Much has been said about Destiny 2, both fact and conjecture, in the four days since Bungie gave the world its first real look at the upcoming sequel. And reactions from fans have run the gamut. Some are disappointed by the game’s lack of dedicated servers. Others take issue with the 30fps frame rate lock on PS4 Pro and Scorpio. But the most common refrain we’re seeing, as we get further from the gameplay reveal, is a growing desire for anyone unimpressed by last week’s presentation to stop contributing to the conversation. But fans who try to shield Bungie from any/all criticism or silence those unhappy with the Destiny 2 reveal aren’t actually helping anyone.
Last week I shared my disappointment with Bungie’s big Destiny 2 reveal, a feeling rooted in the impression that the studio’s is prioritizing quality-of-life improvements over meaningful changes to the core of the game. And I wasn’t alone on the matter. Fans have taken to social media, reddit, the Destiny forums and other popular gathering places to share their concerns about the upcoming sequel. But those unimpressed by the Destiny 2 gameplay reveal are being met with resistance from a growing number of fans who just want the discontented masses to go away. But the pleas sound increasingly defensive; the sort of thing you might hear from someone who realized they’ve invested thousands of hours into a mostly stagnant franchise.
Destiny obviously isn’t the same game in 2017 that it was when it launched in 2014. And there will be changes, like improved clan mechanics and Guided Games, that separate the sequel from its predecessor. But many of the core complaints, an underwhelming amount of content and a lack of enemy diversity, remain unaddressed. And it’s not wrong for consumers, whether they be diehard Destiny fans or those who’ve yet to spend a minute of their own time with the series, to air their concerns. If anything, Bungie should be happy. Market research isn’t cheap. And people are more than happy to share their concerns, free of charge and in searchable form, on social media.
Maybe you’ve enjoyed Destiny every minute since it debuted in 2014. That’s awesome! I think most of us secretly (or not so secretly) hope to find a small selection of games that would sustain us for years at a time. It would make our shared hobby much cheaper. But your love of Destiny isn’t more/less valid than the disappointment felt by someone who moved on from the game. In an era where Twitch and YouTube make it easy to get the gist of new releases, without ever putting your hands on the controller, it's not really valid to assume your opinion is better (or even better informed) than someone who never played Destiny . If anything, there’s an argument to be made that your blind defense of the franchise actually holds it back in the long run. Those still waiting to dive in for the first time can almost certainly point to something that would make Destiny a more diverse (even if not objectively better) playing experience.
Game development is an expensive and risky business. That’s part of the reason Metacritic scores have played an outsized role in development budgets for years and why we’ve seen so many sequels and remasters recently. Companies are doing what they can to minimize risk, and Bungie is no different. With an army of people willing and ready to shout down any detractors, and one of the most successful games of the generation, there’s no incentive for Bungie to make big changes. Why spend money on dedicated servers if people will pick internet fights with anyone who dares criticize the underwhelming (but cheaper) peer-to-peer solution that’s already in place?
The Destiny 2 gameplay wasn’t much more than confirmation that many of the services provided by Destiny fans for the last three years will be baked in going forward. We learned almost nothing about the narrative changes being planned by the studio, if they exist, and Bungie hasn’t yet said anything to suggest major changes are on the way. If anything, a return to the four-planet format of vanilla Destiny could be seen as the exact opposite. And they didn’t outline any of those changes because they didn’t have to. People were caping for Destiny when Peter Dinklage was still yawning out lines about moon wizards. And when the most popular activity in the game was blind firing into a cave. And when a pulled LAN cable was Crota’s biggest weakness. And when replacing Dinklage was more important than new maps. And when all the aliens started glowing.
Look, I know feedback is one of those things we’re all supposed to encourage in 2017. But just save it. I don’t need to hear about the time you mentioned a bad day on Twitter, or lamented your inability to become a full-time Destiny streamer, and DeeJ fired off a tweet to remind you that it's just one bad day. Bungie is not your friend. And the studio’s employees are not friends with the vast majority of the people who will read these words. I’m not suggesting anyone on the Destiny team is some inhuman monster that hates you either. But Bungie is a company. And the top priority of any company is making money. Any perceived interest in you or your life will disappear the minute your attention, money and/or platform are no longer valuable to the studio.
There’s no shortage of public excitement for Destiny 2. Thousands preordered the game after last week’s reveal. Some players are already analyzing skill trees and theorycrafting builds. Many PC gamers, commonly stereotyped as the industry’s most fickle consumers, are taking the game’s Battle.net exclusivity in stride. And the excitement among Blizzard fans is so high that World of Warcraft tokens -- digital currency that can be purchased with cash or in-game gold -- spiked to their highest prices (~140K gold) since their introduction in 2015. Destiny 2 is going to be a commercial success. It’s almost a foregone conclusion. But there’s nothing wrong with people trying to have their criticisms addressed, or at least stated alongside the many, many fawning comments off their chests, before the sequel to Bungie’s shared-world shooter charges onto consoles later this year.
Bungie has clearly shown a willingness to ignore suggestions, like matchmaking, that don’t line up with their vision for the game. So let’s assume they’ll be just as capable the next time they see a passionate argument from someone hoping for a different experience from Destiny. You don’t need to cape for Destiny, or its developers, every time someone says something about the game (or its sequel) that you don’t like. Besides, wouldn’t you rather spend the time you’d waste typing up a response on something productive, like finishing up the Age of Triumph record book?
Destiny 2 is in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Console versions of the game debut Sept. 8; however, there’s currently no timeline for the PC release of Destiny 2.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes and follow Scott on Twitter for more Destiny 2 news in 2017 and however long Bungie supports Destiny 2 in the years after launch.
