Soapbox: You Shouldn't Feel Bad for Liking Destiny

Never played it BUT... I thought EVERYONE loved Destiny after "The Taken King" update???!! Kept getting 90%+ reviews saying how they'd listened to complaints and improved it no end!!!

I really love Destiny, to be honest. It could use a sense of humour, but generally the gameplay is amazing and they do an unparalleled job at setting mood, IMO. It also benefits from a WoW-like feedback loop.

However, I will say it also suffers from the same issue as WoW classic, which is to say that the best content is locked away behind a friend-gate, which is to say I don't have time in my life to join a guild and generally play alone, so I can't get the raid content done, along with a bunch of other things that are similarly locked behind a pre-made group. (I'm in Canada and play after 9pm so generally can't join people from this site)

(There are sites to form pugs for these things, but I lack confidence in how well that would work...)

Aside from the best content being inaccessible to me, the game is really fun, and I've recently gotten totally sucked back in as the myriad of sandbox games in my backlog bore me due to guaranteed success.

Hmmm..this is a toughie. Destiny pretty much spoilt 18 months for me cos I didn't play anything else. Far cry 4, bloodborne, shadow of mordor etc just sitting there waiting. Managed to escape for a couple of months and play fallout, division and uncharted but somehow it's got it's claws back into me. In fact as I write this I'm staring at my ship floating about in orbit pondering what to do next (there isn't anything!). I think I need help!! Can't. Stop. Playing.

Unfortunately I didn't fall in love with Destiny. For me it really lacked any real soul or identity, I gave up on it very quickly.

I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else they shouldn't enjoy it though. Odd thing to do. Different people want different things from games.

I began playing Destiny today. Made my first character. Granted, I've only played two missions, but I really like what I play - this is the closest to Halo a PlayStation owner will ever get, imo.

I love destiny but not gonna lie it wasn't til taken king that I actually got into it.. Before adding quests etc it got boring rather quickly but now its getting better and better

I know Destiny's really not my thing, but if people want to enjoy it go for it. Even if I do show negativity towards something, I'd like to think I keep it housed to myself. I certainly don't think anyone should feel bad because they like a game (except Sonic 06).

Hell the amount of conversations I've had with randoms who enjoy Candy Crush is through the digital roof, but I wouldn't go out and say "oh, that's sh*t" or "you shouldn't play this".

But there ya go!

I completely agree with this article, and not just in regards to destiny. The internet sometimes completely slams certain games that are actually really enjoyable to some people. Everyone has different tastes in gaming, some people like games that tell expansive stories, some prefer fast-paced action, some like games where you have to use complex strategies, and I really don't see the point in attacking somebody just because they have a different taste in games to you. Maybe one day we'll get it right, and accept everyone's different opinions, but we're a long way off at the moment!

Similar to @johnny30, Destiny only really clicked for me with The Taken King. I've made my peace with what Destiny is, and can enjoy playing it, rather than being down on it because it wasn't what I hoped it'd be - which is how I felt when it first came out.

I'm comfortable that it's a title I'll play for a month or two every time there's a new expansion, and then it goes back on the shelf until the next time.

There's the negative people that troll just because they're jealous they don't have friends to play games like destiny with. There's those like me who spent $200+ to buy destiny on two different systems in order to appease friends, who promise not to stop playing two weeks after release, but do it anyways. Then there's people like the author, who write over 100 articles on a controversial game, and then try to tell people it's ok to like destiny, because the internet has obviously hurt his feels.

I can completely understand the hate from those who have played it since the start and piled money into it. I don't think some of those people got their moneys worth at all at the start. Particularly the season pass issue lol, that was ridiculous.

However for people like me who may have or may not played the beta enjoyed it, but didn't actually buy the game til year 2, I think we got a pretty good deal. I payed £10 for the legendary edition last year and I only took it out the disk drive for ratchet and clank and uncharted lol.

It's a fantastic game now with loads to do, even more so if you have a few mates to play with. I am now 334 light (can't find a 335 torso lol) with one more fragment to get for the moments completed and I cannot wait for rise of iron. A part of me wishes I had played from the start purely for the experience of the game but I know my wallet appreciates that I didn't lol.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a game with a deep universe and lots of content (just make sure to get the legendary edition).

