Destiny 2

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

 

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I like at the end of the trailer at the bottom it says "Not actual gameplay footage".. the trailer also doesn't hint at any plot or promise anything big and emphasizes only shooting people. The first honest trailer I've ever seen of Destiny. lol.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I just see a bunch of Destiny 1 stuff, same class vanguards and what not. I guess the rumors of being in the distant future were wrong. I'll give them another shot, but I want more than the same 3 classes and the same weapons. 

They can fix their formula simply by making open world progression viable. Even if it's those bounty style missions. 

[Sledgstone 8,672]

If Destiny 2 is using the same engine as Destiny 1, then it'll probably be a direct sequel and take place in the same solar system and on the same planets. Hopefully theres more cities to explore with npcs and more RPG elements. If they shift from endless gear grinding to an end game fashion wars style, I could get interested. But endless gear grinding with every dlc and having top level weapons locked behind raids again will make this game completely unappealing to me.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Yeah, I hope they get an infusion of anet influence this go around. I actually enjoyed Iron Banner when i had decent gear to compete with, and even then playing it for the weekend would at least net you a nasty weapon at the end. I was overjoyed when i got Felwinter's Lie. The game had interesting ideas with poor execution. I'll give them as pass because of how bad the production got jacked up. Hopefully they've learned from that. I can only hope they make this into a COD4 type moment where it takes from its predecessor and makes something game changing. New IPs aren't easy to make and so hopefully they've learned from their growing pains. IB should be fun for everyone and the way to do that is make gear accessible to everyone. The weekly nightfall was actually really good for gear near the end of when i stopped playing. I got a shit ton of exotic and legendaries from it.

But most of all I hope they learn not to make a end all be all weapon and wait almost 2 years to nerf it... all the while pulling that BS where you sell it once and never again... until you nerf it.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

FYI Sledge Destiny 2 is being developed in a brand new engine built specifically for the game (though whether it's better then the current one is anybody's guess).

Honestly I'm not giving Bungie another god damn cent unless they prove to me this game is everything it's supposed to be, until then I won't give Destiny 2 a shot (sorry, that bridge was burned with Destiny and it's not going to be rebuilt anytime soon). Quite honestly everything I've read about what was announced (I haven't watched the trailer, don't see any reason to do so) is it's pretty much the same promises we were given with Destiny and they were never fulfilled until an expansion that cost nearly as much as the original game (and even then it wasn't really that good by what I've seen).

Quite frankly you're going to get the exact same thing you have now with a new skin. I highly doubt anything will change besides giving us an actual story this time around. Gear will still be locked behind raid progression/crucible grinding with a shot of decent gear from IB (which honestly didn't rely on gear as much as everyone says it did, skill was a major factor in how well you actually did (and of course having one of a few select weapons, still took skill to use said weapons but they did help)), there's enough people still playing who love this model that Bungie will never change it.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

It will be interesting to see. If it is a reskin they better delay it or they'll have a hard time going up against COD:WWII and Red Dead Redemption 2. And that's all we know about from leaks. After E3 my wallet is going to be crying of God of War is given a holiday release date on top of all that. 

[Sledgstone 8,672]

12 hours ago, Strider Hiryu said:

FYI Sledge Destiny 2 is being developed in a brand new engine built specifically for the game (though whether it's better then the current one is anybody's guess).

Hey now, we're talking about activision here. Lets not forget that Call of Duty Ghosts was built with a "new engine" also:

This is another reason why I'm taking anything about Destiny with a grain of salt. I won't fall into any more Bungie hype again.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Eh, as much as I like to trash Activision. COD is a different beast all together. Bungie is the dev, while Activision has a more hands on role than just publisher for COD. Sledgehammer/IW/Treyarch are just yes men. 

While I wouldn't be surprised, I can see a different engine. But more a long the lines of Frostbite 2.0-3.0 than a whole new different thing entirely. 

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Still no actual footage. I guess they are saving that for E3. I'm also assuming they are going with the original vision for the game where it doesn't take itself so seriously. 

