On the one hand, I can definitely see the utility of knowing when they'll occur (mostly due to the "3 public events" bounty), but on the other hand, I have to agree it's more fun when one happens and I'm NOT expecting it.

I especially enjoy when they hit while you're on the way to a strike. That's when Destiny really feels like the Destiny demoed last summer.

I love to hit public events that happen while I'm on a strike. It's one of my favorite things. The only time I wish the schedule was in-game is when trying to get my "3 public events" bounty done. I rarely do that now.

See Kermit - the echo chamber is just too freaking strong.

Also, they've plainly stated their philosophy--they're eager to see what we do with the game because that informs what they do with the game.

In Halo's progression, game types, theater mode, forge--all were features added that enabled fans to more easily do what they had already started doing on their own.

There's a great bit of discussion in last week's Guardian Radio podcast about the nature of the Destiny community, and how much of it probably wouldn't exist if Bungie did everything for us in game. They were coming at it specifically in terms of matchmaking for raids and other top level activities. Personally, I can totally relate to the sentiment.

If Raids had matchmaking, I might not have come here to these forums and asked for help putting a group together.

I might not have had such a great first experience with the Vault of Glass.

I might not have found such a fantastic group of people to play with every night of the week.

I might not have dedicated a month of playtime to earning the Flawless Raider trophy, which stands in my memory as one of the greatest gaming moments I've ever had.

I might not have done a 2nd flawless raider run through Crota's End, which was another amazing experience.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you all get the point I'm trying to make. It's tough, because I do often find myself sitting on the couch wishing I could quickly matchmake my way in to a raid or nightfall, but I'm equally grateful those features don't exist in game. By forcing me to go look outside of the game itself, I've found a group of friends who make this game what it is for me.

Totally agree. We've discussed it before, I think. The more investment you make going in, the greater reward you get coming out.

I might not have dedicated a month of playtime to earning the Flawless Raider trophy, which stands in my memory as one of the greatest gaming moments I've ever had.

I might not have done a 2nd flawless raider run through Crota's End, which was another amazing experience.

Next up is flawless PoE 35. Lol. Nope. :-p

See Kermit - the echo chamber is just too freaking strong.

Also, they've plainly stated their philosophy--they're eager to see what we do with the game because that informs what they do with the game.

In Halo's progression, game types, theater mode, forge--all were features added that enabled fans to more easily do what they had already started doing on their own.

There's a great bit of discussion in last week's Guardian Radio podcast about the nature of the Destiny community, and how much of it probably wouldn't exist if Bungie did everything for us in game. They were coming at it specifically in terms of matchmaking for raids and other top level activities. Personally, I can totally relate to the sentiment.

If Raids had matchmaking, I might not have come here to these forums and asked for help putting a group together.

I might not have had such a great first experience with the Vault of Glass.

I might not have found such a fantastic group of people to play with every night of the week.

I might not have dedicated a month of playtime to earning the Flawless Raider trophy, which stands in my memory as one of the greatest gaming moments I've ever had.

I might not have done a 2nd flawless raider run through Crota's End, which was another amazing experience.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you all get the point I'm trying to make. It's tough, because I do often find myself sitting on the couch wishing I could quickly matchmake my way in to a raid or nightfall, but I'm equally grateful those features don't exist in game. By forcing me to go look outside of the game itself, I've found a group of friends who make this game what it is for me.

See Kermit - the echo chamber is just too freaking strong.

Also, they've plainly stated their philosophy--they're eager to see what we do with the game because that informs what they do with the game.

In Halo's progression, game types, theater mode, forge--all were features added that enabled fans to more easily do what they had already started doing on their own.

On the one hand, I can definitely see the utility of knowing when they'll occur (mostly due to the "3 public events" bounty), but on the other hand, I have to agree it's more fun when one happens and I'm NOT expecting it.

I especially enjoy when they hit while you're on the way to a strike. That's when Destiny really feels like the Destiny demoed last summer.

In other news, I've been leveling up my final character, and I feel vulnerable on patrol now, which is a big improvement. Every public event runs the risk of failure, and it's always exciting and a relief when other guardians show up to save the day.

Both COD and BF4 have other sites that datamine for weapon stats, ttk etc. WoW even has WoWhead for gear checks.

How is Destiny different?

I feel like the last gen consoles are an easy place to look... Seems like Destiny presses against the technical bounds of the last gen consoles all the time in its current form. All of these other features might just melt the 360 or PS3.

There are other games out there on 360/PS3 that came out a long time ago and are able to do all these things and more.

Displaying text and listing items are not technically demanding features.

We know that the Vault is pushing against the technical limits though . . . so I would assume something similar to the companion app in-game would push the limits in a similar sense. And further remember, we only ever load the vault in a small nearly deterministic area (The Tower) versus in any of the dynamic environments.

You don't need anything third-party to fully enjoy game. Bungie has long had hooks that third-parties could then use as they will, but how is that characterized as leaning heavily on third-parties?

Maybe Bungie isn't distributing the resources around the way some would prefer, but I don't think that cramming it all into the game is what we really want for the future of games.

Side effect: The fans have more tools and abilities to do what they've always done. It used to require some real reverse engineering or be impossible to pull info out of a game, and heaven forbid you put info into it. Now I can browse my stands from the internet and set up armor sets to switch around before I even get home.

Just one mans humble opinion :)

There are other games out there on 360/PS3 that came out a long time ago and are able to do all these things and more.

Displaying text and listing items are not technically demanding features.

Do any of these games you're thinking of operate like Destiny does on a network level? I'm just curious where we could compare with other titles that have the same sort of live-world, MMOish functionality. Diablo 3's console port maybe?