So . . . Solstice is here. What do you think?

It's only been a day, so it's hard to judge.

The Eastern Aerial Zone is awesome. I really like it. Kinda wish there was more of a combat challenge to it, but it's still fun. I love the chest hunt at the end, and the platforming throughout the whole think is a neat little aspect of the whole zone, and something I'd love to see Bungie play with some more. It's neat to have to climb so much and potentially fight at the same time.

Upgrading the armor seems a little too grindy. It's probably not too bad, really, but it seems really silly to make this cool unique event, and then immediately ask your players to ignore it and do other shit instead. I just don't get it.

I do like the cosmetics. The armor looks cool. Ten bucks for the armor glow seems a little excessive, but the fact that it's one element for all three classes, and available for Bright Dust eases the sting a little bit. I bought the Void Glow for 5000 Bright Dust. And the little Sparrow! Bungie is doing a good job of bleeding me of my stockpiled resources.

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Too much grinding. It might be okay if you could unlock all the rewards by leveling up just your favorite class, but that Sparrow, at least, is locked behind having to repeat the grind three times, once for each class. I don't even have a Warlock which means I'd need to make one and level it to level 50 before I could equip proper weapons and armor... That 3x grind multiplier has made me give up on the event almost entirely. Yes, the EAZ is a really cool space, but Bungie's lack of regard for my time is anything but cool.

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The grind looks worse than it is. It is designed to be casually completed over 4 weeks (or powered through in a weekend as the high profile folks will do). I had an open evening and have all but 2 objectives completed for the first upgrade on my Titan. 1 of 28 days. I sympathize not having a full 3 characters and wanting that Sparrow. But the objectives to get to the Legendary sets really aren’t that bad when you look at how long you have to complete the objectives.

Regarding the event itself: I think the EAZ is neat. It is a clever use of assets. Similar to the redressing of the Infinite Forest for other events. I would love to see it get repurposed to something more permanent, as the play space doesn’t leave much opportunity to just explore. I’m enjoying the 30 second orb buff concept. It’s neat. Though I sort of wish it was something you manually triggered. Being a smoldering blight in Crucible definitely throws people off though.

I am not sure it will hold up for a month if this is everything. Though rumors suggest it won’t be. It is a nice change of pace from this last weeks Iron Banner. I had decided to do all 18 bounties this last week as I had gotten through most of them already, but Final Blow requirements in team PvP are annoying. The fact that everything here can be completed cooperatively (and with your choice of Gambit or Crucible) is very nice and a good way to be more celebratory.

Also, I hate the mini sparrow. I hate it so much.

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Who hurt you and why do you hate fun?

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I think this is classic Bungie divide even within Bungie itself. It's between the people who didn't want dancing emotes in their serious game and those who did.

I'll have to see how the sparrow looks in-game. I probably won't spend real money to get it.

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I think this is classic Bungie divide even within Bungie itself. It's between the people who didn't want dancing emotes in their serious game and those who did.

I'll have to see how the sparrow looks in-game. I probably won't spend real money to get it.

...I did mention, plus no real money need be spent (this week). I have basically no bright dust now. Need to really work on those Tess bounties.

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You don't have to spend real money, it's for sale with bright dust.

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Probably more of a “thanks, I hate it.” Situation. I spent Bright Dust on it. I still have it equipped. I spent probably 15 minutes last night doing donuts in it waiting for public events on Nessus.

But I hate it. At an atomic level.

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Yes, the EAZ is a really cool space, but Bungie's lack of regard for my time is anything but cool.

All you get for doing the whole thing 3 times is a sparrow you'll probably never use anyway. Doing it once seems fun enough. No third character for me either, not sure if I'll even bother on my second. I didn't get last year's ship either - haven't missed it.

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that Sparrow, at least, is locked behind having to repeat the grind three times, once for each class

I don't run anything but a Titan so I'm completely locked out of some of the content. This is the kind of thing that is driving me away from Destiny. :(

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that Sparrow, at least, is locked behind having to repeat the grind three times, once for each class

I don't run anything but a Titan so I'm completely locked out of some of the content. This is the kind of thing that is driving me away from Destiny. :(

If I thought I would get all the items in Destiny I would have given up on Destiny a long time ago. It also makes a difference that I honestly don't care about that sparrow. Yeah, it's a little harsh, but I don't know if it's any more work than getting to the top level in a season of Apex... Maybe it is, maybe not. All games have a top tier reward.

