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Oct 29, 2017
7,500
The major issue I've had with coming back to Destiny 2 with each of the yearly expansions is that trying to figure out what the new stuff is how it's different from before can be really hard to parse since they rarely explain anything. They really need to add some sort of FAQ to the game to help explain what's going on.

Well plus they never just add new systems, they're always redoing the way the old systems work. The armor upgrade system has been overhauled like four times at this point. And now character levels don't exist apparently? I like Destiny but I hate having to re-learn the game every time I don't play for a couple months.
 
Nov 14, 2017
2,320
Here's a good example. I just did The Invitation and the quest item says "Claim your reward from the Menagerie Triumph". I looked everywhere and had no clue what to do. I looked it up online:



It feels like every little system is presented in such a needlessly obtuse fashion.
Eh, this one I think is more just an unfortunate coincidence. When the Menagerie first came out, the bulk of the people playing would have been well aware that "Triumph" is the name for the in-game achievements system, which is why Triumph is capitalised in the quest step (and why the wording is seemingly awkward, because it's not saying "claim your reward from your triumph in the Menagerie", which is probably what it sounded like to you/new players). When you open your character menu there's a whole page labelled Triumphs at the top of the screen, and every time you unlock a new one they add a flashing marker so you know which section it's in, so it's not like that part is actually that convoluted.
 

Felix Lighter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
141
I personally think this part is very clear.

It obviously needs to be both clearer and not skipable, though.

How is that clear? How is a first time player "replaying" anything? It sounds like a place to replay missions you've played already. The second caveat stating you can only play a campaign mission once per character makes me think this is some resource for a player's secondary characters to replay missions without following an entire questline. What is a classic campaign to a new player? This is not nearly as clear as you are trying to make it out to be. Most players aren't starting a new game and then looking for "classic" content accessible at some NPC and they definitely aren't looking to replay anything. They are looking to start the game at a narrative starting point.

If in your mind you know that the story content a new player wants to access is some legacy story campaign, this text makes sense. That's not the frame of mind of the typical new player coming in. They want to play Destiny 2 and want to start at the beginning, the natural beginning of this version is the new light campaign which is complete nonsense to someone new. You have to be aware what you are REALLY looking for are legacy Destiny 2 campaigns.
 

Toni

Banned
Nov 13, 2017
1,983
Orlando, Florida
Because throwing people into the world of a fairly complex game without a well thought out guidance is a terrible thing to do period. User experience and player psychology is a legit thing that needs to be taken into account when designing experiences like this and Bungie failed big time on this one. Having a couple text to read doesn't do anything realistically. For a commercial product like this, there is a higher bar to reach.

It is known.

Bungie can't really fully hang with the big leagues when it comes to video game story-teling, mission design and character development.

The crazy thing is that they were going places with Forsaken. We got;

- Proper and fleshed out character development for Savala, Cayde and Ikora

- Finally our Guardian is un-muted and shows motive and decision-making setting the stage for a full blown storyline with our Guardian in the future. Not only becoming the center stage of our social interactions instead of it being our Ghost (finally)...but a storyline where our Guardian carves a path on his /her own instead of always being told where to go and what to do.

- Well structured character progression for Uldren. Which is far better than what we got from the Cabal leader during Red War

So, it's shocking to see them not creating a coherent background for new players to easily follow, story-wise.

Bungie should have nailed the storytelling aspect pretty comfortably at this point.

I'm convinced this was an issue of moving staff around to create extra content for New Light, while adhering to other important deadlines and the attempt to do both simultaneously failed pretty hard.
 
Oct 25, 2017
12,319
This makes me really curious how Bungie will handle story content in the future.

There's so much dumb shit, like going to Titan and having access to the indoor arcology areas immediately. Yet if you do the Red War missions later on, the same area is closed and you have to cut open the door to get in.

The sense of immersion has completely left the game at this point. I don't feel like my character is part of the world and story of Destiny.

Which is a shame, because the Shadowkeep campaign has been pretty good so far in the story department.
They should just make an area that serves as monuments to the past. With each campaign having a statue that allows you to replay "old" content. Maybe even have a book in front of it so it seems like you're reading about the past.
 

Deleted member 29464

Account closed at user request
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
3,121
It seemed a mess to me so I dropped it after a few hours. Really don't like the idea of being given max or high level characters and just thrown into an end game without any understanding of anything. Everything felt so meaningless and I just asked myself why an I wasting my time?

