Destiny 2: Lightfall

[Janski]

The vidoc was hugely exciting and after watching that I was definitely back in. The new Gambit mode looks good, reminded me of Warzone from Halo 5.

 

Then the reveal cut to Deej and the 2 developers and it all fell apart a bit. The new codex and collections bit looked nice and I could feel my MMO-OCD itch being tickled but it all seemed massively unfinished, and they were reeeeeeallllllllly sketchy about which bits of what will be free to existing D2 owners and those who purchase the expansion.

 

Then to dangle a new season pass for the not yet released expansion with even fewer details of what you'll be getting but with Deej giving you a wink-wink that it'll be endgame stuff without the story just seemed weird - does this mean we won't be getting a Rise Of Iron like expansion??

 

Dunno, I kind of think at this point if you buy into D2 and these new expansions, you kind of know what you're getting. That's to say years of Bungie getting stuff horribly wrong and forever trying to fix it only to break other stuff. 

 

I'm on the fence. There's nothing quite like Destiny, but it sure does come with a lot of bullshit sometimes.

[Broker]

If you want to know which stuff will be available to excising D2 owners, the answer is none of it. This is the point where you either pay more or fuck off.

 

It’s absolutely insane to expect people to buy more expansions with no details about what they contain, like its fair to expect people to have faith in them after the absolute garbage they’ve provided with the D2 expansion. 

[df0]

3 minutes ago, Janski said:

I'm on the fence. There's nothing quite like Destiny, but it sure does come with a lot of bullshit sometimes.

I hope Anthem scratches that itch.

[Weavus]

Gambit looked awful to me, can I just play it PVE and skip the sweaty PVP bit? Cayde being in the campaign is also ringing alarms bells of childish dialogue and light tone. 

 

How much of the  2.0.0 roadmap do you get without buying Forsaken?

 

No way I'm pre-ordering shit this time. I really was expecting them to call it Redemption and give it away free... shows how wrong I was.

[Shimmyhill]

Every time this thread gets bumped I have to check on the off chance something amazing has happened like they switched on the D1 servers and binned of the dire sequel, like an alcoholic I’m merely xxx days since my last raid and never cured...

 

Glad to see they are still a bunch of cockwombles making EA look like the good guys while they desperately back pedal to get them old addicts back.

[Weavus]

Quote

Following years of strife, what remains of the Reef has fallen to lawlessness. You and Cayde-6 are sent to personally investigate the recent unrest. Upon arrival, you soon discover the most-wanted criminals in the Prison of Elders have organized an escape. Beyond the Vanguard’s authority, you’ll pursue these fugitives deep into the Reef. Explore new regions, awaken new powers, earn powerful weapons, and uncover long lost Awoken secrets. The hunt is on. · Hunt Down the 8 Barons and their Crew · Two New Destinations: The Tangled Shore and The Dreaming City · A Brand-New Raid · Introducing Gambit, a 4v4 Competitive PvE Mode · Wield New Powers with Nine Additional Supers · Collect New Exotic Weapons, Armor, and Gear · All-New Weapon Archetype, Legendary Bow · New Story Missions, Adventures, Destination Activities, and more

 

Quote

PRE-ORDER BOUNUS: CAYDE'S EXOTIC STASH - Ace of Spades Last Hand Exotic Ornament - Queen of Hearts Exotic Ship - Standoff Exotic Emote - Shades of Cayde-6 Armor Shaders

 

[Janski]

4 minutes ago, df0 said:

I hope Anthem scratches that itch.

 

Yep, keeping an eye on that. Hopefully EA have learnt from the Battlefront 2 price gouging fiasco. Likewise, there's the Division 2 next year.

 

Edit: 

[Nate Dogg III]

£15 for some new things to do and chase every few months sounds okay to be honest. I mean don't we all just sprint through the story stuff so we can get to the meat of the thing, which is making a number go up and playing with purple guns? I was saying to Donut the other night that I've never understood why they never raise the Light cap in between expansions, this feels like a step towards that but with loot and content. Like, okay. 

 

36 minutes ago, Janski said:

it all seemed massively unfinished

 

Well, it is.

 

I haven't watched it yet admittedly, but it sounds like what I'd expect from Destiny: some stuff brilliant, some stuff overdue, some bullshit you wish wasn't in there, still a game you could happily play infinitely, and dear god will someone please fire DeeJ already.

