I'm not sure what the parallels with Destiny are... (Gaming)

by nico, Wednesday, December 21, 2022, 13:24 (706 days ago) @ Cody Miller

...but here goes:

I was an off-tank for a guild (10 and 25-man raid), and we (along with DPS and healers) were not expected, but required, to have watched several videos on the mechanics of a given encounter prior to attempting it. Not knowing those mechanics would get you yelled at (at best.) Regardless of class / role, you were expected to play the correct subclass, have the correct weapons, and perform the correct rotations.

In my case, I had to play PvP (which I didn't enjoy) in order to acquire the correct weapon for my role. We're talking hours of the equivalent of Trials.

I also had to reach a certain reputation level with a faction ("exalted") which required about 45 minutes a day (time locked) for six weeks in order to get a particular item, without which tanking the end game encounter was impossible. No substitutions.

Certain 3rd-party addons were a requirement, some of which communicated to the raid leader your healing / DPS / agro stats in real time, with feedback being received in real time.

Around the time I started playing (2006-ish, Burning Crusade), Blizz decided to make end-game gear equivalents available to people merely willing to grind endless quests, patrols, and faction reputations. In other words, you didn't _have_ to raid to get the best gear, just play a lot, a LOT.

Perhaps it was my luck, but in general, my interaction with WoW players (in guild or in "pub" activities) created my belief that WoW has one of the most toxic online communities I've ever experienced.

The WoW population started dwindling over the first few years I played because the complexity of subclasses, talents, and gear, made it prohibitive to "get into it." I feel that Destiny is at that point, but I don't know the numbers.

Early on in Destiny, I was amazed that Bungie created this type of game but where weapons behaved identically in PvP and PvE -- something Blizzard never was able to accomplish with WoW. I was also amazed that you could do relatively well in crucible with blue weapons -- something impossible to accomplish in WoW.

In terms of monetization, WoW did some things which I think would work very well with Destiny. For example, you could buy an item from the store, say the equivalent of a sparrow, which was could be purchased as a gift -- you could "wrap" the item and you could trade it -- gift it -- to another player.

There are also "barbers" which allow a player, in exchange for gold, to change their hair.

For those of you who haven't seen it, this is a classic "raid gone wrong" video