[dropcap]L[/dropcap]et’s get one thing straight right off the bat: I like Destiny. A lot. This isn’t always evident because most of the time I’m playing alongside my friends, we are criticizing the game’s many shortcomings, from its non-existent story to its repetitive mission design. But of course, after these ribbings, we continue to play for three-to-four hours every night. This is not due to a lack of alternatives; after all, the PS4 and X1 are fat with new games that, on average, have reviewed as well or better than Destiny. Games like Shadow of Mordor, NBA2K15, and Alien: Isolation come to mind. But there is just something compelling, addicting even, to Destiny’s formula that has kept me and a large group of my PSN friends coming back night after night for additional helpings. Which of course leads me to another point worth noting: Whether they’d want to admit it or not, my friends like Destiny. They like it a lot.
I think this dichotomy of good and bad–this flawed obsession–is why so many video game journalists are publishing lists suggesting their own ideas for improving Bungie’s latest shooter. Some stayed conservative–like IGN editorial producer Destin Legarie’s short list of “easy improvements”. Others went for broke, like Kotaku’s collection of 30, which tackles everything from the game’s major flaws to some of its minutiae. As someone who has spent over 50 awesome hours playing Destiny, I of course have a ton of my own ideas. But you know that. That’s why you’re here!
Before we dive in, please note that this list is in no way exhaustive; also note, the development footprint of these suggestions varies greatly. Some could be fixed with a simple patch. Some may require DLC or another major update. Still others may be best addressed in a full blown sequel. But my goal here wasn’t to pitch fixes that are easy to implement or that are otherwise straightforward in execution. No, my goal was to take a critical lens to this blockbuster and envision some creative, out-of-the-box ways I’d like the game to be different.
Scale and Instancing
Let me set the stage for you: You are a guardian, one of many in fact. Harnessing the Traveler’s light, you fight alongside your compatriots to protect the City from the Darkness, an evil force that threatens all life. So basically, you are fighting to save the world. This is the backstory, thin as it may be, that Destiny gives its players. It is also the source of many of the complaints laid against it, especially because the subsequent story missions do little to fill in the blanks (more on this later) or make this allegedly epic struggle feel, well, epic. Instead, hopping between Earth, the Moon, Venus, and Mars, fighting the game’s four alien races, everything just feels kind of anticlimactic and. . .well. . .empty.
Looooonely…I am so looooooonely…
I keep coming back to the same moment–the cutscene that plays after completing the last story mission (spoilers (kind of))–You stand in the Tower as the Speaker addresses you in front of a large group of other Guardians, commending you for your service. While the Speaker’s words fall flat for many different reasons, what really struck me was all the other NPC Guardians standing there watching. It is the only time I felt that what I was doing was part of some larger struggle; that I was part of an army. During strikes and story missions, apart from the two other people you might have in your fireteam, the only other Guardians you ever run into are other players who happen to be on the same planet and server. You cannot communicate with them, and they are simply going about their business without any care for you. It creates a feeling of “parallel play” that doesn’t resonate with the epic struggle suggested by the setting.
So how could this be remedied? Well, the game already makes heavy use of instancing. Every time you get deep enough into a story mission or strike, your experience becomes “instanced.” You enter a “Darkness Zone”, and for the remainder of that exercise, everything you see and do is unique to you and your fireteam–all the other players you may have run into on your server are now gone. What I suggest is that Bungie use this instancing system to create encounters that have some real weight. First of all, because every mission is instanced, there are zero reasons why they all need to take place in areas that are otherwise accessible during Patrol mode. These can be unique, disconnected areas that break the mold of the rest of the game. But most importantly, since everything is instanced, there are no reasons not to include additional NPCs who fight alongside you.
Imagine taking on a story mission where you need to infiltrate a Cabal base to free prisoners, who then fight alongside you to shut the base down for good. Maybe at the open, once you reach the base, you hook up with a stealthy Guardian contact who has been collecting intel and tells you where to go while keeping in contact throughout the missions. Or better still, imagine during a strike stepping into a full-blown battlefield filled with NPC Guardians fighting waves of Vex who are advancing on a key control point. I understand why these types of NPC interactions wouldn’t work in the overworld of each planet, where different Guardians of different levels are trying to accomplish different things. But since each mission is already instanced, there are no reasons why these ideas wouldn’t work. And if implemented, they would go a long way to give our struggle against the Darkness the epic scale that the backstory suggests.
