=V.Light-Bright= (Fan Creations)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Sunday, April 03, 2022, 15:28 (967 days ago) @ INSANEdrive

An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?

~ Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?

(Approx. 1,567 Words | +/- 14 min. read | About: Combatant & Ability Play.)

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Merit. With the release of this new expansion, we also got some newer mechanics with light. Both in friendly and foe-based ways. 

-Lucent Brood & Lighting Bugs-

What a breath of fresh air. Not since the implementation of Champions have we had foes that (depending on the difficulty) necessitated coordinated attention and battle-awareness. Yet, unlike Champions, the Lucent Brood aren't obnoxious to play against. You're not being hamstrung by what you're allowed to bring into the fight, and the Lucent Brood don't use their abilities every two seconds like some teleporting Kell. In any event, even if you screw up, it's not because "oh no my weapon didn't proc" whatever de-buff needed, but because in the heat of battle you forgot to grab, OR COULDN'T GRAB the ghost without risking a great cost. Or, even, holding your corners, making sure you keep some cover while the light is flowing. And I can't even begin to say how... bemusing an insult it is to see a VERY familiar grenade type being lobed at you in PvE. I still kind of double take when I see "Hive Brand" Swarm Grenades. It's just... it's something else.

That kind of battle pressure is by far more holistic than the brute force of the champion system. It's the kind of pressure that makes even trash adds a threat, as if you don't drown in the sea fire, you'll be taken out anyway by the rigged-to-blow stopper, preventing your escape. And unless you take care of the battle pressure difference, nothing is going to move. This praise also includes the "Lighting Bugs" A.K.A Lucent Moths. It's not as hard-core an issue as Lucent Brood, but in a much softer way, it applies the same pressure. If you ignore them, you either get to face on an Ogre with an overshield, or get to watch them turn into slow-homing grenades if they can't find a hive host. A fantastic touch. Bravo.

Here! Some clips!

-Void Light is Nothing-

My answer is, "I don't know. I know nothing. " My questions are, will this grow stale? Is this too much or too little?

Ever since the announcement of Void 3.0, I've been... "thinking out loud". Perplexed and puzzled at what has been allowed and removed. And to some degree, it's because I've been a part of Destiny the Game since its public announcement. Alpha, Beta, and all that jazz, which is ever so interestingly long ago. It may be how what was once foundational, a stone that had long grown moss, was suddenly being moved about! Heart of the Pack and all the rest. Cleared away for something new! Something new and thus unknown. So unknown, in fact, while I am surprised that Hunters did not have blink added into their jump options, I'm also not surprised, because at one point, Destiny had done that before. Unknown! But THEN AGAIN, I AM surprised! AAAaa! I mean, Shoot! Look at what once was, and now is! Suddenly, we're all sharen' over here! Titans and Warlocks, with a rudimentary PvE cloak?!! Titans and Hunters with Devour?!? Unknown!! Unknown, unknown, unknown!! AAAA! I'm still kind of miffed that my Warlock can't supercharge a suppression grenade, but I suppose that's to keep Warlocks on good terms with the Titans.

(I thought that's what the crayon tithes were for. Who knew.)

And, for the longest time, I was wondering if, as everything was being intermingled (far more than I knew), what the difference was going to be between classes? Apparently, class abilities. Taking what they are, and dialing them up to 11. Simple enough. Brilliant, maybe, but... is it?

The problem -I think I sense- is how... hamstrung the class identity is now to their respective class abilities. WHICH, in first consideration, IS RIGHT ODD TO SAY RIGHT!?! More ways then one on the face of it. Of course class abilities are... per class. "Class Identity", means in part how they play, and each class can do something with that class identity ...per what that class is about. Duh. Gee how silly of INSANEdrive, right? But, part of the sell in the 3.0 ability reworks was customization, that freedom to create what your Warlock, Hunter, Titan was all about. The problem, or risk, or... SOMETHING, is all in where the emphasis of that class identity lies. It's a Henry Ford, "any color as long as it is black." Warlocks absorb, Hunters cloak, and Titans have overshield all the time. There is... nothing else! THAT'S IT! 