Maybe I'll jump on to a sequel (though apparently that may not happen soon) and hopefully then they make a proper new player experience, where I can experience a campaign, get loot, learn its systems in a well structured progression, and then dabble into the multiplayer stuff.

Warframe was better to learn and that says a lot.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
It seemed a mess to me so I dropped it after a few hours. Really don't like the idea of being given max or high level characters and just thrown into an end game without any understanding of anything. Everything felt so meaningless and I just asked myself why an I wasting my time?

Maybe I'll jump on to a sequel (though apparently that may not happen soon) and hopefully then they make a proper new player experience, where I can experience a campaign, get loot, learn its systems in a well structured progression, and then dabble into the multiplayer stuff.

Warframe was better to learn and that says a lot.

I actually just uninstalled the game myself. I played for another couple hours again today and I'd much, much rather wait to jump in again if they ever start a fresh Destiny 3.
 
Oct 25, 2017
2,556
湘南
Hearing the campaign has been reduced makes me feel like I should just pass on this game. Do enemies scale to your level? I feel like I'm just melting everything I look at and it's incredibly boring.
 

AndyD

Mambo Number PS5
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,602
Nashville
The order is whatever you want. Bungie made that clear that they want you to play the game however you want.

Canonically they are Red War -> Curse of Osiris -> Warmind -> Forsaken -> Shadowkeep
Thank you. Been doing some just now, they are all familiar. Did they reset progress when going f2p? But my inventory had stuff in it when I started. Weird.
 

Mur2thetaugh

Member
Dec 12, 2017
363
Me playing for the first time

tenor.gif
Ahhh sweet. Where can I find that skin!?
 

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Hearing the campaign has been reduced makes me feel like I should just pass on this game. Do enemies scale to your level? I feel like I'm just melting everything I look at and it's incredibly boring.

All of the Destiny campaigns have been pretty mindless and offer no actual challenge.

The challenge is in endgame content.
 

sibarraz

Prophet of Regret - One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
18,086
Yeah, this is way I quickly dropped the game, it was too convulted for a newcomer like me
 

Hawk269

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,043
Yeah, it is really a cluster fuck for new players. I have not played the game in ages and even though I bought it way back, I logged in yesterday to check it out and it just seemed confusing and not new gamer/new to series and anything.
 

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,852
How is that clear? How is a first time player "replaying" anything? It sounds like a place to replay missions you've played already. The second caveat stating you can only play a campaign mission once per character makes me think this is some resource for a player's secondary characters to replay missions without following an entire questline. What is a classic campaign to a new player? This is not nearly as clear as you are trying to make it out to be. Most players aren't starting a new game and then looking for "classic" content accessible at some NPC and they definitely aren't looking to replay anything. They are looking to start the game at a narrative starting point.

If in your mind you know that the story content a new player wants to access is some legacy story campaign, this text makes sense. That's not the frame of mind of the typical new player coming in. They want to play Destiny 2 and want to start at the beginning, the natural beginning of this version is the new light campaign which is complete nonsense to someone new. You have to be aware what you are REALLY looking for are legacy Destiny 2 campaigns.
It says replay but it also says classic campaigns, that is clear imo.

I honestly think it is a case of people skipping or skimming text. We all know people do that.
 

Sei

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,702
LA
I got a few friends into it recently. Warframe was easier to guide through for sure.

I think it's because I hadn't played Destiny 2 for over a year, and I didn't remember the order of doing things.
 

spiritfox

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,619
So many people saying that the onboarding sucks, but no, we all just didn't read some text. Such a nice community.
 

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,852
So many people saying that the onboarding sucks, but no, we all just didn't read some text. Such a nice community.
Then you didn't read my posts and you also didn't see how much help I offer people ITT... don't be so dishonest.

The onbaording is bad, I have literally said that. The game doesn't explain its systems well at all

The pop up telling you to find NPCs to lead you to the campaigns... is clear, imo. These can both be true.

The Destiny community is wonderful, just because I personally think some people could have paid better attention to a specific part of the tutorial doesn't mean what you think it does.
 

Rat King

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,021
Portugal
I imagine new players will struggle with the amount of things to do. The directory can be a mess if you haven't played the game before.
 

Toni

Banned
Nov 13, 2017
1,983
Orlando, Florida
It seemed a mess to me so I dropped it after a few hours. Really don't like the idea of being given max or high level characters and just thrown into an end game without any understanding of anything. Everything felt so meaningless and I just asked myself why an I wasting my time?

