In the MMO shooter Destiny, Bungie discusses how raids are created.
Raids are the largest, longest, and most challenging PvE challenges in Destiny. They consist of tough boss encounters, tricky mechanics, and various jumping sequences, all of which must be mastered to ultimately receive the pot of gold. They are designed for six players and require teamwork and communication.
Gameinformer spoke with lead raid designer Gavin Irby about the general raid philosophy, the complicated design, and the plans for the upcoming raid “Wrath of the Machine”.
Destiny raids are completely different from those in WoW
Irby joined Bungie’s raid development team in 2013, when they were just working on the Glass Chamber. Some design ideas were already set at that time, such as the location on Venus. But according to Irby, the team didn’t yet know how to create a raid encounter. What is the appropriate difficulty? How do you design a puzzle? How hard should a puzzle be? And all of this with the condition that Destiny is a first-person shooter – and played on a console.
Here he draws a comparison with WoW: In this online role-playing game, it is not a problem if many icons appear on the screen in raids, representing buffs and debuffs. If you hover over these with the mouse, you get detailed information about what they do, how the mechanics work.
In Destiny, however, the UI information must be kept very limited. You don’t want to overwhelm the guardians with a flood of information. The focus should remain on gameplay, on the experience of the encounter. Therefore, mechanics concentrate on things that can be found directly in the environment, which can ideally be shot at. Due to the first-person perspective, you are right in the chaos and so close to the action that too many numbers and icons would only be distracting.
In traditional MMO raids, much more information is available than in Destiny. For example, the exact DPS output of team members is often known. In Destiny, these specific details are lacking. Therefore, for the development team, it is an extremely important aspect how to determine the strength and health of the enemies. Even without the detailed information on DPS and the like, the enemies must be defeatable – but on the other hand, they should not fall too easily.
Moreover, it is considered in a raid that matchmaking is not active. You have to form your strike team yourself. Therefore, it is assumed – even if the team consists of people who do not know each other – that they will communicate. Teamplay and coordination are required. That the Crota raid can also be mastered solo was not intended in this form according to Irby.
Info about “Wrath of the Machine”
So far, not much is known about the new raid of “The Rise of Iron Lords”. In the ViDoc for Gamescom, a few scenes from it were shown. It is supposed to be very expansive and provide new experiences. In “Wrath of the Machine”, you will discover the true origin of the SIVA outbreak. Further information is scarce.
Irby states that it is not easy to create completely new experiences as was the case with the Glass Chamber. The guardians are now experienced and have seen a lot in Destiny. Now they are looking at new challenges and think: “Aha, this is like this encounter” or “This resembles that activity.”
The upcoming raid was approached with a big goal: It should be fun. Furthermore, it should emphasize the strengths of the Destiny sandbox. And it should be difficult.
As for the difficulty level, it is said that it will depend heavily on your Light level. While the King’s Fall raid remains a challenge despite high Light levels, as the mechanics do not become easier because of it, guardians in “Wrath of the Machine” should be able to gain the upper hand against enemies with a high Light level.
However, the details are not elaborated further. After all, the secrets of the raid are to remain under wraps until launch. Guardians must discover the mechanics on their own and face the unknown dangers.
On the Gameinformer page, you can read the interview in full detail.
The MMO shooter Destiny combines the action-packed gameplay of a top shooter with the long-term enjoyment and character development of a classic MMO since 2014 ...