Outposts
This goes hand-in-hand with my point above about the game’s feeling of emptiness, but also speaks to a level of convenience that Destiny seems reticent to present to its players. First, let’s be frank about one thing: The game’s load screens can be punishingly long. And because all of the merchants, bounties, and the soul-sucking Cryptarch are only available at the Tower, player’s find themselves experiencing the same trying loop over and over: orbit, load screen, Tower, orbit, load screen, Planet, orbit, load screen, Tower, and so on to infinity. That is a LOT of time spent watching your sterile spaceship in transit. Some have suggested the best fix for this would be to allow players to go straight to the Tower if they wish, instead of having to go to orbit first. A sort of “launch to Tower” option that would be available in addition to “go to orbit”. While I think this is wise, and may be something worth implementing regardless, I have a different idea that would address this inconvenience AND would make the planets feel far less empty.
You could put an Outpost riiiiiiight there.
You know how on each planet, there are these empty “corridors” between certain areas? Like the one between the Mothyards and the Forgotten Shores on Earth, or between the Archer’s Line and the Hellmouth on the Moon? I of course know why these areas exist–to give the game time to load the next portion of the map. So why not, in one or two of these corridors on each planet, place a Guardian Outpost. In the context of the game, it would make perfect sense that some Guardians would set up shop on these various planets to save themselves the trouble of constant planet hopping. It doesn’t have to be anything major–perhaps just a few tents with a few merchants and some guards. You wouldn’t have to worry about enemy threats, as these areas are enemy-free. And it would give players a spot on each planet to collect and turn in bounties and purchase new equipment/supplies without having to wade through the long process of going to orbit and then to the Tower.
Of course, if everything was available at these outposts, it would defeat the purpose of the Tower completely–so maybe things like the Cryptarch, the Speaker, and special event merchants are still only accessible through the Tower. But the simple ability to manage bounties and my inventory without having to go off-world would be a huge convenience, AND it would make the planets feel far less empty. Heck, these outposts could even be the source of unique new activities, like NPCs that give different patrol missions or some Planet-specific bounties. Maybe you can even rep with the these individual outposts by clearing activities on their respective planets for access to planet-specific gear. The potential of these outposts is endless, but no matter how they are implemented, they would go a long way towards making the world of Destiny much more convenient and much less empty.
Lore
Did you know that the Fallen Dregs only have two arms because of their low rank, as opposed to the four-armed Vandals and Captains? Their second set is removed as a sign of disgrace, and docking caps are placed on the stumps to prevent them from growing back. However, if a Dreg proves itself in battle, the caps can be removed, the arms grown back, and the Dreg will be promoted to a Vandal. In fact, in the game, you can see the stumps where their second set of arms used to be. Pretty interesting, eh?
Phogoth’s lair is stunning…wait, who’s Phogoth again?
You might be wondering where I learned this. Well, it certainly wasn’t from anything presented to me in-game. Instead, that bit of knowledge was bestowed upon me by one of my friends who just happened to be perusing the Grimoire–Destiny‘s encyclopedia of knowledge that you build up overtime and which is accessible through the Destiny app or Bungie’s website. However, I am willing to bet that, save for a small few (including those tasked with building the web’s many Destiny wikis), next to no one has really dove into the Grimoire in any meaningful way. As a result, the game’s lore and world-building are left a mystery to most players, leaving us with tons of questions. How does the Hive reproduce? Where do the Cabal come from? How old are the Vex? What was life like in Freehold before the collapse? And what the hell is the deal with that bizarre Awoken Queen and her pissy brother?
As a lover of all things sci-fi, I can definitively say that having this lore available in-game would be a huge boon to Destiny. It would give some context to the actions of our Guardians, and perhaps bolster the otherwise thin story with more meaning. One way to do this would be to give more exposition during story missions, which is doable, but at this point that may be a foregone conclusion. An easier means to this end would be similar to how the lore is presented in the Mass Effect series. Give the NPCs on the Tower conversation trees. If I go up to Cayde-6, make accessing his store just one of many options. Otherwise, let us explore some different conversation paths, allowing him to tell us about his backstory, the Exo race, the Tower, and the City. Same goes for the other Vanguards, the Cryptarch, the Speaker, and so on. You could even have the NPCs at each planet’s outpost (natch) with similar planet-specific conversation trees–you could learn about Freehold by talking to NPCs on Mars, for example. Mass Effect would have been a lot more sterile if I couldn’t stop and chat with Mordin about his role in the Genophage, or Miranda about her checkered childhood. The world of Destiny can and SHOULD be interesting and intricate; Bungie just needs to give player’s the tools to learn about it through play.