Maybe I'll jump on to a sequel (though apparently that may not happen soon) and hopefully then they make a proper new player experience, where I can experience a campaign, get loot, learn its systems in a well structured progression, and then dabble into the multiplayer stuff.

Warframe was better to learn and that says a lot.
I actually just uninstalled the game myself. I played for another couple hours again today and I'd much, much rather wait to jump in again if they ever start a fresh Destiny 3.

Just wait for Destiny 3. New Light feels to me like a lot of ideas thrown together to fit the new Free-to-play MMO format and was unsuccessful.

There's also so many ingrained systems already in Year 3 and so much content out already that its best waiting for a reset to grasp all the details thoroughly.

With a Bungie free from probably the busiest content roadmap they have ever tackled and out from the chains of Activision, I'm certain a Destiny 3 will be the far better value proposition for new players.
 

Kitten Mittens

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 11, 2018
2,368
So many people saying that the onboarding sucks, but no, we all just didn't read some text. Such a nice community.
Which is odd because the Destiny community likes to tout itself as the very best community. Blaming the gamer for what is obviously Bungie's own screwup is classic toxic gaming behavior.
 

BoxManLocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,158
France
Was considering introducing a friend of mine to the game who is completely new to MMOs, played D1 fully and D2 up to Forsaken so I thought I'd be a decent guide.

After going through this thread I think I'll pass, the campaigns were mediocre but still a good way to start, they must be really shitty now they've truncated them.
 

Lentic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,835
It doesn't help that all the text is in-lore, so the game throws a bunch of jargon at you. There's quite a few things that I had to google because I had no idea what it even meant.
 

krazen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,109
Gentrified Brooklyn
Sucks. I wrote off D2 and got into it when it was free on PS4. Fell in love and copped Forsaken but got stuck in a gaming backlog. For the new launch I was hoping to finish off Forsaken as we get closer into the holidays and 'catch up' like I was binging a tv show going into the new year

Kinda sucks the wind out of the sails if im just put at a level way past the OG campaign and I can only play it through a hacked on game + variation.

Now im just gonna move on, lol
 

MRYEAH

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,089
The hall across the room
I am not a new player
I played through everything Destiny had to offer in July/really enjoyed it
Started Destiny 2 in September didn't finish the red war campaign was doing side quests/bounties light was 400 every other day
Jumped in with that character
I felt like the new hub was overwhelming in content I stopped playing and just was looking at all the changes
So I decided to star a new character since I gameshare on another system with my dad (who loves destiny 2 pre-ordered shadowkeep)
I was just oh ok it's Destiny 1 all over again
Now in this current setup I don't know which way I wanna go
Do I continue through the red war play the expansions in order with my first Destiny 2 character
Or
Just play shadowkeep and work backwards since that's what they seemed to design in a F2P mode with my new character
Both is not going to happen with my time ha
 

Captain of Outer Space

Come Sale Away With Me
Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,288
Well plus they never just add new systems, they're always redoing the way the old systems work. The armor upgrade system has been overhauled like four times at this point. And now character levels don't exist apparently? I like Destiny but I hate having to re-learn the game every time I don't play for a couple months.
Yeah, I had my first masterwork item drop one of the previous times I came back after a big break and was confused as to what the yellow border meant because nothing in game explained it. I had to google some dumb terms to find out it was a new class of item drops that had some special traits to them, which I shouldn't have to do if the game had sufficient database to explain the many mechanics and such in the game.
 

Bricktop

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,847
It's not smacking you in the face with what to do, I agree. But all they need to do is actually read the tutorials, it's not complicated.

That's bullshit. There's literally no mention of Amanda Holliday or the campaign in the so-called tutorials. There is also no explanation of about 100 different mechanics either, because what you claim to be tutorials aren't tutorials at all.

The new player experience for Destiny 2 is straight garbage and there is no denying it. There is a reason vets are constantly linking the new player guide, because in-game this stuff is completely lacking.


Which is odd because the Destiny community likes to tout itself as the very best community. Blaming the gamer for what is obviously Bungie's own screwup is classic toxic gaming behavior.

I always thought the Destiny community was one of the best, but it's been really shitty since the F2P launched. At first I thought it was probably new players but it turns out that most of it is directed at new players.
 
Oct 27, 2017
2,490
Henderson, NV
Just wait for Destiny 3. New Light feels to me like a lot of ideas thrown together to fit the new Free-to-play MMO format and was unsuccessful.

There's also so many ingrained systems already in Year 3 and so much content out already that its best waiting for a reset to grasp all the details thoroughly.

