An initially inconspicuous paragraph in Bungie’s weekly update on Destiny 2 is the top topic among Guardians. What is going on?
Bungie announced on Friday the upcoming start of the first Iron Banner as well as the Prestige Raid – two important activities that the Guardians have been eagerly anticipating. Nevertheless, another topic is currently causing heated discussions in the reddit forum: An initially inconspicuous statement from Bungie’s community manager DeeJ.
“Friendship” instead of Endgame as motivation for players?
The reason is the following paragraph from the current “This Week at Bungie”:
My challenge to every Guardian is to look to the human element in Destiny 2 to fuel your appetite for ultimate replayability. The ultimate loot is the friendships that can grow out of a game like this. There will be more gear to add to your character (next week, even). The rewards that I’m talking about are the people in the community that thrives in this game. If you let them, they’ll make your hobby as a light-dealing hero on a starside campaign for glory even better.
Loosely translated, this means that the ultimate replay value of Destiny 2 is not defined by the activities but by the friendships one makes. The ultimate rewards are not always more gear (which will still be available), but the friendships that develop.
This statement from Deej is currently stirring up the Guardians on Reddit. Bungie is being accused of downplaying the lack of endgame content while instead highlighting the social component.
Even though making friends is a significant aspect of the gaming experience, it cannot disguise the fact that there is too little to do. “Friendgame instead of Endgame,” some Guardians comment sarcastically.
Deej has already explained the significance of his statement with a tweet. The community manager wanted to express gratitude towards the players through a small, personal anecdote, nothing more and nothing less. However, that went completely wrong.
In the meantime, there are increasing posts from users reassuring that receive thousands of upvotes. The criticism of DeeJ’s personal opinion has been blown out of proportion. The reddit forum has reacted far too toxically. And ultimately, DeeJ is not wrong – Destiny 2 is what the Guardians, what the players make of it with their friends.
Severe criticism of the Iron Banner – Generic uniformity?
But this poorly formulated passage is merely the tip of the iceberg. For the Iron Banner and the Prestige Raid are also heavily criticized. Specifically, for the Iron Banner, it is pointed out that there are no more loot quests and no 6v6, and the power level advantages are gone.
Even though the power level advantages didn’t play a significant role in Destiny 1, their removal in Destiny 2 represents a break with the lore that describes the Iron Banner as testing the light of the Guardians. That the light level (power level) now no longer matters is therefore surprising.
At its core, the Iron Banner mode in Destiny 2 is nothing but a quick play without conflict and dominance with other generic weapons and armor.
In the meantime, it is confirmed that there will be not only new Iron Banner armor but also new Iron Banner weapons. What they will look like is not yet known.
The Prestige Raid does not generate storms of enthusiasm
Bungie’s announcement of the Prestige Raid also caused discontent. For the new mode does not come with an increase in level cap, as was the case in Destiny 1. Since the Prestige armor sets are already known (which offer little new), many Guardians are now questioning why they should even play the Prestige mode.
Robert says: The situation is currently very confused. Bungie had already announced before the launch of Destiny 2 that they wanted to make the game more accessible for beginners. This has clearly been achieved. However, this comes with massive losses in the endgame grind that, especially hardcore players in Destiny 1, had kept engaged for a long time and has now been completely removed.
And it is these hardcore players who are now voicing their opinions about Bungie’s direction. They see “their” baby in danger and are loudly expressing their frustration. On Reddit, the largest platform for players of Destiny, the frustration over the direction Destiny 2 has taken runs deep.
The game is too diluted, lacking groundbreaking innovations or surprises, so much potential has been wasted. It will be interesting to see how Bungie will handle this criticism and which direction Destiny 2 will take with the upcoming DLCs.
What do you think of the current discussion? A lot of hot air, or do you also see the future development of Destiny 2 critically?
