One Year Anniversary

I stopped playing Destiny one year ago today. I've made it a year. I wanted to be on board with Destiny. With the world. With the co-operative play. But enough was enough.

And while I do miss the raids, the folks who have played with me over the years, and some of the mystery, I look over what this year has brought and I see a game I was absolutely right to abandon. I see a game that's doubled down on the grind, on the routine rather than on a story and a universe to explore. A game which has all but abandoned storytelling and is instead focused on lore and mindless mechanics to keep you interested.

I see a game now in year six that has not even lived up to the basic expectations laid down by Bungie. Does this honestly feel like the halfway point in an epic 10 year journey? It feels like several aborted starts to me.

And so I feel better than ever about leaving it behind. And part of me is sad about that.

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I stopped playing Destiny one year ago today. I've made it a year. I wanted to be on board with Destiny. With the world. With the co-operative play. But enough was enough.

And while I do miss the raids, the folks who have played with me over the years, and some of the mystery, I look over what this year has brought and I see a game I was absolutely right to abandon. I see a game that's doubled down on the grind, on the routine rather than on a story and a universe to explore. A game which has all but abandoned storytelling and is instead focused on lore and mindless mechanics to keep you interested.

I see a game now in year six that has not even lived up to the basic expectations laid down by Bungie. Does this honestly feel like the halfway point in an epic 10 year journey? It feels like several aborted starts to me.

And so I feel better than ever about leaving it behind. And part of me is sad about that.

At this point, you beat the game, and Bungie for that matter. The terrible grind that the streamers clamered for failed and collapsed under its own wait (geddit?). Destiny as it stands is a neat game with polished gunplay and fun abilities, but if you aren't chasing anything specifically, there's no feeling that you're missing out on anything (especially not story, or whatever writing potential we saw in a game that started out with Joe Staten at the typewriter).

It's liberating, in many ways. I, for example, only play occasionally to help others run missions, or whatever they're chasing. If I wanted one of the not-Pinnacle Weapons, a dedicated evening or two is all it takes to get them now, so you don't have any pressure. You can seriously just pick it up and play for fun.
Plus, you get to make your own fun challenges now, instead of sticking to a rigid ritual like we used to (F in chat for the DBOers who are still trying to beat the GoS raid boss, lol).
I love that we aren't strong-armed into playing Destiny anymore. A lot of us have finally been able to play other games without feeling the pull of the tow-line that caused resentment towards the game.

So yeah, you're not missing much from jumping off a year ago, but you won't feel punished if you ever do decide to hop on and play again, and I think Bungie did a great job for making it more respectful towards people who actually have a life.

So, yeah, tl;dr you win, but you don't lose if you ever decide to pick it up again.

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https://kotaku.com/destiny-2s-eververse-store-is-getting-out-of-hand-1840796904

This doesn’t sound very good at all. Less game and more store. Sad.

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This doesn’t sound very good at all. Less game and more store. Sad.

I find it strange that you would accept this article's viewpoint, when its thesis is essentially, "raids aren't worth playing if you don't get the coolest looking loot."

That would seem to be antithetical to your opinion as I understand it, which is that playing the game in and of itself should be the reward.

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This doesn’t sound very good at all. Less game and more store. Sad.

I find it strange that you would accept this article's viewpoint, when its thesis is essentially, "raids aren't worth playing if you don't get the coolest looking loot."

That would seem to be antithetical to your opinion as I understand it, which is that playing the game in and of itself should be the reward.

I don't think you are parsing the thesis properly. The raids are not the only part of the game.

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I don't think you are parsing the thesis properly. The raids are not the only part of the game.

Hilariously, I had originally typed 'Destiny' rather than 'raids', but then thought to myself, "Cody doesn't care about anything but raids, I'll be more specific."

Rereading the article doesn't change my question. How is separating 'Dresstiny' from Destiny a bad thing from your viewpoint? (Just to be clear, I can easily see how it's a bad thing from the viewpoint of others, just not you)

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I don't think you are parsing the thesis properly. The raids are not the only part of the game.

Hilariously, I had originally typed 'Destiny' rather than 'raids', but then thought to myself, "Cody doesn't care about anything but raids, I'll be more specific."

