This comment is not taking sides in the current debate here, but more my perspective on Destiny as a whole.
I actually disagree with the sentiment that Destiny is a loot game. I wanted Destiny to be a loot game. Badly. But it simply isn't.
Ridiculously low drop rates, few quality of life enhancements, lack of sets,and the lack of stats that matter on gear make Destiny the opposite, at least to me, of a loot game.
As primarily a PvP player, I scoff at the notion that Destiny is a loot game. It's simply RNG until you get to a light level that you can play events, then it is nothing (unless you like to grind RNG for cosmetic items).
The Division, while having many flaws, is a loot game. Diablo is a loot game. Destiny is not a loot game (but I want it so bad to be one).
And that's the thing. For a PvP player, it's a fine game. But I heavily prefer PvE. And the PvE is butchered and not that great without carrots on the stick.
It's why it's disappointing that most of their events are PvP based. It's like...Destiny isn't that great of a PvP game. I primarily play it for the PvE. When I originally got Destiny, it was for the PvE. I was promised loot that I could tell a story about.
This is Bungie going against their original vision for the game.
(Looking for the video, I found in one of the vidocs that the
arc flayer mantle existed since 2013)
Anyways, people say Destiny isn't a loot game. I disagree. When they talk about
The weapons you can get, and 'what you went through to get there', when they talk about your gear and how it'll shape your character in game..
Bungie talked about getting loot. About it being exciting. About customizing your character.
Hm...let's linger on that last bit. Customizing your character. What does it mean to you? How do you accomplish this? That's a point they repeated constantly.
It's important to customize your character and make them into yours.
Destiny was supposed to be a game where you create your character, venture out into a vast galaxy, where you customize and build your character and make it your own. It's supposed to be about a game where these things are supported by each other, whether it's activities to get gear, or by choosing armor and weapons that suit your style.
The reality is, Destiny has gotten farther and farther away from that. Gear is dripped on a weekly basis. Your customization is limited by that fact. There are options to straight out buy these customization options, whether it's chroma, gear, or emotes. Whether it's ships or icons. Even the new Chroma system seems to be limited unless you buy loot boxes, seeing as 3 boxes a week won't be enough to provide enough chroma to experiment to see how it looks on different gear. Not only that, but the rate which you earn these boxes is limited by weekly timers.
You can customize your character...but very slowly. Unless you bypass these timers by paying money. Unless you buy into their little gachapon. I can say without a doubt that something changed when they went from expansions to microtransactions, that things got shifted from being a "feature" of an expansion to being made into a paid 'Microtransaction". Activities and assets got moved around, probably withheld for future content updates, reusing old assets to buffer their content drop, all the while still charging for large expansions. Destiny isn't a loot game....no, the Destiny I remember was a loot game. People finding engrams and being excited, discovering the Loot Cave, repeating dungeons to get a piece of gear. 'Destiny isn't a loot game'. And yet people would play together for that loot. No, Destiny is a loot game, just one that's being strangled by its creators.
And then there's the matter that PvP seems to have taken the forefront. PvP dictates the balance of weapons and skills to the point where it's deteriorating to the PvE experience. Events for PvE players are few and far, the only ones in a scheduled cycle being Trials and Iron Banner for PvPers. This living world that they wanted to create, where anything can happen, has become quite static.
It's a sad state of affairs for Destiny.
