Destiny 2 has become an easy walk for MeinMMO author Philipp Hansen, where he can no longer die. And that makes it hard for him to have fun.
Do you know that feeling? An angry boss has hardly any life left, but then the villain hits you hard. “Unfair, I was behind cover!” you curse, even though you actually know that you were too aggressive again (just like the x attempts before). By some miracle, you survive with a sliver of health and take down the boss with a counter.
The duel is over and your fist shoots up to celebrate the victory.
That’s why we want this: These moments are all the more intense the harder you fought for them. And the happiness hormone released afterwards flows all the more abundantly the closer the victory was achieved. For a brief moment, we celebrate victory against a virtual boss, just like we celebrate our national team’s victory in the finals.
Yet in my favorite game, Destiny 2, I hardly feel this reward anymore.
Finally kill me, Destiny 2
Have the enemies not drunk any aim water? The enemies in Destiny 2 usually hit as badly as the stormtroopers turned meme from Star Wars. Even in the new Deep Stone Crypt raid, an endgame activity, I find it hard to die. Deaths there are usually only caused by poorly executed mechanics or an instant wipe from the boss, but never really by the enemies’ weapons.
This became extremely noticeable to me when you want/need to restart a phase in the raid and present yourself as the ultimate sacrifice in front of a horde of enemies. Despite complete helplessness, the enemies take forever to take you down – if they even manage to bring you down at all. It’s no wonder that some in the party pull out a rocket launcher and blow themselves up – it’s just faster. By a lot…
Since 2019, he has been intensively managing the franchise for you at MeinMMO as a specialist author. He also privately collects Exotics and tests weapons in the Crucible.
These are the reliable killers: In Strikes or in the patrol area, death is a foreign word for me and many other Guardians. You rush blindly through the activities in no time. Unless the strike is “The Corrupted” – but even here, it feels more like (for some Guardians unknown) mechanics and jumping passages that cause a racing heart.
The only thing that hits hard in Destiny 2 are the Architects. The message “eliminated by Architects” appears in the kill feed
- when a Guardian breaks their legs from a jump from too great a height,
- when an object in the picturesque backdrop goes up unintentionally
- or when the game decides that the immobile stone in front of you has a deadly hitbox.
Destiny 2 also has a mechanic where the screen turns blood red when we are close to the end. The struggle for survival becomes more intense – but unfortunately, that’s a bit of a cheat: the last millimeter of the health bar takes a long time to draw out. Once discovered, it loses a lot of its charm.
Destiny 2 is too easy, making it even easier for me
What had long been missing in Destiny now makes me, in principle, an immortal god. Blame it on builds and mods.
- Warmind Cells are little bombs created by certain weapons or skills and then explode – clearing entire rooms in one go.
- Along with that, there are additional effects from mods that grant you damage reduction, for example.
- Through the “Charged with Light” mechanic , you gain powerful passive and active bonuses. These include things like extra damage, theoretically infinite ammunition, or ability regeneration.
- In the seasonal artifact, there are additionally more mods with similar effects.
Too fast, too powerful: Anyone who engages even a little with these mechanics easily wipes everything out in the game. I’ve always wanted a cool build system in Destiny. But at the moment, it only ensures that I chop down the far too easy enemies even faster.
Outside of raids or other activities where I play with friends and don’t want to waste time, I therefore refrain from the mods and builds. Just equipping a sword is already OP enough.
Additionally, the new Exotics are incredibly powerful. Rightly so; after all, you want new toys that pack a punch. But
- the rocket launcher Eyes of Tomorrow
- the sword The Lament
- and the sniper rifle Cloudstrike
are all best-in-slot and, with their overwhelming power, make an already not really difficult content even easier. I also want content where I can genuinely utilize my rare and cool weapons and where I really need them.
Beyond Light initially challenged me again
What was brilliant about the DLC launch: The campaign of the expansion Beyond Light threw me – like all other Guardians – poorly prepared onto the ice moon Europa. It quickly became clear that the well-used gear was no longer strong enough, the enemies were over-leveled, and you were running around with blue junk guns.
The new Stasis powers of Eramis and the Fallen posed an unknown danger that presented new challenges. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.
Soon you were significantly stronger than the Fallen, had correspondingly good gear (or your old gear had been infused to high levels) and the nasty freeze powers lost their icy bite quite quickly.
Is there no challenge? There is, but unfortunately, you often have to search for it with a magnifying glass.
- The Nightfall as a top contender is currently probably the only real challenge in the game. With more than 10 negative modifiers, numerous champions, and a level requirement of 1,300, which is 40 levels above the level cap of Season 12 (without artifact power), it is anything but a walk in the park.
- In the team activity, however, you often avoid real confrontations and fire off enemies one by one from a distance. Or you spam invisibility and sneak up on your target. However, this tactic is neither really rewarding nor heroic.
- In Gambit, the enemies sometimes hit harder than a Stasis Hunter before his nerf. Even small adds are a danger here, but not every day – it feels somewhat arbitrary.
- You can artificially make the raid difficult if you tackle the numerous triumph challenges. But the difficulty then comes from mechanics that not everyone in the fire team is familiar with or can handle – not from the enemies themselves.
For me, the most appropriate challenge that came with Beyond Light is the legendary lost sectors. The scaled difficulty is manageable for even casual guardians with practice, and it forces you to deal a bit with your loadout, while the engaging missions are short enough to attempt again after failure.
Additionally, the reward here is right – you can farm Exotics solo in a targeted manner and only here receive the 6 new armor Exotics of the DLC. More of that, please!
I still enjoy Destiny 2 even after countless hours, especially with friends. Or because a new puzzle or Exotic lures. But unfortunately, I also long for the lost feeling of having truly accomplished something, of having protected the universe from a threat.
Is Destiny 2 too easy for you too, and do you not know where your highly refined killer should wreak havoc? Or do you think my problem only applies to a few veterans who have simply seen too much and should take a break? Please let us know politely in the comments.
You can currently also vote on MeinMMO about which raid and which raid exotic is the best from Destiny 1 and Destiny 2.
