A Story That Pushes The Overarching Narrative Somewhere
Destiny 2: Warmind
While it had its moments, specifically the chance to see Mercury in its heyday, overall the Curse of Osiris story fell short. You really didn’t get to learn all that much about Osiris, nor did he really even have much screen time. Mercury played second fiddle to the less interesting Infinite Forest, which should have been called the repetitive forest. And worst of all, nothing of what happened felt like it had any impact on the overall story.
Had Curse of Osiris been successful in reviving Destiny 2, one-off stories are something that fans would be more willing to accept. The problem is that when there isn’t much to latch onto, people will naturally grasp onto the few things that have gone right for Destiny 2 since launch. Both its main story plot, and the raid plot, have left off on very intriguing cliff hangers.
If fans have to wait until September, a full year, for any meaningful advancement of the plot since launch, this is going to be a brutal summer for Destiny 2 unless everything else goes right. Hopefully the Warmind will tell a more interesting tale, and that tale will actually impact the greater overarching narrative.
A Raid That Takes Place Somewhere Other Than The Leviathan
Destiny 2: Warmind
Okay, so the raid or raid lair is probably going to take place on the Leviathan again. However, this isn’t a list of things that will probably happen. It’s a list of things that should happen for Warmind to avoid the disappointing fate of its predecessor.
Personally, we didn’t have a problem with the raid lair. While it was sad we didn’t get to see Mercury or the Infinite Forest used as a setting, it was still well-constructed, and the raids in general continue to be one of the few bright spots right now for Destiny 2. However, whether it’s logical or not, PR-wise, putting another raid activity on the Leviathan is going to go over like a lead balloon.
It’s probably asking too much, but if Bungie insists on having the raid activity take place on the Leviathan for a third time, there probably should at least then be either some other kind of raid activity that takes place somewhere else, or a brand new end game event entirely to take the heat off that design choice.
No Rehashed Strikes & An Overhaul of the Whole Strike System
Destiny 2: Warmind
Arguably the most inexplicable and indefensible issue with Curse of Osiris was the rehashed story missions that were purposed into 3-player strike content. Bungie won’t admit that it was a choice based on time constraints. So taking them at face value then, them deliberately choosing to to reuse missions because they thought it was a good idea instead of brand new strikes was a bad idea and shouldn’t be repeated. The strike content should be separate from the story content and offer a brand new, tightly contained, experience. Just like it did in Destiny 1, and at launch for Destiny 2.
Moving past that, strikes as a whole should be reverted back to its Rise of Iron, Destiny 1 state. There was a time where strikes were incredibly rewarding and fun to play with others. In Destiny 2, it’s maybe the most forgettable content in the game, which is quite depressing. Even after being toned down, running around and doing heroic public events is still a better use of your time than running strikes.
Bringing back the Vanguard Streak would be a positive change that doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to add. Offer up more tokens, and increase drop rates that eventually become higher than running heroic public events for sticking together as a team and running strikes over and over.
Diversification of the End Game
Destiny 2: Warmind
Age of Triumph left Destiny 1 in such a great shape, befitting of its name. There was so much worthwhile content to choose from. Destiny 2 stripped that back down, and didn’t do enough to support what it did have left. There still isn’t much diversity to high-end end game content worth doing when compared to Destiny 1, and the lack of cool equipment worth grinding for doesn’t help with that either. Destiny 1 was just as barren at points throughout its life, but it at least had equipment like Fatebringer, Vex Mythoclast, and Gjallarhorn to keep people playing.
Destiny 2: Warmind should really look to spruce up the reward pools for both current raids when it launches, revamp strikes like we suggested before, and hopefully, add something else new and exciting that forms together to create a spread of content that is exciting and worth doing, and bigger than what’s currently in the game.
A Solution to The Problem of Dull Equipment and Loadouts
Destiny 2: Warmind
It’s very likely that we’ll have to wait until the roadmap plays itself out in September/Fall before we see most of the meaningful changes to the issue with equipment and loadouts. We’ve spoken about this at length before. There are three main issues right now (among other things, but these are the big three in our eyes):
- Players are still waiting for the answer on “How do we make your 10th Better Devils exciting?” Masterworks helped a little, but didn’t go far enough.
- There’s little, or even arguably, no exotic equipment that is so fun/cool to use that you’d be willing to grind hardcore to get it.
- The double primary restriction greatly diminished the role of most former secondary weapons from Destiny 1.
Ideally, at least one of these issues are addressed by the time Warmind rolls out. Not just addressed, overhauled in a big way to get not just current players excited, but former players too. Right now the roadmap is kind of vague, but if this is anything to go by, Bungie might be on the right track.
My best suggestion remains the same from months ago: have preset load outs for competitive and Trials of the Nine that changes with the season, and allow Quick Play modes to be a broken free for all. That way Bungie can add fun exotic equipment without fear of breaking the competitive scene.
Published: Apr 18, 2018 11:29 am