General Gaming Official Destiny 2 Thread - Blad's Best Friend Club, update: significant layoffs hit Bungie, including composer Michael Salvatori

[SoberChef]

This season just didn't strike a chord with me, probably burned myself out last season if I'm being totally honest.

 

Looking forward to seeing what's next that MAY pull me back in but IDK

[Remarkableriots]

3 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Same old stuff

Wasn't it supposed to greatly improve with the split from Activision?

[Xbob42]

1 minute ago, Remarkableriots said:

Wasn't it supposed to greatly improve with the split from Activision?

While I don't know if we'll see any quality improvements, I imagine steering the ship away from what they were already making under the umbrella of Activision might take a while. Depends on how long their content pipeline is.

[Keyser_Soze]

50 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

Wasn't it supposed to greatly improve with the split from Activision?

 

What was supposed to greatly improve?

At the end of the day it's still Destiny 2.

 

I mean they had to roll back an update last week because it wiped everyone's bright dust.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

17 hours ago, Remarkableriots said:

Wasn't it supposed to greatly improve with the split from Activision?

That was the hope of players upset with where Destiny was. Bungie never promised it would greatly improve because of their departure. They’ve never made it seem Activision held them back or forced certain creative decisions. 
 

streamers, youtubers, and many on reddit made it seem like now the shackles were off. But they also forget that in the separation Bungie lost a bankroll and two studios that helped make content. 
 

That being said, if you ask me the current season model is better than last year’s season model. Each season has a story and the missions to unlock the activity don’t feel obnoxious (like the Black Armory Forges were). 

16 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

What was supposed to greatly improve?

At the end of the day it's still Destiny 2.

 

I mean they had to roll back an update last week because it wiped everyone's bright dust.

It was more than just bright dust. It was a bunch of different in-game currencies. Including items obtained from high level activities used to masterwork (increase the power) of armor. 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

It was more than just bright dust. It was a bunch of different in-game currencies. Including items obtained from high level activities used to masterwork (increase the power) of armor. 

 

I know that. I just didn't want to elaborate because no one ITT cares.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

9 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I know that. I just didn't want to elaborate because no one ITT cares.

I care  

 

I get ya though. 

[emalider]

 

Reviving the thread from the dead. Trials with @bladimir2k and played against some cheaters. Hopefully bungo banned 'em.

 

(Running into walls was mostly intentional. Just so I could slide if to proc Antaeus Wards.  )

[Remarkableriots]

3 minutes ago, emalider said:

 

Reviving the thread from the dead. Trials with @bladimir2k and played against some cheaters. Hopefully bungo banned 'em.

 

(Running into walls was mostly intentional. Just so I could slide if to proc Antaeus Wards.  )

What's new now in Destiny 2?

[emalider]

Just now, Remarkableriots said:

What's new now in Destiny 2?

Not much. Seraph Bunkers for some PVE content and Trials for PVP. So far it's been somewhat of a letdown content-wise.

[Remarkableriots]

41 minutes ago, emalider said:

Not much. Seraph Bunkers for some PVE content and Trials for PVP. So far it's been somewhat of a letdown content-wise.

Are all 3 updates out?

[Keyser_Soze]

I reached 1010 and I got close to a god roll of the Seventh Seraph SI-2 so I'm pretty happy with that.

 

Demolitionist & Vorpal + Tactical Mag + Corkscrew Rifling and Range masterwork

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

When they announced they were bringing back expiration dates for weapons where there will be a point when they cannot be infused higher, I lost a significant amount of motivation is trying to get god rolls weapons. 

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

When they announced they were bringing back expiration dates for weapons where there will be a point when they cannot be infused higher, I lost a significant amount of motivation is trying to get god rolls weapons. 

 

[Brick]

So big news from Bungie's reveal today. First off, today starts Season of Arrivals

 

 

and with it will come a new dungeon later today

 

 

 

 

https://www.bungie.net/7/en/Seasons/SeasonOfArrivals

 

This fall's expansion is titled Beyond Light where Europa will be a new patrol zone, we will get a new Subclass called Stasis, which will be Darkness powered, and we will at some point visit the Deep Stone Crypt (where Exos were made)

 

 

 

 

 

Bungie also revealed that the 2021 expansion will be titled The Witch Queen featuring Oryx's sister, the trickster Hive god Savathûn, and the 2022 expansion will be Lightfall (working title). Nothing else is known about them at this time.

