovate how they communicate on Bungie.net. I believe Bungie can make something on their website that is more than just a static post. That can be updated over time as list or infographic. It's about presentation. Ease of access to information. A big button in the top of the front page that says WE HEAR YOU!

Here is an quick idea to get you started. In the Friday update have a section called "What the internet is saying", or some other fancy whoda-hada. In it have a summary of what we the-fans are-saying. This week... Oh you all think that Valus Ta'Aurc has too much heath. We have top men on it. TOP MEN. Downside of this is there is no stacking so if someone doesn't read it right there on that Friday Thursday it could be missed. Communicate that you hear us by telling us what we have been saying. Then after you do that... DO IT AGAIN. After all it's the internet, we all have an attention spans of like two... awww... a kitten.

Daaaaaaaaaw.

I hope I have helped you understand what I mean. Please! Help us Help you! Duh. Not everyone has the knowhow to help, but we do have the passion. After all - we're Bungie fans. ;)

------- Chapter 8 :: Activisions Bungie -------

There is a difference between videogames being art, and videogames being money. There is a difference between getting it right, and getting it done. With Destiny it has felt more and more like it was made for the latter and not the former. In consideration of this I looked into the possibilities of Activisions hand upon Destiny.

In actuality, one of the first things I found myself asking was – is it not Bungie? Did Bungie get their hands tied? I would have recommended that our dear pimps at sea do well to keep away from those dark waters due to all the horror stories I've heard about Activision. Yet what choice did they have?

So let us talk about the business of videogames for a bit, where again I am no expert, I just want to know everything... or something. My innocent concern stems from what happened to videogames when it met investors (who were to shelter them from first party developers of the 80’s and 90’s). For those of you who wonder why there are so many sequels now-a-days or, why there are so many "Super Awesome DUST COLLECTORS Editions", and even the shenanigans of "Pre-Ordering" I present to you an answer. This is also why the Double Fine KICKSTARTER was such a big deal at its time, since the Kickstarter aspect allows wholly original video game ideas to be funded that otherwise wouldn't have seen the light of day because it didn't seem "profitable". This is also true for the Indie scene in general, where original ideas like The Stanley Parable, which is an amazing game that I recommend to everyone out of concept alone, are able to be created. I digress though, since Destiny is no Indie its scope. No, what my concern about Activision and Bungie entrails is the requirements of Money & Time.

I can easily presume that Bungie signed a contract because the power bill of those servers doesn’t currently pay themselves. Bungie signed a contract because the fans have enough gosh darned subscriptions. Bungie signed a contract because those 500ish people have families and bills AKA subscriptions to pay. Bungie signed a contract because... what other option did they have? I guess they could have self-published, but *essh*, how much would that cost nowadays? I don't expect Jones would be up for boxing a few million copys this time, even if he does have experience with the process. As much as part of me hates it, the current climate of the industry that I can see required this. The scope of Destiny required this.

So what of this requirement? What of the result? How does this effect Bungie? How do you separate the choices of the monster from the choices of the man? Can you still even make that comparison? Bungie signed a contract with Activision while elsewhere Activision was trying to wrap up West and Zampel in court. Looking through the history of that case, I can't help but feel really unnerved. Will there be Déjà vu? I don’t expect to find out soon.

Of all these questions I ask here, the few answers that I have been able to surmise are from outdated sources. Since reading things on the internet is so up to interpretation, I would like to apologize to the key members and managers of Bungie, because I in my mostly inexperienced ignorance am trying to find answers where there are currently none. I second guess and speculate of you as I look outside in. Forgive me. I don't know you lot ...sadly, though I have met at least two of you recently, which will be important later on. Please know I'm attempting this desperation because I care, just in case that isn't obvious by now. ;)

I have gone through what was released of the Bungie and Activation Contract in 2013. For those of you who would like to read it in a broken down format and translated into actual English, you can also read it here at this link. Keep in mind that this contract could have been updated.

Much of this contract is fairly standard as far as I can tell. Who owns what, what is to be delivered, and of course Money Money Money. For those of you who, for SOME reason, have asked about whether or not "Destiny 2" is going to be on the "last gen" Xbox360 and Ps3, the answer here is a contractual no.

