melmer

Destiny

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I am not ok with locking any quest or gear behind weird content like that. I don't know what the deal is, though. Been out of the loop on vidya games for a week or so.

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I'm not 100% sure how the quest structure works, but every interpretation that I can make from the FAQs suggests that it's not much more than "do x amount of public events with your RAF buddy", "do y amount of quest completions with your RAF buddy", etc. This is not a quest you should feel left out from not doing.

 

And again, I'm still not seeing what here is not cosmetic. Sparrows do not differ in function to an extent that I'd consider any new sparrow to be much more than a new paint job. The "gear", being the sword, is just a reskin of the legendary sword you can get otherwise.

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I think for some of us, Destiny has become a game in which you collect things. Exotic weapons and armor, shaders, emblems, complete raid gear sets, emotes, ships and sparrows to a lesser extent. Sleeper Simulant doesn't really help you do anything better, but it's fun to have it on your trophy wall.

 

So to have some stuff behind the RAF wall, even if the wall isn't that high and the stuff isn't at all important, is a bit irksome. I would like to have the RAF emblem, not because I think it would replace any of the ones I use, but because I'm sorta trying to complete my collection.

 

I don't think it's super gross garbage. I doubt there's any reward Bungie could offer potential sherpas that the rest of us wouldn't get at least a little miffed over.

 

(Switching topics to Iron Banner: I didn't start until Sunday, and managed to hit rank 5 by completing a few bounties and staying up a little too late Monday night. Got some good high-290s/low-300s stuff for my nascent hunter. Related: I don't recommend playing IB with a 260 character.

 

I'm always a little reluctant to do Crucible stuff, 'cause it stresses me out, but JonCole's totally right that the reward-to-time-invested rate is very high.)

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I think a new quest still feels important because there are so few in the game as of now, and we haven't had any indication that they'll be added with any regularity. From the sounds of the Kotaku article, Destiny isn't getting another major content update like it did previously. Maybe we'll be surprised at PSX next week, but the promise of the Live team was that they'd provide incremental content updates throughout the year. Until we get those regular updates I wouldn't blame anyone for being cynical about Bungie's focus on expanding sources of income.

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I think a new quest still feels important because there are so few in the game as of now, and we haven't had any indication that they'll be added with any regularity. From the sounds of the Kotaku article, Destiny isn't getting another major content update like it did previously. Maybe we'll be surprised at PSX next week, but the promise of the Live team was that they'd provide incremental content updates throughout the year. Until we get those regular updates I wouldn't blame anyone for being cynical about Bungie's focus on expanding sources of income.

 

Fair point. The uncertain future of Destiny in terms of new content does put a negative filter on things like this. But I view it as a program that, if successful, brings more people to the game and thus improves the chances that more content will get made. Maybe I'm just being optimistic. Also, maybe this is just looking rosier to me because I actually am interested in getting more people to try Destiny, I earnestly believe that it's a better game than when it first came out and it's a game that doesn't get enough credit for what it has to offer. So offering incentives to me, having already been a person that'd try to talk someone into playing the game and trying to help sherpa a bit, just seems like good business.

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It's absolutely good business, I don't have a problem with them building a program to bring new players in. That's a perfectly reasonable thing for them to do, and I hope it works out. And sure, people on reddit are getting overdramatic about the whole thing, but they're getting that way because they're the players who actually care about the game and they've had nothing new this month except for some bugfixes. I totally understand why Bungie is making new content to attract new players, but that content doesn't apply to the players who are here right now, who are the ones who care the most about new content. Between refer-a-friend and cosmetic microtransactions, Bungie is clearly trying to supplement their income while they work on their next big release, but that model feels shitty to the people who are starving for new content right now.

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My question is, do people really feel like the content well has been totally tapped? I'm still working on sleeper stimulant, I don't have a full Trials or IB gear set yet, I've only gotten enough flawless runs to count on one hand, HM raid is still far from farm status like VOG or CE was after this long, etc. And I play all the time! Like, ALL THE TIME. So I don't know what I'm missing here. I don't feel like I'm dying for new content yet, but maybe I just am looking to wring more out of this whole thing than other people.

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Do you like the concept of dailies, or grind quests?

 

A couple of weeks ago I was with remadeking doing one of the grouped up things we were doing, and I jokingly asked if anyone ever used the "increased glimmer from X" items, because I am at max glimmer at nearly all times. He said all the time, he buys all the emblems so he never has any glimmer. And in my brain, I went "Oh, people buy those?"

