After playing through Destiny 2‘s campaign and conquering the player versus player gauntlet Trials of the Nine, I thought I was done with the game.
The release of the Warmind DLC has given me a reason to return, and I’m finding it incredibly awkward to be a powerful Guardian who doesn’t remember game basics like how to change her subclass.
Destiny‘s world has always been an amazing mix of the epic and mundane. The story missions involve battling ancient worm gods and teaming up with time-travelling space wizards, but most of the time you’re just grinding public events for coins to hand over to Devrim Kay.
That push and pull has always been fascinating, even if the game’s never held my attention for too long. I stopped playing Destiny after The Dark Below and didn’t even touch Destiny 2‘s first expansion Curse of Osiris. This weekend, I gave it another go, but I can’t remember how anything works.
This is me at the start of the DLC. I’ve since grinded up to 338 power and masterwork’d my Borealis.
It’s a very strange feeling to go from a competent player to an absolute newbie, doubly so when DLC expands a game enough that you’re no longer on the higher end of the power curve.
I found myself stumbling through weekly quests, completely unsure of how to infuse my weapons and armour so that I could upgrade my power ranking and take on new activities.
In one case, I completely disassembled one of my favourite shotguns. The image was comical: a hunter returning from extended holiday juggling their gun until it was nothing but scrapped parts. A deadly warrior pulling out their phone to ask what all these gosh darn Masterwork weapons were.
I’m one of the strongest Guardians ever, and I can barely queue up for a strike mission without consulting a wiki.
Destiny 2’s most important interactions take place within multiple layers of menus that felt foreign upon my return. If you want to infuse a weapon, you need to hover over it, look at it in detail, remember which little box is the infusion option, and then disassemble the spare weapon you’re using to upgrade it.
I found myself falling into a strange ritual even though I’m certain it has to do with how the first game worked rather than the second. When I decrypted an engram, I made sure to equip my best armour and weapons so that my Power level was as high as possible. I’m pretty sure that you don’t need to do this, but I did it anyway because it’s something I vaguely remember doing before.
I couldn’t remember where to turn in my Nessus coins after completing events and don’t recall anything about competitive Crucible seasons. Were they even a thing when I was first playing? I have no idea.
The game’s grown and tossed in so many little tweaks that everything feels new, even if it might not actually be.
Still, I’ve really enjoyed returning. Two DLCs’ worth of missions and new gear meant that there was plenty of ground to cover. I completed Curse of Osiris, enjoying its trippy scenery and massive final battle. I found a masterwork catalyst for my favourite legendary sniper rifle and hunted hundreds of enemies in a quest to upgrade it.
All the while, I listened to my favourite podcasts and slowly remembered how to play Destiny. In spite of the confusion, it’s one of the most relaxing gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time.
I don’t know how long I’ll stick with Destiny 2 after I finish the next round of DLC missions. Most of my friends have moved on to the PC version, leaving me alone on the PlayStation 4.
I’ll probably play until I’m comfortable, try another Trials run, and walk away. For now, there’s something really fun about relearning a game. I felt like an idiot from time to time, but I’m happy idiot.
Comments
9 responses to “I’m Playing Destiny 2 Again And Don’t Remember A Damn Thing”
I’ve been there, I decided to drop into Horizon Zero Dawn last month to check out the DLC for the first time after getting the platinum not too long after release. I had no idea what I was doing and had to consult some control screens on a game I was quite confident I mastered not too long ago.
I have been having so much fun in D2 currently I have stopped playing God of War for it. And sitting here at work plotting what i want to achieve tonight.
As always (ever since D1, day one) there are decisions and game play choices that I have thoroughly hated but the positives always outweighed them. I wasnt on board the D2-hatetrain at launch, sure after time the cracks emerged but the game got me through a difficult part of my life. Sure there were a lot of baffling problems but it was community hatefest that drove me away not any of the terrible Bungie decisions.
Now i am back and loving every minute of it. Sure X, or Y could be better, and hell even some of those things I hated on D1, day One are still there. But I am loving having multiple carrots to chase. Even if I thoroughly hate that the initial Jade Rabbit catalyst is locked behind Crucible wins. Not just by playing it. The later would be fun, the former is frankly like being forced to play ‘competitive’, where it is all about the winning or nothing.
One thing is clear thank god they are finally taken action on all the feedback. Yet some people are still too wrapped up in there ‘well they shouldnt have done A and B in the first place’. But for me life is too short holding grudges and ‘what ifs’, especially for a computer game. Especially when Bungie has always been rubbish in their bedside manner. It seems futile to have expected anything better from them. They are the devil you know.
You playing on PC or PS4?
I’ll give you 2 weeks before you hit the soft cap of 340 light (345 with mods). there’s a ton of stuff you can do pre cap so I’m imagining you pacing yourself.
if you go all out it will take a day or two
You only need 1 day to hit soft cap. Took me 1 day to play my warlock from 320 to 348 in a day after finishing warmind. Hunter started from 305 because I skipped Curse of Osiris, finishing Curse of Osiris and I am 352.
Softcap is easy to reach if you know what you are doing, just going up after the cap is pure RNG for mission reward/luminous engram/raid now
ah I wouldn’t know, all 3 toons were capped pre DLC lol
not sure how the scaling is from the 280 ish when you first finish the campaign.
I personally haven’t touched my toons after I finished all my milestones and I don’t see any point really.
Sometimes if it’s a AAA game and I know DLC is coming soon after release I’ll wait it out them just play the whole thing through. The game is also usually cheaper by then.
Yeah no. Not buying any of the DLC till its actuall good content. Not just rehased D1 content and a couple of lax SP missions. The only actual brand new strike is a PS4 exclusive, the rest in the DLC are just remakes.
Its like bungies does not care anymore and its just putting out the bare minimum to generate some profit.
Pick up your game bungie. You have only begun to climb the mount everest required to fix this game
The thing is, this DLC is actually very good. The thing that sucks is the base game. This unfortunately puts a hard cap on how much of an improvement this DLC can really add, but it’s not the DLC’s fault. There’s a lot of really cool stuff in Warmind including a patrol space that feels like The Taken King’s one, an exotic rework that makes a lot of the weapons fun to use again, and a potentially powerful reason to engage in the crucible for those who enjoy PVP. Lore and secrets wise there’s some really cool developments, even though the in-game story is disorientating and lackluster. If you’re lucky enough to have the PS4 version, the exclusive strike is one of the most enjoyable I’ve played across both games.
By all means, shred the base game and Curse Of Osiris to pieces, but Warmind is delivering far more than I expected it would (or even could). Come September, I might even be able to sing praises without caveats. It’s pathetic that it’s going to take that long, but i’m finally excited again about Destiny’s future.