In reading this contract I don't see anything directly involving Activation forcing Bungies hand in game creation. That said, indirectly, the cliché standards of Time & Money are there. You do what you have to do to get the job done to deliver a product by the deadline. Thanks to E3 2015 this is interesting.

For example, It is mentioned here (IN A VIDEO I CAN'T SEEM TO FIND NOW >_<) that (at the very least) there has been work on the Taken King since at least October. This is interesting because this gives a flicker of what the production schedule looks like, though it doesn't show the ups, the downs, and the bugs.

Really the only thing I glimpse from this contract is that Bungie can't say "this DLC sucks" and then push back the date, because they have a schedule they must commit. Could this be why vanilla Destiny hardly had any taste at all?

I was hoping I could glimpse some sort of deeper incite from the contract, but my conclusions are SO inconclusive that my experience gives nothing more to say about it. I added it to this post that is already so big, because this is what did. In my process of being through, I do my utmost exhausting every option I have trying to answer questions that have been made behind doors, because... Bungie can't be this stupid. There has to be something we don't know.

What does it mean when the apparent TROLL makes more sense then what Bungie has given?

Chapter 8 cont’ :: Last minute addendum :: Saturday, September 05, 2015

Holy shit. Is it really as I feared?

The court filings say that O’Donnell believed he was preserving Bungie’s “creative process, artistic integrity, and reputation, keeping faith with fans, and protecting Bungie and its intellectual property from Activision’s encroachment into artistic decisions.” According to O’Donnell’s view, the “Band of Brothers” ethos that had inspired the group’s earlier work was being damaged by the Activision relationship.

Ryan and other Bungie management felt that his conduct “hurt the Bungie team, hurt the game, drove a negative online discussion, and violated Ryan’s instructions.” They also believed that O’Donnell was elevating his interest in publishing Music of the Spheres over the best interests of the company. Activision advised Bungie that O’Donnell’s conduct may constitute a breach of the parties’ contract.

Ship of Theseus? Sure. Now... who is the captain of this ship? Or is it... who funds the voyage?

See that line there at the end? Where it says "Activision advised Bungie that O’Donnell’s conduct may constitute a breach of the parties’ contract." That right there is the difference between videogames being art, and videogames being money. That set of words right there? Means no more Bungie, because there would be no Destiny. That's my interpretation. If your job is head of the studio, what do you do?

Keeping in mind the latest trailer... well. Uncensored Fuck. We are the fans, and I wonder if we like what we see.

Here is a look at some posts from H.B.O when Bungie joined Activision.

Bungie Partnering with Activision?!

Those of you upset about Activision

Bungie responds to Activision contract.

Anywho...

(ノಥ益ಥ)ノ彡┻━┻

This new data only compounds the end conclusion of this mega post. Moving along.

------- Click here for Chapters 9 - 10 -------

------- Chapter 9 :: Bungie Hates PVE -------

Behold! The snowball that bellowed into this mountain of words. Bungie hates PvE.

Yet, as mentioned, does Bungie really hate PVE? Well no. Of course not, don't be ridiculous. It's just that Destiny is so social, that it kind of... sort of... neglected a core audience. I find what it was that I saw, what the corners of my brain had concluded, was that everything was more like multiplayer then single player. I realized when I said PVE; I was expressing my preference when I think of PVE. The Lone Wolf play style. The OG of PVE. Playing Destiny by your self is a distinction crucial for my observation.

Within year one of Destiny everything is eventually geared, tailored and designed so that Destiny is to be played with others. That's not to infer that such a thing is bad, but a conclusion to build further thoughts from.

You see Destiny can have its bouts of fun, but not because of Destiny. Of what do I mean? Well a miserable experience can be tempered and ultimately changed into a better experience with friends, but a great experience can be made even greater with friends. The opposite can also be true, but in such a case it is less about the design of the game and more the people who you play with.

Only one of these things can Bungie do anything with. You make the game, and I'll make the friends. (<3 DBO)

Yet I digress though, since such an aspect involves other people, and my original point was about playing in Destiny as a Lone Wolf. I think it is due to the above aspect of playing with others that caused this Lone Wolf aspect to become over looked. Destiny silently requires you have others to play with to be fun. In this way everything is more like multiplayer then single player, because you "can't" play by yourself.

