In Destiny 2 a long-held player wish is fulfilled: automatic matchmaking for the really tough challenges, a raid finder. But this only works on Bungie’s terms. Is Bungie’s solution better than WoW’s weakened LFR raids?
We previously reported that Destiny 2 fulfills some of the players’ major wishes, but not in the way they envisioned.
The wish to “finally fix the balancing” results in Destiny 2, for example, in no percentage changes, but a new “weapon system.”
In a similar way, Bungie fulfills another old player wish: matchmaking – even for raids.
Like WoW a few years ago, Destiny also wants to get as many players as possible to raid but is taking different approaches than WoW.
The Wish
In Destiny 1, automatic matchmaking works for almost everything except really difficult things like the 3-man Nightfall strike (PvE/Nightfall), the 3-man Trials of Osiris (PvP), or the 6-man raid (PvE).
The players also wish for automatic matchmaking for these tough activities.
In Destiny 1, players helped each other
Players solved the issue of missing matchmaking for these activities in Destiny 1 by themselves:
- Players organized themselves into fixed groups through the friends function of their console networks
- Others sought out a group for these activities via Facebook pages or specially created websites
- Streamers offered to take fans along for the Trials of Osiris and help them achieve a flawless ticket – thereby gaining views and fans
Matchmaking was outsourced from Destiny 1 to other websites or services.
Only 50% of players have seen the raid – hurdle for social contact too high
However: It hasn’t really worked “super” – especially in PvE.
As Bungie announced, only 50% of all players in Destiny 1 have seen a raid. And Bungie is so proud of the raids. So a solution is needed, more people should at least try the raids and the endgame of Destiny.
The problem is: the hurdle is too high to reach out to other people through Facebook groups and approach strangers. Time and again, players express they don’t want to do that. They expect to find a group within Destiny – not outside of it.
This is what players wanted
The players’ demand was : automatic matchmaking for everything – I want to press a button and then be in a group and start.
However, Bungie was against this demand, stating: If six completely strangers join a raid and don’t communicate, they often die, are frustrated, and have a bad gaming experience. We definitely don’t want that.
According to Bungie, these “hard activities” are designed for groups where the guardians communicate with each other – meaning they use voice chat and are so closely connected that setbacks don’t lead to the group breaking up immediately.
This is how Bungie is solving it in Destiny 2 – Guided Games
Bungie’s solution: existing groups can take on “individual players” through a matchmaking system. The idea is, that the existing group does most of the work and the individual players learn to adapt and cope with them. The motto is: four people know what they are doing – the other two just do what everyone else does, and it’ll be fine.
Bungie’s intention is clear: they want to encourage individual players to join groups. From “mixed team of 4+2” fixed teams should emerge.
It’s an interesting concept – gently guiding players to where they want them to be. The idea is: once lone wolves have overcome the hurdle of playing with others in raids, they will see how great and easy it is – the hurdle lowers and the matter is settled.
Interesting social experiment, but hopefully the raids won’t be too easy now
However: Problems and questions are already emerging with the new system:
- The question is whether Bungie will also adjust the difficulty of the raid. Even in Destiny 1, a lot of players wished for the Nightfall and the raids to be more challenging. Especially the “hard modes” of the raid should have been more challenging. If the raids are now designed to be cleared by “4+2”, raids could be made easier.
- Another danger is also clear: If a raid goes wrong, the “others” are to blame: the so-called “randoms”, the randomly taken players, are too weak and become the scapegoats – this could also lead to difficulties in the Trials of Osiris.
- Will enough fixed groups take on new players to keep the waiting time manageable?
- Will it be possible to specifically search for German groups?
These are the risks and still open questions of the new Guided Games system.
LFR variant with “kindergarten raids” like in WoW would have been an option
In the MMORPG WoW, they had the same problem as Destiny 1 : too few people saw the raids. Many developer hours and important story steps are hidden in the raids. It’s frustrating when players keep hearing about a villain in quests but never see him because he’s the final boss in a raid they will never enter.
In WoW, Blizzard created a “kindergarten edition” of the raid at the end of 2011, which could also be completed by a group without any communication or coordination: the LFR raids. These were introduced at the end of the 3rd WoW expansion “Cataclysm.”
Players were allowed to enter these “LFR raids” through an automated matchmaking system. This led to every WoW player being able to see the raids without any problems.
However: the loot in this version of the raid was significantly weaker than the loot in the “real raid.”
This would also have been a possible solution for Destiny 2. But: In WoW, they had only mediocre experiences with the “LFR raids.” Some WoW players believe that this solution devalued the entire raiding experience in WoW, trivializing the raids. The appeal of the “real raiding” has disappeared, it’s no longer special.
It’s understandable why Bungie chose differently here.
The “Guided Games” groups, with the 4+2 composition, will be in the same raids as the 6-man groups.
It’s definitely an interesting experiment. It will be exciting to see if Bungie’s solution works. If it does, it could become a widely used answer to a common MMORPG problem: too few players seeing the end content.
With Destiny 2, developers from other online games with strong PvE elements will surely scrutinize Destiny 2 and its Guided Games closely. Perhaps Bungie has come up with an innovative solution.
What do you think? Would you join a raid group as an individual player? Or would you complement your raid as part of an existing group?
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