YOU SEE?! BEFORE, in Void 2.0, I had with my Warlock... (and I'm quoting from my linked post in "puzzled")

Warlocks! My main with Void 2.0 has set ideas, top tree (Attunement Of Chaos) is Power. Powerful grenades, Melees which also build that grenade energy back (Entropic Pull), Bloom which makes void abilities also explode, and then the Super. A big, fat, homing "slow-va" bomb with it's very own "wolf pack rounds" to match after it blows up.

Middle Tree is about a Warlocks favorite four-dimensional manifold, SpaceTime. Dark Matter makes it so that any void ability use not only gives back all ability energy, but heath too! That's important, as while top tree is about brute force, middle tree is about creating momentum, or at least changing it. That tide of battle. Middle Tree melee, Atomic Breach, it not only puts on a delayed explosion (though not like titans can), but also drastically pushes whoever dared to get close BACK. Again, momentum, creating that space, giving you time to make your next move. Play on words, but... that's what it does. It works! Handheld Supernova, whatever it's form, needs no introduction. And the Super "Nova Warp" needs no introduction either.

Then there is Bottom Tree. The "energy absorption" tree. When I say "Heart of The Pack", any Destiny Vet knows that means Hunter. Weapons of light? Titan. It is known. Devour? Warlock. Which, by the way, triggered with melee (or super). Or, eat a grenade. Everything about bottom tree is about surviving your own death through the death of other things.

But now... my Void warlock is the "absorption guy". I can do ALL SORTS of combinations now that BEFORE in 2.0 were impossible. But now, in 3.0, while my Warlocks IDENTITY is far more FOCUSED, it also feels more watered down. I could be three things before. Now I'm one thing, plus whatever else. It's all watered down.  

DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Can anyone follow what I'm see'n here?

Keeping with this, now I'm asking myself about this emphasis. If I'm (the Warlock main) just the absorption guy, Hunters the cloak folk, and Titans all-over about that over shield, will this grow stale? Or will we not care because of "utility"? Keep in mind, this is a live game, so this can be changed as needed, but... just like with the glaive, I just wish I could have had a quality behind doors conversation with... ALL THINGS design really (as you'll see).

I respect Bungie for being so (and this will seem strange after you read "The Wrong Fears" next) fearless in creating these changes. There is merit in their choices. Unlike some of the other things I've mentioned thus far, I understand. I grasp the need, and the whys'. But I also feel a need to fall back on experience here. As stated, before in Void 2.0, each tree had an identity in its play. With 3.0 and its smothering reliance putting all the chips of class identity on class ability, I fear that all classes will get the "well-lock"/"tether"/"bubble" treatment. Where... we have "all these choices," but suddenly, there is only one choice. 

For myself, the Warlock main, I've been asked to "well-lock" so much that I almost don't want to "well-lock" ever again. In theory, the 3.0 system should help alleviate such experiences. But, in these early days... I'm not yet so sure. Remember what things were like before Bungie finally started adding consistent additions of new perks into the game? The same perks always came to the top. Kill clip Outlaw. Kill clip Outlaw. Kill clip Outlaw. ... and I can see this potentially happening with abilities now. If instead, say, we had THREE options that can do "the same thing" differently, much like you can see in perks now, this might be avoided. Heh... a-void-ed.

Check this out...

Lets presume up something with Solar, because we don't yet know what Bungie has in mind yet. Warlocks in 2.0, yes middle tree, can take their grenade and turn it into a healing buff. What if, you could change how it applies, like different grenades do, except it's a healing salve that cures all wounds. It's the SAME THING, differently, get it? So that way, at least things won't get stale in this NEVER ENDING GAME! Not to get all motivational here, but little changes can have BIG impacts.

*YAY!*

*RAINBOW* *PUDDING* *UNICORN*

Anything else?

I am going to miss the ability to just jump to menu and boom... click and done. Personally, I think they should have gone Hybrid. The ALREADY had the IDEA in place! They just needed to bring chocolate and peanut butter together. You click on the "aspect" or whatever you want to change in one of the diamonds, and there you go! One of those diamonds could have been a quad...it just... eh. 

But hey whatever. 

Did... any of this make sense? I refer you back to the beginning of this portion with my, ever eternal, answer.