With a Bungie free from probably the busiest content roadmap they have ever tackled and out from the chains of Activision, I'm certain a Destiny 3 will be the far better value proposition for new players.
I'd actually argue the opposite. I think Destiny currently is exactly the game that they wanted. The reality is that the much beloved The Taken King DLC from Destiny1 which supposedly 'fixed' Destiny was really just the rest of the story content former lead writer Joe Staton started.

Bungie fired Joe Staton. For whatever reason, they thought that his approach to the story and the world that he was building wasn't worth pursuing. Never mind that this was the same guy that did Halo.

I don't think that it's a coincidence that all of the best stuff about Destiny is that framework that he left behind. Even the tone now is different than what came before.

I've installed and deleted and reinstalled Destiny 2 too many times to convince myself that I enjoy this game. I can't make myself like this game no matter how good the gunplay is and how polished the presentation is. All of the stuff that I really enjoyed about Destiny 1...the stuff that I looked forward to, is all gone.

Now Destiny just feels like either a PvP experience which is one side, or a PvE where you grinding through enemies without mood or story, just pew-pew and upgrading. I'm sure that people love this stuff...
 

Sir Laguna

Member
Oct 27, 2017
251
Can I ask you something?

I want to play the campaign with a friend, but when we select it it says 'too many players' despite saying it's available for 1-3 players.

We played the first mission individually and got to the farm, but it happened the same for the next mission.

What's the deal here? It's not possible to play the campaign with other people?

Thanks a lot.
 

Chettlar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,604
Bought the Forsaken Complete, which was a horrible decision because of the price drop a month or so later, but I have yet to start it (Due to Warframe, Gears 5, and Borderlands 3 - this was up after) but this all sounds.. really bad. :/

I mean, it's not "bad" it's just poorly explained. Forsaken has the best campaign tho
 

shuno

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
625
Another annoying thing is that you can't do strikes alone. I remember it was possible in D1. Every random we get makes the strike a speedrunning competition, doesn't revive and make you run through a cleared map when you run back to revive your mate or miss a jump. I don't even blame them, I understand it's boring if you already did the strikes so many times. But why can't we just play them as two then? Or alone? It's not like they're hard or something (until this point).

2. As soon as you land in the tower you see this pop-up:

iOQ2PP.jpg

Just today I had one of those popups, I guess about the new raid (just saw a Vex image), which closed itself after one or two seconds. Same with some popups before, which close themself when you accept a fireteam invite before they open. I can't remember the popup explaining the icons next to the planets on the Destination map, I can't remember the popup explaining these public quests on Mars and what to do with the encrypted keys, I can't remember the popup explaining weapon types and how the enemy shields work, and so on and so on.
 

Evilmaus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
626
So as someone who has never played Destiny and is currently downloading the F2P version, do I take this all to mean that I should ignore everything when I start and head straight for this Amanda character and start from there?
 
Jan 9, 2018
4,385
Sweden
Can I ask you something?

I want to play the campaign with a friend, but when we select it it says 'too many players' despite saying it's available for 1-3 players.

We played the first mission individually and got to the farm, but it happened the same for the next mission.

What's the deal here? It's not possible to play the campaign with other people?

Thanks a lot.

Happens on the first step of Forsaken as well, but after that I could play with a fireteam. I guess they want you to solo certain portions for some reason.
 

Deleted member 15476

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,268
Visit the OT

Seriously, it's a very useful tool.
I already got help from peeps in discord. Honestly it didn't bother me that much, or at all really. I remember disliking the OG campaign and my opinion hasn't changed now that I revisit it. I currently do the various side missions (or however they are called) in the world with the occasional story mission and fireteam strike as a short break, preparing for the upcoming raid content.
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,840
So as someone who has never played Destiny and is currently downloading the F2P version, do I take this all to mean that I should ignore everything when I start and head straight for this Amanda character and start from there?
That's what I did as a new player and I've had a pretty good time so far. When you first log in you're required to do an intro mission where the game tells you how to control your character and shoot things - feel free to complete that because you have to.

Eventually the intro mission ends with you getting a ship and you reach The Tower, where you switch to third person view. That means it's a peaceful map with no enemies. As soon as you get the third person camera, you should go to Amanda in the "Hangar" area and accept The Red War, which is the original campaign. She also has two other campaigns which are DLC campaigns to the original game. You can accept those as well, they'll just be extra missions in the "Quests" tab.

When you've accepted the campaign, you play the missions by clicking on the Red War icon on the map. It's how all instanced content works in the game - they're clickable icons on the map screen.
 

