In Destiny 2, I witnessed a game full of story content but without a fixed plot develop into a sci-fi adventure MMO with an engaging story. However, due to my late entry, there was much that was simply ‘lost’. That’s why content recycling is the coolest thing in Destiny 2, even if you hate it.
To preempt this: Destiny 2 is not a single-player game. It is never truly finished. It exists as a live service game that is constantly evolving. This means I, as a player, am aware that the developer may eventually remove old, unused content that I paid for.
It should at least be in the back of every player’s mind that you don’t really own anything in a live service game and have no claim to it.
Content is recycled or revamped to refresh the game or make room for new content. One thing that I personally completely agree with, because it offers me not only disadvantages, as many players always assume. I think when they talk about the game, they too often equate ‘more content’ automatically with ‘better’.
I certainly don’t want to excuse Bungie and the content vault here, but let’s be honest: The only thing that matters are new, fresh contents. All other things are simply outdated.
When Io, Mercury, Titan, and Mars were swallowed by the content vault anomaly in Destiny 2, I didn’t shed a tear for any of the planets. Mars was a small exception, but only because I often (perhaps too often) used the escalation protocol for my quests. So, it was purely a matter of convenience, and in retrospect, thanks to the ‘Altars of Sorrow’ on the Moon, I never really missed it.
Destiny 2 is now better than it has ever been
Why would I ever want to return to old planets with old settings? I want to rediscover the game over and over again. I want to be driven by Bungie to new surprising locations that I can explore and that captivate me again. That’s why I pay Bungie to get new locations regularly and old content additionally revived, thus recycled.
If that means I have to forgo old content that I don’t play anymore, then goodbye to it. Because to put it clearly:
- The old content is literally a waste of time and money
- Maintaining many old content is labor-intensive even though they were hardly relevant anymore
- The early Destiny was a complete mess without a clear line in the story
- If each expansion keeps expanding, you end up with an overwhelming mess that is no longer manageable.
That is also the reason why I am glad that these contents are gone, because we now have a far better Destiny 2 than Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 in years 1 to 3. The old maps were all outdated and boring compared to what Bungie has made of the locations now and especially what they seem to still do with Witch Queen.
As it stands now, the content recycling Bungie talks about is a damn cool thing. Because it is dynamic.
Bungie is doing everything right with dynamic content recycling
Through the content vault, Bungie has a tool that, if used correctly, can realize an evolving Destiny universe that many Guardians, like myself, have long wished for.
We already know that we will return to Mars with the launch of Witch Queen in February. I, for one, am very excited to see the old location again.
The best thing is: It will not be the location we know. It has changed, and that within the framework of the current story. So you take something old and make something new, something better out of it. In short: recycling at its finest.
Of course, it took time. Not everyone had an immediate idea of what exactly Bungie meant by ‘content recycling’ and what it would look like. Especially how long it will take for content to come out of the vault again. It has since become clear: The return of old Destiny 1 content is not all that will be recycled and thus revised. So that’s a good sign.
Thanks to content recycling, everyone can now experience the best raids
Bungie has also announced the return of an old raid from Destiny 1 with Witch Queen. That’s also one reason why I personally find content recycling and the interim storage for the old content, the content vault, great.
I certainly know the story and the raids of Destiny 1 from videos and reports. But I have always felt it was a shame that I could never experience the best activities of Destiny 1 on PC myself.
Now I am looking forward to the opportunity to experience these contents. I also think it’s good that they run parallel to the current content and thus not just offer old content. Let’s say, this is only a ‘goodie’ within an expansion. It will even probably, like the raid ‘Glass Chamber’, be free to play for everyone unless Bungie changes something. Anyone who as a Destiny 1 veteran does not appreciate that should find plenty of alternative opportunities.
In the meantime, I would like to state that the removal of content has optimized the gaming experience for me and has, in my opinion, given more value to the existing content.
New Light players need more support
There is only one thing I find unsatisfactory, and that is the current support for New Light players. Long-time Destiny 2 players don’t have so many difficulties with this. They know the story and its development to this day.
For new players, the past of Destiny 2 is a gap that is currently not being filled. Due to the removal of content, it becomes incredibly challenging for newcomers to see through everything and understand.
I personally would like everyone who wants to have the opportunity to experience at least the basic story of Destiny in the game and to be able to understand it. There are things that have happened that are quite important for the overall experience. Especially considering that Savathun, the host in the new expansion, as well as Crow/Uldren Sov, have been part of the Destiny story for seven years and are thus relevant.
New players basically have three problems:
- Firstly, they really don’t know anything from their introduction mission
- Secondly, that everything one could tell them about Destiny 2 is also relevant
- Thirdly, that they will never experience the captivating Destiny story effect because, due to the lack of knowledge, much is completely irrelevant to them and means nothing
This leads to many new players not even being aware that they do not know the best stories in the game. I think what new players encounter in the Cosmodrome simply isn’t enough as a starting point in its current form. At least the most relevant parts of the story of Destiny 2 should still be comprehensible to them afterwards. And I hope Bungie will find a better solution for this soon. My idea is a simple timeline in the game that summarizes all events in the universe briefly for them.
What do you think about the dynamic content recycling of content? Do you think it’s good or bad, and especially, why do you think so? Would you buy a game that regularly adds and removes features over time or would you prefer a static game? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