Rereading the article doesn't change my question. How is separating 'Dresstiny' from Destiny a bad thing from your viewpoint? (Just to be clear, I can easily see how it's a bad thing from the viewpoint of others, just not you)

It's bad because many activities have incorporated 'frictions' so that merely playing the game to get bright dust and buy what you want is practically impossible. Frictions you face even if you have no interest in bright dust. Any store in which the items can be purchased for either real money or for in game currency necessarily involve a compromise to game design.

This is why the "it's optional" argument is bullshit. It must necessarily effect those who don't pay, because the whole point of the frictions is to convince you to pay.

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I don't think you are parsing the thesis properly. The raids are not the only part of the game.

Hilariously, I had originally typed 'Destiny' rather than 'raids', but then thought to myself, "Cody doesn't care about anything but raids, I'll be more specific."

Rereading the article doesn't change my question. How is separating 'Dresstiny' from Destiny a bad thing from your viewpoint? (Just to be clear, I can easily see how it's a bad thing from the viewpoint of others, just not you)

It's bad because many activities have incorporated 'frictions' so that merely playing the game to get bright dust and buy what you want is practically impossible. Frictions you face even if you have no interest in bright dust. Any store in which the items can be purchased for either real money or for in game currency necessarily involve a compromise to game design.

This is why the "it's optional" argument is bullshit. It must necessarily effect those who don't pay, because the whole point of the frictions is to convince you to pay.

You're not answering his question.

You've made it abundantly clear in the past that the only thing that matters to you is raiding. You played some Crucible in the early days, but that got old, for you.

You have NEVER implied that your enjoyment of the game depended on the look of your armor - so why are you suddenly getting behind an article that suggests that the way you look is really the ONLY thing that matters?

If you don't give a shit about cosmetics, having all of them behind a paywall should not affect your gameplay in the slightest.

Unless you're implying here that all of this is empathy for others, who DO enjoy the cosmetic aspect? (That would be odd, given your distinct lack of empathy for the viewpoints of others over the past 5 years or so, but I guess everyone can change.)

I think squid's point was that you've latched onto an article that stands diametrically opposed to your oft-stated viewpoint, and are using it to argue your own point not because you agree with it, but because the END CONCLUSION is the same as yours (the game isn't worth playing right now).

Just because both paths end in the same place doesn't mean they're compatible arguments.

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I don't think you are parsing the thesis properly. The raids are not the only part of the game.

Hilariously, I had originally typed 'Destiny' rather than 'raids', but then thought to myself, "Cody doesn't care about anything but raids, I'll be more specific."

Rereading the article doesn't change my question. How is separating 'Dresstiny' from Destiny a bad thing from your viewpoint? (Just to be clear, I can easily see how it's a bad thing from the viewpoint of others, just not you)

It's bad because many activities have incorporated 'frictions' so that merely playing the game to get bright dust and buy what you want is practically impossible. Frictions you face even if you have no interest in bright dust. Any store in which the items can be purchased for either real money or for in game currency necessarily involve a compromise to game design.

This is why the "it's optional" argument is bullshit. It must necessarily effect those who don't pay, because the whole point of the frictions is to convince you to pay.

You're not answering his question.

You've made it abundantly clear in the past that the only thing that matters to you is raiding. You played some Crucible in the early days, but that got old, for you.

You have NEVER implied that your enjoyment of the game depended on the look of your armor - so why are you suddenly getting behind an article that suggests that the way you look is really the ONLY thing that matters?

I explained that in the text you quoted. Read it again. The "dresstiny" aspect bleeds into the "Destiny" aspect because of changes to the basic design of the game that are necessary to facilitate players purchasing items instead of buying them for in game currency.

If you don't give a shit about cosmetics, having all of them behind a paywall should not affect your gameplay in the slightest.

It wouldn't if the only way to get them were to pay real money. But that is not the case.

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I explained that in the text you quoted. Read it again. The "dresstiny" aspect bleeds into the "Destiny" aspect because of changes to the basic design of the game that are necessary to facilitate players purchasing items instead of buying them for in game currency.

It wouldn't if the only way to get them were to pay real money. But that is not the case.

