Why can’t Destiny 2 expansions just be normal for once? [8/9/23]
Another expansion, another series of “great lore, terrible story” comments spread over months as we finish out the first half of another Destiny 2 expansion. It really is the weirdest thing; MMOs as a whole are known for presenting long-form stories over the course of years, but Destiny 2 is seemingly not allowed to participate in this tradition. I will always be confused about why Bungie continues to annualize the Destiny franchise even after leaving Activision, but in the meantime, I’d like to ask some questions about why other games get to do things that Destiny doesn’t. Like taking their time.
Other games also get to tell stories in parts, and I think Bungie would be wise to slow down and pay attention to that. Even in World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV, there’s an expected scale of content that often comes with a semi-predictable schedule or conclusion.
In Final Fantasy XIV, players are well aware that every 4 months they will receive at least a half patch. Within that timeline we can then apply the schedule of finishing the expansion by the end of patch 3 while patches 4 and 5 setup the next adventure. After 5.5 major patches there will be a major expansion release and the cycle begins anew. World of Warcraft on the other side of the scale has had content droughts lasting more than a year, and even in the bad expansions where we only get 2 major patches; players know that it’s not over till it’s over. The stories being addressed up front WILL be brought to a clean close, even if the side plots get lost in the muck of time or if the quality is below expectation.
So why does WoW get to hold it’s top position even after years of inconsistency and failure while Destiny 2 remains incapable of putting out 2 wins in a row with a new content drop every 3 months. Lets look at how FFXIV puts out 12 Raid bosses across the .0, .2, and .4 patches and WoW puts out anywhere from 30-50 raid bosses spread across however many patches an expansion has. Destiny 2 Currently puts out 3-5 raid bosses every 6 months, and every other raid drop is just recycled content from D1(even if they do modernize the mechanics). Some raids like King’s Fall are exceptions to the rule but Bungie hasn’t seemed to have considered a full traditional raid layout/boss count since Last wish raid 6 years ago. There’s a lot of ways to make this analogy and there’s a lot more way to play a game than just raiding, but at the end of the day Destiny still has less raid participation and more player difficulty struggles than the other two games combined.
Destiny needs to slow down and finish baking the cake instead of presenting what they can early. I think many people will say that the old content release strategy of DLCs that ended with Warmind is not the way to go; and I agree. However, we should also be able to treat Expansions and Seasons differently and with their own levels of expectations.
Even when WoW has been at it’s lowest, there was the expectation that the content would be worth the wait and Blizzard would finish the expansion organically. Even as people fall off of FFXIV after the conclusion of Endwalker, there is an understanding that the game will be there with piles and piles of new and polished story content for them to play through when they return. Destiny 2 has only 4 months in the entire year where they aren’t attempting to celebrate or recover from some awe inspiring headline of how the game is or isn’t dead.
As I’ve written this, I’ve been able to feel my blood pressure rising. With Destiny 2, the problem really is just all the little things that are good and are great because they sure do make living in a world of error codes and poorly shuffled stories just that much more livable. I know I sound like a doom-sayer, and to be honest I’m already working on my next Destiny 2 piece that doesn't sound very friendly; but I really am excited to see what the future holds. The Destiny 2 Final Shape showcase is in about 3 weeks and the launch then only about 6 months after that. I do hope Bungie starts thinking about doing 3, 5 month seasons for the sake of everyone’s sanity though. God only knows they could throw their brand weight around a bit more if they weren’t always walking on egg shells.
