Future 2’s End-Game Issue And Why “Casuals” Aren’t to Blame

Unless you’ve been living under a stone or – gasp – don’t care about it, then you probably didn’t know that Future 2 has an end-game problem. Released in order to positive reviews in Sept with many, including myself, praising the inclusion of new open world activities, Destiny two is a game that’s seemingly at odds with everything the series has offered till date.

But first, it’s vital that you explain what Future 2’s end-game is actually. In a loot based title like Borderlands 2, the end-game is what you do after beating the final boss and any corresponding DLC. You can choose to fight tougher employers, offered up in various raid encounters, in order to earn better loot. New Game In addition, referred to as True Vault Hunter mode, brings all the enemies hanging around up to your level, confers different advantages and the loot received goes higher up in numbers. Then you progress to Ultimate Vault Hunter setting where Slag is the friend and the process begins again. The real goal of Borderlands 2 is to simply keep finding much better guns and getting more obscenely effective even as enemies become much tankier.

Right now take a game such as Diablo 3. The end-game in Diablo 3 after the Reaper of Souls growth is to see how high you can push within Greater Rifts. If you’re after the game’s Gear Sets, then you can certainly easily keep advancing up to GR60 which is the equivalent of the Torment XIII difficulty. You can also run normal Rifts numerous times at said difficulty, contribute Blood Shards in order to Kadala, run Bounties, take a chance on Kanai’s Cube, participate in Set Dungeons and Challenge Rifts and whatnot. Diablo 3’s true end-game requires creating builds for the class and min-maxing said build in order to push higher and higher Greater Rifts.

There will always be ideal roll to chase after or that white whale associated with sorts (like Primal Ancients or items like The Witching Hour). This same type of end-game is inherent in Warframe too, though it’s more about mod farming, Forma-ing Warframes to permit for more space Path Of Exile items with higher ranked mods, Prime weapons and parts and, nicely, looking good (read: FashionFrame).

Finally, let’s look at any open world game like Skyrim, Ghost Recon Wildlands, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Horizon: Zero Dawn and what have you. All those titles are supported by a story, whether it’s in the part quests or main quests. They have different degrees of emergent game play and activities on view world to go after. When you finish the story in those video games though, all that’s left to do is actually explore the world and discover any neat quests to pursue.

If said quests happen to be complete, you attempt to clear out as many indicators or activity symbols on the map as possible, clearing the game’s checklist of content as you see fit. Sure, there’s lots of emphasis on getting better gear or weapons and levelling up your character but for the most component, it’s about exploring the world, engaging in some fun mechanics, perhaps finding some new weapons and lore, or just interacting with interesting characters.

It’s vital that you point out that open world games don’t usually have an “end-game” in the looter-sense. Finishing a few extra challenges and missions barely qualifies as such for loot-based titles. An end-game in the looter sense refers to a consistent feedback look in which the player completes quests, gains loot, gets more powerful and can after that tackle other challenges.

Much of the fulfillment from that loop comes from developing different builds and play-styles so that there’s more variety to the really satisfying part which is the gameplay. Someone who has fun running a Shadow Impale build within Diablo 3 may get bored and thus shift over to a Lightning Archon build that is a completely different play-style and offers up some interesting benefits. If nothing else, you can keep levelling for Paragon Points and Enhancing Gems.

But remember that Destiny 2 isn’t exactly a looter nor is it the pure open world game.

So let’s review Destiny 2’s end-game. There’s a definite emphasis on quests following the main story is actually complete - your own mileage of how interesting the characters have been in World Quests will be different. You can still total Adventures, take on small tasks with Patrols and explore Lost Sectors. Despite some good environment and art design, many of the mechanics remain uniform throughout the experience. You’ll become going somewhere in order to shoot something, scan something or do a bit of platforming. This kind of open world freedom varies from world to world because some places, like the European Dead Area and Nessus, are much bigger than others such as Io and Titan. Each world does have its share associated with Public Events, which can be morphed into Heroic Occasions, world bosses and Cayde-6 stashes to discover.

In terms of end-game loot, there’s Trials from the Nine and the Leviathan Raid. The upcoming Iron Banner and recent Faction Move could also fit into this along with vendors who else you can increase reputation with (by finding materials and Tokens in the open world). The co-op Strikes occupy this weird spot of being interesting to learn every now and then but not really beneficial in terms of loot. Even from a portrayal and mechanics standpoint, they don’t provide all that much that’s interesting or new from the main game.

If we look at it from the Borderlands 2 point of view, there is no continuously running level of power and threats from foes which feeds the need to find better weapons. There are no arbitrary rolls on weapons so you’re not really chasing after different variants that can offer different benefits. The “Meditations” from Ikora may be the closest thing in order to New Game In addition but their rewards are vastly under-powered in the long run. Being not able to replay story quests, Adventures, World Missions and what have you normally is also a significant deterrent.

If we look at it from the Diablo 3 or Warframe point of view, there’s no actual depth to the builds on offer either. Certain, you could have a Devour Voidwalker that builds up melee damage because of some Exotic gloves and who operates around meleeing everything, regaining full health while also recharging grenades quickly. However it feels more like the situational buff rather than a wholly different play-style. From a subclass standpoint, you’re relegated in order to either one set of benefits or the other. You don’t get multiple different runes for skills or the ability to mix and match Supers. Additionally you don’t get augments or Gear Sets that radically change the way a skill functions. In fact , it’s pretty crazy just how barebones the gear is in Future 2, especially the raid and Trials gear which need substantially more commitment to obtain.