For anyone who hasn't played Destiny yet I would say that as a package it is the best FPS on PS4, it's campaign is second only to Doom but it's multiplayer is years ahead. Having said that I won't be getting the expansion as I've already put far too much time into the game and I'm waiting for a completely new experience perhaps with Destiny 2

I fell into it late at TTK, I really enjoy the social aspect and the gun mechanics "feel right" to me.

You can see how the mission design and currency and such improved over the life span and I get why day 1 people would feel gipped at certain points of the evolution.

The ghost voice acting and "plot" is mostly bobbins though, but that's ok.

The issue is that with anything, everyone kind of "pre-judges" everything, and some people get really militant at that.

I am really excited about No Man's Sky, but i get the impression some people have already decided it's crap, and desperately WANT it to be rubbish as a big "I told you so/too cool for school" moment.

I want ALL games to be good, though I am more excited about some concepts more than others.

It isn't just games though, look at Ghostbusters. It was either the "worst film of all time and shameless tokenism" or "A beacon of progressive casting from genuinely funny people and sure to be the funniest film of the summer if people can have an open mind" and that was 3 months before release.

In reality, I found it a 6.5/10 amusing, if forgettable summer film, like "Independence Day 2" and "Now You See Me 2" .

In truth, NMS will probably be the "Ghostbusters of Gaming" this year. I am interested in the concept and would be happy enough for a 6.5/10 game I get a good several hours of enjoyment from. Anything more is a bonus, anything less will be just a little disappointing, but I'd be at least honest in my assessment.

@starman292
What is "money's worth" though? Some gamers expect 500 hours of almost orgasmic mind blowing, non repetitive play for £40

A squash court round by me is £8 for 40 minutes.
A movie ticket is £12 for 100 minutes.
A milkshake and burger and Frankie at Benny's came to over £15 for a lunch hour.
A Star Wars graphic novel I read in a single one hour sitting cost me £12.

If I paid £40 for Destiny and played it for around 20 hours, that's cheap by any measure considering the cost of making it.

Even 10 hours play for £40 is still cheap entertainment if you ask me.

A person shouldn't feel bad for liking almost anything. There's no accounting for taste, as they say, and there is nothing healthy or productive about feeling bad about one's own interests.

@Mega-Gazz the LFG sites work perfectly well. I end up raiding with randoms 3 times every week and have had very few issues.

Regardless of how good TTK is, its still not worth it for Year-1 players who had to pay around $120 in total for all contents while newcomers only had to pay $40 for them.

I could say that the daily quests, strikes and raids are repetitive and boring as well once you've gotten used to them. PvP is fun but only if you enjoy playing competitive mode. I don't enjoy PvP but I thought the Trials of Osiris was the best DLC content from the two expansions before TTK was released. Crota's End Raid was okay but the Prison of Elders was rubbish. Plus, don't get me started on the RNG and loot system in this game.> <

@RPE83 I've pumped 1600+ hours into Destiny. I've bought it twice for two different PS4s (wish I'd bought it digitally in the first instance). Have to say I love the game and, yes, it had its teething problems but it's a great shooter mechanically and they've defiantly improved the loot mechanics. Looking forwards to the update and hoping for a 60fps experience in the next product launch

@WanderingBullet
Fair enough but your economics only make sense if people who were being "ripped off" kept playing the game and kept needing and wanting to spend money on something they weren't enjoying. If you played Vanilla for 20 odd hours and never bought a bungie game again, that's one thing.

If you've paid your $40 every 6 months for something that you keep playing that's another, I have to assume at a $120 investment are still enjoying it or have had their enjoyment . I guess some people also have sat out since vanilla and came in on the TTK legendary edition.

The best Destiny haters are the ones with 15 days total playtime across three guardians.

I still think the moment to moment gunplay, design and music is still really good. My only beef is the grinding for hours/days for loot only for it to get nerfed.

PS I miss dinglebot

I have Rise of Iron pre-ordered - want my Gjallahorn back!!!

I love Destiny, in fact I rebought it yesterday.

Other shooters dont come close, its too smooth and you feel like a badass.

I've bought it to get rid of my Rocket League addiction. In many ways like combining cigarettes and alcohol. Not that I do those things anymore but I hope you know what I mean.

@RPE83
40 is worth it but I was talking about those who played from day one had to pay for a lot more. They had the destiny vanilla to pay for, then the two expansions and then the taken King. So that came closer to 100 lol, so for them I think it would of seemed costly.

