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Destiny 2: Faction Rallies, Forsaken and Disasters in 3, Oh My...

Saturday, June 9th 2018

Written by: A Curious Wednesday

When it comes to Destiny 2, growing pains have become expected. In a game with more potential than a designated hitter can swing at, this is ultimately very frustrating. With the arrival of Season 3 of D2 and the announcement of Forsaken, the trend of uneasiness continues. In a previous post, I talked about my concerns for Warmind, something that any narrative driven player can relate to.

To briefly recap: the story aspects of Warmind are abysmal at best. You get 5 story missions that introduce you to a new NPC and two new villains. We (wrongfully) assumed that the new host of characters would be properly developed. Ana Bray, for instance, is a legendary guardian who’d been MIA since Crota and Luna, I believe. During that pitched battle, she fired her golden gun with such focused power and will that the light from it lingers still. That battle was supposed to have happened centuries ago. She also has connections to Clovis Bray and is, perhaps, the premiere Gunslinger. Even better than Cayde-6, whom like her, is an original Risen. Now, this is never really conveyed in those 5 missions. None of her legendary feats are ever really mentioned. She’s essentially relegated to a throw-away NPC and Vendor.

Compiling this problem, Zavala, the leader of the Vanguard and Consensus is not developed any further. Instead, he continues to be pigeon-holed as “Den Mother” to all guardians. All you need to do to confirm this, is speak with any of Destiny’s fanbase. Most, if not all, will agree that Zavala is everyone’s overprotective mommy.

When it comes to the two new characters, both are abused and mistreated. Nokris has soo much story potential. He is the exiled son of Oryx and the runt of his brood. He’s the smart one. A necromancer (possibly a male wizard), which is a rarity amongst the Hive/Krill. He attempted to usurp his father’s power and place as king and failed. His co-conspirator, Xol (a worm god, a being of unimaginable power, eternal life and knowledge) is essentially defeated as a strike boss, which is an insult and disservice to Xol and the grandeur that is supposed to be the “Worm Gods”. In fact, both are ultimately just strike bosses. Beating either during the campaign is unfulfilling. Being sent to the Deep by Xol is a joke and possibly the greatest offense for me.

So, with things on the narrative side of the spectrum so weak and lacking, you’d hope that Bungie would make the new season’s Faction Rally topnotch. Personally, I don’t mind the “Renown” mechanic in principle. During the grind to faction rank 50, it adds to the challenge. However, the vehicle for this delivery is problematic. By skewing each firefight in favor of the AI whenever a player has active “Renown” it has ended up making every open-world activity more difficult than it should be. With the arrival of Escalation Protocol, this oversight becomes glaringly apparent. Escalation Protocol is a new feature and endgame mode where you join up with other guardians to take on wave after wave of Hive opponents in increasing difficulty. Ideally, 3 level-capped. 385 light-level guardians should be able to complete all waves if they can communicate and work together.

In practice, it’s usually one fireteam that sparks it once they notice 3 or more random guardians patrolling the Hellas Basin. Since all guardians need to complete Escalation Protocol waves (a least once), any available guardian generally comes running when EP is activated. Currently, this means that 1 team ends up trying to complete an EP with underpowered guardians, culminating in failure and frustration. With the arrival of the first Faction Rally this season and the release of “Renown” its made an already challenging open-world event more difficult, by further handicapping the player in favor of the AI-controlled enemy.

The trend of handicapping the player to up the difficulty is nothing new. Its an established procedure carried over from Destiny. Any time you enter a darkness zone (iow “Boss fight”), for instance, you are effectively de-buffed, weakened by the overwhelming presence of Darkness and cut-off from the Traveler’s Light. You’re left with your own strength and light to see you and your team through. Why does this happen? Perhaps, each of these areas are influenced by the taint of Darkness to such an extent that it manifests physically. At least, that is how I like to think of it. As it adds a narrative reason for the game mechanic.

However, by further handicapping the player, it ultimately diminishes the feeling of grandeur and heroicness that you’d normally experienced as a maxed-out, veteran guardian (player). Destiny did a good job of preserving that feeling of being a walking, talking badass. You were/are the prophesied guardian. The one Saint-14 looked up to, perhaps even idolized. You were the one that did what no other guardian could do. And, if you were capable and competent, you did it alone.

Destiny 2 does a great job of stripping you of that feeling, making the overall experience occasionally frustrating and lackluster. The grind to rank-level 50 is long enough and made worse by the fact that some of us have limited time to invest in D2′s grind. Now, here’s where the two schools of thought diverge. School 1) everyone should have access to and the ability to get everything, so you must level the playing field; School 2) only the dedicated should get everything since they put in the time, effort and hardwork. I, myself, fall into the second camp or a variation of it.

