When Repetition Stops Being Fun
Before jumping too far into it, it’s worth defining ‘endgame.’ A good, simple meaning would be the things you repeat over and over again, once you “finish” the game. In an endgame, repetition is only bad if it’s poorly designed.
That said, let’s look at this from a straight variety point-of-view. Not counting the raid, since The Division’s incursion – what many desperately hope is Ubisoft’s word for raid – won’t release until next month, Destiny launched with 20 story missions, six strikes, and 11 PvP crucible maps. In comparison The Division has launched with 12 missions and the Dark Zone. The important part isn’t simply that there are more missions in Destiny, it’s more about the design of those missions.
In the case of both games, all the major content can be repeated. For Destiny however, while the story missions are repeatable at a higher level for rewards, that’s not where the real meat of the repetition comes in. That can be found in the form of the strikes, content specifically designed to be repeated multiple times, and the tried and true formula of structured competitive play in the Crucible (i.e. Bungie’s bread and butter from the Halo days).
When it comes to The Division though, aside from the Dark Zone, the same content is used both to tell the game’s original story and as the repeated content afterwards. Ultimately, it’s in trying to satisfy both these experiences that the cracks start to appear.
Take the Broadway Emporium mission for example. Division agents are sent in to find dollar bills that were used to start the outbreak in the first place. When playing for its story, you’re in a desperate search for contaminated bills. After each wave of enemy reinforcements, you have a quick break to check a few more cash registers. They’re all negative! The tension ramps up. You have to find those bills before the whole building burns down. And what do you know? They’re in the last place you look.
As a repeated endgame activity however, the appeal of jogging from one side of the empty shopping mall to the other, checking each cash register as instructed, only to be told, inevitably, that each is “Negative for Contamination,” begins to fade.
Overall, yes, it’s a subtle difference, but the fact that each mission simply wasn’t designed with fun repetition in mind is plainly evident, all 12 filled with empty rooms and odd, story-mandated pauses.
It’s true, the narrative beats of each mission do little to take away from the actual, overall enjoyment of playing the game. But, keep in mind, we aren’t just talking about enjoyment. We’re talking about the almost incomprehensible drive to keep coming back and playing more.
The point is for the repetition to be fun, and even small bumps like these can begin to seriously wear in the long term. Even with the Incursion activities added, the Hard Mode and Challenge Mode missions will continue to make up a majority of the The Division’s endgame, which means, while enjoyable the first few times, the story missions give way to the Dark Zone to really hook players in deep. But that then begs the question, can the Dark Zone hook players?