Destiny 2 is a mess right now, as we discuss on today’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, but for Kirk and I, worst of all is that we’re not playing together anymore.
First, we talk about the news of the week including Mega Man 11 (15:09), Curse of Osiris breaking things, and Xenoblade 2. Then, Kirk and I play a game called Guess The Game Award Nominations (35:38), where we try to figure out which games were selected for the big awards show. Then we get into Skyrim Switch (1:09:09) and the state of Destiny 2, which is… not good.
Get the MP3 right here, or read an excerpt here:
Kirk: I raided last night with this group of guys who were amazing, and we went through the Leviathan raid in a way that I’ve never done before, going through all the back areas between encounters and getting every chest. We did the whole thing in an hour and it was so much fun, it was the most fun I’ve had with Destiny in forever. It reminded me how fun that game is to play with your friends. It’s just the meta-stuff, the stuff outside of the game, that feeling of the over-arching narrative of the game and the expansions and the way Bungie keeps tripping over itself in these little but annoying ways. It really takes a toll on the game overall.
Jason: So the problem that you and I have, and I wonder how many other friend groups are having this same problem, is that you really want to play on PC but I don’t have a gaming PC yet so I’m playing on PS4, which is fragmenting us. Because now you and I are just not going to play Destiny 2 together unless you decide to move to PS4 for the next raid or whatever. And that has changed my perspective on it, because I just don’t care enough to keep playing, I just have so many other things to do. So I’m almost completely done with Destiny 2 — I’m just not into it anymore.
Kirk: I wonder too. I think that’s probably hurt things more than has been really shown.
Jason: I dunno. I haven’t really seen other people talking about it.
Kirk: I can say that our clan, anyways, it’s an issue where there are people who got excited to play on PC, but it’s not really clear who in the clan is playing on which system. It’s cool that the clan stuff carries over between platforms, but it’s still this feeling of ‘Well, we don’t have everybody.’ And I’m sure we’re not the only ones who’ve had this happen. I went and put in the time, but there’s no denying it does take time. You can level up pretty quickly but you still have to go and play through the whole campaign again, and get your gear again, and the longer you play on PS4, the more you’re giving up to play on PC. I think it’s definitely an issue, it’s a bummer for me.
Because the thing last night was a reminder that Destiny is a game you play with people. And if you don’t play with people, it’s a very different game, it’s much less interesting, it’s much less fun. Anything that damages that, and definitely splitting systems and releasing PC late, damages that. It damages the game overall.
Comments
24 responses to “Destiny 2’s Lack Of Cross-Play Is Tearing Us Apart”
Cross play with pc and console isn’t going to work for a shooter. The game pad users just don’t have the accuracy to compete with mouse and keyboard.
There is some very generous auto-aim going on for the console, but all the same I feel like it’d still be a shitfight unless you pretty much excluded PVP from the cross-play and just made it so you can play with friends for PVE.
But even then, I’d expect the computer players to be getting much higher kill counts, which would be pretty annoying for the competitive amongst us.
I really enjoy playing FPS on console but the stuff I can do on computer is worlds apart just in terms of agility, movement, speed and accuracy.
I wonder how big the difference is these days. I know auto-aim is A Thing, but its something they’ve been tweaking for ~20 years now, and when you play on different platforms its hard to nail down any significant difference.
Doesn’t mean its not there, but for anything but ranked action I don’t know if its really as relevant as people think. At pro level, every advantage matters so its a different story, but as things stand today, maybe its worth putting PC up against Xbox for a month or two, and seeing if theres a significant bias.
PvE, I don’t think it matters in the slightest myself.
Same could be said for cross play with VR and non-VR but Payday sure makes it work well, implement it right and you can win on both fronts!
If it was just for PvE, would. That matter?
The situation itself baffles me.
You have Sony claiming that they need to control their online communities to protect their users, when you have other companies like Nintendo, practically a dictatorship, starting to embrace cross-platform play. The same company that replaced blood with sweat so as to not tarnish their family-friendly brand.
At this point, Sony wont back down because they are at present dominating this console generation in sales, and they know, that people buying new consoles will likely buy the same console as their friends.
