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Kotaku: Destiny 2 delayed beyond September launch, deciding on content to save for D2
- Thread starter iMax
- Start date
Orthogonal
Member
Spot on. I didn't put as much time in acquiring some of the top end weapons from TTK like I did for year 1, but it wouldn't matter. There was no loadout in TTK that came even close to rivaling Fatebringer/Black Hammer/Gjallarhorn in sheer brutal efficiency.
Sure, they need to mix things up and not let a couple of weapons dominate the scene, but watering everything down to mediocrity isn't the answer.
Sword Of Doom
Member
Well yeah VoG is still great but it's not really relevant anymore.
It's hardly a challenge at this point anyways considering everyone is over leveled
Maybe the reason for the delay is them reworking the entire engine/rebuilding the engine and having character data import? IDK.
That'd be a hell of a lot of work off the top of my head, but having a better foundation in the long-run would be worth the hell/development time?
Gamer @ Heart
Member
When it was sold to Activision, there wasn't suppose to even be a ps4/one version. But the late development clusterfuck delay made it so that Activision demanded one.
ZehDon
Member
Yep, and Bungie'll let it rot. "Destiny 1" is done, and any time spent on it is time that should be spent on a sequel that needs to relaunch their franchise. Bungie are drowning. Their "weekly updates" are so far disconnected from the reality of their community, that they feel like they were written back when Bungie thought it had a 90 meta-critic locked down.
As for Destiny 2, Bungie styled Destiny after the MMO model, wherein new content replaces old content. The issue is that Destiny simply didn't have enough content to fuel the way the player base burns through games of this nature. With TTK, they removed as much content from the grind as they added. With Destiny 2, if they're having to delay and cut content just to get it out the door, its unlikely they have time to fix any of the major issues with Destiny 1. I suspect we'll get a bigger TTK; a game that feels like its treading water. Bungie's contract with Activision must feel like an achor at this point.
The main focus of the new "event" is pvp-based? Good god. Sounds as exciting as that amazing emblem they just had people log in for.
To be fair they haven't revealed everything about the event. But if 2v2 Crucible matches is what they crowing about now, I can't imagine the secondary details are really that exciting either.
The 1-week duration is what seems kinda bullshit, considering that Halloween was 2 weeks and Sparrow Racing was 3 weeks. It reminds me of a Free2Play game I used to enjoy, where they had holiday events that let you earn special items and weapons. You could earn them without buying currency just by playing the game, because these events went on for 2 weeks at a time. Slowly the developers realized that this was too easy, so event duration was cut down to five days and the new-style events required about 3x as much work. Which meant that pretty much everybody had to use paid consumables if they were to complete all the associated quests in time to get a reward.
AllIsOneIsNone
Banned
I hope they take all they've learned and make Destiny 2 the game that everyone wanted. If that takes even an extra year, then so be it. I'm hoping games like The Division will fill the loot void until then.
I really think Destiny's core systems need to be stripped apart and redone. The gameplay is great, but everything else could use a lot of work.
I really think Destiny's core systems need to be stripped apart and redone. The gameplay is great, but everything else could use a lot of work.
FleckSplat
Member
Buy my game, buy my game...
Unfortunately this will most probably be the case. Especially with the success and popularity of destiny. They've seen how little it takes to keep people playing Destiny.
Bungie's lowered our expectations so much that a decent expansion like TTK is being regarded so highly.
So you want a sequel to a game to have as much content as a small expansion? This is exactly what I mean by our expectations being so low.
A delay will only do good for the game. So with Destiny 2 rumored to be released so soon does that mean their still using the same engine which caused so much of the problems with Destiny originally?
ArkkAngel007
Member
So if they are deciding on what content goes in this year's DLC and what goes into Destiny 2, a new engine sounds out of the question if everything is going to be so interchangeable and subject to more or less a matter of months of being implemented in one fashion or another.
Which isn't the best news IMO. Issues making design adjustments aside, one of the other major issues was implementing balance with PvE and PvP in mind. When making balance changes, the only differences you could make towards PvE and PvP that wouldn't affect the other was damage vs Guardians or Minions of Darkness (Players or PvE enemies) or ammunition upon spawn per mode. Everything else (ammo count, range, reload speed, etc) could only done uniformly across. So cutting the range of a shotgun as need be for Crucible could horribly destroy what use it could have in the story content. Handcannons and ARs faced this very issue in their balancing.
I like how Destiny plays, and I want to see that brought over into a new engine. But these issues in how balancing can be implemented needs to change. And I'm just not sure if they can do that on the same or derivative engine.
There also isn't a lot of confidence to be had if they're questioning what should stay in Destiny 2 and brought into the Year 2 DLC, unless that means they have a wealth of content for launch and in the plans for Destiny 2 Year 1 content.