But those frictions that exist (and boy do they exist) only exist for those who care about the cosmetics. Every other frictions exist for the god rolls of randomly-rolled perks. Those would easily align with your customary arguments, just not this article...

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The frictions are in the gameplay whether you want them or not. That's sort of the point.

The bright dust/bright engram economy affects the game whether you care about cosmetics or not.

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The frictions are in the gameplay whether you want them or not. That's sort of the point.

I agree that they are there, but I'm not sure I get the point now.

The bright dust/bright engram economy affects the game whether you care about cosmetics or not.

How so? Major bright dust bumps come from weekly bounties, which, quite frankly, can all be done within 2 to 5 matches of the associated activity (time which will also contribute to other bounties if you're carrying them). The slog to gain extra dust without paying money (which is indeed quite a slog) comes from the random bounties of very specific activities that are usually harmless, might-as-well, not-like-I-wasn't-already busywork (for strikes: 25 auto-rifle kills, 15 grenade kills, etc; for Crucible: kill 5 Hunters, 10 precision kills, etc; etc). I honestly can't see how these seriously harm gameplay.

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Those bounties are a major reason I’ve become disinterested in the game (although from a season pass/XP leveling angle, rather than for bright dust, which I don’t care about).

It’s busywork that refuses to let me just play the game. Sure, you can ignore them and play just fine, but then you’re no longer getting bright dust and no longer efficiently gaining XP to level the season pass (something I’m not convinced I could actually level up just by playing the game if I didn’t constantly juggle bounties).

Bounties are completely counter to the things that make Destiny good in my opinion, especially for how often Bungie tells me they’re allowing me to play my way. If I could jump in and just play the game, ignore bounties, do whatever my friends want to do (the way I’ve been playing Destiny since Destiny 2 released), I’d still be paying. Instead, every time I logged on, I felt that I had to spend twenty minutes prioritizing which chores to do first to actually make good progress, instead of my old standby of just seeing what anyone else was doing and start paying. That is still possible, but it would be at the expense of leveling up the season pass or getting bright dust, which is now where they put all the coolest stuff. You can argue about cosmetics all day long, but for many looking cool is an essential part of Destiny. If it wasn’t, the Eververse wouldn’t exist in the first place.

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I'm pretty sure the random bounties give laughable amounts of XP (as well as laughable amounts of dust). You have to do 20+ of them to level up without the XP bonus you get for the first 3 levels of the week and they cost absurd amounts of glimmer.

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I know, but I’m talking about bounties in general. They’re the only efficient way to level up the season pass. Actually doing activities gives laughable amounts of XP, to the point that I would not even come close to finishing the pass without bounties. The fact that the only ones that give bright dust don’t also reward good XP makes it worse, not better.

It’s exactly the friction Cody always talks about. Instead of just letting players play the game, it dictates the way players must play the game to make good progress or get bright dust. I’m sure plenty of folks like bounties and the variety of play they encourage. I constantly switch my play styles and load outs anyway, I don’t need bounties to push me to do so, and I hate juggling them and stopping every five minutes to check progress and make sure I’m using the right weapons out subclasses to cover them all.

The new bright dust economy has directly lead to me spending real money (which I am happy to do, for the record). There is no way I care enough to try and do enough bounties to get any real amount of bright dust, combined with keeping track of what I’d on sale week to week. I’ll just give them my ten dollars, buy the thing I want and be done. It would be incredibly difficult for anyone to convince me that’s not explicitly why the system is the way it is right now. They want people to just give them money while also being able to say “well you can get it for free if you just play,” as if getting it for free isn’t a completely absurd grind.

I know I just said I was leading to avoid being negative, but this is important, in that it’s pretty much the exact reason I quit.

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I mean, you could be more choosy with which bounties you take. Honestly, a few weeklies really take care of it. The gunsmith ones are pretty easy to do without much alteration to your playstyle.

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That’s probably true. But there’s still always that feeling that I could or should be doing more to work on the season pass ranks. I only made it to the mid-80s last season, and I played a fair bit and was always stocked up on bounties. Getting all the way to 100 is not trivial. I don’t know if it should be, but having to worry about it at all really just turns me off from the game altogether.