 

Bungie has in the past lamented that the game is getting too big for them to handle in the past, and today revealed their plans to address that. Starting with the launch of Beyond Light Io, Mars, Titan, Mercury, and Leviathan will become unavailable to play. They will be moved to the Destiny Content Vault,  and may make a return in the future for a time. This will also allow content from Destiny 1 to make a return for a time, for example in Year 4 the Cosmodrome will return with its strikes, and the Vault of Glass raid will return.

 

https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/49189

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Bungie is certainly taking an "interesting" approach to the future of Destiny.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they drop the "2" from the title of the game and just call it "Destiny" going forward.

[Brick]

Given that they said they have no plans for a Destiny 3 I wouldn't be surprised either. With the game being ported to PS5 and XBSX though, I wonder if there will come a time that they want to take advantage of the new hardware, and make a proper next gen game with a Destiny 3 (while figuring out a way to transfer over all collected gear to avoid it being lost like with the move from Destiny 1 to Destiny 2), or if whatever new features could simply be updated into the existing PS5 and XBSX versions of Destiny 2 (I'm sure at some point the PS4  and One versions of the game will no longer be supported, and just like Rise of Iron was not released for the PS3 and 360, one of the future expansions will not be released on them). Not sure if something like that is possible, but I would imagine it would need a major update to make the game feel like it's "next gen".

[Xbob42]

Ah, yes. My favorite expansion: the one that cuts half the content in the game so the developers feel better about the size...?

[Brick]

3 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

Ah, yes. My favorite expansion: the one that cuts half the content in the game so the developers feel better about the size...?

 

There's also technical reasons for it. It gets much more difficult for bug testing the bigger the game gets, and causes everything to take longer. The cut content also isn't going away infinitely. It'll be cycled in and out. A bummer, but understandable, especially when their data shows no one is really even playing that content. 

[Remarkableriots]

If new players buy it later they won't be able to play the original Destiny 2 story?

[Remarkableriots]

8 minutes ago, Brick said:

 

There's also technical reasons for it. It gets much more difficult for bug testing the bigger the game gets, and causes everything to take longer. The cut content also isn't going away infinitely. It'll be cycled in and out. A bummer, but understandable, especially when their data shows no one is really even playing that content. 

What are they playing because last time I tried it was just a confusing mess.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

4 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

If new players buy it later they won't be able to play the original Destiny 2 story?

At least not until those areas come back into the content rotation.

[Nokt]

Maybe Hawthorne will finally get some new voice lines when they phase out the red war. 

[Xbob42]

2 hours ago, Brick said:

 

There's also technical reasons for it. It gets much more difficult for bug testing the bigger the game gets, and causes everything to take longer. The cut content also isn't going away infinitely. It'll be cycled in and out. A bummer, but understandable, especially when their data shows no one is really even playing that content. 

You know I've played MMOs for decades and none of them ever seemed to have content take longer because more content existed, not like this anyway. New classes and abilities, sure, that can cause some serious balance issues, new gameplay mechanics, sure. But just more areas? Nah, that ain't how this works. No MMO goes around deleting half the game temporarily because things are "too complex." This sounds like some straight up Bungie doesn't know what they're doing bullshit.

 

And no, Destiny not technically being an MMO doesn't grant them special immunity. I'd bet actual money that it's because the director screen to choose a planet is getting too crowded and they can't be fucked to figure out a better way of getting around.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I'm pretty much convinced that their engine is being held together by chicken wire and chewing gum, and perpetually exists in a state of near-collapse.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Nokt said:

Maybe Hawthorne will finally get some new voice lines when they phase out the red war. 

 

You gonna hang out with your clan today?

[Xbob42]

1 hour ago, Emperor Diocletian II said:

I'm pretty much convinced that their engine is being held together by chicken wire and chewing gum and perpetually exists in a state of near-collapse.

This as well. Their extreme issues with their engine have been well-documented and we really haven't seen any evidence that it's been fixed. A Destiny 3 might not be a bad idea just to start fresh, but I don't think it'll happen so long as Destiny 2 is making decent money. And considering this was their second attempt, who's to say a third would even produce better results?

I'd really like a Destiny that felt like a more cohesive game and world, selecting planets from a map screen isn't horrendous or anything but it just makes it feel like a Mario overworld. Not to mention Bungie's patented extremely long load times, which can be exacerbated by network issues even on an SSD. I wonder if their PS5/XSX plans will have changes to the game to account for the new SSD standard? Even when a level loads "instantly" you still have to watch multiple fairly long animations.

