WOW! It has been a long time since I’ve been on here! YES, I’m still alive and YES, I still plan on pushing out content when I get the chance. It’s just that, well…

…Jacob just turned 1 year old, and balancing him, work, and life in general is quite a bit! But my wife and I are getting there, so it is about time I start this back up. So of course, the first thing to talk about is the game that I have been playing almost exclusively since we last chatted: Destiny 2.

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Of course I’ve already completed the main Campaign!

Reclaimed Light

The wait has since ended, and I have been thoroughly enjoying every minute that I have had with the game. The new worlds are diverse and beautiful, the enemies have a few new mechanics and quirks, there are a slew of new characters and personalities, and the lore goes ever so much deeper. Emphasis on the Deep.

Still, the internet is still the internet and people have been complaining. This time, not so much as a lack of content, but as to lack of incentive to play. This is a striking departure from the launch of D1, as the story was near non-existent and even a now die-hard like myself will openly admit that the initial launch was lacking in overall content. It wasn’t until the release of House of Wolves that the game felt complete, and then with the release of The Taken King the game was blown wide open. But that’s a nostalgia trip for another day.

What we have here in D2 is accurately summed up in this tweet by Planet Destiny:

As previously stated above, I have been exceptionally busy as of late with balancing all of my life’s priorities. Therefore, none of my Guardians have hit PL 305 yet. My Warlock is just below 290, my Titan isn’t far behind, but I recently started my Hunter who just hit lvl 20 and whose PL just popped above 200. So as far as hitting the cap, I am no where close.

Yet.

End of the Road?

While I am still enjoying the game, I have to be fair and state my frustrations. I am intrigued by the Token system that has been implemented, but trying to get a full set of faction gear through the use of them is a bit ridiculous. Once my Hunter reached lvl 20, I had decided that I would cash in all my EDZ Tokens in an effort to get a full set of Legendary gear as soon as I could. During this time, I had saved my tokens from both my Warlock and Titan, and was able to cash in over 180 of them! My final armor set consisted of the gauntlets…..that’s it. I was “rewarded” with a few other armor pieces from other sets and a slew of weaponry, but only a single piece from that actual EDZ Faction Set. Well, that seems to be a huge waste of time and currency.

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Part of the grind that made D1 enjoyable was trying to either get the “God Roll” on a particular piece, which has been ultimately eliminated due to static rolls. Ok, fine. Off to get that ONE gun from a handful and stick to it….

Once you hit PL 260-280, your leveling slows down immensely. This is because even your Legendary drops still sit below your current PL, and the only way to get higher PL is to complete certain weekly challenges for “Luminous” Engrams.

Give It Time

Even with all this griping, how am I still claiming to be enjoying the game? Simply put, there’s still so much more to see and do!

In the above video clip, you see a MASSIVE sea…”Creature”? “Worm”? “Leviathan”? Just swimming around in the hydrocarbon oceans Titan. As you complete Adventures around the different maps, you learn more about the lore that has both already been established and hints at what is yet to come. For example, completing the Adventures on Nessus reveals that “Osiris send his regards”. Ya know, the exiled Warlock of legend that was supposed to be the next Speaker of the Traveler, but has instead become with studying Vex technology, and who just so happens to be the focal point of the first DLC expansion?

And what about the Strike “Savathun’s Song”? Ya know, the Sister of Oryx who left so that she and her minions would grow differently, who is also know as the Hive God of Cunning, “The Trickster”?

Right now, what we have is the groundwork for what could be. All through the life cycle of D1, we have seen Bungie implement incremental changes to game. Very rarely did we see them commit to a complete overhaul of an aspect of the game, and each time it had been a definite step forward, or two steps in some cases.

Additionally, this time around it was stated that Destiny will be put on a “Seasonal” schedule, much like other Blizzard games that have been wildly successful such as WoW, Diablo, and Overwatch. On top of the new loot and cosmetics, in these seasonal updates will be other balancing and sandbox changes.

Looking Ahead

While the process will be slow, painfully slow, updates and changes will be coming in time. If they listen to the community, which I am confident that they are, I imagine that they will be making updates to the Faction Reps and Vendors. There will be DLC specific activities and will be overlaid the existing environment, such as with the roaming Wolf Packs with House of Wolves, or the Blights in The Taken King, or the Archon’s Forge in Rise of Iron.

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Well. That’s ominous.

Just like in D1 a bare-bones landscape was set up for us, and I am willing to be that some of this frustration is stemming from comparing end of Year 3 D1 / Age of Triumph level of content to Year 1 Month 1 of D2 content. We need to give it time. There is plenty of open space for Bungie to work in new features and functionality in to the game, but they also want to make sure it is what’s best for the game and the community. Many of the suggestions that I’ve seen around twitter are things that could very easily be implemented, given the proper amount of time. For example, this tweet from Willis Gaming:

Pretty sweet, right? would totally solve my issue from before with my Hunter. And if it takes a longer time for something worthwhile to pop up, so be it. As we move closer to the holiday season, there’s plenty of other games out there that are absolutely awesome. Go ahead and dip in to some Nazi Punching with Wolfenstien or Face Stabbing Egyptian Royalty in Assassin’s Creed: Origins. And when you are done, come on back. There will still be plenty of Red Legion to headshot.

Again, one more time for the people in the back: Give it time.

Community Question

So what about you? If you are a Destiny Guardian, how are YOU feeling about the content thus far? Are you optimistic about the future, or have you given Destiny enough of your time and you are never coming back?