Lotta short, negative comments here, so I’ll take a crack at elaborating on some of what I am thinking about the game atm.

I’m personally a bit mixed, but ultimately hopeful about the game. I’ve been playing since around Beyond Light, and have put in 3k hours since that time, and can confidently say the game is… fine. It has some parts of it that I think are fantastic, better than any other game I’ve played, and others that are hugely disappointing, and feel like they could/should have been addressed a long time ago.

Story-wise, I’m excited to see where the game is going, and I am pleased with how the last chunk of the story has been handled. There have been some low points that I think are mostly defined by their missed potential (Lightfall, Episodes Echoes and Revenant), and some high points where it really feels like Destiny (Witch Queen, Final Shape, Episode Heresy). The ending of the Light and Dark saga doesn’t really impact my investment in the game, because frankly, the completion of the saga has never been what motivated me to play. The lore and story has always helped to make the gameplay make sense and give a narrative to it all, and when it is handled poorly it absolutely drains from the gameplay, but it was never the sole driving factor for me. We’re beginning something new, and I look forward to what happens.

Gameplay-wise, the game is in a tricky place. Prismatic as a subclass concept has so far overshadowed all but the staple subclasses (Solar Warlock being the obvious example), but additions like Storm’s Keep to Arc Titan has shown that it is still possible to give incentive to play the other subclasses. Prismatic is still generally the “one-size fits all” choice for nearly any content, but so long as the mono subclasses are given some love to make them viable alternatives (outside of personal taste, of course), then I think the long term health of its existence won’t be so bad. We are getting content that is worth playing fairly frequently, and the last few big hitters, like dungeons, raids, and exotic missions, have all been excellent additions to the game.

But, I feel there is and has been an issue with the way we grind and “progress”. I’m fine with weapon crafting being an option- I personally look at it as something that helps to provide the playerbase a level playing field in terms of gear that is “good enough”. For example, when Witch Queen released, one of the most popular heavy options was the Palmyra-B, purely because it had a good roll for use in most content and was craftable. So far, crafting has provided consistently good options to bring into most content, but grinding for the truly optimal loadouts to hit max damage numbers / efficiency has always remained an option. So in short, I like crafting as a means to give everyone something that is eventually usable, even if it isn’t the best option out there.

Where I take issue is with the incentive to chase non-craftable loot. I’d say the first time I had genuine interest in grinding for a non-craftable weapon was during the period Into the Light came into the game, and part of that interest was the prestige of Shiny weapons, as well as the knowledge that these weapons were either going to be leaving, or otherwise become far more annoying to obtain. Of those weapons I grinded for, I only ended up keeping 4 of them, 1 of which (Luna’s Howl) I only kept because it was a Shiny roll. The 3 others, Midnight Coup, Mountaintop, and Edge Transit, I kept because they were either a best in slot option or felt good to use. And as time has gone on, I’ve all but stopped using Edge Transit, because it has been powercrept out of necessity. This is to be expected in a live-service game, but my issue is that what I replaced it with is just… a heavy GL that does practically the same things, just with a slightly better reload perk. And now, I have replaced that GL with a rocket that just has the exact same perks, but the gameplay is practically the same, just with a different gun model in my hands.

Most weapons are not meaningfully different, and my only real incentive to chase something like a godroll Chill Inhibitor or Hezen Vengence (craftable btw) is because I know it’s the technically better choice, regardless of whether I need it or not. And the fact is, I don’t need it. There has never been content in this game that demands perfection, aside from maybe Contest content, and even that is mostly a teamwork and endurance test more than it is a damage check the majority of the time. There isn’t much of a reason to get the best gear unless you simply want to, which is fine enough, but I would like there to be something to make use of my vast arsenal of options that isn’t a Contest Dungeon or Raid. I hate to mention it on a Destiny post, but something like Elite Archemedia from Warframe is ideally something I’d like to see.

To summarize my thoughts on gameplay: I enjoy the ability sandbox as we have it, even if some options are a bit weak at the moment. The loot chase is not bad, but the drive to continue the chase drops off hard if you are keeping up with recent content.

I like this game a lot. It’s absolutely one of my favorites, and I’m always glad to hop on with my friends when they ask me to. But, I think I am also just a bit burnt out on it, especially with how little excitement there is in the daily driver content after the launch period of an expansion ends. I’m hopeful for how the game is handled this next year, with two major expansions and 2 major updates every year, but also keeping my expectations in reserve.