I'm one of people that hate on the game but i didnt always. Infact when I first got Destiny it was my favourite game and was looking forward to it since it first got announced i even platinum it, which i only do on games i enjoy, Then the DLC came (id bought Guardian Edition btw) and i've never ever felt so conned in my life , Crotas end aside I was so disappointed i was still going to the same areas, the same enemies and scanning stuff. Only reason i did it was 2 level up to do raids on my characters. Then POE came and i stopped playing a week after as that was a pathetic update. Then after the year 2 nonsense i refused to pay that much after wasting so much on poor content already despite all the reviews and discovering all the content was actually built for base game that was pulled which annoyed me even more. Anyway i then fell into the trap again i bought the TTK just after the POE reskin. It looked so promising at first that they really worked on story but soon it died off after killing shadows crota everywhere i seemed to go it felt like nothing had changed. Latest DLC 3 year now and still just reskin enemies and earth area extension, so does that mean we will run around cosmdrone areas we already have for 5 storys because its rushed content to cover the fact they messed up devleopment of Destiny 2 just like did 1.
I still want game to work out deep down but it just annoys hell out of me when you look at what has actually happened with the game ever since they ditched year 1 story and rushed released it

I was going to comment, but so many others have, I didn't have time to read them all, so I'm sure my point has already been said. Btw, i enjoyed Destiny, great value for money.

@kyleforrester87 @RPE83 For me, the shooting mechanics were great but everything else apart from Vault of Glass, Crucible, Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris were average at best content wise. I spent over 1000 hours but only because I wanted to collect everything but as I've mentioned the RNG in this game for me was atrocious. I would go as far to say the the loot system is kinda unfair at times. I'm a not skill player by any means, but when you have a player placing last on a losing team getting a Gjallahorn or any other Exotics then something's wrong with loot system. On top of that, the end content missions are filled with glitches that players can exploit.

I also felt that there were too many item reskins for my liking. For example, Crota's End weapons looked almost the same as VoG's except with Hive plating on them.

@kyleforrester87 will look it up, I did have a preorder on Doom at one point.

I didn't really mind the repetitiveness of destiny tbh, because that's how all mmos are eventually. What lost me, was the lack of social features. They may have corrected this by now. But for me it is too late. Whoever still plays, enjoy.

I'm not a Destiny player but people should never feel ashamed about games they play... with the possible exception of some of the odd games that involve giving love tickles to scantily clad women. There probably should be a bit of shame there.

I think the argument of value for money though is because players wanted it to be something it was hyped to be and then turned out not to be (at least for a year or so post launch). The real value is did you enjoy the time that was spent on it and if so, was it comparable to other similar priced releases.

Personally, with the time I have available, putting 100 + hours into any game seems like a lifetime.

I have over 2,000 hours on my XB1 version - not so much on my PS4 version (I didn't have my PS4 when it released). However I have bought all the content - I bought the limited edition with Season Pass on XB1 at full price but bought the PS4 version a bit cheaper as it was 5-6months old by then. I never play the Crucible either.

People 'complain' about the price of the 2 expansions (yr1) at £20 each. In that you got 4 new MP maps (generally £12 in other FPS games) and a bit of SP content (Strike, Raid, Missions, new gear etc). Considering Minervas Den (Bioshock 2 - regarded as one of the best SP DLC's can be beaten in 4-5hrs), Destinys SP DLC content is a bargain for the 100's of hours I played it for - and that's without even touching the MP part. The second was a bit more disappointing as PoE really didn't keep me playing like Crotas End (I had to get Necrochasm - even though it was 'bad').

I have pre-ordered Rise of Iron (only on PS4 so far) so considering how much I have spent (all bought on or before release - twice essentially across both PS4 and XB1), It could be seen as very expensive but if you look at it from a cost per hour, its probably been my most economical and best value game I have bought! I may have spent £150+ on each platform but have at least 3,000hrs across both - 10p per hour! That's not including any time I spend on Rise of Iron so that cost per hour will drop - its been lower than 5p per hour!! Last years GotY - the Witcher 3 - 120hrs for £40 - 33p per hour. Uncharted 4 - currently just under £2 per hour (21hrs at £40)

@WanderingBullet but when you have a player placing last on a losing team getting a Gjallahorn.

Hey dont knock my Gjallahorn man.