I believe the unexpected problem that is “Renown” could be fixed by tying the effect to a faction’s emblem, class item or both and enabling factions to recruit and have relevance all year around, like they were in Destiny. Thereby, turning Faction Rallies into something special and unique. Something on par with Crimson Days, Festival of the Lost, Sparrow Racing League and the Winter Solstice event. Perhaps, each faction, dependent upon their beliefs structure needs to accomplish something significant. Perhaps, its a month long competition for bragging rights and something else. Something more. Something like supremacy or even, just something as simple as which faction gets the lion’s share of funding for the rest of the fiscal quarter.

In Destiny, factions were always relevant. As soon as you reached level 20, you were allowed your choice of which faction to pledge to, and you could, after a week, decide to pledge your loyalty to a different faction. Rank progress was limited and constricted. You had to work to progress through the rank levels in Destiny. You had to represent your chosen faction on your guardian. As the benefits of pledging to a faction were only available when you, the player, equipped a faction-specific class item and/or emblem.

Once you did that, it was an uphill slog to those coveted exotic items. Uphill, but worthwhile. Like many of the more obscure features of Destiny, you were rewarded for the time you put into it. It wasn’t gifted to you; you earned it. There was no time limit. Thus negating the feeling of artificial pressure. It didn’t matter how long it took you to get those coveted items as long as you were willing to put in the work to get them. It took me 2 years or so to get Dead Orbit’s exotic cloak. I didn’t mind the wait. I also didn’t stick with Dead Orbit exclusively. A more dedicated player would have gotten that item and others much faster.

In Destiny 2, this psychological/societal feature is not present. It’s almost as if the Vanguard took pity on those surviving guardians of the Red War. As if they became Oprah during her final season of her talk show: “you get an exotic! You get an exotic!” “You get raid gear!” “You get trial gear!” This analogy can be and has been applied to Hawthorne. I imagine this is what Hawthorne would shout in her best Oprah impression as she tossed out specially encrypted engrams to the throngs of clamoring guardians with their hands out.

Of course, I know better than to believe that fantasy. There’s no narrative reason for these decisions. There’s no real narrative pull for participating in the Faction Rallies to begin with. There is for Strikes, the Crucible and the Iron Banner. Strikes, from a narrative perspective are high-level, precision operations that makes assassins out of you. In order to protect the remnants of humanity from Darkness. The Crucible, on the other hand, is a way to hone your skills and abilities; to sharpen you. It also serves as a way to resolve grievances. Nothing like a sanctioned fight to the death, to prove your point. “Fight me for what you believe!” The Iron Banner honors the fallen Iron Lords thru glorious gladiatorial combat and serves to further hone your abilities and skills. Of course, the Iron Banner is also not what it used to be. Now that level-advantage is disabled, it's no different from the Crucible. This is too bad, because the added difficulty made participating in previous iterations of the IB savoring. It gave rise to water-cooler moments and bragging rights.

The concept of Faction Rallies overall is neat. However, in practice there’s nothing special about them. The weapons you can claim are ultimately reskinned versions of likely superior Vanguard and Crucible weapons. There is no meaningful choice behind siding with a particular faction. Arach Jalaal of Dead Orbit raves about escaping a defined end and little else. Lakshmi-2 of Future War Cult raves about the inescapability of war and how we all need to prepare for it. Executor Hideo of New Monarchy is obsessed with protecting and preserving humanity’s cradle, Earth. Beyond some ambient dialogue you might chance upon by standing before each vendor, there is no way to know what each faction stands for or why you should care. The experience has devolved into a loot-grab for the shiniest prizes. Oftentimes, this means that New Monarchy wins each faction rally because their armor, vehicles and weapons are the most appealing.

For those of us who know what each faction stands for, this is a deathknell of sorts. I, myself, am a Dead Orbit loyalist. I could be accused of being a fatalist, but by that notion, so too are the Fallen/Eliksni. They abandoned their homeworld after the Whirlwind, just like Dead Orbit and Arach Jalaal want to do. That is something I agree with. In Destiny, it was why all three of my guardians sided with DO. I’ve always distrusted the Traveler. It brought ultimate war and destruction to our doorstep. Through the usage of the former grimoires I learned that it did similarly to the Fallen and Cabal. When those two species/peoples could no longer protect it, the Traveler fled. Abandoned those people to their fates. Dead Orbit believes the Traveler will do that to us, should the time come. I agree. So, they’ve prepared a fleet of ships and supplies. They fund scouts to search out our galaxy for a home untouched by the Darkness and Traveler. And while, each faction acts with the best interest of humanity in mind, DO is the only one pragmatic enough to plan long-term and realize the survival of our species.

Future War Cult are, in some ways, battle-crazed zealots. Fanatics that believe crushing their enemies here, now and in the future is the only guarantee for victory. I consider that to be short-sighted, but still a noble cause. They don’t wish to abandon earth any more than New Monarchy does, but they are willing to if it means our survival. They also have ties to the Vex and some misunderstood, wonky machine monikered, “The Device” that allows individuals to glimpse future, alternate timelines. It’s how they prepare for the wars to come. They prepare, though, which is a key difference. They don’t try to avoid those future conflicts.

