I spent a couple of hours with the PvP mode, to try and look a bit deeper into the dual primary weapon system. The distinct traits of each weapon class makes for very minute differences in situational effectiveness, which the walled off experience of the PvP mode shine a spotlight on. For example, the subtle difference in immediate DPS of the SMG against other weapons is useful in finishing off a damaged opponent compared to reloading. This option wasn't available in D1, because your alternative weapon was a special, which you didn't always have ammo for. The longer range of the scout rifle makes a good opener, and swapping to a pulse or auto rifle for mid-close range changes things up. The differences in weapons are basically non-existent across a long enough time line, but taken in moment-to-moment effectiveness, and due to the hyper-limited aspect of this mode in D2, those difference add up quickly. It's certainly subtle, but it rewards map knowledge, weapon knowledge, and situational awareness significantly more than D1 ever did, and so I think, at least for now, it appears to have a decent ceiling. It's slower, more tactical, and less bombastic than D1's PvP, which could feel like a crap shoot with all the one hit kills flying around. Some people are going to like it more, some people are going to like it less. It's different in how much it rewards focus, but I feel like it at least rewards you for playing well, as opposed to handing out partition medals in the form of one-hit kills on a short timer.
The super and grenade cool downs I'm of two minds about. On one side, D2 feels quite different, and very much it's own beast, with it's own mindset. If Bungie want to put a laser focus on skillful gunplay, they should embrace it and keep the timers as long as they are. Guns and a player's skill with them determine the outcome of matches currently. Shortening the cool downs for grenades and supers opens up the one-hit kill spam from D1, and shifts the focus. Gunplay would go from the near-single determining factor, to simply an element of success in PvP. Coupled with the power curb of gear to come, this might eventually turn D2 back into D1 after we're all geared up and max levelled. For my preference, I'd prefer Bungie stay the course and keep things the way they are now. I can only die to random super, grenade, melee, rocket, or special weapon rounds, so many times.
For all the good Bungie have done with the changes to PvP mode, they're all the wrong choices for the PvE aspect. Replaying the campaign mission after a few hours in PvP, and it's evident Bungie are simply wrong. The slower pace of the PvP mode doesn't suit the narrative Bungie are framing. We're grunts here, not legends. We're not aggressive, pushing forward, taking the fight to the enemy. We're plodding bullet hoses, having to take cover until the regen system tells us we're OKed to keep playing. The minute differences in the weapon classes that have room to be felt in PvP are utterly lost amongst the noise of the campaign. The weapon dance of the original Destiny is lost, and with it, the moments that I loved from Destiny. Swapping to a shotgun to drop a charging enemy instead of pulling back. Making a tactical jump-retreat, while still firing offensively, and dodging enemy fire instead of taking cover while your shields charge. Sliding into a special ammo drop, reloading while jumping, and letting a Fusion rifle blast clear a wave of adds before you hit the ground. The dual primary system simply doesn't allow for any of that. Heavy weapons are for bosses. The rest of the time, it's primaries. I tried to re-create as much of my favourite moments as I could, but it's just empty. The weapons are balanced and homogenised to such a degree that swapping weapons has only a single discernible advantage: not reloading. Pulse rifle to hand cannon. Auto rifle to SMG. It's all the same. And multiple play throughs of the campaign mission just highlights how utterly uninteresting the sandbox is with such limited tools. The "excitement" now comes from scripted moments. Enemies bursting through doors. Unexpected Drop pods. Timed ambushing mob spawns. Rather than the combat sandbox offering up organic moments that shine, fueled at its core by the fantastic weapons, the system now falls back on pre-designed moments that Bungie insert. I simply loathe the thought of "daily story missions" now. At least D1 fell back onto it's combat sandbox to carry the game. Fueled by the Primary, Special, and Heavy weapon system, D1 was simply exciting to play, even during the worst story missions. Destiny 2 has mitigated the sandbox with its dual primary system, and now appears to be falling back on scripting to make up the difference.
I've only cleared the strike once, so I wanna go through a few more times before I give deeper thought to it, but I feel that the strike is the "real" sandbox test. At a surface glance, this is not filling me with confidence. The dual primary system is just too damn limited. The moments I loved are just absent, replaced by shoot, take cover, reload. Shoot, take cover reload. Shoot, take cover, reload. I swapped guns half way through because I was bored, rather than necessity. The differences in primary weapons are not big enough nor exciting enough to carry the primary moment-to-moment experience of the game. And by extension, they're not enough to fuel the loot grind. I hope I find something more beneath the surface.
I feel like Destiny 2 is Destiny 1 with everything down-turned to 7, instead of cranked up to 11. If I had to guess, I think Bungie learned that if they let the power curve grow too high, they can't control the sandbox anymore. I think Destiny 1 simply got crazier than they expected, so they reigned everything in. Year 1 exotic weapons being so much more powerful, interesting, and by extension sought after, than anything they added to the game since, is a sign of this. It feels like they'd simply rather everyone has differently named assault rifles with minute differences, than another Thorn or Ghorn turning the sandbox on its head, and they tuned the entire game accordingly. For balancing the game and keeping Bungie in control, that makes perfect sense. They can guarantee your experience, and by extension, ensure that they know what they need to do to feed their player base: bigger numbers and assault rifles with new names. Destiny 2 is a reboot that wants to turn down the volume. It's taken someone like me and made me interested in PvP, because I feel like my skill matters, so there's merit in some of their choices. But it's made me disinterested in PvE, and that's a pretty crazy change.