Destiny 2 did manage to fix a couple of small issues from the first game, but it’s otherwise taken several steps back. Its consumable
Star Wars Cosmetics and loot box-style method of awarding gear encourages hoarding and disengagement from the end-game grind. Its failure to offer at least as many features as the original Destiny has unsurprisingly led to rapid onset of player boredom. Worst of all, its neutering of the PvE’s moment-to-moment gameplay has resulted in a sequel that just isn’t as much fun to play. Destiny 2 may indeed have a loot problem as so many are loudly pointing out, but that’s small potatoes compared to these major fundamental flaws.Successfully killing the elite unit will reward players with a key, which can then be used to open the sector’s treasure chest. Filled with valuable loot, there’s always a good reason to go poking around Lost Sectors.We’ve created a game that has its own culture now and every Destiny player has adapted to the current classes. What we wanted to do was strip those powers away, make players think about their characters in some new and exciting ways, and then embrace new forms of fighting within each subclass.Much of the gameplay changes lie under the hood. Primary, Special and Heavy weapon classifications have been replaced with Kinetic, Energy and Power weapon classifications. While many may lament the fact that Sniper Rifles, Fusion Rifles and Shotguns have been moved to the Power Weapon slot, the changes made to the classifications are ultimately smart. Players now have more viable weapons to choose from, making it easier to melt enemy shields with Energy Weapons, pound unshielded enemies with Kinectic Weaponry and better control crowds with Power Weapons. New gun types like the submachine gun and grenade launcher are thrown in to add more variety and are quite fun to use.Bungie has received massive amounts of criticism ever since Destiny 2 launched and they’re now poised to launch the expansion that will either make or break the game moving forward. They need Destiny 2: Warmind to be a success. They need it to convince players to come back and get invested in the game again. If neither of those things happen, then they’re going to have a hard time getting anyone to fork over more cash (probably forty dollars) for their major expansion coming this fall. Warmind might not be Destiny 2’s true final chance, but one would think that Bungie would still be doing everything it can to show gamers that they’re committed to improving the game, and that they’re eager correct the multitude of mistakes and exploitative policies that have defined its life thus far. That doesn’t seem to be the case, though. Instead of implementing an à la carte system like Fortnite or even just dialing back the cash shop to something closer to how it was in Destiny 1, they’re just adding a slightly less random loot box into the mix.Oh, patrols return in Destiny 2. The blinking green beacons are littered throughout the EDZ, and the missions they dole out haven’t changed from the first game. Kill a certain amount of enemies to collect materials, kill a captain, scan an area, etc. Patrols are still meaningless busy work, but you do get some rewards for completing them.In terms of maps, only six have been announced so far: Midtown, Javelin-4, Altar of Flame, Vostok, Endless Vale and Retribution, which is PS4-timed exclusive. The final count has yet to be revealed, but no maps from the original game and expansions are returning.
This new loot box is known as a “Prismatic Matrix” and works very much like a package gacha. The Prismatic Matrix has its own pool of ten possible items for players to pull out of it and players can make ten pulls per week. Once the next weekly reset hits, the matrix will refresh with a stock of ten new items. The Prismatic Matrix only awards items players don’t already have, so each pull will award the player with something new. It sounds good at first, but there are a few catches. Players only get one free pull per week and all the others have to be paid for with real money. Players can’t even bank their weekly pulls in order to guarantee themselves something they want because Destiny 2 will only allow players to bank a maximum of three free pulls. This means that the absolute most one could get for free in a week is four items. That…really doesn’t sound like much of an improvement does it? If anything, these boxes will encourage burst spending as overeager players race to make sure they have all the items available for a given week.Weapon rarity remains identical to Destiny. Basic (white), uncommon (green) and rare (blue) will be your most common drops while playing the campaign. Once you reach level 20, legendary (purple) and highly coveted exotic (yellow) weapons will begin dropping.The European Dead Zone is a dramatic change from the Cosmodrome. While the Cosmodrome was mostly fields dotted with wrecked planes and boats, the EDZ is a quaint European village overtaken by a lush forest. With more verticality and unique architecture, the EDZ gives off a strong first impression.
Bridgette Kunkle asked 2 days ago