@glots: GOOD! Cannot go back to D1 PvP, so each additional day is amazing.

@zevvion: Oh, regarding toxicity I didn't mean toxic people in organized groups here or on other forums, I meant actual randoms through matchmaking in games etc. being toxic. Thanks for the invite! I don't even own a headset, but after the game releases and once I get it & D2 I'll definitely check out the forums and some groups around here :)

And no, while I am a huuge Mass Effect fan (love all kinds of Sci-Fi), my username is actually a play on my real name. I'm from a non-english speaking country, but I've studied english and related things. Liara is an awesome character though!

If you're on PS4, and you own any sort of headphones or earbuds with a mic feature, you probably already have something that will work. If you go into the settings, you can even change it so the in-game sound plays through your headset along with the party chat.

@spaceinsomniac: I know , I actually don't own anything with a mic feature, so I'll have to get something eventually once D2 releases! And yeah, I'm on PS4, my psn: MattGiersoni if anyone wants to add me for future games or some other :)

A good game is supposed to "feel right". The jetpack hover in Destiny reminds of seeing footage from the moon with the astronauts bouncing around - it feels awkward. I doubt they did that part on purpose. John Wick has buckets and buckets of style, so the simplistic story was fine there. Destiny doesn't have that much of a unique style, since there's barely story or mythology. The gameplay is very good but nothing new, and so on. John Wick has a unique feel, world, and does action better than 99% of other movies. Destiny doesn't do anything 99% better than other games.

@deathstriker: You say all that like it's some set of undisputed facts. Here's the alternate take: many people do think the world of Destiny is interesting and unique. This blend of normal-ish guns and space magic with scifi and fantasy elements is not common and it's not been done that well elsewhere. People like the space wizards, the space turtle roman empire, the time traveling robots, etc.

Thinking about it a little bit this John Wick comparison is not so bad. Both have intriguing worlds with a lot of mystery to them where the focus is obviously on the action and the actual plot is kind of boiler plate.

A lot of people also think the jumping ''feels right''. I certainly do. Anyway, if you want a longer take on these elements of the game I would recommend listening to the Waypoint radio episode on the subject. They dive in on the appeal of Destiny quite well from a gameplay and world building perspective.

I don't think I've played that much of the beta, maybe 5 or so hours, but I'm not really digging the direction they seem to be taking the whole game based on the time I've had with it. Abilities just straight up take too long to cooldown, leading to the game being way more about just shooting guns instead of interesting interplay between guns and abilities. Only getting a Super once per PvP match is just ridiculous to me. It doesn't make sense. The shooting in Destiny has always been good (though with D2's apparent lack of AA I don't think it feels as good as D1) but honestly I'm not here to shoot the guns the whole time. I want to use grenades and melee abilities and supers and guns. I think they went too far with the ability reduction. Either make them take longer to cooldown but keep their lethality, or reduce their lethality but let them cooldown quicker. Both is too much. I'm interested to see how armor mods affect this stuff but if it ends up in a situation where everyone is just running the "Make X ability cooldown faster" mods then I don't see much point at all in changing the entire system.

After having some time to play the Voidwalker, my worry about the Subclass perk system is also coming true. I don't like the top tree we get in the beta very much, so either I really enjoy the bottom one or I'm stuck picking between 2 I don't really care for. Its a bummer.

There's some stuff I like, like being able to mantle and grab onto ledges and seeing better descriptions on what certain weapon perks do, but a whole lot of that just feels like Quality of Life changes that I would expect to be there. Overall I'm coming away from the beta pretty mixed which is not what I was hoping for.

Well, I'm pretty sure sure I don't have to type "IMO" at the end of each sentence. Liking something or not is obviously subjective. The story of the first Jonh Wick was very human, emotional, and raw - since most people did want the a-holes that broke into house to die a horrible death since we can empathize with his situation and didn't want to see the puppy hurt. Yes, it's very basic, but that's not the same as some bad Saturday morning cartoon story, which is the case for Destiny. Like I mentioned before John Wick is very stylized, the movie could've been another clone of Taken without that style. Destiny is a mesh of Halo, Borderlands, Mass Effect, and other games where it's a jack of all those trades but master of none - I'll throw in a "IMO" to make that clear it's what I think and not the whole world.

