Damage Mechanics (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Tuesday, December 17, 2013, 09:30 (4000 days ago) @ kapowaz

I think wanting more info is fine. I too want more info. I think it's another thing to question whether not telling us everything now is a sign that Bungie may not be confident in their gameplay.

Simple question, then: what reason have they for being so reluctant to discuss something so integral to how Destiny will play? It's a first person shooter and they don't want to tell us how damage works. Doesn't that strike you as odd?

I think you see reluctance where none exists. An information release timetable, sure, but reluctance? I say they do want to tell us how damage works, they just don't want to tell us right now. One is bring worried about core game design, the other is sticking to their historically successful marketing strategy.

How do you contrast your impression of reluctance with Bungie saying that both they and their gameplay testers are having a blast playing Destiny? And how do you reconcile it with Bungie's decade long string of successful shooters?

At some point either they are lying about it being good and you don't trust them to make a good game, or they are on a planned information release schedule and will reveal everything you want them too in their own time, like they've always done.

I highly doubt Bungie will let us go even into the beta without info on Destiny's core mechanics, but even if they did we will certainly know how everything works by the time they ask us for our money.

Preorders are asking us for our money (even if you have the freedom to cancel, it's still ultimately a tentative commitment to buy).

So tentative that you still have your $60. I did not place a preorder until the announcement of the beta and did not consider it until after the big E3 showing. Until then it wasn't very clear what Destiny would be. Now it is. I think the rest of the details will come long before they are willing to take your money and even significantly before the beta.

Not talking about new products until their day of introduction is Apple's standard operating procedure and in no way a sign that things have gone wrong or that they're worried.

True, but it's also a measure of arrogance: iOS 7 was not a universal success and Apple is already starting to backtrack on various decisions they made. Would the product have been better if they'd not decided to wait until they'd already committed to these decisions before sharing them with developers? I'd say the answer is unequivocally yes.

And yet despite its arrogance Apple is only one of the most successful businesses ever, of all time. And a large part of what they do is their very structured method of releasing information and building excitement. Is a small amount of it arrogance? Sure, why not? But the vast majority can only be attributed to an incredibly smart, well planned and run decade plus long pr strategy.

The same can and should be said about the way Bungie does things.

Ultimately, do you think we'll make it to the beta without knowing how Destiny's core gameplay works, or do you just want to know now instead of a bit later?

I'm concerned that Bungie feels it's okay to not talk about certain elements of gameplay until the beta is in peoples’ hands, yes. As I keep saying, this is not about impatience. It's about the trajectory and commitment to what may prove to be sub-optimal design decisions.

But do you believe that will continue all the way to the beta? I don't. I see them releasing new info about gameplay on a steady basis. They've talked about weapon ammo and map control, they've talked about focuses and lasting decisions. They've talked about weapon skill trees. Just recently they talked some about armor and health giving specific examples how class abilities would affect your durability.

Bungie is not being silent on gameplay or story like Apple is completely mute on future products. They are giving us info and will continue to do so. I don't see you so much as being impatient (though that is likely mixed in a bit) as I see you looking for reasons to indirectly claim that Destiny's core gameplay will be fundamentally flawed unless they change their way of doing things and tell us more right now.