I know I know. You can play Destiny by yourself, but is it fun? Again and again? I'm not talking about day one, because there is only one day one. I'm talking about the game. How is the car after the new car smell is gone? Or better yet what is the difference between eating by yourself, and eating along with your friends? This is what I'm trying to express. This is Destinies flaw. Destinies strength is, because of course it is… its weakness.

After saying all this, my next point might seem a bit silly. In the event this lone wolf WANTS to play PVE with others, in certain cases it can be even harder to do than playing alone. Since Destiny is so social I have found myself in moments where I could not play what I wanted to play when I wanted to play it. When I was able to play it. Now Destiny is fighting me, and telling ME when I can play.

Oops.

Now since this game is going up against a Human, or whatever, we humans do what we do best. Shit on everything and adapt-the-fuck-around-it. Yet the thing is as far as this topic is concerned... We. Shouldn't. Have to. Thus I present a full confession. This is actually something that has greatly bothered me about an assortment of games since the very beginning of my tenure as a gamer. I personally feel that whenever the player has to go else ware to play the game, that such is a catastrophic game play flaw. Essentially it becomes a sort of showstopper, where I stop playing the game but to play the game. Does that make ANY SENSE at all? Now I have to go outside of the world to play in the world. If I have to go elsewhere to solve a problem, that is a problem. Period. In other words... this is all your fault Cody. :P

This sort of thing drives me... well... you know. Also the Grimore. *Aggravated SIGH*

(YOU HAVE PREPARED THE FOOD BUT YOU DON'T SERVE IT!?!)

On top of that, If for some reason a certain Bungie designer felt that this showstopper was a good idea, their idea instantly became moot. They would have given' up the ability to control an experience and left everything up to the RN-Jack-in-the-Box that is the internet. Why would Bungie give up that control? Why wouldn't they just, I don't know, actually design it. There are some fairly simple things that could have been done to achieve a similar effect, but in a way that involves the game world.

There have been times when I wanted to play a Nightfall or a Raid and I couldn't because I couldn't get people together because it was so short notice. So I would go to LFG and do it that way, which in some ways is worse since the range is now completely random. That's frustrating. One hour later I'm saying to myself, "Why am I not playing Destiny right now?". Bungie, if you want people to group up, then use actual gameplay to group people up. Didn't you have a system in Reach where you could customize the matchmaking? Look. I understand why you did it, I just disagree with how you did it.

Oh and one more thing. How many special events did PvP have in year one? How many special events did PvE have in year one? How many times were such things seen? Boom. I obviously just proved it. Next.

------- Chapter 10 :: The Tree of Ouroboros -------

Since Destiny is such an interlinked social game, it brings with it risks that few other games that I know of have had to deal with. The moment Destiny launched, it's tendrils of social aspect gave root. Destiny became this want of ecosystem and harmony. Systems within systems. As such blooms formed, something became more and more noticeable about Destinies structure. How... in the truest form of all things, everything effects everything else. As such, it also affected me.

With Destiny Year One I had to play to have fun, instead of wanting to play to have fun. Does that make sense? Perhaps I should put it another way.

As you start Destiny beneath the shadow of the wall, where at very beginning your entire spark is brought to light; you have the wilderness before you, the clothes on your back, and "the hovering exposition eyeball". As you venture forth into this new and strangely familiar world. We would find ourselves suddenly fighting many a foe. Of these foes, some would break at the crack of my weapon and some would just suck. Get it? Bullet sponges? Eh? Ah!? Meh. Anyway they really do suck. Word of reminder, the examples given herein are simplistic. Please bear with me.

So if there is apparently a problem with enemies not dying, how do we the players fix this? Upgradable weapons and armor of course. With upgradeable weapons we can kill the bullet sponge enemies faster. Oh! Look what they drop! More weapons & armor.

So now I am playing so that I can upgrade my weapons and armor so I can kill my foe quicker so that I can get more weapons and armor so I can kill my foe quicker so that I can get more weapons and armor and do the same thing. Again and again. Ugh.