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That’s my thought.

I can understand why it’s a sort of a bummer on principle, but it’s a single sort of okay looking sparrow. And at least it’s possible to get without engaging with Eververse. I do agree that nothing tangible should be locked to running 3 characters. Triumphs are fine in that regard.

I do have issues with cooler stuff just being locked to eververse, though. The glows are fantastic looking, and I hate that they’re only through Eververse. Where’s the cool raid glows like we had in Rise of Iron? Every activity should have a glow for its armor set.

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That’s my thought.

I can understand why it’s a sort of a bummer on principle, but it’s a single sort of okay looking sparrow. And at least it’s possible to get without engaging with Eververse. I do agree that nothing tangible should be locked to running 3 characters. Triumphs are fine in that regard.

Yeah, having a grind like that for a season event seems harsh for sure. I also apparently don't have the D1 Nostalgia that others have for that Sparrow.

I do have issues with cooler stuff just being locked to eververse, though. The glows are fantastic looking, and I hate that they’re only through Eververse. Where’s the cool raid glows like we had in Rise of Iron? Every activity should have a glow for its armor set.

I'm curious though, why do you use the word "locked"? You can get bright dust just like every other resource. It is just because it's also associated with money?

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I'm curious though, why do you use the word "locked"? You can get bright dust just like every other resource. It is just because it's also associated with money?

Yeah, basically.

I mostly agree with you. I think the Eververse is mostly fine, even sort of good, at least in the scale of current real money stores in games. It still feels a little shitty that doing the fun content doesn’t reward you with cool stuff as much as it used to, with that stuff going to Eververse instead.

Rise of Iron really set expectations going forward in terms of cosmetics, and they haven’t even come close to matching them. I really think every activity should have its own cool glowy set. I might be in the minority, but that would honestly make me more likely to spend real money with Tess. Now I don’t do it mostly out of spite, because it feels like Bungie is forcing it on me. If it was only one option of many, I’d feel better about dipping into that option.

I’ve spent money three times in Eververse. Once within the first month of D2, just to see what it was like. And then I bought a Whisper ornament and a Bad Juju ornament because those were such cool experiences that it feels worthwhile. I’d buy an Outbreak ornament too if they weren’t ugly.

I’ll be interested to see what Eververse is like next season with no more Bright Engrams and how the Bright Dust economy changes. It seems like they are really trying to drain players of their stockpiled Bright Dust right now, and it seems at least slightly nefarious.

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I'm curious though, why do you use the word "locked"? You can get bright dust just like every other resource. It is just because it's also associated with money?

Yeah, basically.

I mostly agree with you. I think the Eververse is mostly fine, even sort of good, at least in the scale of current real money stores in games. It still feels a little shitty that doing the fun content doesn’t reward you with cool stuff as much as it used to, with that stuff going to Eververse instead.

Rise of Iron really set expectations going forward in terms of cosmetics, and they haven’t even come close to matching them. I really think every activity should have its own cool glowy set. I might be in the minority, but that would honestly make me more likely to spend real money with Tess. Now I don’t do it mostly out of spite, because it feels like Bungie is forcing it on me. If it was only one option of many, I’d feel better about dipping into that option.

I’ve spent money three times in Eververse. Once within the first month of D2, just to see what it was like. And then I bought a Whisper ornament and a Bad Juju ornament because those were such cool experiences that it feels worthwhile. I’d buy an Outbreak ornament too if they weren’t ugly.

I’ll be interested to see what Eververse is like next season with no more Bright Engrams and how the Bright Dust economy changes. It seems like they are really trying to drain players of their stockpiled Bright Dust right now, and it seems at least slightly nefarious.

Yeah, the whole money economy is just a touchy subject. I get it. There is so many mixed feelings about it. I feel like there is almost no good or bad way to go about. Okay, there are bad ways :D

I just think that every time it's changed up then some people are mad and others are happy. But ultimately you have to make players feel good about buying stuff, not "Hey, here is the pretty thing, you know you want to buy it... for a price"

It's the same thing for me with DOTA and Apex, the games are free, the developers did a good job, I honestly wanted to show my support by giving them money, if I get something in return, cool. But if it was basically a paywall, I would take what I could get and say screw them.

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It's the same thing for me with DOTA and Apex, the games are free, the developers did a good job, I honestly wanted to show my support by giving them money, if I get something in return, cool. But if it was basically a paywall, I would take what I could get and say screw them.