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

 

Over all it was a decent presentation. They could have went into more depth about some of the new aspects of open world. They repeated a lot of I play solo/my kids play solo/SOLO! talk and then briefly mentioned the new aspects that accompany patrols. The added layer to public events sounds cool but I'd like to see what it entails. If its a solo objective and everyone is trying to get it at the same time, it will be rage inducing rather than cool.

The Guided Games concept is good natured, but unless clans get decent enough rewards to carry noobs through raids, it will just be used as an LFG for people with the meta load outs. They'd have to have a raid ranking or stat, and the lower the stat (which should be account wide across all characters to prevent boosting) the more rewards a clan can get. This should also be divided up into similar and different rewards up until a certain threshold... that way clans don't go looking for complete noobs and people that have done them sparingly wont get kicked because they aren't a "real noob". Its all a complex formula I'm sure they didn't use at all.

PvP being 4v4 is going to be brutal. I see them adding 6v6 back at some point. Having one terrible person on your team is going to make solo q not fun at all. Everyone will have to be competent. Iron banner will be less fun getting steam rolled by people with beastly gear. 

I need more details on gear acquisition and the adventures. The story looks a lot better... but they don't have as much experience with how to move the camera like COD does. The guy just looks like a noob playing in this demo. When I finally got to raid in D1, it was some of the best content of any shooter. Its a shame that high quality mechanics couldn't have gone into strikes. They said only 50% of the playerbase ever touched raids in the game. Thats pretty telling... if they are decreasing the size of PvP, then I hope more effort will be put into smaller group content. The 3 part boss of the strike sounds intriguing, I hope we see some footage of that. I really want this game to be good. They realize they had a playerbase retention problem the last game... and I hope they really listened to the player feedback.

 

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

I hate to say it but it's Destiny with a face lift. The visuals are nice and I like the new hud but it's pretty much the same exact thing we were given polished up a little more with more promises they don't seem to be keeping (and as of right now do seem to plan on keeping). Again I know I'm jaded but I'm not seeing anything impressive here and it's sad considering what Bungie used to be capable of. Plus I'm not sold on the new sub-classes (while I like the look of the Hunter and Warlock super I'm not sold yet, they're expecting me to be okay with giving up 2 sub-classes I actually liked for that (I'd say three but I never got to play with the third sub-class)).

While I'm interested in 4v4 Crucible (probably the only thing Bungie did right outside of IB) it's not enough to sell me on this game. I'm hoping in the coming months they'll show more to prove that this game is worth coming back for to all of us jaded with the first title (and worth my $60). Sadly I just don't think this Bungie is capable of delivering us what we want (I mostly blame Activision for this but it seems all the good talent at Bungie left for 343 Studios to continue Halo and what was left ran after the original Destiny idea was scrapped). As it stands I could care less if this game is good because lets face it, there's going to be an influx of similar games coming up soon (if the rumors of BioWare's new IP are to be believed).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I watched an unedited playthrough of the strike. The first half looks like reused assets from the black garden (the final story mission of D1). I liked the drill hazard mechanic and the last boss, but outside of that it looked too easy. 

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I watched the reveal live yesterday. I agree with Strider that it looks like Destiny 1 with a facelift. The mechanics all look the same, the art style is the same. But still no ambient life on any of the maps, no sign of npcs outside of the 1 town/base. There might be some npcs out on the maps to trigger adventures but I'm guessing they'll be stationary npcs that give out missions and we won't see rpg style missions like escorting npcs. There was no mention about how long the actual campaign will take to complete. Dropping crucible from 6 vs 6 to 4 vs 4 doesn't sound appealing to me. The first thing I thought when I saw that was that they wanted to reduce queue times for matches. The control game mode of 3 control points seems pointless with 4 vs 4. It would result in entire teams zerging around the map or alot of 1 vs 1 encounters usually with 1 person camping spots to instant kill the person trying to decap the point.