I do not like the structure of the weapons with sniper/shotguns being in the heavy. I also don't like the nerfed melee or the shock titan's nerfed melee dash...makes it useless in my opinion. I also feel like the removal of a 3rd subclass is a cheap way to ensure they have something "of note" to include in future DLC.

I didn't mean to suggest your opinion wasn't valid. I just meant that while your points were true, not everyone would arrive at the same conclusion you do. For example for me, I think Destiny 2 feels pretty great. I also do not agree with the notion that Destiny doesn't have a unique style. It is very unique, I have never seen anything that looks quite as good as it does. I would easily call it the best looking shooter I've ever seen. Not technically perhaps, but in terms of art it is unmatched. The lore of the universe is also very strong, though it obviously barely had a presence in the actual game.

I think Destiny does shooting better than 100% of the other games out there. It does Raids better than 100% of other games out there; I actually want to play them. It does PvP better than 99% of other games out there. I've never taken time off work for the launch of a videogame, but I have now, because I like it that much.

I was saying the "IMO" part to @pyrodactyl not you. You thinking that Destiny is so great and stellar is perfectly fine since this is all subjective. I like Destiny's gunplay and graphics, I don't think they're THAT great, but my major problem (the one that ruins the game for me) is playing the same missions over and over gets boring fast and feels lazy from their end. Also, the story/mythology is almost nonexistent and what's there feels juvenile.

If the lore isn't in the game itself it doesn't count to me. Bungie was bad at that with Halo too, seems like they never learned from their mistakes. Games could still learn a lot from the original Mass Effect trilogy when it comes to story and mythology. Destiny 1 is more on the level of Titanfall (the first one) when it comes to story/mythology than a space opera like Mass Effect or even Halo. PvP in Destiny definitely never seemed very good to me: BF1, BF4, Titanfall 2, Paladins, and a lot of other games beat it there to me. I think we'll have to agree to disagree since you seem like a Destiny fanboy, which I don't mean in a negative way. To me it's just another game - one with potential but the first failed to come close to reaching, and to you it seems like it might be your favorite game ever.

@deathstriker: Though not at the top, it is one of my favorite games ever, yeah. I wouldn't put 1800 hours into anything if I didn't have a blast. But I don't think it was a secret that Destiny 2 would have you run activities over and over, week after week. It sounds like it was never trying to be the game you would enjoy.

I played a bit more today thanks to the extended beta, and I gotta say I really like the gameplay. It just feels good to shoot, the guns sound great! I'll definitely need more practice with the game in september, since I'm not that great at first person shooters (no trouble with controls, my reaction time is just not as good as some peoples', which was evident in PVP) but the beta convinced me to get the full game.

No idea which class i'm gonna main, that'll be decided once i spent more time with each. See you all in september, can't wait to jump in for real into this wonderful universe & play with you all! Also thanks @zevvion for adding me :)

So, um... Is/was the beta fun? 'Cause "late August" is still a month away, the internet likes to give mixed messages (as fucking usual), and I kinda forgot that Agents of Mayhem is a thing.

The answer is this very topic...it has impressions from a couple of dozen people.

@facelessvixen: my advice to anyone would be to wait for the final release if you're not already invested in Destiny. Play the open beta, see how it feels and wait for final word on what the full loop of the game looks like. I'm personally optimistic about some things and aprehensive about others, especially since I played the beta. Campaign missions will probably be great, the new open world content sounds neat and a new Destiny raid is always fun. On the other hand ability cooldowns are a real problem right now and my favorite class is not any good anymore.

They might fix these issues before release or maybe the content will be sparse and disposable. Both are equally likely if you ask me. So, yeah, there's no way to form a definitive opinion on the game quite yet.

@mike said:

Yes, but after going though other Destiny 2 threads on this site, Destiny 1 threads and videos on this site, YouTube, and even reddit, a couple dozen opinions kinda turns into a couple hundred, so having something closer to a direct 'yes or no' answer is more beneficial to me at this point since I seriously don't know if I should look forward to the game or not with all things to consider.

...Or just be a part of the problem and pre-order the damn game already and edge until October since overthinking the most minute things in life is apparently one of my favorite hobbies.

@pyrodactyl: Yeah, I heard about the skill cooldowns being more tuned for PvP, of which I have no true point of comparison for since Zev insists that Destiny isn't like Borderlands and picking up a PS3 version of Destiny 1 (since I don't have a PS4 or Xbox One) doesn't seem like a good idea despite my curiosity. So the way I see it, if skill cooldowns are the only issue at the moment of which may or may not be adjusted by September/October, I'll take your opinion as a recommendation if everything else works well enough.

