Vanilla Destiny was released on console way back on September 9th, 2014. We’re now over two years into its very successful life. Destiny “2” is coming, and we know that “late 2017” is its stated release. The rumor mill is always churning, so perhaps it’s worth another look at the most recent – and most plausible – rumors surrounding the next big release.
A respected NeoGAF poster dropped a collection of Destiny 2 rumors. Do you believe them? This poster has been right many times in the past, so some (if not all) of these changes could be coming.
You can read the original breakdown here, but we’ll go over some of the important ones below, along with what we’re hoping to see from a Destiny sequel:
Destiny 2 will be available on PC
Several sources have indicated that this will be the case. If so, Destiny would see a massive increase in potential audience, and if cross-platform play is a possibility, it could pave the road for a bigger long-term userbase. Faster frame-rate, crisper graphics – understandably, a lot of Guardians are very excited about this possibility.
Your Guardian may be left behind
If true, this could help Bungie create what feels like a “proper sequel,” rather than an expansion that relies on old content and technology. It would also be a total bummer – I, for one, would hate to lose my Fatebringer and fine collection of dashing cloaks.
Playspaces will be larger
This would be fantastic, and is near the top of my personal D2 wishlist. As Jason Shchreir of Kotaku says, “The plan, from what I’ve heard, is for Destiny 2’s planet areas to feel more populated with towns, outposts, and quests that are more interesting than the patrol missions you can get in Destiny.”
This would be fantastic. Imagine an open world that felt like an open world, rather than a series of gated areas. Exploring towns (Palamon, maybe?), meeting the non-Guardians who reside there, stumbling upon quests – hell, exploring period, rather than looking behind pillars for story fragments would keep me playing for even longer than I do already.
New races and factions
I’m not sure how to feel about entirely-new races, but the idea of “fleshing out” existing internal enemies makes sense – especially since we know nothing about them whatsoever. The NeoGAF rumor states that the Cabal (and Saturn) will be the focus of D2. Given how little we seem to know about the races currently in the game, I do hope some more focus is given to what is going on.
You can read a summary of current speculations at NeoGAF. With that out of the way, let’s take a minute to discuss some wish-list features for Destiny 2.
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Our Hopes
A more immersive narrative
In my mind, this spans a wide range of potential features. I think the Destiny Grimoire is great fun, but I think that it creates an unpleasant disconnect between the immersive game world and the not-so-immersive necessity of looking up grimoire cards online.
Beyond that, the ongoing game of opening books of secrets and then largely forgetting about them has been mildly frustrating. Of course, that’s what a sequel is for – but I truly hope the narrative becomes more intrinsic to the game. That includes: more cutscenes, players that actually speak (unless it’s now cannon that The Guardian has not spoken in over a year), and more in-game dialogue, period.
The rumored move towards open-world-style playspaces would also be a dream come true for me.
My personal desire is a Ghost that functions similar to “The Heart” featured in Dishonored: a function that would allow the player to learn more about their enemies, surroundings, and the small bites of lore that make Destiny so expansive, without leaving the console (or PC, of course).
A more robust Private Match system
It’s hard to believe that this wouldn’t be coming, especially with the popularity of Halo’s “Forge” system. Having the ability to tweak all aspects of PvP competition would not only give players more to enjoy, but it would help to lay a foundation for a true competitive Destiny scene.
In-game matchmaking
As much as all of us devoted players use sites such as destinylfg.net to find fireteams, it feels utterly nonsensical to (once again) have to rely on outside systems to find groups for team-based activities, especially when Destiny is a definitely social game. I still know players who only play solo, because they aren’t aware of, or aren’t willing to expose themselves to, outside matchmaking programs. This isn’t an issue with these players. Yes, they could of course do more to expand their in-game experience, but the lack of convenience and lack of direction is a game development issue, and one that I truly hope gets fixed in Destiny 2.
More ongoing, frequent support
If the Destiny 2 rumors are to be believed, this is already on the books. Regular droughts between content releases and “quarterly” updates to game systems and PvP balances have created a lot of disappointment among both hardcore and casual player-bases. I’d love to see more frequent event drops and updates, and it appears that this is Bungie’s goal too.
The live team is trying to support a game running on an old engine with its older tools, whereas the bulk of development is on the engine framework & enjoying new tools.
However, starting with the launch of D2, we will see far more substantial content dropping in the time between yearly releases, as the game & engine & live team have all been planned to support that going forward.
Better Vault Management
What was that about outside systems? I’m sure I’m not the only one who can’t play Destiny anymore without a 3rd-party inventory app (I use Destiny Item Manager). Although this is relatively minor, in some ways it feels like a great metaphor for what’s wrong with Destiny: a beautiful, elegant gameplay system, an enticing, fantastic universe – and a few head-scratching lapses along the way.
Microtransaction Mess
There has been a deluge of bad blood on the forums about microtransactions, particularly with the release of the latest Festival of the Lost event. I am not a microtransaction buyer, nor am I opposed to purely cosmetic microtransaction purchases. However, I thought it was poor form to increase reputation boosters as part of purchased loot packages in The Taken King, and the community discontent with the random nature of the current paid-loot system (you’re not guaranteed to get what you want, regardless of the amount you spend) leaves a bad taste in my mouth, even as someone who hasn’t and won’t participate.
Since Eververse will likely be in Destiny 2, they need to be a source of pleasure, not division, disappointment, and distrust.
Make trip-mines stick again
Please, Bungie. I’m dying over here. Literally. When I unicorn a shotgun rusher with a trip-mine, only to watch it spin around like a Pink Floyd Laser Beam and detonate without doing any damage to my attacker, I cry real tears. I now have an entire collection of clips showing my perfectly-placed grenades exploding in beautiful but harmless bursts of impotent light. I watch them regularly, just to remind myself of better days.