Yet this lone monotony would be moot if those who we fought were worth the effort in year one. All Bungie did, that I can see, is seemingly attempt to cure the symptom not the disease. Why did a culture form around Gally? Why did people enjoy sitting back with Ice Breaker? Why would we gang up with shotguns? It is because of the foe we face.
Each class of foe has its unique flavor to be sure, but they have no or little character. The Year One foe is too much like a fun house duck with a target painted on it. They all just stand out in the open, sans a sniper shot. I'm trying to kill them and all they can do is stand around or come closer to me and get shot. Is that the best you can do Bungie?!

No. It isn't.

Just shooting a foe after a time is boring, and if our bullet sucking foe was fun would we want to end the fight as quick as we can? Yet if the foe isn't fun then why are we playing? Are we are playing so that we can kill it faster, and end the misery? Does that make any sense? I'm the crazy guy of the forums if you ignore Funkmon, and even I am going... WHAT?!?! Why are we even playing this?

We are playing Destiny because our friends are playing Destiny and we enjoy playing Destiny with our friends. That was what Halo multiplayer from the VERY beginning was all about. That is where the fun lies. We made our fun, and we did it with our friends. That is why, I think, for the last year people playing Destiny have been going "This game sucks but I can't stop playing."

Yet what can happen when you do stop playing? I'm probably going to stop in the coming months days, so this was particularly important for me to think about. I found that unlike other games, the longer someone doesn't play Destiny, the more that person loses.

So what does that mean? Well check this out.

Bungie has the Player in this so called living world. It's really not so much alive and in fact it's really kind of stale. Pretty? Yea! The day changes too, and that is cool. In the end though, Destiny is just an online interface to the core systems of the game. While I'm not playing, others… like my friends, are. Go figure. Yet this aspect is important. If you don't play then you can't "keep up". Even if you don’t care, keep up is one big ol' grind. It’s you in relation verses the other players who are gaining in light and PvE foes who are gaining in light. Everything is based off the strength of your light AKA experience and the weapons which you have. I wonder why everyone wants wanted Gally? It's not just because it blows-shit-up nice.

It's a mixed bag, but it's a side effect of being social. Bungie went down this road and now has to balance the sociology of it all.

But wait wait wait wait wait! This deal just keeps getting better!

Behold! The coming of year two Destiny! ... and Fallout 4. Now Bungie is going to have to deal with Mirrors Edge Catalyst. To Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. TO Fallout 4. And Fallout 4. Bungie is going to have to deal with Starwars : Battlefront for which I pray hasn't been TOTTALY faked, the AA is just too good to be true. Oh and even Halo 5, which is implementing something I have always wanted to play. Also Fallout 4. That's not all the games... but it's a few of the highlights of late 2015. It's because of these few games that I have listed that I'm probably not going to play Destiny. Why bother playing Destiny? It's not like I can just jump in and play as I wish. Destiny is a social game.

Let's say because of the aforementioned games, like say... Fallout 4. Let's say I don't play Destiny for the rest of my life because filppen' Fallout 4. Let us also say 6 months (ha!) because I can't see that far into the future. Destiny during that time will change, and I do not criticize the change its self. During that time based on the DLCs of the past year there will be escalation. Light in whatever form it takes gets higher. Weapons get larger crit. There will also be changes that I'll have to go out of my way to find out. What has been nerfed and buffed and so forth. I'll have to figure out how to play right, because Bungie wants us to keep changing out weapons.
Perhaps this is lazy of me, but in my down time I would rather not have to research a game. I want to sit down and just play. Boom. Off I go.

Second star to the right… and straight on till morning.

------- Click here for Chapters 11 - 13 -------

------- Chapter 11 :: Year 1 PVP and My Love of Videogames -------

Sans a few moments in the Beta, I have not touched PvP for Year One. I have expressed this repeatedly on this forum, most recently here, and at the earliest during the beta. I would like to state why.

Why so Serious?

In short, believe it or not, when I am playing a video game I'm not doing it to be the best there ever was. When I am playing a video game its more as one would do when reading a book. Be it an objective in a story or simply for the joy of learning, the joy of asking questions, that is why I play videogames. It's in part Biowares fault. I recently heard a straight up rumor that KOTOR might get remade. Like flys to shit, shut up and take my money!

I digress. Where was I? Oh!

