What the hell is occurring in Destiny 2? Is a query I ask myself just about each time I bounce again into Bungie’s space-wizard journey. So a lot has occurred since I final performed full-time, and worse, a lot is locked to the annals of historical past – seasonal content material that’ll by no means return to Destiny 2. But that impermanence could also be about to finish. To cease people lacking out in future, Destiny this week introduced plans to maintain seasonal occasions round year-round as soon as Year four rolls round this Autumn.
Destiny 2’s seasonal mannequin was a good way to make issues really feel extra alive. Time was, you’d beat the primary story or growth, and the world would sit static – forcing you to mill round till the subsequent huge replace. But whereas meant to create a way of the world evolving over time, Bungie’s Luke Smith admitted that Destiny 2’s seasons had started creating too much FOMO – widespread disappointment from gamers who felt cheated out of “ephemeral private activities and rewards that go away”.
In this week’s This Week At Bungie, the devs introduced their plans to repair that FOMO. Beginning with Season 12 this Autumn, seasonal actions will, by and huge, be accessible to revisit by way of your complete 12 months, hoping to create significant methods to expertise Destiny’s story with out having to be logged on all of the rattling time.
Using Season of Dawn for instance, quests like Saving Saint-14 and Exotic-specific missions would not be eliminated on the finish of the season. To save from litter, occasion assets and actions that rely closely on them will likely be shuttered – suppose Dawn’s Obelisk actions and the Fractaline forex. Ideally, what this implies is that you simply’re at all times going to have entry to Destiny 2’s story beats, with out being totally swamped in event-specific objects and coinage.
“In Year 4, we are going to build a better interconnected narrative and, more importantly, let players be a part of that narrative no matter when they enter the current year. This means if you start playing in March 2021, you could go back and experience the Season 12 and Season 13 narrative content. We want our stories to feel more cohesive, flow with meaningful momentum Season over Season, and lead to an exciting climax each year.”
Elsewhere within the submit, Bungie admit that the entire bounty state of affairs may’ve gotten just a little outta hand. Design lead Tyson Green notes that, because the go-to exercise for restricted occasions, they’re turning into seen as “mandatory chores” by gamers, reasonably than the non-obligatory XP increase they’re supposedly supposed for. The staff have a couple of ideas on learn how to easy these out, adjusting the position bounties play in future occasions and changing weeklies with account-wide, “non-expiring” targets.
Unfortunately, these modifications received’t have an effect on the present Guardian Games occasion, with what ought to be an exhilarating month of sci-fi spacelympics made all too bland by focussing its actions on bounties.
“No part will “test your skills” or allow you to “prove that your class reigns supreme” by demonstrating your prowess,” lamented resident Destiny buff Alice O. “It’s a grinding contest. Destiny already puts too many rewards behind bounties rather than activities, nudging us to spend time travelling around to gather bounties we’ll need to play in specific ways to complete. Checklists are not fun.”
Maybe Titans discover them enjoyable, at the least. Apparently, these beefy house knights are presently wrecking store within the Guardian Games.