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In order to unlock the upgraded Sundial weapons. And the longer you take to do it, the less time you have to get those rolls you want.

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Those bounties are the only (good) repeatable sources of both bright dust and exp. The exp model only even existed for glamour/bright engram grind up until the Season Pass tracks became a thing.

The reason those bounties give pitiful exp (or there is an exp system at all) is and has long been (in D2) a glamour grind. It's also the reason activities give even more pitiful exp. The exp ecosystem is driven by the glamour and microtransaction ecosystem. And it wasnt necessarily a harsh grind one, but a grind nonetheless, necessitated by a desire not to have everyone easily get everything for free.

Ordinarily as someone who doesnt care about glam, Id be kinda who cares. Except there are now tangible rewards tied to the Season Pass track, and theyr'e time-limited. But the unpleasant level grind is the same.

So now it affects everyone, whether they care about glamour or not.

P.S
The Polarized Fractaline bounties are also symptomatic of intentionally making things grindier. They're not dofficult, but they are a chore, and you need to do them to fully enjoy this Season.

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uggests that the way you look is really the ONLY thing that matters?

Wasn't what I took away from it *shrug*

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It’s a double edged sword. You’ve missed some of the legitimately best content ever put into Destiny. The three raids that have been released in the last year are all very good. The new Dungeon is very cool. Shadowkeep in conjunction with that seasonal content felt like a really meaty, compelling update to the game.

On the other hand, it’s all still just more of the same. If you’re coming to Destiny for good storytelling, you’re right to move on.

I haven’t wholesaled dropped the game, and I won’t, but I’m sitting this season out unless something really cool happens. Unlike Korny, I think I like that it goes away. Oddly, it makes me less inclined to log on just to keep up. I know it will go away in a few months, and I’ll never have to think about it again, unlike the model of always having those quest markers blinking at me, or even being forced into doing them before progressing to new content.

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It’s a double edged sword. You’ve missed some of the legitimately best content ever put into Destiny. The three raids that have been released in the last year are all very good. The new Dungeon is very cool. Shadowkeep in conjunction with that seasonal content felt like a really meaty, compelling update to the game.

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I felt a little sad not getting my triumphs t shirt for the first time, but i'm over it. I check in here occasionally just to see what folks are up to.

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2¢

I've worked diligently (and had help) in building a vast vocabulary. Yet in the last day or so... I don't know what word to give to describe how or what I feel about "Keep on keeping on man!" right here, my response in reading this - and it bothers me.

A splinter on the mind.

This is a thread in a Destiny Forum about not playing Destiny. Celebrating that fact even to a degree. This is a post here encouraging this further.

Is this post to which I reply... Incongruous? Is that the word? Paradoxical? Inverted? ... bah. Weird? ...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/2¢

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2¢

I've worked diligently (and had help) in building a vast vocabulary. Yet in the last day or so... I don't know what word to give to describe how or what I feel about "Keep on keeping on man!" right here, my response in reading this - and it bothers me.

A splinter on the mind.

This is a thread in a Destiny Forum about not playing Destiny. Celebrating that fact even to a degree. This is a post here encouraging this further.

Is this post to which I reply... Incongruous? Is that the word? Paradoxical? Inverted? ... bah. Weird? ...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/2¢

Think of it like a divorce.

The proper response is "congratulations", not "I'm sorry". See, you ended a relationship that wasn't working, rather than drawing it out and being unhappy longer, and possibly complicating things with kids etc. That's a good thing.

Just as is leaving a game you find exploitative, not working for you, and increasingly being made in bad faith.

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2¢

I've worked diligently (and had help) in building a vast vocabulary. Yet in the last day or so... I don't know what word to give to describe how or what I feel about "Keep on keeping on man!" right here, my response in reading this - and it bothers me.

A splinter on the mind.

This is a thread in a Destiny Forum about not playing Destiny. Celebrating that fact even to a degree. This is a post here encouraging this further.

Is this post to which I reply... Incongruous? Is that the word? Paradoxical? Inverted? ... bah. Weird? ...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/2¢

Think of it like a divorce.

