Not all of that would be possible in a game like Destiny, but there are probably still some things they could learn from it. I'm not a big fan of Blizzard's approach to game design, but when it comes to progression systems, and extending the shelf-life of their products, they seem to know what they're doing.

I think Bungie fell into the pitfall of most loot based games when it comes to end game rewards. What I mean, is that all the hardest content gives the best rewards. The problem of course, is that what good are all the great rewards, when you've already conquered the hardest challenge? The whole point of getting good gear is to be able to do harder stuff. If you've beaten the Vault of Glass or the Nightfall, and you get a reward it's pretty good. But what's left to use the reward on? Nightfall and Vault of Glass again…

So you run into a situation where you are getting new guns and armor just for the sake of getting getting new guns and armor more efficiently. It's gear for gear's sake. After all, if you can beat the nightfall and Vault on Hard, you don't really need better gear do you?

I never thought I'd say this, but Diablo 2 had the solution. Early, it suffered from the same problem. You could beat Hell difficulty easily at around level 60. You could get to level 99. 60-99 was just getting gear, which of course is dumb because you can already beat Hell. Why do you need better gear? In order to do gear runs faster. See why that's dumb? Later in its life, Diablo 2 offered crazy hard challenges and optional quests via game updates. You had to have all the best stuff and a lot of patience to do it, but the interesting thing is that you did not get gear for completing them.

One such quest has you killing insanely buffed up versions of the three main bosses, and if you kill them you get a charm that increases experience earned. A charm stays in your inventory, and gives you a passive effect. The exp gain was small, I think 10%. You'd think it'd be useless, since you are already high level. But it's not.

It's actually brilliant. You've mastered the game with one character, so what would be left to do? Master the game with another character class or build. They all play very differently, so it can add variety. So give the charm to a new character, and you can more quickly speed past the boring part of leveling up and get to the fun part: playing with a new class and using new skills.

Imagine if upon beating Atheon on hard, you got maybe a universal class item that could be worn on anybody. You give it to another character you start, and you earn exp at twice the rate. This would be fabulous, since you can bypass the part that you've already mastered, takes no skill, and is boring (leveling up and grinding), and get to the fun part of trying a new class.

THAT is what you do when your players finish all your content - you encourage them to take on a new challenge. In this case, mastering another class - rather than just running the same stuff over and over in the pointless cycle of getting gear just to get more gear.

Rewarding players who sought out and tackled the hardest challenge in the game by making that challenge easier for them is dumb (and, sadly, is exactly what every MMO ever has done).

Not to mention it doesnt stay open on subsequent patrols after the fact. Having it stay open for those who completed the mission would provide some sense of effecting the world through your actions.

Considering how much stuff in Destiny isn't synchronized between clients, it's disappointing that it was like this.

No argument about the unskippable cutscenes... those are a problem.

My point about the opening mission is that it's ok for what it is, but I wouldn't want an entire game filled with that style of mission (more scripted events, longer drawn-out "atmosphere" sequences).

The only event in the first level that slowed you down at all was Ghost opening the gate. I think we all know how often that happens in the rest of the game anyway.

It doesn't have to be like the first mission, just stuff peppered through to let you know you are actually affecting things. For instance, the opening of the Array on the last Earth mission was pretty neat, yet we see nothing at all like that ever later in the game.

Not to mention it doesnt stay open on subsequent patrols after the fact. Having it stay open for those who completed the mission would provide some sense of effecting the world through your actions.

No argument about the unskippable cutscenes... those are a problem.

My point about the opening mission is that it's ok for what it is, but I wouldn't want an entire game filled with that style of mission (more scripted events, longer drawn-out "atmosphere" sequences).

According to the infamous "AMA" on Reddit by the supposed Bungie tester, that intro mission is more in line with what the majority of the Destiny campaign was going to be like before the big change in 2013.

All I'm saying is that I can see how some of the team at Bungie might worry that a game full of missions like that would be horribly tedious to replay over and over.

It doesn't have to be like the first mission, just stuff peppered through to let you know you are actually affecting things. For instance, the opening of the Array on the last Earth mission was pretty neat, yet we see nothing at all like that ever later in the game.

My point about the opening mission is that it's ok for what it is, but I wouldn't want an entire game filled with that style of mission (more scripted events, longer drawn-out "atmosphere" sequences).

According to the infamous "AMA" on Reddit by the supposed Bungie tester, that intro mission is more in line with what the majority of the Destiny campaign was going to be like before the big change in 2013.

All I'm saying is that I can see how some of the team at Bungie might worry that a game full of missions like that would be horribly tedious to replay over and over.

I agree with you.

And that, right there, is probably the reason some people at Bungie decided to strip most of the heavy storytelling out of Destiny in favor of a tight, action-focused experience.

Story-heavy exposition and set pieces make for a more powerful first-time-through... but they get in the way when you need to replay these missions over and over.

SO much of that could be solved by simply making cutscenes skippable.

That would certainly help with cutscenes, but I'm thinking a bit beyond that as well. Think about the general structure of the first mission. Wandering through dark hallways, watching the Fallen scale the walls as the light come on, etc. It's a great scripted sequence that feels immersive and pulls the player in. But replaying it multiple times gets tedious real fast.

Uh, what?

A Guardian Rises is easy, fast and fun. Literally the only things you need to kill are the ones that spawn in the final room. Run past everything else. 4 minutes and you're done. I can do it without firing a shot.

The thing that slow new characters down are the unskippable cutscenes, NOT the actual playing part of the game.

Story-heavy exposition and set pieces make for a more powerful first-time-through... but they get in the way when you need to replay these missions over and over.

Well...I mean, you could make them skippable...just sayin'...

It's a pain to start a new character. I don't care that i've been dead a long time, i just want to play the game. I don't care that the children are frightened, or that you don't have time to explain that you don't have time to explain. I don't have time to listen. I just want to get to patrol and strikes and crucible. Yes those roadblocks are nice for a new player to baby them along, but when a start a second character, i want to get down to business.

I agree with you.

And that, right there, is probably the reason some people at Bungie decided to strip most of the heavy storytelling out of Destiny in favor of a tight, action-focused experience.

Story-heavy exposition and set pieces make for a more powerful first-time-through... but they get in the way when you need to replay these missions over and over.