The only things that interest me for Destiny 2 is the campaign and the adventures. Those could be fun to play if the content is long enough and engaging. But if Destiny 2 takes the same approach as Destiny 1 with endless grinding for the best gear after every new DLC comes out, I won't be interested in that or raids at all. I hardly play BF1 as it is because it feels like the same matches over and over again with no rewards. Destiny 1 was great about giving out some random loot while playing the same content over and over and it kept me engaged for a long time because of the loots. But I doubt Bungie could hook me like that again considering all those shinies became worthless the moment a new DLC comes out. When previous rewards are negated like they were in Destiny 1 it makes the entire rng reward thrill turn to disappointment and disgust. I'll always remember buying gjallarhorn those couple days before it was completely left behind as a "gen 1 version". That was the last day I played Destiny 1.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

The 4v4 is a result of Trials of Osiris which was 3v3. Like Overwatch its only fun if you are with friends. In 4v4 there is no having an off night or a bad game, you'll lose it for your whole team. I don't disagree with the mode, but I do disagree with it being the feature mode. As much as I love OW, I rarely play it solo... and I wouldn't really care to play 4v4 solo either. I guess they want to semi-force people to get use to not being carried for when Trials comes to D2. If Iron Banner isn't 6v6, its going to be rough if your team doesn't have the proper gear. At least with 6v6 one or two people could be under geared and you might still be ok.

The only way Destiny will be successful is a separate but equal rewards system. Every mode needs to have the same tier of weapons both exotic and legendary. Exotics need to be great across the board, not just Gjally, Thorn, and then everything else. Lets face it, there were a lot of raid legengdaries that were better than exotics. Hopefully their new weapon slot system stops them from nerfing everything. Having a Handcannon and Pulse Rifle will be nice.

My biggest gripe is that I can almost assure you that Fatebringer, Ice Breaker, Felwinter's Lie, Gjally (post nerf), and other popular D1 extoics/legendaries will be used to pump up DLC sales. And they'll all be watered down versions that will make people rage about it.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

 

 

 

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

 

They're def going for the Trials of Osiris feel. Short skirmishes over multiple rounds. 

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

One thing I notice about this game is they are completely getting rid of the shotgun/sniper meta. For PvP that's great. Shotguns and Fusion rifles were go to weapons. Now that they are in the heavy weapon slot you get ammo thats just as limited. I've seen and read you only get 4-5 rounds for shotguns and sniper rifles and only 1 rocket launcher round for PvP. Killing the rocket launcher meta for raids and just about any boss is probably the way to go.

On a more off-ish topic note. I'd like to point out how far we've come in gaming coverage. I remember when IGN, Gamepro, Gamespot, EGM, etc were king... now its Youtubers... and for good reason. Not only do big news sites act like hype men and hand out 8-10/10 scores regardless of the product.... they're also shit at gaming. I was searching for some good Crucible gameplay and holy shit the IGN staff is garbage as FPS games it seems.  They were just getting rekt left and right. At least YTers are decent at the games they are showing off.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Well that makes me even less inclined to buy it now if they're killing the shotgun meta, I actually like how shotguns felt and performed in Crucible (no this just means Fusion Rifles will be the go to now). The Rocket/Sniper changes I like as it was frustrating as hell when you got you're head taken off from across the map or saw your ass go flying off due to a rocket barrage. Honestly I never liked how Trials felt or played and if that's the direction they're going in I've lost what interest I even had for D2 now (PvP wise, I'm still undecided on single player right now).

I've been relying on Youtubers from game impressions and reviews for the last 6 years now, I rarely go to VG247 or Gamespot anymore for news. Sadly Youtubers are bought a lot easier than publications and while they might be good at the game they're playing are going to give the game a favorable review if they get paid to do one. That's the only real problem I have with using Youtubers which is why I only watch those whose opinions I actually respect (like Matimi0, Jack, Level, and Mr. Happy (for FFXIV related things, he's my go to for guides and what have you)).