I play videogames for the experience for being there without being there. For the love of the moment. I play videogames because in their own little way, as much as a story book does, they can take you to ... where ever. Things can be explored and altered that otherwise would be immutable in a book. I've leaped across skyscrapers, I've traveled to points throughout our galaxy, and soon in the next one. I've been a Jedi and fought Sith. I've joined 3rd echelon and saved the world in secret. I've traveled Roma, and seen Italy in its renaissance. I've gone under the sea and into the sky and learned about the meaning of men and monsters. I've been asked questions never asked in scenarios I would have never of experienced without the craft and skill of others imagination. Yet... that imagination... has been shared... with me. That imagination has been shared with me. Is that not... just the most awesome thing ever! I get to explore the collective imagination instead of just witnessing it.

Oh!...And of course, I finished the fight.

One of the biggest things I expected and wanted out of Destiny was the ability to explore. TO find story. To search and cleave through a world for...whatver. To find hidden doors, and unlock secret passages. Then I would go out onto the net and go "HEY! Look what I found!". (Wait.. we have a front page?)

For example:

ISN’T THAT COOL! :D

Admittedly it's also because of the ...artist?... in me. I love seeing others creativity. It's another reason why I love videogames, with all its layers and layers of art and design. Even the math is pretty cool. I have no idea what it’s saying right now…but it does cool stuff. That’ll do. It's a playground. Or a sandbox. Just So!

This preference was not a sudden realization though. From just playing different types of videogames I have learned what I, for whatever reason, find to be fun. I have learned what my brain likes to do during a state of downtime, which if you think about the concept is just wild. The brain thinking about its self. OooooOOOooo... tingly.

I think Year One Multiplayer was over all, too much of the same thing for me. I've played Slayer and King of the Hill many many times. While it may be a different game, it just doesn't catch my interest like it used too. In fact I feel I can say that Year one multiplayer had NO appeal to me. Yet interestingly enough, the only armor I wanted the most from Destiny in year one I could never get in principle. The Iron Regalia Vestments for my Warlock. In this aspect I found aggravation. Is "makeing" me do something I don't want to do, for something I want to get fun? Part of me feels that there are a number flaws in that question, yet I find the question interesting. Interpret it as you will.

Unfortunately, by not playing year one multiplayer I also rebuke the offical ability be called an "Ultimate Bungie Fan" of sorts. This is because I refused to play something that I had no urge nor want to play. Since everything seems to stack in Destiny, I can see the possibility in 9 years down the line of Bungie thanking those who completed all these things in the past, and because of such things this will come back to bite me because I did not play something that had no appeal me. Mayhem for Year Two does have me intrigued though, but I know you can't please everyone. So be it. Doesn't make it suck less thoug-... wait... WHAT!

HOLD THE PRESSES!

“The Crucible Preview Event will take place from September 8th to September 14th. Go and get yourself an early taste of some Rift! And follow it up with a heaping helping of Mayhem!”

“The Moments of Triumph have been extended to September 14, 2015 at 11:59 PM PDT (6:59 AM UTC). You can check your progress by visiting the Moments of Triumph progress page as part of your Legend.”

AAAAAAAAHH!! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

So... uh... DBO. Who here thinks I can get 100 wins in a week?

Originally this part of the post said this:

To which, in the oddest sort of segway, I would like to thank you DBO. I know all I needed to do is ask and some would be more than willing to team up with me. I thank you. To this I take as granted.

But.

I feel that because the way I enjoy games seems to be different then how most of you seem to enjoy playing multiplayer that I don't want to impede on your fun because of my style of play. I don't care about winning or losing, it's about the play its self. That's it. I must admit, Year two multiplayer has me intrigued. I may actually for the first time since the beta, play multiplayer in Destiny. Perhaps.

We’ll see.

(Indeed. So ..um... wow. Due to the information given in the "Bungie Weekly Update - Sep 3" and the whole... Marty thing... I pushed this out a week earlier then I had planned. Had to cut the sound portion. Really bummed about that. SO... DBO. Who here is willing to assist me try to make 100 wins in a week? ;D )

------- Chapter 12 :: Metaphor & Myth -------

-------------Ozymandias by Horace Smith
---------IN Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
------Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
---------The only shadow that the Desert knows:—
------"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
---------"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
------"The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,—
---------Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
------------The site of this forgotten Babylon.
------We wonder,—and some Hunter may express
------Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
------Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
-------He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
--------What powerful but unrecorded race
----------Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

------- Chapter 13 :: Are you sure you want to read this? -------

For the entirety of my enrolled tenure here at DBO, I've been surrounded by peers of both a VFX and Videogame verity. Of all these people around me, I was unofficially known as the Destiny guy. I wore my enthusiasm for Destiny on my shoulder. For Bungie on my shoulder. Bungie is why I am here. Halo is why I am here. Shoot, even representatives of Bungie got to see me wearing my alarmingly infinite enthusiasm on my sleeve. I wanted to thank Bungie for doing good work by helping it make more.

