'Destiny has a long history of reinventing itself in response to feedback': Assistant director teases a Metroidvania-inspired future, talks weapon crafting and vault space, but fails to address the shocking number of bugs
For Destiny 2, the afterglow following The Final Shape, last summer's saga-capping expansion, has long faded. Those players who have stuck around (like me) for the next phase now have a shopping list of complaints about the episodic format that has followed, exacerbated by how buggy the game has become in the wake of the mass layoffs conducted by Bungie in July.
Into that atmosphere it's important to strike the right balance between contrition over mistakes and the optimism necessary to convince players that the good times are coming again. In today's end of year communique from assistant game director Robbie Stevens, he largely gets the tone right, acknowledging that since The Final Shape «some changes have been well received by the community…» while «others have had a rocky start.»
Stevens cites the removal of weapon crafting as a particular pain point. The decision to cut crafting from seasonally-released weapons was sold as a way to make each loot drop more exciting, rather than just grinding out the patterns necessary before you could create your perfect 'God Roll'. However, and this may shock you, many people have not been delighted at going back to relying on RNG, particularly when as Stevens acknowledges, the new 'Tonic' system designed to mitigate that RNG has been buggy and onerous to interact with.
We know we missed the mark with the Tonic timers and not guaranteeing a weapon from the active Tonic.
The way Tonics work is that you use materials to mix potions, which once glugged will give your character an increased chance of looting a particular item for a set amount of time. In theory, it lets you target farm for the weapon you want, regardless of which of the game's many activities you're playing. In practice, some found themselves locked out of creating tonics entirely, others simply couldn't be bothered to manage the timers, and it was eventually discovered that certain tonics weren't even rewarding the right items.
Add that to the recent 'Weightgate'
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