Destiny: TTK - Initial Thoughts & Opinions

It has been a long hard road out of the Hellmouth folks. Seriously. Year one of Destiny has taken a toll on my confidence that online gaming can be salvaged for future generations. Throughout Destiny, during the first year it was evident to me that the game was flawed on a serious level. I could ramble on for a good hour, or more about how many things were wrong with Destiny in it's "Beta" phase, but I won't though. You've likely all heard it by now anyways, and with the new expansion upon us what is relative is "The Taken King". When it comes to this hyped, and highly promoted end-game experience which is tied to the core of Destiny the added expansion has lived up to said hype in some ways, but still continues to fall extremely short in others. The story, for example is the prime example of what the other expansions should have been content, and story-wise. It is the most epic, and cinematic journey I've seen in Destiny, yet. The Crucible, however is still plagued by problems mainly brought on by those who play it, and those who sit on the sidelines doing f**k all about what's going on. Even with the new maps, and modes of play the online multiplayer that is the Crucible comes off as being a proper annoyance in many different ways. As a result Destiny, in it's entirety is currently an offset balance of quality, and the lack thereof.

In "The Taken King" we find Oryx, the father of Crota mad as hell fire at the fact we've killed off his son. He is on a murderous rampage with an extinction event in mind. In the beginning of his grudge filled campaign he wipes out entire fleets of Awoken with his impressive might, and even turns the inhabitants of the planets into altered slaves (aka, "The Taken") to do his bidding. That "bidding" being the annihilation of you, and your fire team. The stakes are definitely higher this time around, and in a chess tournament sense of the meaning the major role-players on either side are making their moves towards a final endgame. The Tower vanguard are adapting their strategy accordingly as are the various other vendors who inhabit both the Vestian Outpost, and Earth's last city. As you visit both places you will find things have changed both structurally, and functionally. There's plenty of higher ranked gear, and weapons to obtain in order to prepare for possibly the biggest battle ever. There's even new modes, and maps available to play on in the Crucible. Of course options such as the Arenas, and Strikes still remain open to the public, and will afford you added opportunities to gain better things.

When it comes to the story there are plenty of cinematic moments that tie-in even the lowliest of character contributors. It builds upon the lore, and mythology that Destiny is based upon as it should have done from the start. Sadly, I feel that ending the game on such a grand note with all these changes in place makes all of my previous time, effort, and money seem ill spent. For the longest time, prior to the "TTK" expansion Destiny was a basic grindfest, and social event at best. Sure it looked breathtakingly beautiful, but it wasn't anything truly as spectacular as the trailers, and promos had hyped it to be. Again, in this particular expansion it does live up to the hype somewhat, especially in the story driven portions of the game, but it also falls short of being a "Triple A" experience at the same time. Outside of the co-op experience that is the story mode campaign, and onto the multiplayer battlefield that is the Crucible things continue to go horribly wrong. As I mentioned before the cheating is at an all-time high, because no one cares enough to do what needs to be done. Not only that, but most of the new maps were so poorly constructed that they make for a back, and forth b*tch slap contest in tightly constructed corridors/hallways. The open map layout that was used so frequently before has become an awful mess that only enables the cheaters to win more easily. Hiding spots are plentiful, and seeing as some of the maps are large with obvious vantage points they only serve to ruin the fun, because they are too sniper friendly. The fact that players are still using the final round glitch to one-shot another player from a digital mile away only makes the competitive aspect of destiny a lost cause.

Even if you were to go for the "Classic 6v6" mode with supposedly old maps you'll still find yourself battling the unfair odds against Destiny's thuglife yoloists (aka, the CoD crowd) on the larger maps. It claims to be a clash, and control mode of play, but with the larger maps being part of the focal point you still run into the lingering problem that is glitched sniping. To sum it all up the Crucible is in the worst shape it's been in. With it being a vital part of unlocking gear, and weapons it only serves to continue rubbing salt into the wounds of those war weary gamers who endured Destiny's year one's "Beta" phase. Speaking of the "Beta" phase ... With all of the hours, and effort I put into amassing the best of gear only to find it worthless in each following expansion makes my continued efforts seem pointless. What happens if they have another expansion, and all we've earned here goes to sh*t as well? It's like Bungie is saying all that we did in year one doesn't mean a damn thing. The way they have handled upgrades, storage, and other gear related features was also one of the things that has made me second guess sticking with Destiny in the obvious upcoming sequel. The developers have yet to iron out the issues, and at this point I don't think they are able, or willing to do so.

Thinking back on it all Tower vendors like Master Rahool, and Xur (Agent of the Nine) seem to have been put into the game to troll those who would dare to complain. I f**king hate trolling, and to think that a developer would waste time doing something so petty instead of investing quality time, and effort where it was needed angers me even further. That's me being honest. Deep to the Oversoul honest. For now though I'm going to try (once again) to get my money's worth out of Destiny ($60 + $40 + $40 = $140!!!). I'm not sure I'll ever reach that level of satisfaction though, but I'm damn sure gonna try.