Destiny 2’s Datto Full Q&A Part 2: Forsaken Impressions
Twinfinite: So moving off of the raid, what do you think of the Forsaken expansion as a whole? Personally, I was going to be worried for Destiny 2 if this expansion wasn’t a hit. Luckily it was to a lot of people. Did you feel similarly, or did you have a different mindset about it?
Datto: I think Forsaken is the new prime of Destiny. I used to think that The Taken King was basically prime Destiny, and when you look back on the good ol’ days and stuff like that, Taken King to me was like, “those were the days.” Things were really good.
Now I think Forsaken definitely takes that over. I think this is the best Destiny has ever been, at least Destiny 2, by far. And with it being better than Taken King, I think it’s the best the game has ever been as a whole.
Are there individual issues? Sure! But as a whole, we’re definitely in a really good spot.
I had a very similar worry as well if Forsaken did not launch the way that it did, that if it was not a hit, I think Bungie would [have] been in a lot of trouble. And fortunately, they had their money where their mouth is, and they knocked it out of the park so far and I’m waiting to see how they end up following up on this.
Because it’s going to be very tough knowing that Bungie is now capable of stuff like this, it has now become like an expectation almost going into the future. So I’m very much wondering how they will follow this up because it’s going to be very very tough.
Twinfinite: If you had to guess, how many edge transits do you think you have gotten so far?
Datto: Um… 70! Everyone has an edge transit. You could ask anybody and they are going to have like three spare in their inventory.
Twinfinite: Do you have a new favorite exotic? A new favorite super?
Datto: A favorite super in PvE is Blade Barrage. Blade Barrage is super, super fun to use, really enjoy using it. It can go die in a fire in PvP, but in PvE it’s super super fun.
My favorite exotic… I haven’t gotten too many. Right now it’s probably the One-Eyed Mask for the Titan. It’s just so good. It’s overwhelmingly good. Like it’s the only reason I’m doing good in PvP right now. It’s really insane.
Twinfinite: What advice in general, and/or specific to Last Wish, would you offer someone who is struggling to complete the raid, or even still stuck on the first phase? What kind of equipment or subclasses would you recommend?
Datto: Always have the standard buffs that you want to bring to a raid. You always want to have Melting Point [Hammer Strike], you always want to have rifts. Stuff like that. You want to bring a Whisper of the Worm for sure. Whisper of the Worm is the best and worst thing that has happened to Destiny.
It’s such a good weapon, that not many other things are going to be able to compete with it. Probably for a while, or until Bungie creates something that’s even better than Whisper, which in that case that would become the new Whisper. So bring a Whisper.
And if you’re attempting it blind, just enjoy it. You don’t have to feel the pressure of trying to get it done immediately. Enjoy the experience, enjoy the head-bashing, it’s the most fun thing that I think that a game can offer. A brand new raid experience, you have no idea what’s going on, figuring it out for yourself. [It’s] a much greater sense of accomplishment.
Otherwise, it’s just to take it one piece at a time. I say this for every raid. One piece at a time. Figure out what does what. Perfect your role and then, try perfecting all roles.
Because the smarter you are at everyone’s job, the smarter you are at the encounter as a whole, and you can kind of figure out what needs to happen when. You can figure out when you need to take over someone else’s job in case they die, or a switch happens, or something like that.
The more you know about all of the roles, the more you can get comfortable with the encounter and that really helps. Learning spawn timers, knowing what can happen when, learning where this add spawns versus this add, and all that. Just trying to absorb all that information.
Twinfinite: Finally, looking forward, what do you think about the approach Bungie is taking with the annual pass? Do you think that it will do a better job of keeping players around for longer periods of time than what we saw last year, and year 2 of Destiny 1? What is your overall feel for it?
Datto: Um… I think it’s the best strategy that they have come up with so far… You know, if you look back at Year One of Destiny 1, The Dark Below… not terribly well-received in terms of the story aspect. House of Wolves was a little bit better. Curse of Osiris… not spectacular. Warmind was a little bit better.
I think my biggest issue with them trying to do these mini-expansions is that they have to rush through the story content so quickly because they just can’t make enough of it. Therefore instead of getting this deeper story experience, it’s just this very quick like four to five mission thing where it’s just: Exposition! Something happens in really quickly! And then it’s over!
You don’t really get a chance to appreciate it at all. It just kind of happens, it’s there, and then it’s gone in two hours.
I think now that Bungie I guess is maybe front-loading a lot more of the story stuff in these major expansions and then following up with annual pass content where it’s not as story-focused, it’s more gameplay-focused but there’s still some story elements… I think that’s the best plan that they have had so far.
Most people tend to complain about the story content of these mini-expansions the most. And I guess Bungie at this point is like: You know what? Forget it! We’ll handle it a different way, we’ll add some more gameplay elements instead, because people are only going to play through the story one time, and most people end up having a problem with how we do the story anyway, so let’s just scrap it. We’ll handle it a different way, and we’ll have these big story moments happen maybe once a year. Something like that.
I wonder how it will turn out. But yeah, I think it’s the best strategy approach to how they are going to do these little content releases so far.
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That does it for our QA interview! Special thanks to Datto for taking a few minutes out of his day to come speak to us. Definitely check out his YouTube page for high-level commentary and Destiny 2 tips that even plebs like myself can wrap their head around. Also, be sure to check out our review of Destiny 2: Forsaken too for our score and impressions.
