Destiny 2’s first faction rally has come to a close. Guardians from all around the world pledged their allegiance to either Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, or New Monarchy and put boots to ground as they earned their favor. Killing enemies, delving into Lost Sectors, challenging other Guardians, and completing end game content allowed players to earn tokens which they could turn in for faction-exclusive gear, while also contributing to their chosen banner’s victory. It was an interesting event that got everyone on and venturing into public spaces, an element of the game that, if used to its fullest potential, will keep Destiny 2 alive for years to come.
However, being this sequel’s first major live event, it did have its issues. Bungie has proven that it’s a developer that is constantly learning and there’s no doubt that they’ll be pulling lessons from this recent event. To help out, we’ve come up with a few features that we think should stay and others that should probably leave or get some changes.
Keep: New Public Events
While they weren’t exactly mind-blowing, having new events take place in the public spaces was a breath of fresh air. Along with the Faction Rally in Destiny 2 came the need to secure equipment from powerful enemies. You could fight for some of it, or, if you were feeling extra powerful, go for it all and get that final chest. It brought players together as different aliens swarmed on your position, testing your abilities.
Of course, we’d love to see a bit more variety, but this is most definitely a solid start. House of Wolves, the second expansion for Destiny 1, kicked things off with a similar new public event and it got players excited, so Bungie is definitely onto something. Perhaps in the future, they could even have a different event on each planet, rather than simply swapping out the enemy.
Ditch: Randomness of Rewards
Okay, hear us out. We totally get that RNG plays a huge role in Destiny 2’s reward system, as it does in many loot-based games. That’s part of the charm of the game. Some drops are guaranteed through specific quests (like Man O’ War, MIDA Multi-tool, and Sturm), while others are completely up to the Traveler’s grace it seems, and that’s fine… for the main chunk of the game. For timed events, however, choosing a faction and not being able to get everything can feel a bit disheartening.
Bungie decided to limit engram packages to 30, probably due to the ability to easily farm thousands of tokens in a matter of just a few short hours (which we totally get). Unfortunately, the packages didn’t guarantee you a full armor set or even all of the weapons. This could feel like a blow to the gut for players who earned their tokens without exploiting the game, spending hours over the past week and having almost nothing to show for it other than the same gun a dozen times. Perhaps a shop for the armor at least, with high token prices, so players could show their allegiance with pride would be a suitable alternative in future Faction Rallies.
Sure, the event will be back. But if it’s just the same sets of armor and the same randomness, is that really a rewarding experience?
Keep: The Secrecy of Faction Standing
The community was sort of split on this over the past week. Some felt that Bungie should update players on which faction was leading in Destiny 2’s Faction Rally so that they could choose the right team. Others, including myself, felt that the not knowing added to the excitement.
Not knowing, though, made the rally feel like a genuine competition. It’s easy to just all choose what everyone else is choosing, but that diminishes the rewards and all the other factors at play. Sure, it sucks to lose, but that’s all part of the game. Not being able to simply jump into the winning team right away was cool.
Ditch: Ability to Choose All Factions
Now, this is another point that the community is split over. Players with three Destiny 2 characters that have completed the story can choose all three factions and thus not lose at all. No matter who wins, they win. Then there are those players who only have one character and those who are purists and stick to one faction no matter how many Guardians they have on their account.
We get why the choice exists. Players are going to want to collect all the loot they can, and shaders are life (those New Monarchy shaders are the bee’s knees). Also, it’s difficult to hold back content for any reason, because that often brings a bad turn of events. However, if there was a time for Bungie to put their foot down and force players to make a decision, this would be that perfect opportunity.
Having only one option means players will have to really choose the one the one they want, and there’s more of a pride element to the shaders, class items, weapons, and everything else earned. Then, when you win or lose, you do so as a faction, not as a throwaway since one of your other characters won.
This will possibly be the toughest change to implement, as it will undoubtedly have a lot of pushback, but it sure as hell would make the Faction Rally a lot more interesting. Bungie has consistently proven that they can grow and adjust Destiny with each update, and there’s no doubt that will hold true for the highly popular Destiny 2. We’ll just have to wait until the next rally to see what lessons were learned. Until then, safe travels, Guardians.