Which isn't the best news IMO. Issues making design adjustments aside, one of the other major issues was implementing balance with PvE and PvP in mind. When making balance changes, the only differences you could make towards PvE and PvP that wouldn't affect the other was damage vs Guardians or Minions of Darkness (Players or PvE enemies) or ammunition upon spawn per mode. Everything else (ammo count, range, reload speed, etc) could only done uniformly across. So cutting the range of a shotgun as need be for Crucible could horribly destroy what use it could have in the story content. Handcannons and ARs faced this very issue in their balancing.
I like how Destiny plays, and I want to see that brought over into a new engine. But these issues in how balancing can be implemented needs to change. And I'm just not sure if they can do that on the same or derivative engine.
There also isn't a lot of confidence to be had if they're questioning what should stay in Destiny 2 and brought into the Year 2 DLC, unless that means they have a wealth of content for launch and in the plans for Destiny 2 Year 1 content.
It's been standard practice for years in the MMO space to separate PvE and PvP gear, as trying to balance gear for both is a nightmare and doesn't really work out very well. It's something that I think is going to end up being a problem in The Division as well (especially when it comes to how you get gear at end game), and these console MMO lite developers seem to have glossed over the issue that MMO developers have been dealing with for years and typically solve with creating PvP specific gear that has a PvP stat. Trying to combine PvE and PvP into the same gear grind doesn't really work for a number of reasons.
Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
They've probably been cloistered in a meeting rooms for many months, sipping their coffee, brainstorming around whiteboards full of crude matrices of all the different ways they are going to monetize any aspect of the game they can get away with. Doing risk assessments, calculating how much social media backlash they can endure, how to hook players, how many customers they can afford to lose, and the minimum amount of 'subscribers' they need to keep the gravy train afloat.
vasametropolis
Member
They should scrap almost every MMO aspect and make a pure co-op RPG. That's what everyone thought it was going to be anyway. They can't keep up with the demand with this type of game so might as well cut their losses.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Wasn't there a pretty widespread industry thinking around the time that the Destiny deal was struck that the next gen consoles would struggle out the gate? I don't think most people even within the industry expected them to be adopted as quickly as they were, and for the PS3 and 360 to be dropped so swiftly by consumers. It's why there were so many cross gen games and so few next gen exclusives in the first year and a half of the PS4/XboxOne's existence. I don't think publishers saw the shift coming.
sturgboski
Member
I see what you did, but all I hear is Jay Sherman from the Critic.
It succeeded greatly, which is the scary thing considering all of the shortcomings it had. That's a win for flawless marketing.
It's about sustainability. These kinds of games live and die on their content output. They have a ten year plan in place for this game, and it isn't going to remain successful if they maintain their abysmal content output. Every time I think about Destiny I can't help but think about how little they have put out with hundreds of employees and many years of work. It's not even like they are putting out so little because what is there is super detailed, as their worlds are completely lifeless husks of land with very little in the way of world building or interactivity. Destiny is an amazing idea that was executed exceptionally poorly.
joecanada
Member
Well I can certainly wait. Destiny LE for 99 was one of my biggest regrets this gen. Abysmal amount of content for 100 bucks, but I did actually enjoy the game. No hopes destiny 2 has more content but I'll wait for a later package with all dlc this time, not some "season" which is timed
YoshiMax
Member
There's an expression "fool me once".
At least it wasn't Watch_Dogs
GoodCoffeeJoey
Banned
Pretty big deal if true because the yearly alternating full game/comet was the one thing stipulated in the Activision contract.
Except people didn't abandon it en masse after launch. The Taken King was well received, addressed many of the major problems vanilla Destiny had, and brought a lot of people back to the game.
The difficulty comes in keeping the player base satisfied when they might not have another large addition of content until Fall 2016 or later.
Interficium
Banned
You forgot the random bursts of maniacal evil laughter followed by their evening crunch dinner of roast baby.
Grow up.
TheActtionFigure
Member
Fool me one time, shame on you.
Fool me twice can't put the blame on you.
Fool me three times fuck the peace sign, load the Gjally & let it rain on you.
In all seriousness though, this is horrible news for those of us that were waiting for content. I completely understand diverting resources to Destiny 2, but you'd think Bungie would've had something to hold over us diehards until the sequel dropped. As a few folks have mentioned, a simple update to the old raids would have me reinstalling the game in a heartbeat. But alas, since their engine is apparently a nightmare to work with I don't see that happening soon.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
No.doubt will be a fall 17 game.
Unless they yank content. Hopefully game game sees major changes in a way of a more halo inspired campaign somehow.
Unless they yank content. Hopefully game game sees major changes in a way of a more halo inspired campaign somehow.
