I enjoy spending a lot of time in borderlands and gta online being pitted with no-mic randoms doing co op stuff. Would i enjoy Destiny?

@gypz: A couple of the best modes of Destiny don't have matchmaking. In fact I think only strikes and pvp actually has matchmaking.

The world is nowhere near as big as something like borderlands or GTA, everything is in a pretty small box and getting from one location to another requires you to go through multiple loading screens.

The gun play is good though.

Overall, I'd recommend getting a cheap copy of it if you can. It's not worth full price at all. And many people are saying now with the expansions it's finally worth playing, but my take on that is I paid for a $60 game and didn't get my monies worth, I'm not about to spend another $20-40 to make it a better game.

But if you like Borderlands and GTA, I'd probably just save my money in your position and keep playing those instead.

I pretty much agree with Jesus Phish on all points.

Just wanted to add that even though I think Destiny has any number of major flaws, I still played it in the way OP describes for something like 40 hours before I got tired of it. Just random matchmaking, a lot of strikes and pvp.

I don't know what the price is like now, but at release I sort of regretted paying full price for it. But in retrospect I played it for a bunch of time so I can't really complain specifically about the price point.

Definitely play with friends only, so if that isn't the case, skip it.

I do not enjoy first person shooters as a general rule.

I had a good time with Final Fantasy XI when it was in beta, free, and I was guaranteed a PS2 hard drive for my troubles at the end of it.

I had never played a loot-based game other than JRPGs prior to Destiny.

I'd argue Destiny is easily the best game of this console generation so far and nothing else has come remotely close, all this despite Destiny being [i]deeply[/i] flawed. It's a beautiful game, it sounds fantastic, it moves perfectly, everything about it's gameplay makes complete sense, and now with House of Wolves it is loaded with awesome weapons, cool armor perks, and fun missions.

And once you've run most of the levels a couple times, more than anything it's the perfect game for getting some playtime in while listening to podcasts or music. Not since the heyday of the Madden / NCAA series on PS2 has there been a game so perfect for completely ignoring in favor of some other audio. I'd like it to be NBA 2K, but for some reason I really enjoy hearing the crowd and announcers in those games.

So I also always play match made with randoms and take whatever I can get. I'm not really playing Destiny to make progress, although it's been a very long time since I felt stuck in the mud with this game. I also take 2-3 week breaks whenever I feel like it without stressing about missing out on materials (though this also means I'm constantly low on materials compared to the thousands of people out there with enough to last them weeks of fiddling with House of Wolves' new exchange rates) and, oftentimes when I end up in a fire team with GB duders running the Weekly Strike, I'll lie and say my roommate has my earphones (which have my mic on them) for a run or something.

Just so I can listen to a new episode of a podcast while I shoot some aliens in the head.

Honestly, part of the reason I love Destiny so much is how passive aggressive an experience it is. The game really doesn't ask for that much of you if you don't want to give it much, but if you do it has a LOT to offer back in return.

Thanks for the awesome answers so far. Definitely info i want.

I’m 100% a cost-above-all gamer, but that’s just what I’m looking for with Destiny. Something I can sink my teeth in and pay for more tweaks added to it. Good gunplay? expected. long load times? gta online loading times taught me to listen to news on satellite radio or podcasts so that i can accomplish gaming and informing myself simultaneously.

I may be trying to oversimplify it or just being too lazy to read about it myself, but there is matchmaking PvAI co-op correct? That’s what I’m most interested in. Growing up in and being heavily involved with the Halo 2, 3 hey-days a fresh bungie PvP sounds intriguing and who knows I might like it a lot, but I wouldn’t feel robbed if it isn’t good. I really don’t excited about FPS deathmatches, CTF, etc. anymore.

