February 28, 2023 bungee jumping The fifth major DLC update will be released destiny 2: lighthouse. With the game entering its sixth year, it’s no surprise that new players are having trouble fully assimilating into the experience. Even with the introduction of the base game to free-to-play, Destiny 2 remains a mess of menus and game modes, with a complicated story to match.
However, the onboarding process has become so confusing that even for retired players with hundreds of hours of experience, understanding what to get involved with – and exactly what’s going on at any given time – becomes nearly impossible up. If Bungie isn’t careful, Destiny 2 will become an exclusive market for an unsustainable and dwindling die-hard fan base.
In order to address what Bungie can do to address this onboarding problem, we need to break down the key issues.Start by acknowledging that, as novel as Bungie’s decision to make the core game free-to-play, Destiny 2 is no A free game. While F2P players have plenty to do, most end-game events (such as any given update’s seasonal event) and most story missions will be unavailable to you. Even something in “F2P” brackets – such as Nightfall as part of Operation Vanguard – can be locked if said mission is part of a DLC pack.
Actually, to get into Destiny, you need to pay. The process is messy, especially on Steam.
As of this writing, there are currently 11 different DLC options for Destiny 2 on Steam. These range from major expansion packs, such as The Witch Queen, to emote packs and seasonal silver packs.If players were to buy all available DLC options, they would spend a lot of money £347.89
The planning here is just a mess. Of course, there’s the £49.99 ‘Legacy Pack’, which includes the previous major expansions (except for The Witch Queen), but new players won’t associate the word ‘Legacy’ with ‘basic story and mechanics’. New or returning players will have to spend time researching what is or isn’t important to them. If you have to do some outside homework before buying a game add-on, something is wrong.
Once players decide to buy the game, the next major stumbling block is the game’s manic user interface. Destiny 2 will put you on some sort of quest right away, whether it’s a New Light quest for new players, or a seasonal first quest for returning players. Once you’re out of it and in the main menu, figuring out what you need to do is a hassle. Destinations tabs will be littered with different icons that mean nothing to those who aren’t familiar with them (and, often, even to those who are).
On top of that, some of these events will tie into previous seasonal events, such as “Ketchcrash” from Season of the Raid. For F2P players, this event is not available. Absolutely not. For returning players who only purchased the most recent season, this is also older content that they will not be able to participate in. It is impossible to know what is relevant to the here and now without doing research. Then again, it wouldn’t be right if the only way for players to determine what to do in the game was to do research outside of the game.
Finally, there is a story. I won’t talk too much about Destiny’s story, since it’s been a notorious mess since vanilla D1. Bungie has made great strides in making stories accessible to players in the form of a weapon lore tab, as well as a broader lore section in the menu. But unless you’re particularly interested in fully dissecting this universe in detail, you simply won’t be sacrificing game time to read a bunch of text.
For the average player, the only way they can participate in the story is through gameplay. And now, that makes the story a truly inexplicable mess. For example, I took a year break from Destiny 2, and when I came back, a cabal called Caitl is now our friends, the fallen have moved into the final city, and a man called “The Witness” is doing things, And has the ominous menace of Savathun gone? I shouldn’t be going to YouTube and watching a four hour Byf video to see what’s going on.
So, what can Bungie do to fix this? First, everything before Lightfall should be free if Bungie wants Destiny 2 to be a proper F2P game. The cornerstone of the best F2P games is that everyone has access to the fundamentals of the game, and can buy bonus content — like specific guns and customizable stuff. Now, F2P content may not be accessible if said content is based on DLC. Bungie should look at what Square Enix did with Final Fantasy XIV, make the first 60 levels free, and give players access to enough in-game content to at least have a solid idea of what’s going on before they log in. Makes all previous DLC free. Give F2P players the chance to really dig into all the things that make Destiny great.
At the very least, the player onboarding process must become simpler. When Lightfall launches, everything should be a simple one-time purchase, similar to the legacy bundles already available, but with better signposts. Older content such as the Destiny 2: Forsaken pack (the Forsaken campaign content is currently saved and unplayable) and the 30th Anniversary Bundle (now that Bungie is 31) should be free for all users. With it, new players get everything they need in one purchase, while returning customers can pick and choose relevant content. Don’t confuse and confuse them with memes and the like.
In-game UI is a more difficult problem to solve. Since I’m not a game developer or UI expert, I’m not going to tell people how to do their jobs. However, mission objectives to clean up legacy content, such as events from previous seasons, should be considered. At least let players see the latest content. Or give us a switch to hide non-urgent notifications.
In the end, the entire Destiny 2 story, including the Vaulted Red War and Forsaken campaign, should be open to players. That doesn’t mean that all game concepts have to return. Instead, using an in-game character like Ikora to show “Shadows of the Past” or something similar to that effect as a gateway to an in-game cutscene would bring some amazing now-lost animations from Destiny to life. ether.
Take players through the Red War experience, watch Osiris emerge from the Infinity Forest, catch a glimpse of Cayde’s final moments, Priane Orton becomes a Guardian – and more. Even this piecemeal storytelling allows new players to fully grasp who the voice is telling them to do things, allowing older players to make up for things they missed.
Destiny 2 is a great game with some standout moments, and Bungie did a disservice to its signature frnachise by hiding them behind unnecessary complicated doors. It’s time for a change.
