Looking For Group System
First up is something the Destiny community has had for a long time, but not something the game ever officially supported itself. It isn’t an easy feat to always have enough friends available to jump right into a raid and because of this, sites like DestinyLFG exist. However, while these sites definitely get the job done, it isn’t a built-in system to the game, meaning players have to jump through additional hoops just to have a raid-worthy group. If Destiny itself supported a system that allowed players to easily find one another for raids, or any other group-based activities, it would certainly add some much-needed quality of life to the game.
Now we aren’t looking for any sort of matchmaking system, because there is a whole lot of reasons as to why forcing random players to pair together for complex mechanics doesn’t work well. But a simple form of adding a party to an in-game list of Looking For Members would be a fantastic way to incentivize more players to hop into this great content. It could even allow parties to put restrictions on their posts such as “must have completed raid” or “must be certain light level.” This is honestly a system the first game should have had and many players have been asking for it since launch, so there really isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t be seeing it in Destiny 2.
Sherpa Bonuses
One of the coolest things to come out of Destiny’s raid community are a group of special raiders known as Sherpas. A Destiny Sherpa is an experienced raider who actively looks to take less experienced players through raids in an effort to teach them all the tricks and guide them to the finish. These altruistic raid gurus even have a sub reddit set up where the Sherpas set up “cards” that explain their strengths, weakness, and any other details you may need to know about your new potential guide. And these guys take their jobs very seriously to the point where some Sherpa cards look cleaner than most resumes you might see. With all the work these guys put into teaching and working with new players, it seems only right to reward their efforts with extra bonuses.
If a raid group consists of players who are new to the raid, it’s standard logic that the group is likely going to have a tougher time or take longer to complete the raid. In order to be rewarded for their work, it only makes sense to reward groups that help players clear for the first time. It could be simple things like adding a special chest to bosses for experienced players who help new ones. But the point stands that players who give up their time to help should be recognized and honored. Many other MMOs and MMO-like games, most notably Final Fantasy XIV, already use a system that rewards players that group with first-timers. Not only has this helped ease newcomers into content, but it also creates a healthy, more welcoming community for the game which is something that can help Destiny 2 hit the ground running in terms of a forming a strong and stable community.
Raid Loot Overhaul
While it’s unfortunate to say, the fact is that one of the biggest weaknesses of Destiny’s raids were its loot. The gear that dropped from each of the raids was very lackluster due to being so specifically designed for the raids that the gear suffered elsewhere, and while the weapons found places where they shined, many were completely overshadowed by Exotics or Iron Banner weapons. Even though the hardest raids for their time dropped max light gear, the fact is that players could easily farm up items necessary to reach those light levels outside of the raid by farming Exotics and doing Nightfalls. In some cases, this might even be a better way as players have to rely on low drop rates to obtain the gear they’re searching for in raids, which could take a very long time. It would be a strong addition to see a system where, in addition to gear, bosses also drop tokens or currency which could be traded for raid gear after accumulating enough of it.
At the end of the day, the hardest content in the game should reward some of the absolute best items available and possibly even the highest light level that isn’t attainable anywhere else. Another way of making raid gear more exciting and just generally more powerful, is by adding better perks or gear set bonuses to them. While it’s nice that the gear makes doing the raid over again easier, it should also be far more powerful out in the world, doing other events. Maybe add some Exotic-like perks as a bonus for wearing a certain number of raid pieces. This not only makes the gear more valuable, but it adds a way to expand a player’s class and abilities. Put raid weapons into the mix and players will feel far more inclined to create differentiating builds and will not only keep things fresh, but will also feel more rewarding.
More Puzzles and Exploration
Raids don’t always have to be a high-intensity, pew-pew brawl fests and Bungie understood that when designing Destiny’s raids. Some of the most fun things to do in raids was to explore the areas searching for chests or solving complicated puzzles involving monitors. And while some of this fell a bit short sometimes (looking at you, Gorgon Maze) it was still a fantastic way to inject different kinds of fun separate from the combat encounters and when done right, it works incredibly well. That being said, there is still a lot of room for improvement and adding in more non-combat experiences.
A lot of the puzzles one finds in Destiny’s raids are often related to jumping of some kind, and more often that not it feels like more of a unsatisfying hassle than anything else. It would be great to see more in-depth and different puzzles like Wrath of the Machine’s monitors. The hidden chests were also a great example of giving players a reason to explore and search the raid areas, but even some of the hardest to find chests didn’t reward players very much. Not only should chests provide greater prizes, but they could also be harder to find, making the experience even more impactful when a group stumbles upon one.
Harder Challenge Modes
Challenge Modes were a great late addition to Destiny’s raids. These were supposed to add more complexity and difficulty to boss fights that after awhile become easier and easier while rewarding players for doing it. And while the rewards are great, unfortunately the difficulty falls a bit short. Many of the raid challenges were easily completed and often very quickly, by anyone who’s completed the raid in the past. Challenges like the Aksis challenge felt far too easy and kind of a letdown. Challenge modes were created for the best of the best to test their mettle and attempt to take down absurdly powerful foes and while the Vault of Glass challenges felt more difficult, the rest just weren’t quite there.
There isn’t any reason to change the rewards for Challenge Mode, especially since the greatest reward is supposed to be the feeling of completing it. Destiny 2 is the perfect place to start with fresh Challenge Modes. Now that Bungie has the ability to create strong raids from the ground up and designed with the idea of Challenge Modes in mind, there shouldn’t be any reason why we don’t see the most difficult bosses the series has ever had. We might even see brand new mechanics created solely for the challenge modes. However at this point, we’ll have to wait to find out.
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