[Janski]

 

5 minutes ago, Nate Dogg III said:

 

Well, it is.

 

Obvs. But showing empty or placeholder menu screens after that cracking trailer seemed really odd.

[Lyrical Donut]

12 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

Every time this thread gets bumped I have to check on the off chance something amazing has happened

 

You can sit in a corner of a PvP map with 3 shotguns now. 3!

[Nate Dogg III]

1 minute ago, Janski said:

 

 

Obvs. But showing empty or placeholder menu screens after that cracking trailer seemed really odd.

 

But in the context of a studio that has previously been immensely secretive and is now trying to be more open, surely that's a good thing?

[Radish]

Potentially, but as someone that's followed World of Warcraft since the Vanilla Beta (seemed vaguely relevant because of Destiny resembling an MMO) when you hear so early about an upcoming system that the UI is still placeholder, you shouldn't pay too much attention to the details. It's very easy to say something you know will appease the fans without actually nailing anything concrete down. It will almost certainly change before it makes it to Live. 

[Nate Dogg III]

Very fair point, yep.

[Broker]

42 minutes ago, Weavus said:

How much of the  2.0.0 roadmap do you get without buying Forsaken?

 

 

Maybe?

[Mystacon]

The bit that made me laugh in that vidoc was when the game director was talking about the new area and described it as ‘a barren landscape, with tumbleweeds rolling past’.

 

Wow. That sounds fun.

[Mr Ben]

Digital Deluxe Edition - £69.99. So Scruff was (sort of) right. I've made bold what the Digital Deluxe Edition has over just buying the Forsaken expansion and season pass.

Quote

Get the ultimate Destiny 2: Forsaken experience with the Digital Deluxe Edition. Includes a copy of Destiny 2: Forsaken, premium digital content and the Annual Pass to continue the hunt.

Pre-order and receive:

CAYDE'S EXOTIC STASH

- Ace of Spades Last Hand Exotic Ornament
- Queen of Hearts Exotic Ship
- Standoff Exotic Emote
- Shades of Cayde-6 Armour Shaders

Premium digital content:

THE AWOKEN LEGEND SET

- Wrath Majestic Legendary Bow Ornament
- Dirge Paladin Emblem
- Vestian Ghost Shell

 

[Parksey]

Has anything been announced for an edition with Forsaken and the two prior expansions? I bailed out after finishing The Leviathan and didn't go for the Expansion pass, instead opting to wait and see after what The Dark Below brought us. Reviews didn't persuade me to pick up CoO or Warmind on their own, but I remember The Taken King launched with a version with all content so far, for about 30 quid. It would mean buying the base game again but it might still be cheaper than buying Forsaken and the two expansions separately?

[Uncle Mike]

Pretty sure there'll be a retail Destiny 2 Forsaken for sale that'll include all the previous year's stuff.

[Thor]

Just watched the reveal vid. I'm in. 

[Broker]

45 minutes ago, Uncle Mike said:

Pretty sure there'll be a retail Destiny 2 Forsaken for sale that'll include all the previous year's stuff.

 

Probwbly for the same price as just buying Forsaken. The classic Bungie “fuck you for investing previously” edition.

[footle]

15 minutes ago, Broker said:

 

Probwbly for the same price as just buying Forsaken. The classic Bungie “fuck you for investing previously” edition.

 

The classic Activision “all of the previous content is now irrelevant” edition. And it generally is, because the relevant power levels remain far below the cap.

[Uncle Mike]

Anyway, I thought it looked pretty cool, before they spent ages talking about the annual pass (without details) and how it wasn't going to have any cinematics.

 

Running round the Reef, if it's a decent size, will be a nice change of scenery. We don't really have that same dark spooky area in D2 like the Moon. New supers and trees is obviously cool. A focus on weapons and mods and depth is welcome. I thought Gambit looked like something I'm really keen to play. And then the idea of building a whole zone essentially just to live in for endgame was enticing.

 

I don't really see how the "darker tone" squares with an doubled-down focus on Cayde. I get the impression there'll be some modified Fallen enemy types (like the SIVA guys) as opposed to new enemies. And I don't understand at all what Deej was trying to say about why paying for an annual pass for DLC packs is some kind of content revolution.

 

So I'm in, I'm pretty sure.