 

In a game that wants to have broad appeal to multiple swaths of people, it almost by rule means that nothing is going to appeal to everyone playing. I like some of the shaders and stuff, but I'm not going out of my way to get them. I don't care about emotes, or emblems. I want to collect numbers. Specifically, higher numbers that will help me beat content, and show that I've beaten it. When WoW introduce dailies it eroded some of my interest in the game, because it became part of the prescribed content to spend time doing the same thing every day so you could get a slightly different horse. Sure, there was sometimes gear associated with it, but I think their handling of it was largely a mistake.

 

For Destiny, I'm totally happy to do one Heroic Mission, one Crucible match for marks, and then various things that I'm likely going to be doing anyway for xp and possibly other materials in the form of bounties. One of the reasons it's different here than there is something like "Punch 32 dudes without dying" or "get 18 headshots" is something the game already rewards you for doing, and takes some modicum of skill. If there was a daily turn in for foraging 20 spinmetal I might never play again.

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My question is, do people really feel like the content well has been totally tapped? I'm still working on sleeper stimulant, I don't have a full Trials or IB gear set yet, I've only gotten enough flawless runs to count on one hand, HM raid is still far from farm status like VOG or CE was after this long, etc. And I play all the time! Like, ALL THE TIME. So I don't know what I'm missing here. I don't feel like I'm dying for new content yet, but maybe I just am looking to wring more out of this whole thing than other people.

 

I do kind of feel this way, yes. I've done the strikes to death and they have absolutely nothing else to offer. No reason to do patrol mode or bounties as I have all the reputation and various things associated with those. Nothing left to do on the Dreadnaught as I've gotten all the calcified fragments I need and have done Court of Oryx about a billion times. Nothing that I need legendary marks for any more. Very little reason to farm 310 exotics as I already have most of my weapon and armor slots at 310.

 

All there is for me at this point is running the raid and running some PvP. I haven't really been in the mood for PvP lately so that just leaves the raid. And now that I've completed that a number of times and nearly have a full raid set there isn't much incentive left there either. I could level up some alts or focus on some other meta part of the game to eke out more content but I think I'd have more fun just playing other games(and have been!). 

 

For me, this game needs new content badly if I'm going to keep playing it. There is so much potential and even just seeing more year one content get a year 2 upgrade would be enough to keep me playing. Although, it has been pretty nice taking a break from this to play some other stuff. 

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How do we feel about Sparrow racing? I've sunk a few hours (and some silver) into it, and I still can't decide if I actually like it.

 

Pros:

  • Racing game on top of shooter engine. I'm surprised it works as well as it does.
  • Pretty frequent 300+ helmet and class item drops
  • Narrowing boost gates are pretty clever
  • Winning a race is nice

Cons:

  • Sparrow physics are heck of capricious
    • Oops I hit a chunk of invisible geometry and came to a complete halt and everyone passed me
    • Oops I hit a thing at like just the wrong angle and got popped up in the air and everyone passed me
    • Oops I went into a ridiculous prolonged tumble and everyone passed me
    • Oops someone rode me away from a gate and now I'm going like 60kph and everyone passed me
  • Winning doesn't happen very often (for me). I'm up to 108 races (54 on each track) and have won 23 times.

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Yeah I'm not crazy keen on it, but when someone I know wants to do a couple laps as a change of pace it doesn't bother me overmuch. At least thanks to the quest I now have a sparrow other than the starting model, so I move around maps a little quicker.

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I haven't tried Sparrow racing yet, but I did get dragged back in on Friday night to do a King's Fall hard mode attempt. All but one of us were below 310 light level but we still managed to get all the way through to Oryx pretty easily (we didn't even attempt Oryx because we knew we were still way too under-leveled and wanted to end on a high note). It was pretty fun and way less frustrating than I expected. I also got really lucky and got a ton of drops bringing my light level up to 311. I got a 320 chest, 315 and 300 sniper, 316 Titan mark, 310 legs, and a 305 ghost. Aside from my ghost, my lowest level gear is 310 now so I guess there's no point in farming 310 exotics any more.

 

I keep saying I'm burnt out on this game since there haven't been any new substantial content drops and that continues to be the case (and no, I haven't tried Trials yet). But that raid is so damn fun and satisfying that I just can't not join up when the option is there.

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For $25 they should be getting me to 40 with completely filled in subclasses and a set of 280-300 gear. What they are offering is pretty damn weak.

 

I don't have a problem with for-pay level boosters, but I think this is a good point. What's the market for these? People just starting out, or established players starting new characters? If the latter, fine; Bungie's allowing people to expedite things if time is more precious than money. If the former, a simple boost to 25 won't allow them to do King's Fall or Trials with the friend who sent them a referral code or whatever.