The only way this s going to change is if Microsoft goes the next step and gives the go ahead to developers to expand cross-platform play on xbox at their discretion. Open up games like ARK, Destiny, amongst many others, then watch the tides change, and Sony change its tune…
Microsoft did the same thing with the original Xbox. At the time, Sony was all for cross play, Microsoft blocked it, claiming they wanted to keep Windows and console gaming separate within the company. Most people saw it as a blocker to stop Sony catching up.
These are business decisions, nothing else, and have been for 20 years. But don’t think its limited to one or the other, they’ve all done it at some point, even Nintendo.
Basically how the business works, The commercially successful dictates.
Cross play is the least of D2’s problems right now.
Its a non issue.
I agree with this.. for me it seems PC community is healthy in numbers…
they need to start improving on the base game itself..
don’t get me wrong its still enjoyable, but improvements will make it soo soo much better..
Haha, hopefully there’ll be some more investigation of this particular gem:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/bungie-is-looking-for-designers-to-create-player-progression-behind-lootboxes.9961/
I dont think ill pick up the expansion, I logged on to play and some of the end game stuff that came with the game I purchased is no longer accessible. How is that fair?
I didnt buy a game just to be locked out because I havent bought the expansion.
What annoys me isn’t so much that they’ve locked things out like this (though that does annoy me), but that this stuff is locked out just three months after release. THREE MONTHS!!!
Its insulting that the original endgame content is locked behind a paywall a mere three months after launch. In a game that has 4 zones to play in.
And its two months for PC players… That’s a pretty big Fuck You to every person that bought the game, and PC players in particular.
Its just as insulting when you see the stories that all you’re getting is more of the same stuff people were bored with already.
I got the EXP, PC player here.. I can see where ya’ll are coming from, I would be pretty pissed too.
Personally I don’t find the paywall terrible, but probably because I have been conditioned to MMo’s subscription method. I just hope the money I pay, the majority goes to the devs that create the game.. as I hear they get paid next to nothing.
Main difference though is that MMOs typically don’t release expansions < 3 months out from their initial release.
With the apparent frequency we can expect expansions, how underwhelming they are and the way they lock out anyone who doesn’t pay up… I kind of get the feeling Activision has tricked a bunch of FPS gamers into paying a typical MMO subscription fee without even realising it. I would expect no less from Activi$ion really. And you can bet your ass the actual developers see only the barest minimum of that money needed to keep the cash cow functioning.
Probably.
I was comparing the < 3 months pay wall to “a subscription” not an exp pack so that isn’t out of the ordinary to get people to pay up to keep playin… Maybe they should re-label the DLCs into, Quarterly sub.. LOL
To be honest, I don’t see any easy fixes for this. I would very must still like to support the devs as they have worked their butts off for this, evident in the little touches in the game and also the buttery smooth gunplay..
I see all the things people complain about are decisions made by higher mgmts.. how to piss them off whilst still supporting the devs and play the game.. not sure. lol.
The simplest explanation don’t play it. I am lucky in regards to purchasing on PS4 so after the 2 weeks I played it and got severely bored with it, I got to trade it in for a fresh new game. I feel for PC gamers who purchased this hot mess and don’t have the option to trade it away.
Yep, my mates at work play d2 on PC’s. i use a ps4, so we can always talk about the game but i can never raid with them. 🙁 it sucks.
You are tearing me apart Lisa!
The real issue here is a “games journalist” not having a gaming PC.
Cross play is one thing, but what has baffled me since the beginning is WHY doesn’t bungie allow for cross platform accounts.
I care less about being able to play with my mates on PS4 when I’m on PC… and more about having a copy of the game on each platform, and having to deal with completely different characters and progression. What’s stopping Bungie from controlling and allowing me to have my characters and progression carry over to any platform I choose to play the game on in a given day?
If they did this, they would sell MORE copies of the game, as those of us with investment into multiple platforms, with multiple player groups, would likely buy a copy on every platform.
This is the least they can do, in my opinion. It’ll mean that I can join my hardcore group on platform A for the end game stuff like raids, and then casually join my mates for a few quick matches of crucible or whatnot on platform B… all with the same characters and gear.
I know this isn’t an answer to those who aren’t as privileged as I to own multiple platforms… but by god it’s a start in having Destiny function as a world you’re invested in, regardless of the platform.
I just wish you could form a fake team of AI because you have no friends :'(