Destiny. There is something about the world that Bungie has so meticulously crafted that sucks us in day after day, hoping for that elusive exotic weapon, that Gjallarhorn, that Hawkmoon, that last bit of armour to hit max rank. Despite this, there is no denying that the game has its fair share of glaring issues that need to be addressed in either the current or next iteration of the Destiny franchise, so here are just a few ways we’d like to see it or its sequel improved.
Story
We don’t know how or why, perhaps because Lead Writer Joseph Staten left Bungie. Maybe it was Activision’s influence, but Destiny shipped with barely a plotline worth mentioning. According to rumour, the game had its story axed about a year from launch and wholly rewritten with most (read: all) of its lore and backstory going into the Grimoire cards that can only be read online through Bungie.net or the Destiny companion app. According to rumour and speculation, the original story sounded interesting and exciting, as reported by Forbes. If any future instalments of Destiny are to succeed more than the current one, then this should be first on the list and receive additional attention.
Vault Space
This one is definitely for the current iteration of Destiny, as there are more than 20 exotic weapons in the game and only 20 slots in the vault. That does not even consider all of the legendary weapons in the game that are worth holding on to, such as the raid weapons from the Vault of Glass and Crota’s End. I know others, and I am forced to use alternate character inventory slots as extra storage space, which leads to a lot of character switching and loading screens when you need a particular weapon. The space needs to be at least doubled to make it viable. Access to the vault in orbit would also be highly beneficial and a huge time saver, as right now, you have to return to the Tower every time you need to use it.
Content (Quantity)
At launch, there were only five strikes, twenty-two story missions and one raid; this has since been expanded to six strikes, twenty-seven story missions and two raids with the current DLC and is set to hit seven strikes, thirty-two story missions and three raids with the House of Wolves DLC. While the current 35 different activities may seem like plenty on paper, it’s a very different story in practice. I have completed two hundred and twenty-nine story missions, seventy-four strikes, thirty-five raids, countless patrols, and a few Crucible games. When you compare those numbers to the number of missions in the game, there is quite a disparity; many play much more than I do.
Content (Quality)
While there is no denying I have enjoyed my time with Destiny, there are some issues concerning variety. Each story’s mission is almost the same as the previous one, with the process going on: run to the area, kill enemies, open the door, rinse, and repeat. Once you finish the story mission, there is almost no additional value in replaying them other than for bounties, which is where all my completions come from, or to level up alternate characters. At this point, it just becomes a chore to get through. The Strikes are somewhat better but still suffer from the run to the area, kill enemies, and move-on formula. Still, you at least have a reason to run them with the Strike playlists offering decent rewards on the more significant difficulties.
In contrast, the raids are some of the best gameplay experiences I’ve had in any game in a long time. They contain diverse mechanics, such as the relic and oracles in Vault of Glass and the bridge section in Crota’s End, which promote extensive teamwork that makes it all the more enjoyable when you pull it off successfully. If they incorporated some of the design philosophy from the raids into the strikes and story missions, we would have a better game.
Content (Exclusivity)
This is my most prominent bone of contention with this game and nearly led to me putting it aside for good leading up to the release of the first DLC. The numbers I mentioned above are for content available on both platforms, PlayStation and Xbox. However, at launch, the PS versions came with an extra Strike mission, and the same occurred with the first DLC, which makes it a safe bet to assume the same will happen with the second DLC as well. That means that by the time the second DLC releases the PS versions, the PS versions will have ten Strikes to the Xbox’s seven, which is 43% more content in one of the game’s main areas. However, the DLC’s pricing is the most extensive area of contention with these strikes. It costs the same amount on both platforms in all regions, meaning Xbox players pay the same amount for less content. I believe mission exclusivity needs to go. Aesthetic exclusives such as shaders, ships, sparrows and, to an extent, even weapons are acceptable because everyone gets to play the same game. Still, Xbox gamers are being punished for choosing the ‘inferior’ platform to play on.
