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Games

Bungie: Future of 'Destiny 2' For Players Who Want Destiny as "Their Hobby"

The studio's response to increased criticism from fans is an apology, and promises of changes to come.
Image courtesy of Activision

The Destiny community has been in turmoil lately, with Bungie under fire for deceptive systems, failing to communicate with its most hardcore fans, and producing a sequel with a generally unsatisfying endgame. (For a more detailed rundown, I'd point you towards this piece by Jason Schreier at Kotaku.) Yesterday, Bungie cancelled a stream previewing its upcoming DLC, Curse of Osiris, to address these issues head-on, promising a lengthy blog post about the game's future. That post went live this afternoon, and suggests a structural re-alignment for how Bungie views Destiny.

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"Going forward," said Destiny 2 game directors Luke Smith and Chris Barrett, "Destiny 2’s post-launch game systems, features, and updates are being designed specifically to focus on and support players who want Destiny to be their hobby—the game they return to, and a game where friendships are made. We want Destiny to be a game that fits into your life, providing you with reasons to log in and play with your friends, clans, and families. We want Destiny to be a world you want to be a part of."

For many MMO fans, a specific game can, in fact, become a hobby, and making a game that's able to keep those people happy on a day-to-day basis, as they invest thousands of hours, is far different from how most video games are played. It also means designing the game in a different way, one that puts the focus on existing players, rather than new ones. Given Destiny 2 has moved into the DLC phase, maybe that was always the plan. Or, as impassioned players raged, maybe it's been moved to the front.

"We know it’s frustrating when there isn’t enough of a dialog with the development team," continued the joint statement. "You have our commitment that we’re going to do a better job going forward."

In the post, Bungie goes into detail about some changes, big and small, coming to the game. Many of the changes were already known, but are given more detail, or general timelines for release. One of the more interesting changes is the introduction of "masterworks" weapon tiers, where people will be able to re-roll stat bonuses. This feature was actually in the original Destiny, but dropped for the sequel.

It's a lot of specific changes that won't make much sense if you're not into Destiny 2.

If people were looking for Bungie to spend a thousand words falling on their sword and asking for forgiveness, this won't be satisfying. Ultimately, the proof is how these changes impact the way people play, not a bunch of groveling words. It's whether Bungie can successfully make Destiny 2 a "hobby" for the people who want that.

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