Bungie has woken the Hive
It’s been a long, sordid affair forDestiny 2, and developer Bungie has taken a lot of flak — some of it well-deserved given the issues with the game.
But has it come to a point when a player’s frustrations over the game take precedence over actually looking to help those who are playing it? I’m speaking of course with regards to the game’s newest DLC,Warmind, which launched mere days ago. you may check out our reviewhere.
It had many things players asked for in previous months such as secrets and collectables, and exotic quest grinds for the returning Sleeper Simulant, the Worldline Zero sword, and the G335 Anseris Overdrive sparrow. These items can be obtained by findingSleeper Nodesand their respective override frequencies, and from locating allLost Memory Fragments. These are scattered all over the map and required a collaborative effort among players to find.
There’s also a slew of yet-to-be-completely-discovered quest steps known as Catalysts. These are for exotic weapons in the game and are obtained through various means. For instance,one might require killing enemies with a sword, while another would have youdefeating opponents in the Crucible’s PVP arenas. Completing certain requirements will eventually lead to unlocking that specific weapon’sMasterwork upgrade, conferring boosts to certain stats.
It also has a brand-new horde mode — the Escalation Protocol. It’s a challenging activity that requires half a dozen or so players meeting up in the game’s new exploration area on Mars, the Hellas Basin, and taking out seven waves of high-level mobs and bosses.Bungie has detailed how the event unfoldsand how it even melds into other activities in the area. And yes, it is fairly hectic, as you can see from this YouTube video after some top players managed to beat all seven waves.
Unfortunately, in less than a couple of days, players are once again up in arms – this time because of the short story campaign, or due toone strike being a PlayStation-exclusive, and a myriad other reasons. When I checkedDestiny’smain subreddit, I was immediately greeted by a ton of critiques, hot takes, and “Bungie Plz” suggestion posts. That topic with all the Memory Fragments?
That was in ninth place this past week. That one with all the Sleeper Nodes? Didn’t even get as many upvotes as all the other opinion posts. Oh, and any info about Catalysts and Escalation Protocol tips? You’ll want to search for these tips separately as they didn’t even make it to the front page.The Bungie forumsare no different with only one guide easily seen on the first page.
I can definitely understand where some players are coming from. The sequel isn’t perfect or as good as the original, and it will take at least four more months until the Comet expansion for major content additions, much like howThe Taken Kingexpansion inDestiny 1completely revamped the landscape. A mini-DLC likeWarmindwon’t provide all of these changes since it’s been in production well before most issues were addressed.
But for players to suddenly be up in arms in less than two days, while a lot of the activities aren’t getting that much attention — that’s mindboggling, to say the least. Someone even had to point out how peculiar the agitation over “lazy content” and “tiny garbage” DLCs can be bylisting down every campaign section of allDestinyexpansions so far.
As for me, I actually had to visit anotherDestinysubreddit to find all the necessary information that could help me while playing the game. A Reddit user compiledall the guide topics and videos posted so farfor anyone who might be having trouble inWarmind.
Bottom line is, there’s a time and place for criticism, and I’m sure most players just want to provide that in order to help improve the game. However, the biggest issue I noticed is that it happens all too quickly and all too easily to the point that it shuts out potential discussions that can help thousands of players at the present. And the first few days of a game or expansion going live are extremely important in that regard due to the sheer number of players who are still learning new things.
These critical sentiments were not so glaringly manifested in the first few days of older expansions likeThe Dark BeloworHouse of Wolves, and even less so withThe Taken KingandRise of Iron(two secrets-heavy additions toDestiny 1). Unfortunately, it happens with such frequency nowadays, even in a secrets-laden DLC likeWarmind, that it becomes a detriment to those who are looking to discover more about the game.
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