Not to be a downer but: Destiny, Fallout 4, and power creep (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Thursday, October 29, 2015, 02:34 (3581 days ago) @ Avateur

There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting a game down when you have finished its content. I think the error some are making here is assuming there will be no eventual draw to bring players back. Destiny is on a 10 year publishing agreement. Are players who enjoyed themselves then naturally moved on really going to stay away when the next big TTK style expansion drops all because they didn't get a Sleeper Stimulant? I, for one, highly doubt it.

Yeah, I agree with this. I think the tough part is wondering whether or not DLC/expansions take a major hit based on a microtransaction model that's designed to put out little bits and pieces that may be more grind-worthy and more about weapons than about actual story/plot development and progression of the universe itself. If it heads toward a type of F2P experience where Bungie attempts to get you to pay rather than play because of how mindnumbingly long a grind might be, that could make things worse. I'm not saying this has happened or is happening, but it could happen, and that thought does somewhat bother me.

And I think that a slow drip of content that's not entirely meaningful in place of DLC/expansions (assuming some of what Kotaku says is true) will absolutely turn people off. Just look at the next two weeks of gaming alone. Halo 5 is out, CoD is coming out, Fallout is coming out, and StarCraft 2's final expansion is coming out in the next two weeks. That's a ton of mostly solid competition that Destiny is facing.

On a personal note, I'm back to playing Destiny about once every week or two. I feel like I've done all I need to do, and this slow drip of random meaningless grindy content isn't gonna cut it. Luckily, I still enjoy Destiny, and it's still very fun to play. Taken King is a good thing. But the 10 year plan might be a big problem. The assumption that players will care for 10 years, especially after some of the mishaps in this first year. I can only imagine what MCC would have done to Destiny's population if it hadn't been an unplayable disaster. That won't happen this holiday season with some of the titles coming out. I hope Bungie knows what they're doing with this stuff.

Bungie's actual plans, outside of hearsay rumors, are as yet unverified. Not only do we not know if we'll get a new paid expansion ever again, we also still don't really know if Destiny will just always be Destiny or if we'll get a separate Destiny 2 and Destiny 3 and so on. My hope is the microtransactions go to fund the Live Team, new emotes, special one off missions, Crucible maps, funny hats, and holiday themed events while we get yearly TTK quality paid expansions. $40 a year + whatever you want to pay in microtransactions which given some around here might be quite alot!

I don't see Destiny's weak start having much impact on its future. Most everyone loves TTK, for instance. If Bungie can keep putting out expansions the size and quality of TTK on a yearly basis and throw in a few new features or a bit of a refresh for this gameplay system or that one, then I think the 10 year goal is "easily" achieved. If Destiny hadn't been Destiny and hadn't been the next Bungie title I think maybe it would have failed based on Year 1. Or, at least it would have struggled. Bungie may have dodged a killer bullet and Destiny may end up another success story instead of a forgotten failure in part because Bungie's previous decades of good reputation allowed it to weather it's weak start.