6 Times Bungie Made Destiny Better by Listening to Fans

Bungie is the studio that created Halo, the game that helped to put the Xbox brand on the map. So, when they went ahead and created an entirely new, multi-platform FPS fans expected a lot of the developer. Destiny was to be the studio’s greatest work yet. A promise of large open worlds, a story to rival that of Star Wars, and tons of legendary loot left fans hopeful for a bright future on the last and current generation of consoles. When it finally did release it was good but left many wanting.

This created a moment of truth for Bungie. They promised something great and the fans had some suggestions as to how it could achieve that status, they only needed to listen. And you know what? That’s exactly what they did, they listened. While they may not have given in to every request, there are a few times where they turned around and did exactly what was asked of them (sometimes even more).

Let’s take a look at some instances where Bungie listened to the community and brought change to Destiny. 

Vault Space!

If you were a day one player, by the time you were done with the first expansion, The Dark Below, you had probably completely filled your vault. There were so many exotics to collect, raid gear was still worth carrying around, and some things you just wanted to keep because they looked cool. You put in hundreds of hours and didn’t want to let certain things go. Unfortunately, you could only use your other Guardians as mules for but so long.

That all came to an end on Aug. 19 when Bungie announced that vault space would double. It was pretty interesting to have a live stream showing off brand new, never before seen gameplay from an upcoming expansion be overshadowed by the announcement of more space for digital weapons. But hey, collections are important. 

Tell Us A Story

One thing that the game that promised to have a story to rival Star Wars lacked was…well, a story. I mean it had some sort of narrative, but it wasn’t very gripping. And if you asked most fans who completed the game what was it all about, the most any would be able to tell you was that we had to push back the darkness. The “why?s” and “what for?s” were just way too convoluted, or hidden deep within Destiny’s Grimoire.

Now don’t get us wrong, the Grimoire is an amazing part of the companion app and there is a lot of rich content locked within it. But people who pay full price for a game want that type of content front and center, at least the really important bits. Bungie heard the call for a better story and they delivered when they released the Taken King.

Not only were the cut-scenes of a higher caliber, but the characters had much more impact on the story and its delivery. Cayde-6 alone was worth the price of admission and the interactions between NPCs and with the player made it much easier to feel like you were actually part of something big. This is what Guardians had signed up for. 

Better Exotics

Exotics are meant to be special, capable of things no other weapon and armor can do, and be good enough to warrant the effort of obtaining them. While there were a few Exotics out there that were worthy of being worn and fired, not all of them had that special something.

More often than not you could find a Legendary that could do the job better without wrapping up your one Exotic slot. But even with some of the good exotics, you had to work hard to unlock the perk you got the weapon for in the first place. After putting in hours of work to obtain the weapon of your dreams (like that ridiculous quest line for Thorn) you had to then put in hours to make it worth using.

Bungie fixed that up by giving the perks you got the Exotic for (usually the one that shares a name with the weapon or armor) at the very beginning. You can then level the weapon up to unlock some more perks that sweeten the pot. Take Touch of Malice for instance. You have access to unlimited ammo from the beginning in exchange for some of your life. But, if you take the time to level it up you can unlock the ability to heal with kills. That’s how you build an exotic. 

Weapon Nerfs

Listening can’t make everyone happy, though. One of the major issues with Destiny since the Alpha was the problem with weapon balancing. Some weapons were just clearly more deadly than the rest, some of those weapons also happened to be Exotics. Bungie heard the feedback and checked the statistics to see that certain weapons got a lot more use than others. Their answer? Weaken them or alter their mechanics just enough to the point where the game remained fair.

Not everyone liked this and got very angry at the fact that their hard-earned weapons would be weakened to such a degree. This was especially true when it came to certain exotics like the Gjallarhorn and the Vex Mythoclast. Fortunately enough the listening went both ways. Bungie could recognize when they over-corrected something and made the effort to give things a little more oomph if they needed it. 

Hidden Exotic Quests

Now this particular action was Bungie being creative in dealing with Destiny feedback. Fans had lamented over the fact that they were able to collect all of these “super rare” exotics with relative ease in just a few days. Sure, not everyone was able to do this (because time is not always on our side) but the fact that huge expansions were having all of their main rewards collected so easily just didn’t bode well for Destiny and its longevity.

How was this solved? Hidden quests and collectibles. Unlike the completely random Exotic Bounties which blocked many players from getting guns due to their nature (400 hours in and never got the Super Good Advice bounty), these are able to be completed by anyone with the skill to pull off the daunting tasks. Grab your closest friends (and best fighters) and head into Heroic missions to find hidden objectives that lead to some of the best weapons in the game.

It’s a smart way to add some life to Destiny over weeks, and to introduce new fights and levels into the already existing game. That’s taking listening to a whole new level. 

 Sparrow Racing League

For over a year fans have asked for some way to race their Sparrows against their friends. The driving was always interesting, but it was sorely underused as most major components of the action took place in locations where you weren’t supposed to use your vehicle. With all of the different rides available, fans just wanted a little something fun to go along with all of the shooting mayhem. Bungie listened (eventually) and went above and beyond in providing something truly special.

The Sparrow Racing League takes the desires of Guardians and makes it into a legitimate event. New dialogue for NPCs (including your ghost, which is new), tons of new gear, a quest line, and maps made specifically for this slice of the game. On top of all of that, it’s free. Just update your game and for three weeks you can live the dream of being the best darn space racer in the world. Thank you for hearing us Bungie. Hopefully, you can hear our gratitude as we rev our engines and make other Guardians eat our dust.

It’s always cool when developers listen, it’s doubly cool when they take what they hear and transform the game into something even better. Bungie has done a good job of doing that, perhaps that’s why Destiny has remained so relevant over the past year. What do you think about how this team has handled feedback? Looking forward to more changes? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Safe travels, Guardians.