Evilmaus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
626
That's what I did as a new player and I've had a pretty good time so far. When you first log in you're required to do an intro mission where the game tells you how to control your character and shoot things - feel free to complete that because you have to.

Eventually the intro mission ends with you getting a ship and you reach The Tower, where you switch to third person view. That means it's a peaceful map with no enemies. As soon as you get the third person camera, you should go to Amanda in the "Hangar" area and accept The Red War, which is the original campaign. She also has two other campaigns which are DLC campaigns to the original game. You can accept those as well, they'll just be extra missions in the "Quests" tab.

When you've accepted the campaign, you play the missions by clicking on the Red War icon on the map. It's how all instanced content works in the game - they're clickable icons on the map screen.

Thanks, that's super helpful! Are you finding the game rewarding enough without having to dip into micro transactions?
 

Klyka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,400
Germany
Can I ask you something?

I want to play the campaign with a friend, but when we select it it says 'too many players' despite saying it's available for 1-3 players.

We played the first mission individually and got to the farm, but it happened the same for the next mission.

What's the deal here? It's not possible to play the campaign with other people?

Thanks a lot.
Certain missions at the start of Red War and Forsaken are single player only for story reasons.
 
Jan 10, 2018
6,927
Maybe Destiny needs a tutorial maskot, like Lappy in Astral Chain?

"Howdy partner! Now y'all fancy Guardians might think - where do I go to get them missions done? Well do not fear 'cus Lappy's here! See that blue guy over there with the big bad armor on? Well it just so happens that he right there is your commanding offer! I wouldn't start any trouble 'cus his eyes will be on you faster than a fallen dreg on newly harvested ether. Yee-eesh! *giggle* Anyways where was I..."
 

Donos

Member
Nov 15, 2017
6,508
Maybe Destiny needs a tutorial maskot, like Lappy in Astral Chain?

"Howdy partner! Now y'all fancy Guardians might think - where do I go to get them missions done? Well do not fear 'cus Lappy's here! See that blue guy over there with the big bad armor on? Well it just so happens that he right there is your commanding offer! I wouldn't start any trouble 'cus his eyes will be on you faster than a fallen dreg on newly harvested ether. Yee-eesh! *giggle* Anyways where was I..."
I read that in the Claptrap voice from Borderlands.
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,840
Thanks, that's super helpful! Are you finding the game rewarding enough without having to dip into micro transactions?
I've only been doing the campaign so far and it sometimes drops you better gear from killing stronger mini boss enemies (they're quite easy). It's the main form of progression before end game: some gear randomly drops, you check if it has a higher level number and you put it on if it does. I'm ignoring most stats other than the big level number, they are apparently only important when you're at the end game. The campaign seems to be pretty easy anyway, the enemies scale to your level.

I haven't been tempted to buy the Silver microtransaction currency at all and I haven't seen any item on offer that would help with the gear grind. The only important thing you need it for seems to be the Season Pass (if you've played other games with a Battle Pass, that's what it is). One season pass is included with the Shadowkeep DLC so I decided not to buy it for now.
 

Aramon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
754
Finland
I spent like half an hour doing 6 waves of Escalation Protocol on Mars.

Yay loot box as reward! I was happy.

Went to chest to get the loot but to open it you need a thing called Decrypted Cache Key.

I wasn't happy anymore. How the fuck I supposed to know that you need something like that to get the loot.

(*`へ´*)
 

Bold One

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
18,911
I spent like half an hour doing 6 waves of Escalation Protocol on Mars.

Yay loot box as reward! I was happy.

Went to chest to get the loot but to open it you need a thing called Decrypted Cache Key.

I wasn't happy anymore. How the fuck I supposed to know that you need something like that to get the loot.

(*`へ´*)
Took me a long time to get how EP worked as well, but you need to reach the final wave which is wave 7. The decrypted cache key will grant a Warmind armour.
 

Menchin

Member
Apr 1, 2019
5,167
I can't believe I'm saying this but I preferred the railroading of the original version
 

Klyka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,400
Germany
I spent like half an hour doing 6 waves of Escalation Protocol on Mars.

Yay loot box as reward! I was happy.

Went to chest to get the loot but to open it you need a thing called Decrypted Cache Key.

I wasn't happy anymore. How the fuck I supposed to know that you need something like that to get the loot.

(*`へ´*)
The last boss can stil drop weapons but yes for the armor from the chest you need to get the encrypted key (which you get one per week) then decrypt it and then do EP.