Before diving in, a brief history lesson on this space opera epic is needed – 2014, Bungie and Activision collaborated in bringing this ginormous scope of a game into consumers hands – with that came a slew of bombastic marketing and hype that had everyone salivating for more; Bungie, the legendary Halo creators are releasing this new IP that’s promising to carry your character through this 10-year long journey of wonder and memorable moments? Count me in!
Finally, it’s here….Destiny, and boy did it fall short in reception from fans and critics alike; it was too short, the endgame felt shallow and the RPG elements were scarce despite looking absolutely gorgeous and incredibly fun to play. Being a first of its kind, a live service game, came with a lot of expectations and promises that weren’t met.
Fast forward a year of lackluster DLC content came Bungie’s first major expansion, The Taken King. This was the catalyst that would make Destiny what it is today – after that, Bungie had banger after banger and once more, the hearts of fans rejoiced in hope.
Now, why is it the best time to play Destiny? The simplest answer is this – the most insignificant content is getting removed from the game starting November 10th, making room for newer, much better content. I do not say this lightly or with any intended bias be it that I am a huge fan of Destiny – it does hurt to see them go, but it is a necessary sacrifice for bigger more experimental things to come.
What I mean by all this is, Destiny 2 started off incredibly backward. Although the game is beautiful and The Leviathan raid was phenomenal, the core elements of what made Destiny fantastic were gone; the random rolls on weapons and armor, removing stats from armor, consumable shaders and once again a shallow endgame, it was like Bungie and Activision hoped to fool us, and they didn’t.
Bungie seemed to circle back to square one with D2.
The cycle began, for another year more useless content pumped out; it paid no significance in moving the story forward, it was like Bungie had lost sight of what made Destiny so magical in the first place.
Then the major expansion we all waited for was announced, Forsaken. This marked a new change into what would make Destiny the best it has ever been; random rolls were reintroduced into the game, stats on armor, new weapon type, new enemy type, an endgame location that’s tied with the new raid, huge quality of life improvements, bounties, weekly story missions with a hidden dungeon for players to find, a story that loops us back to the main reason why we fight, to begin with, The Darkness. Bungie seemed focused. Bungie seemed keen into immersing their players and it was showing.
Then we learn that Bungie splits with Activision and is taking the Destiny IP with them. Soon after Shadowkeep with a slew of amazing content and changes. Seasons, despite its mixed reactions, bring new and experimental flavor into the world of Destiny and it just seems to be getting better as time goes.
Now, back to the question at hand, is it really the best time for Destiny? Well, let’s take a look at all of the things mentioned above:
Destiny Content Vault: this means that older, far less utilized content gets shelved to make Destiny a smaller sized game in storage, but a bigger better one experience; that means you don’t need to have played Destiny in the last 3 years to know what’s happening – as a new or returning player, the story starts right when you boot the game and opens up for you to explore
Armor 2.0: You have the ability to truly experiment with different builds, allowing elemental affinity and mods to play a huge part in your creation.
Random Rolls: Weapons roll with different perks alongside masterwork elements to enhance it even further.
Dungeons: a raid-like experience that’s entirely unique and incredibly rewarding
Seasons: Bungie’s take on introducing 3-month long content that gradually opens up to the players; it’s experimental, it can be a hit or a miss and sometimes we get juicy live events and such – but the key takeaway is that these seasons will play a huge role into moving the story forward.
Bungie’s Freedom: this means we are going to get the best of their development team with nothing holding them back.
Year One and Two Irrelevance: Bungie introduced sunsetting, meaning older gear is going away in a room for new, more powerful loot.
The Crucible: a PVP arena to test your mettle – it is not easy, but once you find your weapon of choice and learn some plays, you’ll be dominating in no time. Sunsetting should help mitigate the process of finding your meta.
Bungie’s 3 Year Plan: Yes, Bungie has 3 years worth of content for us.
Exotic Quest: Earn Exotic loot by completing rare quests.
The Potential of Live Service: this means that Destiny will be a completely different game in 3 years. Might as well slap your Guardian with some experience in preparation for greatness.
These are some basic reasons why you should start playing Destiny – your experience in learning the mechanics, making new friends, and completing a raid for the first time is unforgettable and you deserve to experience that for yourself.
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