Shibby said it best in this video on his thoughts on the Destiny 2 reveal (and he was there which he will point out). The video starts right before his impressions. If you've never seen this show it's pretty much just a joke gaming show but occasionally they have pretty damn good insights on whats going on in the gaming industry (the show is called T.U.G.S or Totally Uniformed Gaming Show, it's from the guys who do ETC News and this is on there new channel after they switched all gaming related stuff to their new channel).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

But fusion rifles wont necessarily be the meta because they are heavy too. It depends on the weapon I guess, is 5 rounds worth of instakill better than charged, longer range instakill? I guess it depends on the map too. The way I understand it; Auto Rifles, Pulse Rifles and Hand Cannons will be kinetic and power weapons. Side Arms and SMGs will also be power weapons, but I'm not sure if they are kinetic as well. Fusion Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, Rocket Launchers, and Swords will all be heavy. The problem I have with Crucible in its current format is that Dawn Blade is too OP. You get to fly and team wipe... at least on Midtown with all the tight corridors, its better than Fist of Havoc. Gunslinger has a chance if you catch them on flank... but that staff subclass has no chance. At least they got rid of the Sunsinger revive which was pretty much meta in Trials. 

Making Sniper Rifles and Shotguns heavy isn't so great for PvE.

Yeah, YTers are easily bought... especially when they are partners. All the COD guys are tools. I tend to like Arekkz because he's more informative than anything else. He doesn't tend to give his opinion as much and really leaves it to the viewer to decide.... sadly He covers two of the most disappointing games in Destiny and The Division.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Ah, didn't know Fusion Rifles were going to heavy as well (I haven't really been watching much related to D2 outside of the reveal trailer and those videos you posted). By what I saw in a video SMG's and Side Arms will be elemental damage (at least towards end game, the SMG from the Warlock videos I've watched is Solar (it's also an Exotic)). I guess it won't make it overly bad but I'll still miss the shotgun meta, I was fucking amazing with Invective back in the day (my only 15+ kill streak was due to Invective before it got it's nerf before TTK). Yea, SR and Shotguns for heavy come PvE is going to seriously suck but we don't exactly know how raiding/strikes and the worlds at whole are structured yet so it might be a good change. Then again this is Bungie and their idea of balancing weapons out is to nerf good ones into oblivion and buff bad ones up every few months.

I watch a lot of Arekkz's stuff and have to agree he's a damn good youtuber and damn good for information (I know I used to watch his Division videos all the time when I still played). Just wish he covered more games outside of those two and the few others he does.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

 

I'm hoping that this will stifle Bungie's need to nerf a lot of weapons. the AR nerf in D1 was so brutal, they were never viable in PvP again... at least up until I stopped playing. Shotguns and Pulse Rifles became the meta and it pretty much stayed that way unless you had Thorn, Hawkmoon, or The Last Word until they were nerfed as well. Also Triple Pocket Infinity was bullshit in Trials.

Invective was so good... it was no match for Felwinter or Matador head to head face to face, but that infinite ammo made it invaluable.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

After watching all these videos I'm even more under the impression that this game really is Destiny 1.5. Sure people will say "its a sequel, of course it'll look similar!" Yeah, well Uncharted 1-4 all look similar but each was a noticeable improvement graphically and combat wise, same with the entire God of War series. But Destiny 2 looks exactly like Destiny 1 in every gameplay video I've seen, except it has new maps and subclasses like the taken king DLC had. This reminds me of Battlefield Hardline. Everyone said its should have been a DLC for BF4 because its was basically BF4 with a reskin and new maps, which it kind of was. Just like Hardline didn't do amazing, I doubt Destiny 2 will be a gigantic hit either.

I loved sniping in Destiny 1, but now its a heavy weapon with only 5 bullets per ammo pick up.. ehh.

Warlock looks like the best class now. I liked playing the hunter class and using the golden gun.. but it looks nerfed in these videos. Bladedancer was replaced with a melee staff but looks like it does the same thing. And it looks like hunter is still maxed out at 2-3 jumps while the other classes still get really decent air coverage with their jumps. If I was ever to play Destiny 1/2 again I'll never bother using the hunter class again. It always felt gimped by having crap jumping while the other classes never missed a single ledge.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I dunno, having 6 shots sounds pretty good. Warlock and Titan supers were still OP by comparison in D1. I can't tell you how many times I immediately shut down a blade dancer with fist of havoc. The smaller multi fist of havocs seem to tone it down, but you're right, dawnblade looks like it has no equal, not only can you heal by diving, but you can place a healing well also as a regular ability. 

If I give this a shot, I'm def going Warlock. I just hope they still get blink on the other subclass. 

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Well, no more infinite melee shield recharge for titan.