[Broker]

19 minutes ago, Uncle Mike said:

And then the idea of building a whole zone essentially just to live in for endgame was enticing.

 

Surely this is not a good thing though? Part of the appeal of Destiny is the variety of locations. If once you get to a certain power level you basically only use one of them doesn't that just limit the environment you'll be playing in to one place? I guess the dreadnaught was like that and it was great, so I suppose it will depend on the quality of that one environment.

[Thor]

Two things I have mild reservations over.

 

a) "it's you and Cayde vs the prisoners" 

 

Nope, it'll be me versus the prisoners after Cayde opens the door and says, "go get 'em, Tiger." 

 

b) That area that's going to change over time. "It'll be completely different".  Yeah, the same way the infinite forest is "different" every time, right?

 

[K]

I’m surprised everybody's talking about this boring, uncontroversial year 2 announcement, rather than the highlight of everyone's social calendar -  the faction rallies. The new setup seems to work quite well – increasing your renown tangibly changes how the game plays and feels, so entering a lost sector at renown level 5 feels a lot more challenging than entering one normally - playing solo at 360-ish light is actually a really satisfying level of challenge, it reminds me of Halo on heroic. It’d be nice if they could roll out this system a bit more widely, it works pretty well.

 

The core loop is quite nicely done as well. A heroic public event takes you to renown 3, and then you can do a patrol or kill a high-value target to get you to 5 – it feels less grindy than I thought it would. After playing for a couple of hours last night, I managed to get about 120 tokens or so, which took me up to level 6 with my faction – the EDZ yielded a lot more progress than Mercury, so I think that yield can be improved. Getting the masterwork catalyst feels vaguely doable, although it also feels like I’d need to play it every day to get to level 50, and I’m not sure I want to start organising my life around Destiny again.

[metallicfrodo]

12 hours ago, Nate Dogg III said:

£15 for some new things to do and chase every few months sounds okay to be honest.

 

Annual pass is £25 on top of the expansion price.

[Gorf King]

I think he means that if you see the main release and three subsequent content dumps as four quarterly releases, that's about £15 per season.

[ph0rce]

I’m surprised everyone isn’t talking about what a missed opportunity to do something amazing this Faction Rally is, such a disappointment. 

 

Renown is an excellent idea, but getting 5 of it is trivially easy, and while the Lost Sectors offer something of a challenge, it’s still not hard. It was sold as risk / reward but there’s no risk if it takes you far less than 10 minutes to get 5 renown & the extra reward is simply 5 more tokens. 

 

I was looking forward to being able to stack renown massively, to the point where everything was ( old ) Level 7 Of Escalation Protocol, red symbols everywhere, etc. And then you really would have a choice to make, but there’s not really any point in not always getting 5 renown, unless you’re pressed for time. 

 

It is a huge step in the right direction, but it falls short of greatness. 

[Gorf King]

You could combine the two and do EP while stacked this week if you want that old school Protocol vibe - although you don't get renown from completing Protocol waves (which I thought you might, as it is technically a PE), you do get three stacks per heroic PE you complete en route to wave 7, and you're bound to get at least one, often two of those. I haven't done a proper Protocol since last week, but I'd imagine that'll make it... interesting: I don't imagine anyone isn't pledged, so it should put a bit of extra bite into this week's proceedings. You could always die, Mr Bond, but no-one (let alone the whole team) wants to lose their stack of orbs, of course.

 

(Except in those Protocols run by farmers, as endlessly rerunning waves 6 and 7 is going to involve far fewer PEs than your typical full run.)

 

The faction rally is a step in the right direction, but the optimal route (two heroic PEs and a lost sector for ~20 tokens) gets pretty stale. And that's fifty such runs required for the catalyst (minus daily milestone bonuses). I thought the stacks would also apply to strikes, but obviously not - you just get the plain 7-ish tokens for each heroic strike completed. So they're making the same old mistake there when it comes to heroic strikes, in terms of rewards, not being as much worth your time as public events. There's still not enough diversity in the activities that give you relevant rewards. 

 

But it's getting a lot closer to being a game worth returning to for ongoing content than it was a few months ago, and its current state is definitely the healthiest by far it's been since release.

[ph0rce]

All these moves are huge steps in the right direction, if we basically get back to post TTK Destiny 1 stuff, then I’m going to be a happy boy. 

 

Light levels coming back to Banner & Trials is excellent news as well.