In the MMO shooter Destiny the entire loot system has been overhauled. This is now less frustrating, but will it stay that way?
It somehow feels typical. For weeks there are livestreams, every little detail is sold to us with 5 pictures, explained in slow motion and re-enacted with hand puppets of Seattle lumberjacks, but the actually most important change in the April update hasn’t been communicated to us at all.
Yes, it’s true, they did say again: “There are many paths to 335” and “Destiny should become an even more rewarding experience,” but that’s like when the dentist says: “It doesn’t hurt at all.” You might believe him the first time, but by the second time you flinch when the bastard just reaches for his torture tools.
Destiny has shattered the greatest potential for frustration
But actually Bungie has solved the greatest potential for frustration with the patch that has haunted Destiny since the beginning.
Until now, it was the case that you needed double luck: First, an item had to drop that you wanted, and then it also had to be at such a high light level that you could actually use it. Finding an improvement became increasingly harder the higher your own light level was. Otherwise, after an evening hunting for new gear, you were left with: “Other than expenses, nothing gained.”
When you were on a raid and were still hoping for a chest, it could drop anywhere between light 310 and light 320. And it didn’t matter what light level you had. If you went into the hard mode of the raid, carried a chest with 300 light and found a new one, you could hit the jackpot and take home a 320 – at worst, it was a 310. Still a nice upgrade. But if you already had a 318 chest equipped, you not only had to hope a chest would drop but also one with 319 or 320.
No more Forever 319
This made the last points a torment. You could die x times and not make an inch of progress. Lamentations about this can already be found in Vanilla. What was once called “Forever 29” is known in the last months as “Forever 319.”
Light-dependent loot system
With the current “light-dependent” system this has changed. As numerous Guardians report, items now drop depending on your own light level, “a few points higher,” as long as the activity allows it. Your own light level serves as a basis, new items are oriented to that, they are a few levels stronger.
While this means that “jackpots” might not drop, you can regularly score improvements. And so like a squirrel digging upwards, you can “slowly but steadily” get better.
Beware! This has happened before
But beware. A bit of this sudden insight from Bungie reminds us of a year ago. “Prison of Elders” was released and with it the weapon enhancement system. At that time, Bungie fulfilled the players’ wishes: they could upgrade old weapons to the new max value.
At first, this caused excitement: “I can finally play my Fatebringer again,” but it quickly turned out to be a motivation killer. What should I do now if I already have the best weapons? That’s why they terminated the experiment with the “upgradable weapons” already after this patch cycle and buried the idea along with the ethereal light.
Even the new path to 335 light, which guarantees to reach the goal, could create a “What’s the point of this, I already have everything” effect in the long run if players become “predictably” stronger and then reach the end of the loot spiral while the next patch takes ages to arrive.
It could be that the new light system is now a gift, a “relief,” which will be a thing of the past again with the next expansion in September.