It's more about handling development ala the Call of Duty franchise. They're trying to make that work with Destiny and are having trouble adapting.
ToastyEthan
Banned
I'm betting Bungie does...for Destiny 2...
1. Holds back content to sell it to us later
2. Includes Last-Gen and This-Gen
3.Microtransactions are SLOWLY entered into full-time rotation
4.The Story improves from "Awful" to "Passable"
5.New players will benefit the most, while Hard-Core Destiny players get the shaft with everything becoming obsolete.
"The Daily Grind is...grinding me, daily".
1. Holds back content to sell it to us later
2. Includes Last-Gen and This-Gen
3.Microtransactions are SLOWLY entered into full-time rotation
4.The Story improves from "Awful" to "Passable"
5.New players will benefit the most, while Hard-Core Destiny players get the shaft with everything becoming obsolete.
"The Daily Grind is...grinding me, daily".
ZehDon
Member
Unfortunately, even though TTK was initially well received, Bungie have lost nearly all of that good will with their handling of the game post-launch. Head over to reddit, twitter, the official forums, or even the LFG sites; their community is livid, borderline in revolt. Bungie sold an MMO at a premium, and have basically abandoned it. Destiny 2 is going to be a hard sell.
Destiny easily sold 10 million or more copies. But because it has a number of MMO-like features, it is often judged on current levels of player engagement. I don't think that is necessarily unfair, but at the same time most people aren't adamantly demanding to know why there isn't more DLC for any other FPS released in 2014.
After reading that Kotaku piece it sounds like Activision should give Bungie some breathing room, some time to improve their tech and tools and get a solid plan in place going forward. I liked the game for what it was, but like many had serious issues/concerns with it. If getting Destiny 2 right takes another six - twelve months I'd be fine with it. I'm not in a rush to play any more Destiny without matchmaking for all content anyways. I also don't like the idea (well, in this case the knowledge) that the developers of a game I enjoy are breaking their backs to grind for months on end to get it out to me. I can wait if it means they get to work normal schedules and take vacation days like normal people.
The problem with destiny is that people like it, hell people love it's gunplay but it needs content and regular content updates (every 2-3 months they need to drop content) because that's what people want, not these stupid events.
Personally they should just take destiny back to the drawing board and look at what the community wants from the game going forward which at the moment is what they gave us in the taken king, compelling story driven content with a kickass raid at the end and a couple strikes in between.
Taken king was a glimpse at what can make destiny great but they need to fix that content creation pipeline so they can move out content at a much better pace then what's happened in year 1 and what is happening in year 2.
Hell cut last gen as well, its just a burden at this point, honestly I have had it on the back-burner since finishing the last raid but I'd come back in a heartbeat the second they drop significant content again because when they get it right its fantastic.
Personally they should just take destiny back to the drawing board and look at what the community wants from the game going forward which at the moment is what they gave us in the taken king, compelling story driven content with a kickass raid at the end and a couple strikes in between.
Taken king was a glimpse at what can make destiny great but they need to fix that content creation pipeline so they can move out content at a much better pace then what's happened in year 1 and what is happening in year 2.
Hell cut last gen as well, its just a burden at this point, honestly I have had it on the back-burner since finishing the last raid but I'd come back in a heartbeat the second they drop significant content again because when they get it right its fantastic.
Vinterbird
Member
Almost every game you've ever enjoyed has had the people behindi t breaking their backs getting it out of the gate. It's just in the case of Destiny that we have Jason Schrier and his incredible work with getting some good sources, that we actually hear about it.
'From a business perspective it's a super fascinating situation. Activision and Bungie management must have had some really intense meetings about the 2016 and 2017 plans for Destiny, and whether they should retool their entire pipeline or what the options are to make the production of content more smooth.
Hopefully Bungie and Activision can find a solution that doesn't destroy everything that's been made internally so far, and everyone comes out happier for it.
Noisepurge
Member
I'm actually hoping it will be delayed until fall of 2017. Time for a new engine and to drop last gen. Otherwise we will just get incremental updates.
GeordieMark
Member
After reading the article, I feel like maybe Bungie should consider outsourcing creation of DLC for 2016 and concentrate on making Destiny 2 the best it can be. It sounds like the current schedule is drowning them, and if they don't find a way of solving that issue, they are really going to struggle, and will probably start losing talent.
I remember seeing destiny on highmoons studios website. Assumed they might be helping with destiny 1 while Bungie would focus on destiny 2
http://www.highmoonstudios.com/
It won't help much if they take 8 hours to load a map IF everything goes well.
True, at that point, it's wasting money and manpower if that's all you can do with that much time spent.
Don't they normally port stuff to PC?