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Before I begin, I'd like to mention that Destiny is still my favorite game franchise of all time. I have played the game since the first year of Destiny 1 and some of my fondest gaming experiences have come from this franchise. I think of Destiny like my child, who was very well-behaved in its childhood, but now, in its adolescence, lets say, has dropped out of school and is currently addicted to heroin. I still love this child of mine and I still want it to succeed, I'm just disappointed in it at the moment.
Destiny is a one-of-a-kind game with untapped potential. However, I feel that this potential is being wasted in many ways. I don't know if I'm the only one that feels that this game isn't as fun as it used to be. Whether this is due to the fact that I've been playing the game for so long or whether it's Destiny's lackluster state.
In my opinion, the biggest issue with Destiny 2 in its current state is the lack of loot and loot incentive. It is slowly killing this game for me, so I'd like to explain my frustrations here and then propose a possible solution.
I'd like to take you all back to Destiny 1; to a land where strikes actually had a purpose, a land where vendors would reset more than once a year, and where you would stock up your legendary engrams in preparation of a mass opening at the cryptarch. These weren't huge parts of Destiny 1, but it was these little things, like the reward screen at the end of a crucible game, which kept me playing the first game even through the dreaded 3-4 month dry periods. To be honest though, I'd rather have a few months of dryness in between larger content drops than this constant state of half-hearted interest in the game, where I'm being drip fed the same, formulaic content, just dressed up differently.
In Destiny 1, if you count the 3 factions as well as other activities like Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner. We had at least 7 vendors which would bring fresh weapons and armor with every major content drop. As well as this, most of these vendors would refresh their gear every week I believe? Bringing in new rolls on gear and rotating the gear available.
Compare this to Destiny 2. There are no factions in Destiny 2, and the vendors haven't reset since the Forsaken expansion, which released nearly 18 months ago. By now, It is likely that I have received every conceivable roll on every single one of the crucible and vanguard vendor weapons...TWICE. At this point, every time I receive one of these weapons, I just instantly dismantle it, without a second glance.
Trials of Osiris, once a weekly draw for me, is currently nowhere to be found either. I mean honestly, you were able to hire Nathan Fillion to voice Cayde for 4 years, and you can't bring back ToS or give us a yearly vendor reset.
Also, can we talk about the exotics that are being pumped out lately?
Lately, it seems that every season, we get the formula derived "1 exotic armor piece per class," and most of the exotics are the most gimmicky, uninspired creations of the modern era. I mean, I get there were some terrible exotics in Destiny 1, but who the hell came up with the idea to create warlock boots that spawn rifts whenever you kill something in dawnblade?
Anyway, in summary of this part of the rant, I believe that the current vendors and lack of inspired, original, worthwhile gear available for me to chase in Destiny 2 is turning me away from the game.
Now I will propose some possible solutions to this issue. I am not sure as to how difficult this would be to implement, or if it would even be effective, I'm just throwing some ideas out there.
The most obvious solution to the loot problem would be to just add more loot. However, I understand that there is a clear limit to how much content Bungie can create for us, and just blindly demanding more loot will probably result in more re-skinned assets and/or empty, uninspired formula type content.
THE SOLUTIONS
And so, that brings me to the other solution. I propose that Bungie implements a randomized trait system into the game, similar to the system found in The Division. (I AM SUGGESTING THAT DESTINY BECOME MORE LIKE DIVISION! I just feel that adding an extra layer to the loot received in the game would tremendously improve its replayability in the long run.)
Picture this: You get a Go Figure for the 100th time.
"Oh cool! It has outlaw and rampage.."
"Too bad I already have this exact roll.."
(Dismantling occurs shortly after.)
Currently, it is almost guaranteed that this Go Figure will be identical to one that you've already received before, and will therefore be instantly dismantled.
Now instead picture, like before, a Go Figure drops for the 101st time.
"Oh Cool! It has outlaw and rampage!"
"OH WOW. It also has:
+ 31% Precision Damage
+ 14% Magazine Size
+ 6% Fire Rate
+ 13% Damage To Fallen
- 10% Overall Damage
[ONLY ACTIVE IN PvE]" <<< To Avoid Breaking The Crucible
Something like this! PLEASE! For me at least, this change alone, would bring me back to the game in an instant, and I might never leave. Again, I understand that this may be difficult to implement and that this might have adverse effects on the game, but I have realized, that compared to other looter-shooters, the gear that you receive in Destiny is really quite basic and shallow. In 90% of cases, you get 2 perks, which pretty much always end up being (on primaries) outlaw + rampage/kill clip, and then call it a day. I feel that a expanded trait system like this would exponentially increase the potential for PvE builds and extend the lifespan of the game.
In fact, for PvP players, you could even have certain traits that only work in PvP, say traits that improve handling, stability and other, non-damage related stats.
This could also fix the current state of raid weapons and raid armor. At the moment, most raid gear is no different from regular gear from legendary engrams, aside from say 5 or 10 extra stat points. With an expanded trait system, legendaries that were earned traditionally may only have 2 or 3 traits on them, whereas gear that drops from more challenging activities may drop with 4, 5 or even 6 traits. This would actually grant some much needed value to raid gear.
Bungie, I'm begging, please, if not this, please try something to help the loot economy of the game. I really don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep coming back to these stupid seasonal content drops. I will however, always love and remember this game, regardless of where it goes in the future, and I shall cherish the experiences I've had playing Destiny.
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