Auto Dismantle Uncommon And Rare Engrams
You can file this one under convenience rather than game-changing, but I know I and many others would appreciate it. Once you reach a certain level, odds are your entire loadout will be equipped with legendary and exotic weapons and armour. So, at this point, both blue and green engrams become obsolete other than for materials required to upgrade high-level gear, which you get from dismantling lower-level gear. An option to auto dismantle all greens and blues would save a lot of hassle, clearing your inventory of weak weapons and saving many, many, many needless trips to see the Cryptarch.
The Tower
The Tower is considered Destiny’s social hub, even when looking at your friends list if someone is in the Tower it says “Earth: Social”, however there isn’t very much social interaction available right now. Bounties, vendors, vault, and the Cryptarch are all the Tower is used for right now, but a few added features could make it an even more valuable and enjoyable place. A notice board where users could pin notes (with an obscenity filter, of course, we don’t want dick jokes to take over) that they are looking for a raiding group or help with a Nightfall challenge, available for all in that current instance of the Tower to see would be convenient and would help with the repeated invites max level characters receive when they arrive at the Tower. A terminal where we could view Grimoire cards would be extremely useful too as not many people, myself included, want to go to a website or download and app to read the lore of the world, if you’re going to confine the story to cards, at least make it easily accessible. These are just a couple of ideas to improve the area, though I’m sure others can think of many more.
The Loot System
While vastly improved from the one that launched with the game, the current loot system still has its fair share of glaring issues. For example, level eight uncommon weapons should not be dropped for a level 30+ character. The biggest problems lie with legendary gear, however. Currently, the drop rate for legendary engrams is meagre, with me only having two legendary engram drops from enemies with around two hundred hours of gameplay. Then there is the decryption process. Currently, legendary engrams decrypt more often into ascendant shards or energies than into gear, it seems, and these materials are almost entirely obsolete now with new raid weapons and armour from the DLC requiring radiant materials to upgrade rather than ascendant, so you essentially end up with nothing. I can’t say precisely what needs to be done to fix things, but I can tell there is definite room for improvement here.
Gear Variety
Because the only way to hit max level is to get a complete set of raid armour, every player looks the same. There are shaders to change the colour of your armour, but this only creates so much variety. The solution here seems simple: either have multiple raid armour sets or introduce a system similar to World of Warcraft’s transmogrification, which allows players to make a piece of gear look like another while retaining all the stats of the original. This would create more variety and ensure all those fantastic lower-level armour pieces are not wasted.
Weapon Quests
There are currently exotic bounties in Destiny that offer the user a multi-step quest with the reward of an exotic weapon. These are a great game feature, but there is one minor issue. Too many objectives require a grind where they should require feats of skill instead. For example, the Thorn bounty requires you to get 500 Crucible kills with void weapons. As someone who almost exclusively plays PvE (Missions, Strikes and Raids) and isn’t a big fan of The Crucible, this is a massive grind and requires very little skill, as even the worst players will get there eventually. There are some good objectives, though, like killing a ruthless enemy in a strike or going +20 in The Crucible; these might take several tries but rely on personal skill more than just time committed. Exotic bounties are great, and we need more of them.
Alongside these are the evolving weapons introduced in the first DLC. Husk of The Pit is a weapon that starts as a lowly level 8 weapon that needs to be used to kill a certain number of Thralls on the moon before transforming into the Eidolon Ally legendary auto-rifle, which in turn can be turned into the Nechrocasm exotic auto-rifle by using the Crux of Crota, dropped from completing the Crota’s End raid on hard mode. We need more of this kind of weapon and even some armour that behaves similarly, as it would add a different element to levelling up weapons and gear.
These are just a few of the ways that Destiny could be improved. Others must be addressed, but the few listed above are most important for improving the overall experience. The game Bungie built is already engaging, addictive, frustrating, and, most importantly, fun, and making changes like these could enhance these feelings further. So, what do you guys think? Am I wrong about anything? Did I forget something that you feel should be changed? Feel free to sound off in the comments below, and let us know what you think.
