On Power Level...
Power level is not a good thing at all. Light level was sloppy in Destiny 1, and they preserved problems from Destiny 1 while introducing new ones.
Destiny 1 light levels made it possible to under-level but not to over-level, which makes it feel like your character never gets more powerful. You get "less weak," but never "stronger." This is also true in Destiny 2. Power level isn't used as a requirement for equipping new weaponry, so gear strength and power level also aren't related. You also don't gain more health or deal more damage. Power level does nothing.
I agree that Power Level - or how character power is handled in general in Destiny - is frustrating. Unlike other games you never feel like your character becomes strong and rolls over lesser enemies. Obviously, this is a design choice by Bungie. Other games let the player become stronger and offer tougher challenges up to a certain point such as a certain stage or zone but Bungie has decided to always scale enemies with the player. Its something that has pros and cons. If enemies didn't scale then we'd be rolling over them which would be fun... up until we get bored of one-shotting everything. And if they're scaled the activity remains challenging but sometimes too challenging and you never feel powerful. Its a tough problem and I can't think of a solution myself.
And on top of this, you now can level to 305 through patrolling and just doing public events. Being max level in Destiny 1 during most of its expansions meant you had completed a good amount of the endgame content - but now, "endgame" content is trivialized by design - it's not an important part of the road to the strongest character. High level content is far less "worthwhile" as a result.
I COMPLETELY disagree that Public Events and Patrol shouldn't be rewarding. I very much appreciate that there are different paths to increased in Power in Destiny 2. I don't like being required to play the latest raid or have successful Trials matches to provide the ONLY increase in Power. I'm sure many people would agree especially folks who do not have friends to play with and those who cannot devote every day of their week to Destiny. I would be okay with making a small concession in this area though.
And that would be Bungie's previous approach: Allow the latest raid to provide slightly stronger items (5 Power Levels above other drops) that would only be advantageous for those who wish to repeat the raid and play the hard version of the raid. That way folks who aren't able to complete the raid aren't at a disadvantage in the rest of the game's activities.
On top of that issue, you don't need 305 for anything. As of next Tuesday, level 300 will be useful for the prestige raid and the prestige nightfall. We already know that the Prestigious Nightfall does not give you unique loot (the aura does not count, sorry), and the prestigious raid is looking to follow a relatively similar suit.
So to summarize, you can get 305 from anything, you don't need it for anything, and it doesn't do anything. It's too easy to level, yet simultaneously not worth it to even try anyway. It's clumsily tacked on to the game.
And that is a problem.
Its true that 305 really isn't necessary. There's no Power advantage considering the way Destiny handles player and enemy levels. I wouldn't say its clumsily tacked onto the game though. It is obviously an intentional design choice by Bungie.
The one thing that power level manages to do is spin a narrative that there's more to do after level 20. The mere existence of power level suggests that an endgame exists in which getting your power to the maximum level is valuable. Why would power level exist if you didn't need it for something? Why is it the most prominently displayed number on your emblem?
This is just hyperbolic. There's plenty to do after Level 20 since the player will only be around Power Level 200 when he/she hits 20. This reads to me as a lot of whining and crying because the raid won't bump you up another 5 levels. It hurts the writer's argument.
On Loot...
Good god, I want to cry for the loot. The loot pool was made shallow to the extent of maybe 100 legendary guns when Destiny 1 could have literally 182,000 variants of the same gun. This would probably be excusable if it felt like each gun was a work of art, but it feels like a handful of drops from Destiny 1 were taken at random and chosen to be the "fixed" Destiny 2 roll.
[...]
Why is Nameless Midnight seen as top tier by sole virtue of having explosive rounds, and more importantly, why is loot so wimpy that seeing Nameless Midnight that way isn't wrong??
Basically, we got a lot of mediocre rolls as our fixed versions of guns with no chance at anything better. The loot in Destiny 2 feels watered down so much that I'm starting to think it might just be water.
This is also a massive hit to replay value - yesterday I did my milestones for the week, dismantled the repeat gear I got from that, turned in the tokens I got from doing them, dismantled the repeat gear I got from that, then turned in the gunsmith parts I got from all that and dismantled the repeats I got from that. At the end of the day, I had managed to start back at square 1 - my factions didn't rank up (since that's not a thing anymore), and my gear wasn't better (since after about 200 hours I've gotten everything at least once).