That’s not every though. There are no “white whales” or supremely OP products in Destiny two like Gjallarhorn, Individual Simulant or Raze Lighter. Gear and weapons are given away at a rapid speed, which is fine but progression tends to quit pretty quickly too. Hitting 305 Power level isn’t really an advantage and you don’t even need to strike that to perform well enough in the raid (since that comes down more to coordination and communication).

If there is nothing really special to get and the possibility of defining builds is extremely, very limited, then not just are you stuck performing it same content with simply no variety involved but you’re not even operating towards anything. A minimum of the cosmetic end-game in Warframe is just one part of the equation - there are still a lot of weapons, Warframes and mods to build and level up. Oh yea, and it’s additionally free with substantially meatier content updates than Bungie has delivered in the three years since it launched Future.

At least with the original Destiny, Bungie ultimately gave you plenty associated with things to do and lots of things to work your way up to. Even when you hit the max Light level cap, you could nevertheless go after Adept weaponry in various raids or try to get ideal Tier 12 group of raid gear or even grind for Ice Breaker which could possibly drop once per week in poe items one character with the Nightfall bounty.

There were Horde modes, Heroic Strikes, modifiers on Strikes, more Crucible modes, Record Books, personal matches, Sparrow Racing and raid challenges. Destiny 2 has none of that out of the gate, even as Metal Banner and the Prestige Leviathan raid tend to be incoming. It’s easy to see why current hardcore players are irritated, even as many of Destiny’s glaring flaws such as grinding for components, levelling up weaponry and whatnot had been removed.

Of course , there is the argument that Destiny 2 much more for casual players. So why not just explore the world and it’s Lost Sectors, perform the campaign, obtain all the gear and call it each day? Well, in my opinion at least, Destiny 2 does not have a very good tale. The main campaign is actually passable and it’s doesn’t help that these annoying characters permeate all the World Missions and Adventures. Lost Sectors feel like the missed opportunity because for as good as these people look, it’s nevertheless just about entering, shooting, killing the boss and getting some dull loot. At least when this was a thing within Fallout 4, I can find some nice lore, ammo or get EXP in order to level up once the story was total. Surprise, surprise but Destiny 2 has none of that. It may appeal to the casual open world gamer but even compared to most open world games, Destiny two is fairly barren and unrewarding.

And that’s really the crux from the argument for many Future 2 players, whether they’re casual or hardcore. Destiny two doesn’t have a stage where the game all of a sudden shifts into gear (unless you really like the pseudo game show that is the raid). There are some neat mechanics within the story missions but it’s nothing you haven’t seen prior to from the base game. You get to drive the tank for one objective, which is nice but that never occurs again in the open world or any Strike. Therefore in lieu of interesting mechanics, compelling sub-plots or great sights (of which there are plenty even if, again, it’s nowhere fast near the scale of most open world games), Destiny 2 should be doing something in order to reward players. If nothing else, it should be giving players something unique for their problems if it doesn’t give them a different way to play the game. Alas, it does non-e of that.

When you consider the ups and downs that the first Destiny saw, it was amazing how so many major additions and quality of life changes had been straight up left out associated with Destiny 2 . When you compare it to some of the best games in the market, there is so much else it might have done but does not. Next to an MMORPG like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars two, Destiny 2 just doesn’t match up and even with its gunplay becoming fine and almost all, it’s 2017. There are many games, new and old, that deliver great gunplay.

Future 1 had the spark that no other game appeared to have and crafted to fans of this phenomenon in the easiest way possible. Destiny two seems more interested in spreading that spark to a wider target audience rather than further kindling it for the hardcore. Which is funny because I don’t see a huge number of casual players staying on with this particular level of writing and story telling. But hey, many people thought that for the first Destiny and look where we are now.

I can write a whole lot more about the lack of progression within PvP, how you never truly feel rewarded or like you’re improving in the Crucible unlike other competitive photographers. That’s a whole different story though. The actual fact remains that Bungie may have ensured Future 2 was a success with reviewers, the casual crowd and even Destiny fans at launch but it did this at the cost of keeping them about. Those 30 hours are enough for the average player who will now move on to better things (and truthfully, there are plenty of games for the average “casual” that a whole lot more than Future like, oh, Contact of Duty) but for the seasoned Future 2 player who’s stuck by Bungie for so long, it feels like an sudden stop.

Frankly, I’m not a fan associated with blaming the casual player. Games such as Path of Exile, Warframe, The Division, Diablo 3 and whatnot have attracted millions of players, casual and hardcore as well. They gave causes of them - and also the hardcore players - to stay and work at other things. Who understands, maybe the casual player would end up being the hardcore in the process. However , when it comes to Destiny two, whether you’re the hardcore player who’s put in 200 hours since launch or a casual who nevertheless hasn’t done the raid, the end associated with Bungie’s yellow brick road leads pretty much nowhere, forget Oz .