[Remarkableriots]

I have my light level at 887 so far.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

I'll be missing out on it unless there is some miracle where PSUs are made again.

[Nokt]

5 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

You know I've played MMOs for decades and none of them ever seemed to have content take longer because more content existed, not like this anyway. New classes and abilities, sure, that can cause some serious balance issues, new gameplay mechanics, sure. But just more areas? Nah, that ain't how this works. No MMO goes around deleting half the game temporarily because things are "too complex." This sounds like some straight up Bungie doesn't know what they're doing bullshit.

 

And no, Destiny not technically being an MMO doesn't grant them special immunity. I'd bet actual money that it's because the director screen to choose a planet is getting too crowded and they can't be fucked to figure out a better way of getting around.

Here is a better explanation for whats going on.

 

Quote

The stated reason for the Content Vault will be unsurprising to regular players: the game is too big for Bungie to efficiently maintain. "We’ve been adding approximately 25GB of content each year to Destiny 2 since launch," explains Bungie. "Those sizes not only stress hard drive capacity but also push the limits of patching capability. That also makes the time to generate a stable update for the game after all content is finalized, tested and ready to go balloon to literal days instead of hours."

 

By way of an example, Bungie reveals that the Warmind campaign accounts for 0.3% of the time played in the recent Season of the Worthy, despite the Warmind expansion accounting for 5% of the install size. The upshot of this, Bungie says, is an increase in bugs, such as the recent issue that barred progress through the Felwinter's Lie quest.

"Going forward," Bungie says, "our explicit goal will be to try to keep the scope and scale of Destiny 2 at a relatively consistent size in order to increase our agility and to be able to properly support and maintain the game." This matches with what general manager Mark Noseworthy told us about Year 4 bringing back permanence to Destiny 2's seasonal model.

 

Not that Bungie doesn't have issues on their side, but no MMO is 90-115GB in size. I will gladly take Vault of Glass over running Exodus Crash one more time.

[Remarkableriots]

11 minutes ago, Nokt said:

Here is a better explanation for whats going on.

 

 

Not that Bungie doesn't have issues on their side, but no MMO is 90-115GB in size. I will gladly take Vault of Glass over running Exodus Crash one more time.

Sounds like a Bungie problem when Warframe has a vastly larger universe but uses under 50GB of space. 

[Nokt]

6 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

Sounds like a Bungie problem when Warframe has a vastly larger universe but uses under 50GB of space. 

I guess there is an argument to made for the games actual length vs its physical size, but there is a lot more at play other than just that. You have lighting engines, physics engines, item assets, particle effects. I've never really played warframe, but from watching youtube videos its not a bad looking game in any right, but I don't think it really compares to Destiny visually.

[SoberChef]

Taking another wait & see approach for the next few days up to a week just to ascertain what the community at large has to say about this new season before deciding if I want to dip my toes back in. I do have TLoU2 next Friday to look forward to, maybe that alone will end up being the thing that gets back into gaming more, who knows?

[Nokt]

1 minute ago, SoberChef said:

Taking another wait & see approach for the next few days up to a week just to ascertain what the community at large has to say about this new season before deciding if I want to dip my toes back in. I do have TLoU2 next Friday to look forward to, maybe that alone will end up being the thing that gets back into gaming more, who knows?

Gut reaction on reddit is not too favorable.

Lots of people upset about sunsetting weapons from Season of the Drifter (and others) just to have them reused for this season and having to grind a new god roll.

The new activity borrows a lot from Gambit, which is kind of unique I guess, but it will be just like last season where it will become a ghost town as time goes on.

The new dungeon seems pretty cool, I didn't get very far in because most of my friends went to bed early, but I've enjoyed all of the dungeons so far.

[Xbob42]

Oh no, not 90-110 GB. Better cut the game in half to save a minuscule amount of hard drive space and to account for Bungie's apparently borked patching process where I guess they're patching completely unrelated shit because that's the engine they built!

Nah, spin it any way you want. Cutting the content of the game in half is not a good thing. It is a resounding trumpet of the many failures Bungie has had with the Destiny franchise, a swan song of their ineptitude.

 

By the way, while not quite up to the same size as Destiny 2, ESO is awful close:

 

 

And I don't hear them writing up plans to chop the game in half to then resurface content as like an event or something. Utterly ridiculous.