Long Ramble: (Criticism)

by Claude Errera , Sunday, July 24, 2022, 10:40 (654 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Wouldn't it be cool… if there was a game that was nothing but dungeons and raids? One you put down after you've conquered the challenges of them? One where you could just play them without having to get to a certain power level? :-p

I gotta say... a good part of the fun of dungeons and raids are the people you're playing with. Our wednesday night group has played together (with a few substitutions) since D1, and that's really frickin' cool. Sometimes people leave (for real-life reasons), and then come back a while later... if we were playing games that you played until you were done and then moved on, they might never come back - in fact, I doubt the group would stay together if we had to keep picking new games to play every month or two.

This is exactly the point. The buffet isn't memorable because of the food, but whom you're eating with every week. Just seems weird to me praise the buffet for that, and not your friends. The social aspect is entirely why the "buffet" style game design really works in the first place.

You praise the buffet because other presentation styles don't ALLOW for that sort of relationship. Yes, I'm praising the friendship - but I'm also praising the gameplay loop of the buffet game that is compelling enough to bring us back week after week.

::shrug::

I have tons of issues with Destiny... but at the end of the day, I really enjoy playing it. Would I enjoy it more if all of the activities were more engaging than they are? Sure. Do I think producing that much content that regularly is sustainable? No. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to live with. And I'm totally okay with it being one others don't like - I don't need to be playing the game that everyone loves, just the game that I love (as long as there are enough others like me that I have a team :) ).