@facelessvixen: Short answer, yes the beta is fun.

Mind you, it barely has any content. It was meant as a beta instead of a demo; they were stress testing their servers and services. While there are always lots of error codes and sign in errors on launch for some people which can take an hour or more, Destiny is usually really good about properly working on launch day. They have changed some systems on their servers and they want to make sure the game is playable on launch day again, so this beta is actually intended for that. Still, you will get a sense of how the game plays, but the 'loop' is still obscured.

And yeah, I realize I am pushing the 'this isn't Borderlands' narrative pretty hard, but I believe I am helping people's expectations when I say that. Obviously, there are people who really like Borderlands and Destiny (I am one of them), but that doesn't mean they are similar games. There are also lots of people who really dislike one or the other. In the arguments given, it becomes clear that these are just two very different games with their own draws. Destiny has a much more limited and confined set of perks and abilities for example, but those perks and abilities are meant to be used in perfectionist ways to clear the challenge ahead, whereas Borderlands' are intended to make you feel like a badass and wreck stuff. The ones in Destiny often have somewhat minor effects on the face of it, but are nuanced in what they allow you to do if you know how to use them. The ones in Borderlands are often over the top and completely crazy and boost your effectiveness by a flat margin.

Another big difference is that Borderlands allows you to overlevel, obtain gear that improves your power and effectiveness and is designed to be conquered if you reach those heights. In Destiny though, while it is possible to do the endgame activities solo, the average player is just going to be incapable of doing that. Being overleveled means little, you will still get murdered by low level enemies. The game is designed to be a challenge regardless of your level or gear. Nightfalls, Raids or even just an endgame Strike list is something you just can't do by yourself. And if you do, it will take a long time with lots of hiding and sometimes cheap tactics and exploits, on top of having a high skill level.

I don't mean to say you can't like both games, but if you do, it will be for different reasons. I am just trying to explain so people don't regret buying a game out of a misconception of what it is. It goes without saying that I really like Destiny and everything I have seen/heard/played thus far made me take a week off work for D2 when that launches. So yeah, my recommendation would definitely be to check it out, but you know better what types of games you like than I do.

Also, yeah, not a great idea getting Destiny 1 right now. Community is pretty dried up and the game isn't in the best state.

Since tonight is the final night to get impressions of the Beta for everyone, and I didn't really feel like this deserved it's own post, I'll be on PS4 around 6 pm CST (4 pm Pacific) playing the Beta, most likely PvP. I made a post on the Destiny Discord and will make another before I jump on. If I don't get 3 responses here, I'll try to fill up from BatmanBatmanBatman or Giantbomb friends so it's just GB guys tonight. If we get 6-8 we can all jump in the same Party Chat and talk while doing either Strikes or PvP in 2 groups.

@zevvion, if you or anyone else want to do something similar at a different time (since I know we both play at different times) go ahead and let everyone know here. I'd like to give some of the guys around here a chance to play the Beta with a group and talk about it some like I know me and you have had a chance to. I just wanted to give a bit of warning so people knew when to jump on if they wanted to join in.

Note: Fair warning, with SBMM on, I don't know what the competition will be like in PvP. I played last night and we were playing pretty top tier teams which included a friend who is a 2250 ELO D1 Trials player and CammyCakes (on the same team randomly) who is a top tier Twitch Streamer. But I was also with 2 guys I routinely go to the Lighthouse with so it's unlikely it will be as rough tonight.

@hestilllives19: I'll be playing tonight if it is still up. I'm in GMT+1. Entire night, if it's open still.

So fat I'm digging this beta. I haven't had too much of a chance to really dig into it besides playing that intro mission with all 3 classes, ran the strike once, and PvP a few times. Had a couple really good PvP matches last night.

I should be on later tonight when I get home from work, if it's still up. It'll be around 1 am CST, and if any of you will still be playing I'd love to join up!

@liberifatali: The Beta is closing at around 8pm tonight CST, so it will already be taken down at 1 am tomorrow morning, just FYI. So anyone looking to get any time left in the Beta has about 3 1/2 from right now left. Good luck guys.

Also, I found this video from TrueVanguard pretty much sums up a lot of my concerns and thoughts on the Beta for anyone interested.