10 Reasons Why Destiny 2 Is Overrated
The original Destiny was meant to be Bungie’s next Halo. And Destiny 2 was intended to take the original game and make it bigger and better in...
Published 3 years ago in Facepalm
Unfortunately, Destiny 2 is overrated in almost every way, and Bungie’s attempts to fix the issues keep making things worse. Here’s a brief look at what is wrong with this major title.
1
Boring Repetition Is Part of the Formula
While some gamers love this kind of thing, I hate the fact that boring repetition is at the heart of Destiny 2’s design. Eventually, you will experience all of the PvE and story content. After that, you’re just running weeklies and raids in the constant hope of getting slightly better gear. In my always humble opinion, this turns your fun gaming experience into a second job. In the time it takes you to do this each week, you are missing out on countless other games and experiences that are much more fulfilling than organizing another boring raid. 2
Raids Decreasing in Quality
Speaking of raids: for many players, these represent the ultimate challenges in Destiny 2. And as with previous games like World of Warcraft, players haven’t truly proven themselves until they test their mettle against the game’s most challenging raids.
Unfortunately, Bungie shot themselves in the foot by making early Destiny raids like Vault of Glass so cool and memorable. And most of the raids that came after that in Destiny 2 (such as Leviathan) were a big letdown.
That may sound like a small thing. But if the biggest challenges in Destiny are getting worse in the sequel, then what is the point of playing?3
Awful Transmog System
It would be one thing if Bungie simply made no changes to Destiny 2 and let the whole thing atrophy. Unfortunately, they tend to add new features that end up being completely terrible.
The recent transmog system is a great example of this. On paper, this was meant to give players a new grind and better control of the armor that you wear. In practice, the whole system is a mess.
And it’s a mess that takes forever. Sites like Polygon estimate that it would take you 25 hours of playtime to synthesize a complete outfit. In other words, Bungie found yet another way to make a fun game feel like a boring job.4
Shameless Cash Grabs
The one saving grace of most RNG games is that they are fair. You might get crap and your buddy might get some epic gear, but it all comes down to chance. And in Destiny 2, this was balanced with rewards you were guaranteed to get for completing certain challenges.
However, in order to grab some quick cash, Bungie shamelessly added a ton of items to the Eververse store. This turned the game into the worst of both worlds: your buddies can now just throw money at the game until they are covered in cool gear no matter how bad they are at the game. And you’re stuck either doing the same tasks and hoping something drops or taking out your wallet to finally get some decent loot.5
Crucible Is Now Terrible
In the original Destiny, PvP was my drug of choice. Regardless of how I felt about the crappy story of the game and its forgettable characters, I could dive into a world of balanced gunplay and slick map design.
But in Destiny 2, Bungie has turned Crucible into a terrible thing that most diehard players avoid unless they are completing weekly challenges. There are few new maps, and old maps are taken away from players.
And there is the ongoing challenge of balancing what works in PvE and PvP. For example, Stasis is awesome when you’re playing in PvE mode, but it took no time at all for this to overpower the PvP meta. And when the meta is boring and the maps are disappearing, what can players do except seek out a better game?6
Dumb and Cosmetic
The gameplay loop of Destiny 2 is fairly simple. You are constantly grinding for better gear and even better ships. But have you ever actually asked someone why this matters?
At some point, you no longer need gear for the stat boost. And many players end up grinding for some new armor or weapon simply because it looks cool.
Destiny 2 didn’t exactly invent that. But this mentality exposes the game for what it is: a shallow competition to impress people you will never interact with, in places like the Tower through your meaningless cosmetic achievements.7
Dwindling Seasonal Content
To avoid seeming so repetitive, Bungie took their cue from other games and filled Destiny 2 with seasonal content. This helped make the game feel more alive and gave players a reason to keep coming back.
However, after parting ways with Activision, Bungie seems unwilling (or maybe even unable) to give us much in the way of seasonal content. And when the devs can’t crank out content to keep us coming back, why should we bother returning as players?8
Neither a Good Solo Game or Good Multiplayer Game
Ever hear the phrase “jack of all trades but master of none?” As it turns out, this is the perfect description of Destiny 2’s attempt to balance PvE and PvP combat.
PvE has some fun challenges and levels to it, but there isn’t much of a decent story there. If you like to play this as a single-player game to discover the expansive stories behind these characters and planets, you’ll be seriously disappointed.
That would be fine if Destiny 2 had the solid PvP game of its predecessor. Incredibly, though, Bungie manages to make the PvP Crucible mode a bit worse each year, and many players only dive into it to complete weekly challenges (and they do so with all the passion of punching in a time card).9
Rampant Cheaters
While this hasn’t been limited to Destiny 2, PC players have had to deal with hackers and cheaters. And this can quickly ruin your experience, especially in PvP.
On one hand, Bungie took legal action to stop groups like GatorCheats from altering the game earlier this year. On the other hand, there is always a more clever cheater waiting in the wings, and it’s tough for any game community to come back from rampant outbreaks of cheating.10
Subpar Storytelling
I’ve alluded to this a few times, but let’s just say it: compared to similar sci-fi video games, Destiny 2 offers a subpar story and brand.
For example, many people who have never picked up an Xbox controller know who Master Chief and Cortana are. And plenty of people who never played Mass Effect can recognize names like “Commander Shepard” or “The Reapers.”
Destiny 2 has none of that. Outside of the player community, few know the characters and events that make up this fictional world. And the simple truth is that if this game had stronger characters and a stronger brand it would have penetrated our pop culture instead of remaining on the fringe.
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