I get that Destiny was promised to be much more, I was initially put off by it... I respect the hell out of Jeff, but his opinions on a few games (Witcher series, Destiny, Payday 2, MGS 3) have shown that we just have different tastes. That's fine.
Now, some issues arise - I don't think Jeff has played enough or been around the community enough to make the judgment calls he does. Like, he said the adding of the dropdown menu that informs you of your rep across the different factions was "more UI with plenty of UI for more bullshit faction shit that's the worst kind of grindy shit, adding more of that to destiny is the exact wrong way to go" - this is just something people wanted because their rep was not being displayed properly. It wasn't the cataclysmic, money grubbing, train wreck decision he makes it out to be.
He says he doesn't feel like he's doing anything meaningful in the game... which is weird, multiplayer shooters generally have no purpose but to have you kill other people. The persistent hooks in Destiny are far beyond what I've seen in a lot of my other favourite shooters like Quake, CS, TFC, etc... but additionally, games are fun when you shoot people, that's kind of what shooters are built upon, and shooting feels fantastic in Destiny.
I think the leveling system is complicated to explain, but I don't think it's bad at all. I mean, you basically want your gear to have higher "Light" values on it, which increases your level. You are weaker against things that are higher level than you. This has not been an issue in the latest expansion as it's fairly easy to level up.
He says Bungie is incredibly inflexible towards its fanbase - I actually dig a lot of changes they made. It does not make sense to cater to somebody like Jeff, because Jeff does not like that game very much. Cater to the people who play it. You can't "pivot" and just change the game dramatically, you would alienate the fanbase. Realistically I don't even know what you would change to do whatever it is he wants.
It also doesn't make sense that Jeff complains old gear can be leveled up. Gear that I like, that may be visually different than the "top tier" gear, can stay with me. My favourite gun doesn't have to be tossed aside. New gear I get is also quicker and cheaper to upgrade. These changes are in response to the "planned obsolescence" that a lot of games (particularly MMO's) experience, as well as being "too grindy" in the wrong ways.
I was on the Destiny hate train because it was such an incredibly disappointing game compared to what I thought it would be when it first came out. That said, after I gave it a shot, played it pretty hardcore, then transition to playing it casually, it has been a tonne of fun. I do play it with friends, so I don't really care about the lack of matchmaking, but honestly I think those encounters are tough to the point where if you did have random matchmaking, it would lead to a lot of frustration... frustration that goes beyond the frustration of not having matchmaking in the first place.
Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, the game is not perfect, but it's still a very good game. The fact that Jeff does not like it does lead to a lot of hate from the GB community.
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