So let's get real. Here is the conclusion. Here is where you take ALL THIS MASS of words and bits of simplicity nonsense that I failed to clarify unawares, tie it up in a pretty bow, and squeeze it to see what drips out. What was Destiny Year One? Heh, if only that question want so poignant to me.

The result? After digging deep I find that I just... I don't care about Bungies Destiny anymore. In a way, that is complete nonsense, I mean - shit - look around. I just made a small book talking about Destiny, and that's just the stuff that made it! That I didn't cut. Yet I didn't make this because I care about Destiny. I made this because I care about Bungie. I am a Bungie fan, and I couldn't part - if that is to happen - without first doing my absolute utmost to ... I don't know... be heard. I want to help Bungie succeed. So... for Destiny "the Game", I feel nothing. At this point I'm not even hyped about... well... I'm going too far ahead. Let's just say that this is the worst possible result for a fan. It's not love. It's not hate. It's... indifference. I feel nothing. Ho-ly shit.

Such is an extreme that I never even fathomed I would conclude at. After having all these hopes for Destiny, part me going "Oh the next DLC" will have it, or fix it, or story story something dark side something. Yet my hopes being dashed again and again. I got... I got numb. As you read this please realize this is not some singular thing. It is a mass of things. A stacking of pin pricks and stabs that started at Year Zero. Things the made me say, “this doesn't feel right”. “This doesn't feel like the Bungie I knew”. So here I am asking myself why I put in all my chips... why didn't I take the blue pill... et cetera et cetera et cetera.

Don't read too much into this, but I once knew a foster child who was hated by his mother. Beat the shit out of h'm intill the system stepped in. Even though he was now long in a loving home, he still had battle scars. Whenever you raised your hand - he would flinch slightly, every time. Right now with Destiny - I feel like I want to flinch. This is where communication would have helped. Just saying "We are the fans" , "We care" is not enough. Bungie loves Latin so try this : Acta non verba.

Yet all is not lost. I have been watching, as indeed mentioned. As Bungie presented The Taken King, I have been pleased to see that a grand grand number of my game play grievances both mentioned and otherwise for Year One has been seemingly fixed in Taken King. In many ways I feel that same twinge I felt a year ago, but much more subdued and subtle. Even though I'm not hyped nor even excited, I found myself saying this will be fun. Bungie can do it!

Then...

...it goes cold. It's because, in a way that's how I felt... a year ago (and more).

That sucks.

I want to be excited, ...but I can't. I bought something in confidence as a fan, and I genuinely still feel like I'm waiting to see Year One. So... now I have to throw down more cash to play the game I thought Bungie was selling a year ago? ... No. Sorry bub.

I gave Bungie my care as a fan, and Bungie soiled it in the worst way. Bungie fucked it over. Bungie might have fixed everything and made Destiny into the most amazing game ever now. I don't care. Bungie fucked it over. I know ... well I don't know, but I still am giving for some reason the benefit of the doubt that this isn't what Bungie wanted. At this point I am simply playing to tie up loose ends. I invested 800 + Hours into Destiny hoping it would get better. I have no idea where I found that time, maybe it's from all the non-existent lunch times I have missed. Anyway, I play right now because I might as well do what I can while I can.

At one point before it got cut, I had this huge metaphor for the Grimore and Destiny Year One as a whole. The metaphor was based off a fancy restaurant. Skipping all that to the point, If you go into a fancy restaurant you probably have a certain degree of expectation. If those expectations aren't met what would you do? Would you still return to that restaurant?

I feel that over all Destiny for Year One confirmed that 6 from Polygon. Not just alone but as an average for year one. Bungie as a studio earned it. They earned it with communication, not in what they said but what they didn't. They earned it with game play, not with... well sort of... what they made but what they didn't. They earned it by selling something that should have been, but was yet... not. More than ever I uttered to myself "How did this get past testing"? Pro tip: Rahool is a scapegoat.