 

A simple level boost also puts you in a place where you need planetary materials and faction rep to get or upgrade gear, but because you skipped the low-level grind, you don't have any of that stuff. If $25 got you a comprehensive package of Light level, subclass perks, gear, materials, and currencies, such that you could go do the new raid and participate in the game's economy, it would be a much more attractive purchase for new players.

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I don't have a problem with for-pay level boosters, but I think this is a good point. What's the market for these? People just starting out, or established players starting new characters? If the latter, fine; Bungie's allowing people to expedite things if time is more precious than money. If the former, a simple boost to 25 won't allow them to do King's Fall or Trials with the friend who sent them a referral code or whatever.

 

A simple level boost also puts you in a place where you need planetary materials and faction rep to get or upgrade gear, but because you skipped the low-level grind, you don't have any of that stuff. If $25 got you a comprehensive package of Light level, subclass perks, gear, materials, and currencies, such that you could go do the new raid and participate in the game's economy, it would be a much more attractive purchase for new players.

 

It is by default for established players because the spark of light consumable that brings you to level 25 is included with every copy of TTK, expansion or Legendary Edition.

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Doesn't Destiny only have 3 character slots?

 

Forget the absurd price, what person who isn't already "in" on Destiny doesn't have 3 level 40 characters? Who are they trying to sell this to?

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The new leveling sales on top of the free "level one character to 25 and the start of The Taken King content" boost seem to be for those people who got Destiny given to them in order to encourage them to play without needing to level. Since you can just play level-adjusted crucible to level, I don't see the point, but I think they're trying to get players that don't know this. (Edit: This will give them a leg up if they dive right into crucible since they'll have all the subclass abilities immediately available for the character slot they *didn't* use the free level 25 boost in.)

 

It certainly doesn't get rid of the grind to get to 300+ Light at the end, or imbalance the game. It just saves someone a few days of time leveling a subclass.

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Doesn't Destiny only have 3 character slots?

 

Forget the absurd price, what person who isn't already "in" on Destiny doesn't have 3 level 40 characters? Who are they trying to sell this to?

 

I dunno, I played a lot but I only had one character at the endgame. I've only got so much time, man. Plus, I'm sure plenty people joining post-TTK probably don't have all three classes maxed out yet and there will be a xmas influx too.

 

It's good that this one at least gives you some subclass points because the buff that comes with TTK doesn't (level 25 and no double jump...great). Price is still bonkers though...

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If it was five bucks I wouldn't really care. Not everyone has time to level a character but would still like to see all the story. I can't help but feel that those people will be disappointing by Destiny but they do exist. My issue is the price which is blatantly exploitative in a way the emotes and all that are not.

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I dunno, I played a lot but I only had one character at the endgame. I've only got so much time, man. Plus, I'm sure plenty people joining post-TTK probably don't have all three classes maxed out yet and there will be a xmas influx too.

 

It's good that this one at least gives you some subclass points because the buff that comes with TTK doesn't (level 25 and no double jump...great). Price is still bonkers though...

 

I feel like that's kinda where the rubber meets the road. This is priced like a WoW character leveler. The WoW boost is $60 and this is $25, but what I actually mean is it's priced as if it's for the hardcore player. The WoW boost is to get your 6th character to new content, or if you're starting on a server and not transferring. It has an entire quest chain that takes you through starter content and teaches you the basics of your class's skill progression along with all the bags, gear, and flying skills someone fresh out of the last expansion might have, just in case you haven't been playing 8 years. I used the TTK boost, because that was when I started playing. It dropped me into the game with level-appropriate gear. No tutorial, the new subclass wasn't even unlocked (as you said). That was super rough.

 

And $25 vs $60 doesn't seem comparable, but we're talking about a game that's been out 15 months vs a game that's been out since 2004. Even straight breadcrumb and map following to level as fast as humanly possible, there's so much content to go through for WoW that isn't there for Destiny. Somewhere in the $5-10 range feels like it might be ok, but it's really expensive for what they're giving you and they haven't earned that.

 

Lastly, please do not take this the wrong way! But I wager that if you loved Destiny like some friends I know love Destiny, you would have found that time to level 3 characters that was probably sucked away by other games and y'know, interesting life events. Like, those guys are the ones 1) most likely to drop $25 on Destiny without thinking about it and 2) have no need. That isn't to say "oh you don't ACTUALLY like Destiny" or that you're not hardcore or whatever. It is a video game and you should play it as long as you'd like and in the manner you see fit. Merely that the people I know who love destiny love it so hard that time gets taken away from other stuff and finds its way into Destiny.

 

I get this is for the "I wanna see it" crowd, but it's a really poor value proposition in my eyes. Of course, I'm not a business analyst. I spent all these words worked about it and they'll probably make a goddamn mint.

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