The proper response is "congratulations", not "I'm sorry". See, you ended a relationship that wasn't working, rather than drawing it out and being unhappy longer, and possibly complicating things with kids etc. That's a good thing.

Just as is leaving a game you find exploitative, not working for you, and increasingly being made in bad faith.

Oh geeeez. This metaphor makes it even worse! "Baby, I'm so glad I'm over you. I haven't thought about you in a year! To prove it, I'm going to post how happy I am in the place where we met/fostered/some-other-third-thing to celebrate!... something something something.

Yeah. You seem real over it.

Yet that's just this thread, so your post to which I've replied to is then; if I can't love no one can. Or something.

/Metaphor

... maybe the word I'm looking for is actually "weird". Meh. Shut up brain before I get all stabby with the Q-tips.

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Think of it like a divorce.

The proper response is "congratulations", not "I'm sorry".

Nope, the proper response depends on the situation. If you know the situation, then have at it, but even then you probably should be careful not to assume too much. The only one-size-fits-all response as a friend might be: "If you want to talk about it, I'm here" or "how are you feeling about it?"

Not touching the Destiny stuff.

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I mean, if we REALLY want to roll with this metaphor it's a bit more like showing up at a couples-only dinner party you used to regularly attend and announcing how happy you are now that you are single and don't eat any of this kind of food anymore, and by the way here's an article I found about how this food isn't healthy for you, and then passing out business cards for your divorce lawyer, but…

I don't want you to leave or feel like you can't post here, but I truly don't know what the purpose of this thread could be other than to make people feel bad about the fact that they are playing destiny unlike the right choice that you made. When people — people who have themselves recently publicly quit — shared what they like about the game your response what that you didn't believe them. Did I miss it? What was your purpose for the thread? How should we have known it?

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I mean, if we REALLY want to roll with this metaphor it's a bit more like showing up at a couples-only dinner party you used to regularly attend and announcing how happy you are now that you are single and don't eat any of this kind of food anymore, and by the way here's an article I found about how this food isn't healthy for you, and then passing out business cards for your divorce lawyer, but…

I don't want you to leave or feel like you can't post here, but I truly don't know what the purpose of this thread could be other than to make people feel bad about the fact that they are playing destiny unlike the right choice that you made. When people — people who have themselves recently publicly quit — shared what they like about the game your response what that you didn't believe them. Did I miss it? What was your purpose for the thread? How should we have known it?

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Cody has a long history with this community, misses people, and like everyone, enjoys the back and forth and validation you get there. It's probably part of why most of us post. Unfortunately for us, he's decided Destiny isn't for him, which makes the seeking validation part a bit awkward, given Destiny is the main reason we're here.

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My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Cody has a long history with this community, misses people, and like everyone, enjoys the back and forth and validation you get there. It's probably part of why most of us post. Unfortunately for us, he's decided Destiny isn't for him, which makes the seeking validation part a bit awkward, given Destiny is the main reason we're here.

Really it's to see all your faces when in February you realize Vanquish is actually incredible. :-p

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2¢

I've worked diligently (and had help) in building a vast vocabulary. Yet in the last day or so... I don't know what word to give to describe how or what I feel about "Keep on keeping on man!" right here, my response in reading this - and it bothers me.

A splinter on the mind.

This is a thread in a Destiny Forum about not playing Destiny. Celebrating that fact even to a degree. This is a post here encouraging this further.

Is this post to which I reply... Incongruous? Is that the word? Paradoxical? Inverted? ... bah. Weird? ...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/2¢

I stick around and check in b/c i've been playing with a lot of the folks on here since Halo 2. I'm just getting burned out of the endless grind. I miss the old Halo days of just playing a game, the only reward was winning. All the boxes you have to check and currencies and materials are tedious. I will probably poke back into Destiny at some point, but i decided to do other things in the meantime. I haven't even turned my xbox on since May, i've been focused on family, work, and cows. I just saw cody's thread and thought that i would report in as well.

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I haven't even turned my xbox on since May, i've been focused on family, work, and cows. I just saw cody's thread and thought that i would report in as well.

DBO Forums

One Year Anniversary (Destiny)

I'm honestly sorry that is your experience.