On top of that Bungie couldn't even PRESENT The Taken King without some sort of clusterfuck! I look at this past year and I'm wondering what is going on over at Bungie? Even though Taken King is receiving positive preliminary reviews, and what has been presented does look promising, but I'm expecting shit to go down when Taken King launches because that has been Bungies pattern in this last year.

That's fucking sad. As a fan it hurts my heart. Bungie has all this capability and... I just don't understand. :(

I mean. … … Shit.

I just explained everything... and I'm asking myself how it came to this. Fuck.

To that end, I link to a post made by Revenant1988. His post is called What if destiny sucks? It was made February 12, 2013. No real detail, but I think it interesting to give it a look for old times' sake.

------- Click here for TL;DR – Epilogue -------

------- TL;DR – Epilogue :: Let the Learning Begin -------

< <-- Click here to go back to the Start of this post.

So there you have it! In this tome I have expressed:

• How all this mass of words got started
  
• Just a few of the problems and flaws with my observations
  
• Provided a large swath of Bungie histories of which are relevant to my per-view to show the footing of how I started down the path which I did.
  
• Of the aforementioned history I talked about how it might affect we fans of all sorts. I asked how being a fan effects a person. I did what I could to consider sides, both the fans & Bungie. In essence I spoke about communication and interpretation.
  
• My thoughts on Activation and Bungie, and if I could discern how this relationship has affected Bungie
  
• The results of my search to figure out why part of me felt that Bungie hated PVE. In essence I talked about gameplay and its design for Destiny Year One
  
• Why I have not played PVP in year one, and about my love of games. In essence – Preferences.
  
• A poem which is describing… Destiny? Me? Something else? Is there a 6th chest in the vault of glass? Who knows?
  
• How all this in the end has affected me. How it affected my outlook of Destiny. Is it a cry for help? Is it just a bunch of hooie and dramatic melodrama? I have presented as much I could. YOU DECIDE.

All in all. I think I made a complete package here. Apologies for its length.

After that all I have left is little nitpicky things. Don't maps imply exploration? Don't ships and whatever sail they muster imply exploration? Is anyone else here worried that they already ran out of names? Sunbreakers and Sunbraker? Really? Seriously?! DBO has done better with names. Does anyone here miss the Pause button? Oh! And are we ever going to get Railguns?

I know there is gold in ‘em blotches of text. I think in the end something about Destiny can be further improved with help from my observations, presuming of course, Bungie hasn't thought of it already. 500 people... and all that. I have mentioned these all things as honestly and as raw as I could. In someways it could be considered that it doesn't matter if I'm right or wrong. This is what I think, and I hope Bungie can use it to make a better game. If it turns out that the only thing we learn is that I really am just madder than a hatter, well then so be it. If I never do another thing with Bungie again, so be it. I am now content.

*Deep Breath*

So there you have it. At one point I had another Addendums filled with my ideas, and even a fan story but I cut it. I cut a bunch of things actually. Such bunches of text can be other posts for another time. All said… IT IS DONE. ...

OH! Wait!

cheapLEY demanded royalties. Here cheaply. This is for you. I found it on the internet.

Done. ;)

Thanks All. I’m… I’m going to go lie down. What do warlocks drink? Maybe I should think about it?Another time perhaps. For now this is MEGA POST is done.

It’s done. See you when I see you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Goodday.

Addendum Link

------- Addendum : Link Dump -------
All the stuff I had gathered but couldn’t find a proper word or set of words to embed into. Click at your own peril.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2pzsmw/through_their_eyes_what_colorblind_people/cn2ch9s
https://youtu.be/0JYsQ8p3wM8
http://saynotorage.com/2015/03/05/bungie-accidentally-admitted-their-pvp-is-dead/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEXBxijQREo
http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=1196886
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlACgYHtWCI
https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2c9gs4/destinys_make_or_break_features_raid_matchmaking/
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=23575
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=70695
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=73287
https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2lhks2/for_a_company_that_is_normally_pretty_fluent_with/
http://destiny.bungie.org/n/992
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=24800
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R53C40ELXr8
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=58650
https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2bf01o/deej_just_responded_to_our_request_for_more/
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=75060
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=29350
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=37767
http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=36805

------- Last link here to return to the Introduction -------

------------------------------------------------------------------

Addendum 2 :: A question asked. A question answered.

