In Destiny and The Division, PvE suffers from the search for the perfect balance in PvP. Is a rethink from the developers necessary?
The biggest criticism of the “Destiny 2” beta was: Bungie sacrifices fun in PvE to improve PvP. Many design decisions were made in favor of a balanced PvP area, which can be summarized as follows: While standard weapons take center stage, all other fun elements of Destiny are weakened or become less frequent.
The changes make sense for the Crucible or are at least understandable, but they also strongly impact the battle of “Guardian against Alien”: You feel less powerful in PvE, there is less variety, and you shoot almost exclusively with standard weapons at enemies. Some Guardians say Destiny has become a monotonous shooting game. You lose the important fantasy of Destiny to be a powerful character in the universe – a kind of superhero.
A better PvP balance at the expense of the PvE area is not a new trend
The developers at Bungie have not only gone this route with the new weapon system of Destiny 2 and the changes to the abilities, which are increasingly distancing from a fun PvE experience. Already in Destiny 1, Guardians struggled with many of Bungie’s balance decisions.
A prominent example is the Vex Mythoclast in year 1, which was a powerful weapon in PvE and an overpowered weapon in PvP. Ultimately, this unique weapon received so many nerfs that it was no longer useful in any area of the game. Whole weapon categories, such as fusion rifles, were simply “nerfed to death”.
Alongside Destiny, The Division is the second major MMO shooter on the gaming market – suffering from the same problem: All weapons and gear sets that were once strong in PvP have been drastically nerfed. It quickly became a running gag that one should never write in the forums that a weapon is a lot of fun. Because then the developers from Massive would immediately weaken it.
This nerf mania leads to agents in The Division feeling extremely weak. Every standard enemy in PvE was much stronger than oneself, so one could only fire a few shots before immediately crouching behind the next cover. PvP became a little more balanced, but PvE was no longer fun.
The last years of Destiny and The Division paint a clear picture: When developers only focus on PvP during balance decisions, PvE suffers greatly. This always results in a negative player experience for Guardians and agents. Fun is eliminated.
The feeling of power for which one loved Destiny seems to be diminishing. And if as a Division agent you are the weakest character in the post-apocalypse, that is also not the point.
Destiny and The Division – should the focus really be on PvP?
Some of you may disagree with this statement, but I think: The majority of MMO shooter players play them because of the PvE area. This is also supported by a Facebook survey we conducted in June: Of over 1400 participants, only 164 people said that PvP in Destiny 2 is most important to them. The rest voted for the story or the raid.
One wants to play Destiny or The Division together with friends. Eliminating aliens together or cleaning the streets of New York from nasty factions. In doing so, one wants to feel powerful, have variety, and have a good time with friends.
Why, then, do the developers of PvE-focused games prioritize PvP over PvE? Why is PvE not taken into stronger consideration during balancing? Why do Bungie and Massive continue down this path, despite many fans demanding the fun of PvE be brought back? And above all: Why don’t developers simply separate PvE and PvP for balance adjustments?
A strict separation of PvE and PvP is already widely discussed as the solution to this problem in the community. One can tweak PvP as much as desired, as long as it does not negatively impact PvE. If a weapon is too strong in PvP, it should be nerfed in PvP and remain as it is in PvE. Why don’t the developers proceed this way?
Bungie once commented on this question: They want the same weapon to feel the same across the game. It should feel the same in both PvE and PvP. When moving from the raid to the Crucible, there should be no noticeable difference in weapon feel.
Nevertheless: Isn’t it the lesser evil to ask players to make some adjustments between PvE and PvP than to take away their fun in PvE?
A perfect balance in PvP is never possible anyway. The PvE area will have to endure quite a bit in its eternal search for the right PvP balance. Therefore, a separation of these areas is likely a necessary step for PvE to recover. Until then, the conflict between these areas will not end, as both have different requirements.
Or do you have a solution for the sandbox teams of Bungie and Massive?
By the way:
- According to Bungie, you will be more powerful in PvE than you were in the beta. However, no changes will be made to the new weapon system before launch. It actually contributes to the fun of shooting aliens with many different weapons.
- In The Division, new items with classified gear sets are to make agents more powerful. At the same time, however, the SASG shotguns will be nerfed because they are too strong in PvP …
