Destiny 2: Bungie, it's time for a Diablo 3 in space!

The MMO shooter Destiny 2 is coming soon. How should Bungie improve the success formula from Year 1? Our suggestion: Listen to Diablo. It worked the first time.

The US site Kotaku once reported: When Bungie was feeling a bit down after the launch difficulties of Destiny 1, publisher Activision organized a visit from Blizzard in December 2014. Game Director Josh Mosqueira and other team members from Diablo 3 gave a presentation at Bungie’s headquarters that was meant to inspire the Destiny team.

Diablo 3 already brought Destiny a turnaround

Diablo 3 itself started with difficulties. While it sold well, it received quite a bit of criticism. Diablo 3 managed to turn things around with the “Reaper of Souls” expansion. Activision probably thought: If anyone can tell Bungie’s team how to improve Destiny, it’s the team from Diablo 3. And they were completely right.

The main message back then: Too much randomness is not fun. You can make it seem like everything is random, but you need to manipulate the dice in favor of the players. People will play your game and they will eventually stop. Make sure they are satisfied when they take a break from the game. Then they’ll come back.

The Destiny team took this advice to heart. The loot system, which was heavily based on randomness before, was adjusted. Previously, players had limited chances in a week to get the items they were missing for max level – spooky tales of Forever 29 or Forever 31 circulated.

Destiny introduced more quests with “The Taken King” and guaranteed loot. That brought success.

“The Taken King,” the expansion for Destiny in September 2015, is generally seen as a turning point in Destiny’s history for the positive, before the game then flattened out due to content issues.

These 3 things should Destiny 2 bring

We at Mein MMO think: What worked before should be the goal again. Bungie, let yourselves be inspired by these 3 ideas from Diablo 3:

Item Sets – You already have sets in the game and clearly related items. Let the Guardians collect all pieces of a specific armor and grant them small bonuses when they wear all pieces. It’s fun, rewards the “collecting instinct,” and is simply a good idea. Even The Division manages that, and not much else works there.
You need some kind of “progression beyond max level”. YouTuber Datto gave a presentation about this. In Diablo 3, there is the Paragon system, through which your character keeps getting stronger. Every session is worthwhile – there’s always progress to be seen. That motivates. Diablo 3 also has the “Greater Rifts” system, which allows challenges to scale and become harder. That would be an idea for Destiny 2 – but you should disable the Paragon system in PvP.
This has nothing to do with Diablo 3, but just brings more story, more variety, more quests, more of everything. Your fans have fed you with ideas for years on what Destiny 2 would benefit from, so listen to them every now and then! Finally fulfill your promises of a steady content flow. Diablo 3 didn’t manage that, but you should be able to with your huge team.