Amassing loot and dismantling it felt like I was just making a mess in my inventory for the satisfaction of cleaning it up. I have not once in my years of experience with Destiny had such a strong feeling that I had wasted my time.
[...]
The worst part of it though is that there is absolutely 0 hope for better gear. There's no reason to check your second Nameless Midnight for outlaw, no chance of your Blue Shift having cluster bombs, not the remotest possibility that your Dire Promise will get the range perk it so desperately needs. Hope is gone from the loot-earning process, and when hope walks out the door, excitement follows out right behind it.
Set perks does result in less variety. I disagree that random perks is the answer though. The real answer to this problem is better weapons and more weapon and perk variety. Unfortunately, throughout the history of Destiny Bungie has failed in this area. The easy solution is going back to random perks.
On End-Game...
Destiny 2 seems to have a horrible identity crisis that has tarnished the RPG/MMOlike elements and, honestly, ruined them. I like the game and I'm glad I played it, but those aspects of my enjoyment in Destiny 1 were not once reignited during Destiny 2. Power level was a huge tease that set expectations in a place to deliver disappointment.
Power Level works the same way Light Level did. This is pure hyperbole.
Replayability being crippled into nothingness has utterly destroyed the social aspect of the game for me. My friends do not play and do not want to play anymore. It is very sad to see.
There is no doubt that the game has plenty of playability, and it's fun to play, but it cannot be treated as a hobby in its current state. I can't blame my friends for not playing, because the game feels intended to be beaten and moved on from. Bear in mind, I am one of those guys that play too much and so are my friends. This game does not work for that attitude at all, unfortunately for us.
The changes in D2 has revealed what was always true: there's very little reason to replay Destiny activities. That core problem with Destiny is now more obvious than ever because (a) there aren't 5-10 more Light Levels to chase after [End Game gear] and (b) there aren't random perks to keep players distracted. What we should be doing is pointing this out and asking Bungie to provide a solid solution to this. Going back to the way things were in D1 is not an improvement; its just a band-aid.
Balance has taken a lot of the fun out of loot and the crucible without adding anything meaningful. Those who like it more this way are almost certainly rivaled by numbers who don't, because there's no question that the change is a matter of taste purely - but having less cool pve weapons is doubtlessly less fun. Therefore, balance has hurt the game more than it helps in my opinion.
I wish they'd make a titan skating exotic.
People in a similar position to mine - on any level, and I am not the only person who has gotten more than 100 hours in these 5 weeks - want reason to keep playing the game, but will find none.
It leaves a lot to be desired.
I'm not sure what the author is referring to here aside from the Secondary Weapon change. Quite frankly, I didn't like it at first either but I've grown accustomed to D2's Kinetic-Energy-Power set-up. Honestly, this is the one thing I doubt will ever change during D2's life due to the considerable amount of work they put into it on the PvE and PvP sides. This is one those things players have to adapt to.
On Random Rolls & Reforging (rerolling)...
Stop making balance the central focus of the game. Nobody is going to look back in 8 years and say "Destiny 2 was so balanced, it was amazing," but people very well might think back on the rocket launcher that exploded into a wolf-pack of tiny homing rockets and obliterated nearly everything in the game.
Reintroduce randomized rolls but control for it better. Create a list of perks and their values from weak, ok, strong, and incredible. Give them appropriate rarities (25%,50%,20%,5% as an example) and then find an appropriate pace to reduce luck levels as playtime increases so you have some level of diminishing returns. Reward players in a way that respects their dedication, but doesn't put them on a totally different level.
Reintroduce reforging alongside random perks such that you combine two weapons into one, choosing which perks from both you want and scrapping the rest, so god rolls are possible to work towards. Critically here, godrolls would become unique to the individual and feel like a progressive endeavor rather than a slot machine. Someone could log on and work on making their perfect Mannanan SR4. This system would make repeat drops of many kinds valuable, and players would finally have some customization that isn't purely cosmetic.
The reforging idea is not a bad one. Its what other online games already do. D2 would benefit from a system like that since weapon variety is severely lacking in Vanilla D2. If Bungie were to implement a system like this alongside the addition of many new varied weapons and new perks it could result in something special. This is the only outstanding bit of the author's piece (based on the excerpts alone). If I can find time this week I will check out the rest of his/her post.