The only video games I ever play with my friends are FIFA and NHL. My casual-ass friends don’t play games likes gta online and borderlands with me leaving me to the mercy of randoms. Me and these creepy randoms whom either don’t speak or are sprouting gibberish meriting mute status take on simplified enough objectives where we kill all in our way there , press button/kill something/steal something, kill all in our way back, then get stuff for it (this applies only to Contact Missions, not Heists for GTA). If Destiny's PvAI co-op is complex enough requiring any level of vocal collaboration then I’m hesitant to get it. But, from what i gather of the people who enjoy destiny is it’s lethargic approach at it’s story and mission structure make it a… drony video game. And it seems you either like the droning or you don’t. My examples I keep mentioning: BL and GTA O, just drone on and on and i shoot this and i shoot that and I have fun. I’ll constantly say to myself “I like this a lot, I can plainly see why someone wouldn’t, but I like this a lot,” and Destiny players I think seem to know this phenomenon I’m talking about.

Or is Destiny different? Maybe the community rocks and you actually do want to hook up a mic and strategize? Although I do see a bit of “squad begging”…. so maybe not. And there’s freedom to roam around, attack and get attacked right? They're segmented areas separated by loading screens if i heard correctly, but again those won’t bother me. I heavily played the first 3 Halo campaigns so wandering around in a Bungie la-la land when that’s all you want the game to be sounds so badass, just like GTA O being a Rockstar la-la land is to me. I've never played an MMO so I can’t base anything from experience, but running around doing nothing but stumbling on and slaughtering people worse than me/ being slaughtered by people better than me/ firefighting with people that are equally matched is plain awesome gameplay to me.

I’m going to get the PS3 version, because like y’all I’m a cost centric gamer (not having to pay for online play is so much easier/better and it makes me feel good to know that a pre payed period of online play isn't chipping away so that I’m getting the most out of my system thereby MAKING ME MORE LIKELY TO SPEND MORE MONEY THAN I WOULD HAVE ON GAMES ON THE ONLINE STORE THAN IF I HAD TO PAY FOR A SUBSCRIPTION OF ANY KIND). So yeah, $40 used off the shelf…. attractively cheaper if I order it and wait. I would probably get a feel for the packaged content before I started any DLC.

If you're just looking to play co-op with randoms but not talking to them, then you'll miss out on the most exciting parts of Destiny. There's still plenty of cool stuff in there that you can play that way, but the best parts really require you to be communicating with your teammates, plus no matchmaking for those bits means you kinda want a semi-regular group of people. Plus the loot isn't as varied as Borderlands, although the top end gear is clearly very lovingly crafted. It's incredibly fun mechanically though, I've spent well over 300 hours with it so there's that.

EDIT: Also if you're playing on PS3 I know the community is quite a bit smaller, so you might find fewer dedicated players but I'm certain there will still be some out there. It's definitely a game that benefits hugely from having a group that you play with consistently though, I wouldn't have made it past about the 80-100 hour mark without the friends I ended up playing with.

All but the raids, weekly nightfall strike and newest House of Wolves content are match made experiences. They could really open up the Nightfall (and from what I hear Crota's End) to matchmaking though, but I get why the other stuff is locked away I guess. And you CAN do the level 28 Prison of Elders through match making, and it does give out some pretty nifty gear even if it isn't the niftiest.

With the way they're handling drops this time around, you'd have to imagine buying engrams from Xur will be just as handy a way to come across the most valuable new stuff for people like us who prefer mindless podcasting during PvE.

I've dumped almost 100 hours in and am now just starting my titan.

It's flawed but I love it

Destiny is actually at a really good spot right now. I mostly play with randoms or solo, and while that locks you out of some stuff (The two raids, nightfall strike, the new prison challenges and trials of osiris). There is still a ton of stuff for you to do and I've never felt like I was missing out on too much.

Luckily they have fixed all most of the systems that drove everyone out of the game when it first came out. So reaching a high enough level to do almost everything is not too bad.

You should be able to get it for $30 if you look around. It's definitely a game you can get your money's worth, even with randoms.