New Monarchy, on the other hand is the most obstinate. They are not interested in entertaining a future where humanity no longer resides on earth or in the Sol system. They are not interested in a governing council. They are not interested in exploration, but rather, reclamation. Their shtick is reclaiming what was lost. Reclaim the Earth and Luna. Reclaim the Golden Age. Reclaim Earth’s dominance. Sire tons of children to build up our population numbers. They are interested in the absolute power, authority and rule of one individual. Executor Hideo is a zealot. A diehard. It’s the only way to become an Executor.

Again, without having prior experience, how many of you would know all of this about each faction? All you’d readily know is that NM offers armor reminiscent of medieval regalia and bold colors of red, gold, brown and teal-green. DO offers armor reminiscent to what you’d scavenge in the wild. Something homemade. Its weathered, worn. It’s got miles on it. History. Their colors are black, white and brown. FWC provides modern, mass-produced armor that strikes a balance between full-plate protection and padding (think “kevlar”). Theirs is a further balance between the grandiose of New Monarchy and the practicality of Dead Orbit. FWC believes in standing out. Therefore, their colors are white, purple/blue and gold/orange. This all means that when choosing who to represent, its really a matter of what look you’re going for with your barbie. Maybe, just maybe, one faction has a weapon that is superior to the rest. And that influences your decision.

I’m all for glamorizing my guardian on occasion or when the mood strikes me, but overall, I’m driven by the narrative. Wherever I can find it. It’s why I originally sided with Dead Orbit 4 years ago. It’s why I’m so crestfallen about the state of Destiny 2. Why I’m so apprehensive about Forsaken. If you logically think about it, Bungie has likely already finished working on Forsaken. They’d already finished Warmind by the time they called their “summit”. Which meant that there was no fixing Warmind, further exacerbating the underlying issues plaguing Destiny 2. Issues that many have already brought up via Youtube channel hosts. The likes of My Name is Byf, Mylien Games, Darkside Royalty Lore have all articulated similar points better than I could have.

Forsaken, undoubtedly, will probably be better than everything prior to it. The Taken King elevated Destiny to a new level. It delivered on some of the promises that had until then been cast aside. Therefore, its an educated leap that the same will be true of Forsaken. Nevertheless, if the underlying narrative problems aren’t rectified, it’ll ultimately be a hollow victory. Again, take this season’s Faction Rally as an indication. The “Renown” mechanic sounds like a good idea. It could have been a good idea. The Good Idea Fairy would agree. This, is, however, why we don’t acknowledge “good ideas”. In order for a good idea to be implemented properly, it needs to be tested and tested and measured and reigned in by the physicalities of the circumstances. This is why you only deliver on things you can promise.

By stripping D2 bare in the 11th hour and starting anew, they threw away too much to make way for a different direction. A disastrous direction that they are now scrambling to retract. All the features that Forsaken is adding back in, should never have been removed in the first place. To charge for it is narcissistic at best. If you have doubts, look to this month’s Faction Rally and last month’s Iron Banner (the one about that emote.). Exotic ornaments and catalysts are available dependent upon which faction you choose to pledge to. However, you can only pledge to one. Meaning, if you want them all, you must grind to 50 in each faction ranking system before the Rally event ends. The decision isn’t based upon a narrative reason. It isn’t based upon which faction best suites you. Its based upon the loot offered. If you’ve got a busy life and can only hop into Destiny late at night or on the weekends, you’re s.o.l. Bungie attempted to fix this by making loot rewards from all activities available to all, regardless if said player contributed or not. That didn’t work out well. The playerbase decried this practice. So it was rescinded in the form of a compromise: instead of getting high-level engrams from anywhere, you’re now only rewarded high-level engrams from either the Vanguard or Crucible engram pool.

Previous iterations of the Faction Rally had systems similar to this rally’s “Renown”, skewing combat in the the favor of the enemy and penalizing idiotic player practices. Those proved unsuccessful as well, which is why they were removed. Like the Dodo, “Renown” will likely disappear as well. It will be replaced with some other, newer good idea that will ultimately not pan out as intended and the cycle will continue. Until Destiny 3, where Bungie gives up on their plans of creating a new sub-genre: MMORPG-based FPS and settles on a Call of Duty clone/knockoff/lesser version. Except instead of the “good” CoDs, it’ll be Black Ops IV with no narrative or campaign, entirely multiplayer and group-content driven. Does anyone remember Shadownrun? How can I predict this? Bad things happen in 3s. We’ll experience some other, new Faction Rally system and gimmick before Bungie gives up on that and attempts to circle back to D1 standards for factions, by which point it may be too late.

#destiny #destiny 2 #faction rally #crucible #iron banner #warmind #forsaken #the taken king #my name is byf #mylien games #darkside royalty lore #hoo boi #smh #a curious wednesday #wednesday editorials #commentary #editorial

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