Alright, so you just endured the longest post I have ever written ever. Congratulations! You did it. Yet just like any good videogame fight-to-finish, there is an extra bit at the end. A part where I ask you to wake me if you need me. Actually it's just a transcript excerpt of my question being answered. This is referenced in Chapter 6 and this addendum is for your convenience.

• Wu: -Name- had, probably the most generic or the most open ended question in the list.
  
  What did year one [of Destiny] teach you?
  
  
• Mn: That’s a good question.
  
  -long pause-
  
  Wow there is so ways to answer it, ya know, like I’m thinking is it like what did teach me as a game developer or whats a summery about what’s up at Bungie?
  
  I think I would go back to what I have said earlier which is… we have updated the game so much right, and we are continuing… we have a well-documented ten year plain for destiny.
  We have this character who’s yours and you own and you’re going to develop him over a period of time, and you’re going to take him off the shelf when a major expansion like The Taken King comes out and moving him around the world and become more powerful again. And so we’ve really committed to supporting the game and constantly updating it and I think one of the things that we’ve… was it that surprised me? … what surprised us? What did we learn?….
  
  
• Wu: What did it teach you?
  
  
• MN: It taught us, how much the game is going to change in response of the players. Bungie has always updated its games; we’ve always had a strong community and good relationship with the communities
  
  Both communities
  
  
• Wu: *Laugh*
  
  
• Mn: When you think about some of the things that we’ve done and introduced, we’ve, I don’t think we could have imagined doing these things not because they are heretical or whatever, you couldn’t see it.It’s only through the communication with the community and playing the game and being… ya know…When we go home at night we are community members too.
  We play the game on our couches, controller in our hand and we are playing with all of you and you see things differently when you play at home. You play something in the lab and think its fine then you go and sit on the couch and go oh my god I can’t believe we thought this was a good idea.
  
  
• Wu: Laugh
  
  
• Mn: The game is going to constantly and continually evolve in response to the community and maybe that should be more obvious then it was, I think that people say that … that’s true in any online game or whatever but it’s been certainly really true for Destiny.
  
  
• Wu: I’ve been really impressed with the way updates have been sort of targeted to things that bother large chunks of the community. So Bungies always made the games that they want to make, but they also always listen to fans, sometimes thoughts conflict and… it feels like… there is more of a willingness to say we think this is the way it should be done but clearly the fans want, *that*, lets try to find a compromise as opposed to “this is how it should be done”.
  
  
• Mn: Yea. I think that what it might be coming down to is, absolutely we are listening.
  I’ve never worked on a game like Destiny before where after the game is done the teams are still around and want to play.
  
  
• Wu: Laughs
  
  
• Mn: Normally it’s been once it’s done I would put it behind me I’m glad people like it I hope it sells well, you go on to the next thing and It goes into the rear view mirror.
  But with Destiny because we have this long term commitment, because we know we are building this franchise over time, It’s… And because it’s just so fucking fun to play, it feels great in your hands to shoot monsters with your friends, that is what destiny is really about, we all still play it.
  
  We’ve done things to make it really easy to continue to play it weather you are playing it nightly for hours, or just an hour a week to play and because of that … as I’ve said we’ve become members of the community too. We are there. We are playing it at home. We playing a lot I think. A lot of games you get this disconnect between the community and what the team wanted to make and the disconnect never gets resolved.
  
  
• Wu: Because other teams at that point are gone.
  
  
• Mn: Yea. But with us that isn’t the case. Like with Skolas with Arc Burn… Dude! that was terrible.
  
  
• Wu: Laughs
  
  
• Mn: how did this happen? We played it internally, thought it was good. You get on your couch and go hey this is way too hard. This is not as intended. The community is going to write us up because of this. I think that is responsible for that.
  
  
• Wu: Very Cool. …

To be completely honest, I only read the first 6 chapters.

Some guy on Reddit thinks your post is crazy poignant.

https://np.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3kkyho/bungie_has_moved_on_but_they_havent_forgotten_the/cuynmiz

I still haven't finished reading it.