This is why the Fortnite/Apex model is working so well. When I pay nothing, or next to nothing, it's a lot easier to justify a 2-10$ purchase. When I paid $60 + DLC, it's a smack in the face to be pay blocked to the best content. I get it, companies need money, I like money too. But Bungie has been making good money for years now, so it just feels forced when it shouldn't.

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It's the same thing for me with DOTA and Apex, the games are free, the developers did a good job, I honestly wanted to show my support by giving them money, if I get something in return, cool. But if it was basically a paywall, I would take what I could get and say screw them.

This is why the Fortnite/Apex model is working so well. When I pay nothing, or next to nothing, it's a lot easier to justify a 2-10$ purchase.

I agree with you here, completely.

When I paid $60 + DLC, it's a smack in the face to be pay blocked to the best content.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I've gotten way more out of Destiny than what I've paid for. Almost so much more that I honestly forget that I even paid money for it.

As for being pay blocked to the best content. I don't know where that came from. I understand the idea of being pay blocked, but what "best content" are you getting pay blocked out of that isn't part of what you already paid for? Cosmetics? Sparrows? Ghosts?

If you are saying you shouldn't have to pay for DLC's, or even that you feel like you should be able to immediately play all the content, that makes sense. But you're gonna have to explain this too me :)

I get it, companies need money, I like money too. But Bungie has been making good money for years now, so it just feels forced when it shouldn't.

I'm not going to assume I know Bungie's financial situation. Even on broad terms. There are so many factors we don't know. I mean, I guess you can say they should be making good money for years now, but honestly I don't know about that based on recent history.

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When I paid $60 + DLC, it's a smack in the face to be pay blocked to the best content.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I've gotten way more out of Destiny than what I've paid for. Almost so much more that I honestly forget that I even paid money for it.

As for being pay blocked to the best content. I don't know where that came from. I understand the idea of being pay blocked, but what "best content" are you getting pay blocked out of that isn't part of what you already paid for? Cosmetics? Sparrows? Ghosts?

If you are saying you shouldn't have to pay for DLC's, or even that you feel like you should be able to immediately play all the content, that makes sense. But you're gonna have to explain this too me :)

I agree it's a good deal overall. but when others have a better paradigm it's hard to appreciate it as much.

So content is the wrong word here, the prettiest stuff, cosmetics. As a consumer, saying "hey, buy this DLC and you get this exotic gun" means I buy if I want that. but to not say, "and get more money out for this better looking skin", is annoying at minimum to me. Feels sketchy and downright BS at worst. I am sure in reality it's in the middle of course. It's not exactly Nickel and Diming, but it's close. Like a car salesman selling me on the Turbo for a car. Then AFTER i buy it, saying oh, but it's more effective if you buy this as well.

I am fine with paying for DLC's, although I think not doing it is better for the game health overall. It was work they did and they should get paid for it.

I get it, companies need money, I like money too. But Bungie has been making good money for years now, so it just feels forced when it shouldn't.

I'm not going to assume I know Bungie's financial situation. Even on broad terms. There are so many factors we don't know. I mean, I guess you can say they should be making good money for years now, but honestly I don't know about that based on recent history.

We can make pretty good guesses, their games AND dlc have sold well for 15+ years. They had a bidding war to publish their new game. Also part of Activisions earning, a public company, they state how much they give companies, etc. They are a top tier developer and top tier developers as a company are making real good money at the moment.

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It's only been a day, so it's hard to judge.

The Eastern Aerial Zone has, as far as I can tell, no invisible walls or "soft-kill" 4 second zones. Everything you see you can explore. I'm quite a fan of that. The new boss that you can get in this space is interesting.

I can't help but feel like this years solstice is a giant test for mechanics. I'm not sure why I think that though.

All I have at the moment.

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I saw a comment on reddit that says the chests spawn at the locations of all the HVTs you killed in the round. That holds true for the few chests I’ve found over two runs.

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It may have some degree of influence. However, on my runs I have always found one in the courtyard you first pass through at the start of the activity and a number of chests in peripheral areas where bosses do not spawn. I have also passed through areas with bosses that did not have chests spawn.

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I suspected that maybe the chest spawns and the HVT spawns just overlap so it maybe seems like there's a correlation when there's not, but I figured it was worth posting.

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[image]

[Link] (https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=164149)

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So . . . Solstice is here. What do you think? (Destiny)