I’ve been talking about this for a year now and this is the perfect chance to give some feedback that will actually get seen.
The reason the double loot is so good is inherent reward. One of Destiny’s biggest issues ever since I started in Forsaken is the fact that so much of the loot is tied into the pursuits menu. Getting loot from that screen doesn’t feel viscerally rewarding in the way that engram drops or post activity loot feeds do.
Double loot has that visceral inherent reward. In a way that say, doubled bounty limits or doubled bounty rewards never would.
Destiny desperately needs to feel more inherently rewarding. I can’t speak for activity design, that’s beyond the scope of this feedback, but the reward structure needs to shift from “pick up these bounties and turn them in” to “do activity, kill boss, open chest”. You take the same loot and change the presentation and it feels completely different.
Back in Shadowkeep I picked up an engram that gave me Vex Offensive loot. Engram drops are usually very consistent and only dropped three world drop sets at the time. The drudgery was so broken by that drop that I still remember it three seasons later.
The best loot chase I’ve ever had in this game was when I was big into Gambit, because in Gambit you get loot just for playing. There’s bounties and pursuits yes, but they’re optional extras, not required. Core playlist activities are inherently rewarding, and they are the only place in the game where that is true. Everything else requires busywork. Bounties and Essences and Warmind bits. They’re not viscerally, inherently rewarding. There’s no dopamine rush from seeing the engrams pour out or the loot feed populate.
Core activities have the best reward structure in the game, but the rewards themselves have been neglected. The world drop pool hasn’t been refreshed properly. The playlists never get cool new loot. Dreaming City gear doesn’t drop in the Dreaming City. Dreambane doesn’t drop on the Moon. There’s always some bounty or busywork between the players and loot. And that disconnect feels awful.
We need a loot refresh. Yes. But we also need to feel that rush when the boss goes down or the chest opens. That loot filling the right side of the screen. I bound the pursuits screen to a button right next to my inventory screen. I shouldn’t have to check pursuits that often. But I do. Because if I’m not, the game doesn’t reward my time.
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