Reduce The Grind

Many players know how obscenely difficult the grind for materials was in the Exotic Sword, or how exhausting the search for calcified fragments was for Touch of Malice. The reward promised was enough for Guardians to trudge through the absentminded collection of materials, but it only redacted the glory in acquiring a new weapon.

In Year One, it became a habit for one to avoid getting their hopes up for RNG, due to all the disposable gear that drops; and thus good loot was made all the more exciting. Because that can’t be given with the quest system, there is hardly a reason to tolerate useless grinding. Bungie knows that Exotics can’t be thrown out for free, and try to extend the quest time as long as possible.

The solution of this problem is simple in theory, but proves to be a burden in reality; to replace grinds with original, satisfying ideas. Repetition isn’t bad, but like all things, it’s better in moderation. When killing minions of the darkness, or taking out Guardians in the Crucible, focus on a somewhat difficult task encourages hard work- while the Exotic sword quest generally encourages wasting time. Substituting passive grinding with something more active will undoubtedly improve the experience.

Unify The Experience

There’s a firm line between PvP and PvE, and most players dabble in both, but many tend to take sides when choosing favorites. The issue with the Chaperone quest was just that- it was biased against players who steer clear of the Crucible. For a gun with perks so blatantly useful in PvE, it had an unnecessary amount of PvP steps within the quest itself.

The issue that many Exotic quests face is the divergence between PvP and PvE. The Touch of Malice quest clearly asked for proficiency in the King’s Fall raid, which was pretty difficult. In contrast to this, The Chaperone tended to frustrate Guardians who spent most of their time in PvE, as the most difficult step required one to play several crucible matches with a stellar KD ratio. Due to these factors players would avoid completing quests that proved to be overly exhausting, and thus, not all would feel pride at acquiring the new Exotics.

There’s plenty of Exotics that serve a function in both PvP and PvE, and people should be allowed to pursue these Exotics with whichever means they’re most comfortable with.Exotic questlines ensure that players go out of their comfort zone to achieve reward, and providing multiple methods of achieving a goal gives Guardians an opportunity to reap reward from their strengths.

Keep It Original

Ideally, Exotics should be artifacts of a story, objects that represent a myth or legend. Many Exotics have fascinating Grimoire cards that give a taste of the lore hidden behind the weapon or armor. Destiny is infamous for having lackluster story integration, and quests are the perfect place for this mistake to be corrected. Molding quests around tasks relating specific Exotics provides Bungie with a stellar opportunity to tell stories, while allowing Guardians to be on center stage.

We can do without the endless material hunting and repetitive crucible killing for once, and instead dive headfirst into the lore behind the game we love. Assigning relevant strikes, switching up dialogue on repeat missions- both of these things can contribute to an immersive story based experience. Not only will this make the content more enjoyable, but it will also increase the satisfaction that comes from claiming a new piece of gear.

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What Do You Want?

So, Quests aren’t bad, but there’s always room for improvement!

When we try new things, players often teach us a lesson about how to do it better, and this one has us thinking hard about how Quests communicate their availability. Our challenge is balancing between the secrecy that makes these hunts exciting, and transparency that could spoil the fun for the hunters.

What would need to happen to make Quests more enjoyable for you?

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