@fluggy You're not wrong, the expansion was amazing but even that was pretty short lived and then it was back to the same boredom. I think by that point a lot of people already had their mind set on hating it so while Taken King was awesome, it wasn't enough to change their soured experience from launch. To be honest, if you haven't played it, when the new expansion comes out you should get the game and all the expansions including the new one. Playing it all the way through in one go like that would be amazing and would solve all the content lacking issues.

Some just expected MMO content without paying monthly, that was very stupid.
There are enough hours to play even in Destiny year one and taken king gave much more.
After several hundreds hours of playtime .. there is no real problem with this game.
Before complaining start thinking - other games give you just some hours for the same price,

I have exactly the same relationship with Destiny that I had with the first Assassin's Creed - amazing potential built on a great foundation, but a little lacking in substance to back it up. If I'd bought it (and all expansions) and full price I'd probably be pretty disappointed, but I bought into it relatively cheap (£25 for the lot). I've certainly had my money's worth of fun out of it, but I didn't find the raids very accessible so never engaged with the endgame. I don't like voice chat and prefer matchmaking as I play in short bursts, so it just didn't fit with me.

Not sure whether I'll get the new expansion just yet but will definitely be interested in the sequel when it eventually appears.

With Resistance: F.O.M a warm memory and, and Uncharted (all 4) completed, Destiny has for some time been my go-to game. I did give The Division a good chance but it never really grabbed me like Destiny did. Though recently I've been delving around Neverwinter while waiting for Rise of Iron to pour into my machine.

@WanderingBullet @kyleforrester87
I've really enjoyed the whole story straight through on comms (perhaps it helps jumping in at TTK for £25) with friends and co-operating to clock missions perhaps a little above your level.

I agree with Kyle, there is some cognitive dissonence in the fact you have spent 1000 hours on something, yet you find it horrible. The RNG is annoying at times, but equally people win the lottery on their first ticket.

If there was "set" rewards, such as First raid is the helmet , second raid is the boots, etc, it would be predictable and i think people would play less. Equally, I can't play CoD or Battlefield when I've jumped in late on the games life cycle, because everyone has levelled up the "top" gear in linear fashion and then been merciless in wiping the floor with me and my spud gun.

A bit of randomness keeps things "interesting", rather than linear for me, though perhaps not for you; they never told me what was in a pack of football stickers, yet I wanted to still collect them despite having 5 Vinny Samways and no Paul Gascoignes.

I see it as, your level of skill buys you buy packs of fancier football stickers in destiny. I'd love to do each of the raids just once, but I don't have 5 friends to play with, so I doubt I'll get the rare stocks.

@kyleforrester87 @RPE83 I'm OCD like that, I like collecting stuff in games.lol It definitely wasn't making me miserable since the end content weren't that difficult once I've understood the mechanics. I've soloed all the strikes before prior to Crota's End releasing and even before I got the Gjallahorn. Usually I'll complete three weekly strikes (one on each character) plus a few Raids either using LFG or with some friends once it refreshes in one sitting. I tend to spend a lot of time on games anyways, since they're not cheap where I'm from. To be honest I only pre-ordered the first two expansions thinking that the end content would be as good as VoG but sadly they weren't.

@themcnoisy So that was you?lol RNGesus must really love you. It took me 5 months to get one.

Yes, I can relate to that ; I have OCD so this game is perfect/evil for me. I am currently trying to get the best "Wolf" look for my hunter, by pointless grinding for things to discard to get legendary marks to ascend a year 1 exotic.

And there's no reason to spend these hours other than a sense of completing a set (see also exotic swords)

Destiny PS4 pack was my birthday gift and I thank Bungie for such an amazing FPS. I grumbled at the costs of each expansion. But I loved the comradedery (not sure that's surely right!) and loved building my unique characters, lore is cool. Haters will always be haters, but sales figures are evidence that the 'less vocal on internet forum's are the gamers I admire. They choose, they make their own decisions, they buy. 30million copies of Destiny sold so far.... 30million v the 1000 odd internet trolls. Its humbling to know that 30million gamers ignored the trolls, and did their own thing! Power to the masses!

@get2sammyb I agree, but the internet is really a place for opinion and a lot mistaken that for people pushing their opinions as fact. I personally think that Destiny sucked because of the route they took the game. Technically when they first announced Destiny and their plans, it was suppose to be more mmorpg'ish in both gameplay, content, and a slew of weaponry. What they did though was shrink that idea scale down to almost nothing, put in a fair amount of weaponry but the stats on the weapons and even the end content were so identicle. Pretty much, the content in Destiny blows