Destiny 1 has some great features that Guardians sorely miss in Destiny 2 or that are worse in the sequel. The predecessor does this much better.
This is how Destiny 2 developed: When Destiny 2 was released in September 2017, it primarily disappointed the veteran Guardians after the story was completed. The endgame was dull and lacked long-term motivation. In addition, Destiny 1 was in a much better state in 2017, offering a ton of content, which is why many players soon missed their old Guardians.
Over the past two years, Bungie has worked hard on Destiny 2, gradually improving it. Currently, it offers so much content that activities will have to be removed in the future when new ones are added to avoid overflowing. Destiny 2 has grown significantly and continues to grow.
Nonetheless, there are some aspects of the game that the predecessor, Destiny 1, addressed much better. And with Shadowkeep, nothing should change regarding these aspects yet. The idea for this article came from XHOUNDISHx, whose video we embed here:
Strike-specific loot was cooler
This is the situation in Destiny 2: In Destiny 2, there are rewards that can only be obtained through strikes. However, this is only possible through the Nightfalls, which rotate weekly.
The regular strike playlist has meanwhile substantially declined. Guardians have long criticized that it is hardly worth playing the strikes.
By the way: Even the Nightfall-exclusive rewards were not available at the launch of Destiny 2. They had to be introduced later.
This is how Destiny 1 did it better: In Destiny 1, Guardians specifically hunted for strike-exclusive loot and could spend countless hours on it. Because for some weapons, one wanted a God Roll, which made the strikes along with their loot in Destiny 1 much more exciting and motivating. Among the most sought-after exclusive weapons were the Imago Loop from the “The Immortal Spirit” strike and the Grip of Malok from the Omnigul strike.
There were also some cool strike-exclusive armor pieces, such as Taniks’ cloak or Malok’s hood.
In addition, a skeleton key system was introduced in Destiny 1, which allowed players to specifically obtain strike-specific loot. Those who had to play the Nokris Nightfall repeatedly in Destiny 2 to finally obtain the strike loot for the Wanderer title would have wished for such a system in Destiny 2 as well.
The vendors disappoint in Destiny 2
This is the situation in Destiny 2: Several vendors have been boring Guardians for quite some time.
- All faction vendors have had no use for ages since the faction rally was put on ice.
- The gunsmith Banshee-44 is no longer as exciting as he once was in Destiny 1, when he hosted the weapon day weekly and could bring in weapons with top rolls.
- And the vendors in the various worlds desperately need fresh and larger inventories.
This is how Destiny 1 did it better: In Destiny 1, the vendors in the Tower had much larger loot pools, with items rotating weekly. It was exciting to check the vendors each week and see if there was a Palindrom with God Roll among them.
Furthermore, Banshee-44’s weapon day provided a bit of variety, and the factions offered exotic exclusive items if one served them for a while. The ability to make progress with certain vendors over a long period to earn their loot is currently completely absent in Destiny 2.
PvP needs more love
This is the situation in Destiny 2: The PvP in Destiny 2 has been criticized since launch. Since every mode was played in 4v4, no level advantages were activated, and especially the Trials were a huge disappointment, everything in the Crucible felt like a boring uniform mass.
Over the years, there have been new content in PvP, but not much has happened since Forsaken. New maps, new modes, and more variety are desperately needed. With Shadowkeep, two “new” maps are being added, but these are just old maps from Destiny 1. More love for the PvP, Bungie!
This is how Destiny 1 did it better: In short – Trials! This mode is painfully missed in Destiny 2, as it provided a new challenge for the PvP pros and for everyone who wanted to mercilessly fail in Trials weekly in Destiny 1.
The special thing about the Trials in Destiny 1 was also that they told a small story of their own. It was not just about getting the cool Trials gear but also about reaching the mysterious lighthouse. The Trials had something mysterious and captivating about them.
Guardians want cool armor
This is the situation in Destiny 2: In Destiny 2, there is a lack of armor pieces with crazy, visual features. These were highly sought after in Destiny 1. This is likely one reason why so many players recently wanted to obtain the Solstice armor, as it can be equipped with an armor glow.
Overall, the design of many armor pieces in Destiny 2 is not received as well as the D1 armors were. Among the few exceptions is the armor from the Escalation Protocol, which is gaining importance again in Shadowkeep.
This is how Destiny 1 did it better: Many Guardians found numerous armor pieces from Destiny 1 to be more creative, cooler, and better suited for a Guardian than some of the gear from Destiny 2. Additionally, Destiny 1 also brought many armor pieces with impressive visual effects towards the end, like the raid armor or Trials gear:
Especially the armor from high-end activities in Destiny 1 visually destroys almost everything one knows from Destiny 2.
What do you miss in Destiny 2 that Destiny 1 did significantly better?
