I often like to play new video games when they’re new, but I am forever grateful for whatever part of my gut kept me from diving into the first Destiny until it was nearly a year old. I skipped playing the game when it was more boring, more barren, and more hostile to its players. These days, I’m feeling good about doing the same with Destiny 2.
Yesterday, the people who make Destiny 2 announced a May 8 release date for the spring 2017 game’s next expansion. My colleague Jason Schreier, a reporter whose love for Destiny seems to track well with his pained enthusiasm for his beloved, beleaguered New York Jets, followed Bungie’s announcement with an announcement of his own. On Twitter, he wrote:
It’s weird, for the first time in 3.5 years, to see the announcement of new Destiny DLC and feel absolutely nothing.
What I feel is relief at sitting out another first year of a Destiny game. When I finally got into the original Destiny, the game had been patched and expanded several times. Year one players had essentially beta-tested a then-novel type of shared-world first-person shooter. When I jumped in, the game was on the verge of a 2.0 patch that transformed the way it handled character levels and quests. Within weeks, it received The Taken King, its largest expansion, which added more interesting missions and an intriguing, massive new area to explore.
It now sounds as though Destiny 2 has been going through months of problems with its disappointing first expansion, overemphasis on microtransaction items, and laundry list of other player complaints, many of which Bungie says they have fixed or plan to fix. They can go ahead. I’m learning the value of waiting.
These days, I’m thinking about the benefits of waiting on other games, too. I’m only now on the verge of starting Ghost Recon: Wildlands, surely the beneficiary of a year’s worth of patches and DLC. I hear the indie Tooth & Tail improved a lot with patches, enough that I’m eager to finally give it some time. I’m the office weirdo who doesn’t love The Witcher 3 and hasn’t played past Novigrad, but I am sure that delaying my start of that game until they improved its inventory system helped me like it more than I originally would have. I wonder which other games have come out that may be much better months after they were released.
Destiny 2 was a game that people reasonably could have expected to be worth playing the day it came out. Players understandably assumed that what Bungie learned from the first game would apply to the new Destiny on day one. Instead, as another of my colleagues has chronicled, the new game has presented the same mix of PVP, PVE and PVBungie as the first.
From afar, I see Bungie making continued promises that they’re going to improve their game. Where I sit, I might feel slightly silly about buying a game last September that I still haven’t played, but I have plenty of other games to play. I have a hunch that come August or so of this year, Destiny 2 will be better than it was when it launched.
Comments
12 responses to “I’m Feeling Good About Not Starting Destiny 2 Yet”
LOL, I’m feeling good about not starting Destiny yet.
Or never ever touching it.
Too many missed steps and compkete failures in how theyvdebelop the game and treat its content and players.
Still waoting for Activision to throw them Bungie under a bus and give the whole IP over to Blizzard.
While Activision negotiated a 10 year publishing contract for Destiny, Bungie owns the rights to Destiny itself. So Activision is not in a position to farm sequels off to another developer.
I’m in the boat that my faith in the franchise is pretty much gone. I made the mistake of trusting Bungie so much that I bought the DLC with my preorder on 2 platforms (PC & PS4). And while I did have fun in the first 6 or so weeks of the Destiny 2, it just wasn’t the same as Destiny.
A lot of the changes they made between games took away the appeal of the first game. Lessons learned in D1 were ignored and not implemented, and we are months away from them being introduced to D2.
I was inspired by the world Bungie created in the first game. Now, I don’t really care. This DLC will release, and Like Jason, I feel nothing.
At least Bungie will tell us that it’s better.
Destiny 2 wasn’t a bad game, it just didn’t have depth. What was there though was good, and did its job. Its also something that can be fixed, if Bungie wants to. But now, too many people have been burned, and wont return, so whats the point?
Given this is now the second time they’ve done this, I think its too late as well. People just don’t trust Bungie now.
I’m Feeling Good About:
…sticking with Warframe, especially when I saw this:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/03/warframe-removed-a-microtransaction-because-a-player-used-it-too-much/
Warframe and The Division are the come-from-behind victors here.
Seriously I have to give props to The Division, I thought it was a disaster that would never recover and in it’s current state it’s pretty damn fun.
as someone who has both the game and season pass… honestly you’re not missing much.
Don’t get me wrong the game is great until you get to level cap but it will probably tops take you 20 hrs to reach said cap.
after that the gear grind at max level is uninspiring and while there isn’t a lack of content at max level. it’s the lack of synergy between the content available to the gear grind that really kills it . you’ll enjoy patrols, strikes etc up to about 300 light… after that you’re just stuck doing weekly quests.
destiny 2 isn’t the first game I bought because my friends are playing, but it’s the first game that I won’t even bother to play without friends
Havent touched the game since launch. Not missing it at all.
I want my money back 🙁