Crucible Customization
In many ways, Destiny is easy to recognize as a Bungie game, as it is cut from much of the same cloth as the Halo series–from the sci-fi setting and the fun vehicles to the twitchy gunplay and tight controls. However, there is one piece of Halo that seems to have gotten lost in translation: the spirit of Halo’s multiplayer. For me, Halo’s multiplayer was never about leaderboards; it was about sitting down with 4-16 friends (LAN parties!) and kicking each others butts in maps and game modes that we could customize up the proverbial wazoo. Unfortunately, Destiny’s “Crucible” competitive multiplayer is far more restrictive–there are only four or five game modes, many are quite similar, and no customization is allowed. You can’t even participate in a private match!
We can dance together, but we can’t play in private matches?
Don’t get me wrong, Bungie’s motivation here makes sense. Players can earn loot through the Crucible, they can complete Crucible-specific bounties for experience points, and they can earn reputation with Crucible merchants to buy better gear, using similarly-earned Crucible marks. Allowing players to customize these matches or play in private matches would completely throw off the balance and the game’s economy. After all, players could exploit these options to speed through bounties and amass tons of exp/rep/marks.
So here’s the solution: When people want to customize their matches, just TURN THAT STUFF OFF. Essentially, create two different version of the Crucible: the strict original where loot/marks/rep/bounties are all active and a free form, customizable one that players can go nuts with. Maybe don’t even call the latter version the Crucible, just to avoid confusion. Call it. . .I dunnno. . .the Funcooker! Allow for wacky modes like infinite rockets or snipers only; allow for weird rules like Hunters Only or a limited respawn pool; allow players to vote on the next map or create custom map playlists; and for Pete’s sake, allow people to play in private matches with their friends! The sanctity of the Crucible can be preserved–all we want are options. And with 343 releasing the Master Chief Collection later this year (essentially a treasure chest of everything Halo INCLUDING its awesome, customizable multiplayer), if Destiny wants to stay relevant, it better wise up, and fast. We want the Funcooker!
Quick Hits
Here a just a few other quick ones I have on my mind but won’t write additional novels about.
- Weapon Switching: Only carrying two or three weapons at a time works in Halo or COD. But when you have different enemies with different weaknesses attacking you all at once, being able to swap between my arc-damage fusion rifle and my solar-damage sniper rifle without being forced to go into my inventory is critical. I know it encourages teaming up, but at least give me ONE additional slot per weapon type to toggle between.
- Fireteam Size During Patrol: Why can’t I do patrol mode with up to six people? I understand a three person limit for missions and strikes–they were designed with that number in mind. But if me and four friends want to go bum around Venus, harvesting Spirit Bloom, doing bounties, and hitting some public events, why is there a player limit in place (especially when up to 15 are allowed to a server)?
- Adventure Mode: I was thinking about something similar to what Diablo 3 does with its end game content. Maybe after level 26, you can visit special NPCs in each planet’s outpost (hit ya with it again) who will send you off on special, high-level patrol missions for higher rep/reward. They would need to be instanced to work, but that can certainly be done–just create new darkness zones to enter once the special “Adventure” mission is accepted.
- Scavenging System and Jobs: Bottom line–running in circles on the Moon to gather helium filaments is tiring to say the least. What if upgrading weapons and armor were tied to something you or other players had to create based on a chosen job? IE: if I am an engineer, I can take filaments, bloom, iron, etc, and turn them into parts to upgrade your Sparrow. A tailor can do the same but for armor. You get the idea. And then you can introduce a player-controlled marketplace JUST for those user-created crafting materials. This would also give more meaning to glimmer, which is otherwise pretty useless in the endgame. Of course, this doesn’t solve the issue of having to scavenge for materials–so make them drop from enemies too and we’re all set!
- And finally, MORE: Um, yeah. . .more story missions, more strikes, another raid. More Crucible maps. More planets. More gear. more. More. MOOOOORE!
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