Recently, God of War and Twisted Metal creator, David Jaffe had some pretty scalding things to say about those complaining about Destiny. Specifically he was annoyed with articles complaining about being bored with Destiny after 100-plus hours of playtime. Making the argument that if it took all that time for you to get bored of it, then it must have been “a great fucking game.”
To be clear, he isn’t saying that you’re wrong for feeling bored after 100 (or whatever is a long time for you) hours of Destiny. In fact, he admitted that he too felt it got repetitive and stale after a while. However, according to Jaffe, it’s ridiculous to hold it against a game that after 100-plus hours of gameplay it fails to remain fresh and exciting.
Jaffe is absolutely right on about that. Especially if you’re of the mind that Destiny isn’t a MMO.
Shortly after Destiny’s release, I wrote an article claiming that people who weren’t sucked into Destiny probably weren’t into it because they didn’t enjoy MMOs. There were many that disagreed, saying that Destiny never claimed to be a MMO and shouldn’t be labeled as such.
Yet, how many games are deep enough to keep you around for 100-plus hours that aren’t MMOs? Not many. Thus, why should we hold Destiny to the same standard when there are so few games that actually can keep you legitimately entertained for so many hours. Content rich games such as The Elder Scrolls eclipse 100-plus hours easily for sure. Some lengthy JRPGs can demand a lot of time if you’re going for a 100% perfectionist run; still though, Destiny doesn’t fall into either of those categories, same goes for most other games.
So if you really don’t think Destiny is a MMO, then well you beat the game, you perfected your character and cleared all of the post-game content. Sure, DLC might add some more missions for you to do later, but you did everything there is to do and it’s probably time to put the game away. The conversation could just end here right?
If that’s the case though, then why are so many people still disappointed? Well hype certainly is a factor, but after nearly half a year in, that’s not really a valid excuse anymore for people that have been playing since launch.
No, the reason why long time players are so disappointed is because whether they want to admit it or not, they were sucked in by addictive MMO gameplay elements (which you can read about here) but weren’t offered enough content to keep them playing. In other words, the demand is high for more things to do in Destiny, but the supply isn’t meeting that demand.
Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku recently wrote about many of the major reasons why Destiny players are frustrated. One reason worth mentioning here is the issue of “not enough carrots.” Hamilton quotes several players from a thread on the Destiny Subreddit where many discuss wanting to take a break until the next “expansion”, House of Wolves, because after doing everything there is to do in Destiny and getting almost every item, many players have reached the “carrot on a stick” that Bungie has been dangling since Destiny launched back in Sep. 2014. This is the conclusion that Hamilton reached which echoes the sentiment of many other Destiny players:
The carrots those players are talking about are the rewards Destiny offers players for completing missions, raids, strikes, and crucible matches. Dedicated players have easily put in at least three or four hundred hours with the game, and that’s enough time to get almost every gun, upgrade, and piece of armor you could want. –Kotaku
What’s worse is that Destiny lacks any kind of climatic conclusion to at least send players off happily. In Destiny’s current state, once you’ve completed Crota’s End Hard Mode and received your favorite raid and exotic equipment, your time with the game is just sort of over whether you want it to be or not.
What do players do about it? Releasing another expansion isn’t going to change anything. We’ll just be having this same conversation once players run through the House of Wolves new content and raid.
Destiny probably isn’t going to change its identity anytime soon. It’s time to take Jaffe’s advice and just be satisfied. If you want a little more to do, wait until House of Wolves comes out and enjoy the new raid and equipment while it lasts. Otherwise, step back, appreciate the amount of entertainment you got from the $60-$100 you paid for Destiny and move on…
Unless… there’s a way to fix Destiny… if only we had more carrots…
Ah so you’ve reached the true ending of this article. Congratulations! Is it possible to fix Destiny and get Destiny’s most loyal fans pumped about the game again? Well, yes and no.
Right now Destiny has one carrot for players to chase. Equipment. Get your light up, complete new harder stuff, get better weapons so you can grind faster and eventually complete the hardest raid (Crota’s End) so you can have enough materials to max out all your raid gear.
It’s safe to assume, based on leaks and its price point, that House of Wolves is going to be pretty similar to The Dark Below as far as content goes. Adding a new version of that same carrot in House of Wolves isn’t going to fix anything in the long term.
What Destiny needs to do, some of you reading this may not like. Whether you believe that Destiny is a MMO or not is irrelevant, if it’s going to have longterm success (whether it’s within the lifespan of Destiny or more likely Destiny 2), it needs to embrace the MMO angle or do something completely different, because its current trajectory isn’t going to be sustainable over the 10-year lifespan Bungie wants Destiny to enjoy.
Like other MMOs that have multiple “carrots” to keep players entertained, Bungie is going to have to find ways to keep players busy beyond just grinding their equipment.
One idea could be implementing some form of a crafting system where instead of going to battle, someone has to explore and gather rare materials to level up a skill that allows them to eventually craft powerful armor. Weapon variety exists but all max level characters are pretty much wearing the same exact armor with minor differences. Giving players the ability to experiment by creating different armor (and weapons!) with different perks would be a welcome change of pace.
Some people want to just socialize. Giving people different areas to hang out besides the Tower could also go a long way. While we’re at it, let’s improve the social functions of the game so people can efficiently make new friends and work together without the use of a third-party site.
Maybe instead of just being glorified vendors, players can venture on detailed side-quests from the different faction leaders that lead to worthwhile rewards while letting players get to know Destiny’s buried lore.
Let’s not digress too much; this isn’t a wish list article. The point is, Destiny needs something else to do besides just shooting stuff. Since its launch, Destiny has always felt trapped between half-baked MMO and a social FPS. It’s actually amazing that we’ve gotten this far before these complaints started becoming a hot topic. Hopefully, Bungie gets the hint in time for that rumored big expansion next fall or at least for Destiny 2. Expansions need to mix up gameplay in a meaningful way in order to be memorable and effective.
Bungie over the years has earned its reputation for being a smart, community centered company. So let’s give them the benefit of the doubt that they will hear their fans out and eventually deliver. However, if Destiny’s future is just more raids, strikes and 10-minute story missions, then it’s clear Bungie has lost its touch.
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