Destiny 2 is out, and it is great. From story, to gameplay, to missions, to just about everything else, Destiny 2 surpasses its predecessor with flying colors. That’s not to say it’s perfect. There have been a couple of missteps this time around, be they unrefined additions, misguided changes, or just residual tissue from the game’s many refinements. Fortunately, Bungie has proven themselves to be flexible and proactive in addressing these kinds of things, so there’s hope to see these sorts of things ironed out in the coming months. Here’s six things I hope they fix in Destiny 2.
PvP
Among the many pieces of the Destiny formula that have seen substantial changes this time around is The Crucible, Destiny’s PvP wing. While PvP in Destiny 2 can be a lot of fun, and can offer some excellent experiences for coordinated teams, it leaves most players in the dust.
The player count in all its competitive modes have dropped from 6v6, to just 4v4. That’s not inherently bad, as small squads have proven to be a ton of fun, but it does leave the pandemonium of game modes like Combined Arms — the 6v6 vehicular Clash mode from Destiny 1 — on the cutting room floor.
Gone also are a number of other fun modes, including Rumble, Salvage, and Rift. It’s likely some of these will return, either as limited time events or gradually added to the permanent rotation, but it’s disappointing not to see them at launch.
Whether you’re playing Casual or Competitive, you’ll feel like you’re at a disadvantage solo-queuing in Destiny 2’s Crucible. It wasn’t uncommon to find myself matched against full squads bearing the same Clan tag, and having my team of solo players getting ground into pink sludge. I can’t say whether matchmaking actually changed between Destiny 1 and 2 (I suspect it did not), but the problem with its system becomes more apparent in Destiny 2’s 4v4 game modes.
My biggest issue with The Crucible, however, is the lack of options. Players get to play in either a Casual playlist, or a Competitive playlist. On weekends, they get Trials of the Nine. But if you want to just play a few rounds of Clash? Too bad. Playlists are currently the only option for PvP, and I really hope to see Bungie change their tune with this decision.
Strikes
Let me start by saying that the Strikes themselves in Destiny 2 are fantastic. They’re tight, challenging missions that are just as well designed as any Strikes from the first game. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to provide as much value as the original’s did. In Destiny 1, Strikes were a great way to earn, experience, Vanguard Marks, and shiny new gear. This time around, the rewards are comparable to the new Heroic Public Events. Considering a Strike is 4–5 times more time-consuming than a Public Event, this doesn’t seem like a valuable time investment. While it’s certainly more engaging to play through the Strikes, it’s hard to justify the time commitment given the lackluster rewards they provide.
Strikes in Destiny 2 also suffer from the same problem as The Crucible — Strikes can only be accessed from a playlist. You can’t pick which Strike you want to run in this game, which seems like an unnecessary limitation. It probably won’t bother many players too much, since they’d have likely played in a playlist regardless, but it can be frustrating when you’ve jumped into a Strike playlist for the fifth time this week, only to be dropped into the same Strikes you’ve already played. There’s apparently five Strikes in Destiny 2 (and a sixth on PS4), yet I’ve only played three of them. Those three, I know like the back of my hand. I’m sure if I stay in the party, it will cycle me through all of them eventually, but demanding I have the patience to play through three 20-minute missions to get to the ones I haven’t done before seems excessive.
The Map
It’s baffling that Destiny 1 went three years without ever giving players a map. It might not be a necessary feature in a linear shooter like Bungie’s previous franchise, Halo, but it is in an open-world game that relies heavily on exploration. This time around, they wised up and gave us one. Unfortunately, it’s not a very good one. It’s serviceable, and giving players fast travel markers cuts down on prolonged Sparrow rides, but there’s a lot to be desired.
Jumping into a fireteam, you’ll immediately notice that your cohorts aren’t indicated on your map. You can rely on your HUD to point you their way, but it’s impossible to tell if they’re behind a rock formation 100 feet away, or if they’ve fast-traveled across the map. Since fireteams don’t travel the map together, this can be more than a little irritating. You also won’t be able to see the quest markers they’re seeing on their own map, which demands more communication between players than there needs to be, and for the wrong reasons.
Overall, Destiny 2 seems to under-utilize the map a great deal. There’s plenty of opportunities where the missions could mark a location on your map, but they instead opt for on-screen flashing icons pointing you in a general direction. It also seems excessive to have the map only available after pulling up the full menu, when I’m sure our friendly Ghost could project a nice hologram for us with a simple tap.
Clans
I have no doubt Clans will become a major component in the months and years to come for Destiny 2. They wouldn’t dedicate an entire tab to Clans if they didn’t have more planned, but as it stands, it’s underwhelming. There’s no good reason not to join a Clan, but you’re not going to be too disappointed if you haven’t pledged yourself to one yet. The tab only provides sparse details about the Clan you belong to. There’s a Clan chat, but it’s only available through the app or on the website. And if you haven’t been invited to a Clan yet, there’s no opportunity to find one in-game. You’ll have to go to the Bungie website’s Clan Recruitment forum for that too. Most players have resorted instead to Reddit or Destiny 2 LFG sites to find Clans and fireteams, rather than using Bungie’s official tools.
The Clan integration is something I have faith Bungie will commit a lot more energy to moving forward, especially given the significant value features like Guided Games will add for many players. Nonetheless, it’s disappointing that a fighting game like Injustice 2 would launch with a more fully-featured Guild system than Destiny 2 has with its much-talked-about Clans.
Xur
Xur’s only been back for his second weekend, but he’s still not doing much for me. His offerings are sparse, and at best he’s devaluing the Exotic suite. The decision to cut back on the number of currencies in the game was a great one, but I can’t help but feel there’s something underwhelming about spending Legendary Shards on Exotic gear, especially when my cache of it is so great. Strange Coins and Motes of Light felt significant, and a hot commodity. Buying an Exotic with Legendary Shards feels like buying a Ferrari with coupons.
It would be nice to see Xur offering some other unique oddities, like Exotic Ornaments and quirky Emotes, or something. I realize that’s encroaching on Tess Everis’ turf, but Spooky Spaghetti Face was doing it long before Silver reared its head toward players, so maybe throw him a bone.
Glimmer
On the subject of currencies, what am I supposed to do with all this Glimmer, anyway? Sure, it costs a trivial amount to apply Shaders or Infuse items, and there’s a few pieces of junk to buy early on, but what else am I supposed to be spending it on? I don’t know many players who have reached the end-game without having a maxed out satchel of Glimmer. Even after trying to spend as much as possible applying Shaders with abandon, I only ended up burning through those, without hardly denting my deep pockets of Glimmer. Give us something to buy with it, or get rid of it.
Destiny 2 gets a lot right, and none of the above items can take away from the fact that Bungie made a great game this time around. It would be a shame to never see these issues be addressed, but I’m confident we’ll see improvements in due time.
Did I miss any, or do you disagree with any above? Be sure to let me know!
