Hestilllives19

@deckard: I think the million dollar Anthem question on Story is how much influence did Drew Karpyshyn have on it before he left last March. Casey Hudson commented on it by saying "Story will always be an important part of every BioWare game. Drew has wrapped up his work on the project, but Anthem’s Lead Writers and their teams continue to do amazing work developing the world, story, and characters." So if by wrapped up his work, he actually finished what he set out to do, or it means he quit mid story. I think that's anybody's guess. I think it would be hard for most people not to consider Drew one of the top industry writing talents, so if he did get to write or at least outline a story for the team at Bioware Edmonton to finish, Anthem will be in a pretty great spot. If not, we might end up with another Mass Effect 3 ending blunder type situation.

As far as my take on Anthem so far goes though, I'm actually far more concerned, like most around here, about the gameplay bugs. I've played quite a bit of Anthem this weekend, hitting Level 15 last night, and attempted to play far more of it than I've been able to. I've seen the 95% bug at least 60% of the time I've tried to load in (was unable to play at all Friday night due to it), had the unplayable rubber banding issue a few times, had the final cutscene only display an image of the 3 guys and play sad music so I had to skip it entirely, and many of the other small hiccups this demo put out. Best case scenario this 6 week old Demo has already had these issues fixed, and only destroyed confidence in many consumers and cost them a few million sales. Worst case, EA has pushed this game out far too early and it's going to be another Fallout 76 nightmare that's not really even playable at launch. Which is really sad in all honesty, because when Anthem actually plays it's rather fun in the same vein that Andromeda was a lot of fun from a Gameplay perseptive. Especially as Storm, pulling off team combos is something hard to find in many games. Mass Effect did it really well in Single Player, and doing this well with friends is a really novel concept that I feel like I'd enjoy a ton.

But I think like many, I have the same reservations many have had after playing the demo. There are far too many loading screen's in places that don't seem to need them, like tunnel entrances that don't look like they'd require one. The End Game needs to be strong to keep up with games like Diablo and Destiny, and nobody else in the industry has been able to accomplish this, even The Division, so the hope for that is a bit slim. Another big concern is that this is a games as a service game (I could have sworn someone at Bioware called it a Platform and they wouldn't have sequels but I can't find that to confirm, I could be making that up), but all of the DLC plans going forward are free. This tells me that updates to the game with be extremely minor or they are lying. It isn't possible to support a Games As A Service type game like Destiny without influxes of cash from time to time. And personally, as a consumer, if I enjoy the game, like I do with the Destiny franchise, I have zero problem paying for new content on a regular basis, especially if that content is significant. As much as some might disagree, Destiny frequently earns it's value in content drops. $40 for Forsaken was an incredible value because it had a bigger size/scope that 99% of $60 releases in 2018. By the same token, it's current DLC Season Pass, isn't earning it's value in many minds, with Black Armory being rather underwhelming to date. But the hope is that the other 2 drops as part of that pack make up for it, especially the Summer release of Penumbra. So for Anthem, I just don't see being able to keep up with the Games As A Service model for free, that doesn't seem practical. It makes me think the game/franchise will be dead entirely in 3-6 months until a sequel arrives in 5+ years.

All that said, I'm still keeping my pre-order, because Destiny is my jam, I don't expect Joker's Wild to be very great, and at the worst Anthem can be a blunder and distraction game for a month or so like The Division was a few years ago.

@jdesnoyers: I'd be more than happy to put this on the front page, but you might be the first player to ever even talk about a Clan for anywhere in Asia on any platform. Just curious if the plan is for this to be mostly Japan or all of Asia since that's how Battle.net does their region stuff. Fair warning though, even the Aussie clans tend to be very inactive around here since it's mostly US and EU groups and players. No idea how much, if any, traction this will get.

Update: It's added. I set the Timezone to JST and mentioned Asia as the region. Let me know if you want that different.

I also wanted to include a take from one of the bigger names in the community that have talked about this. I thought Aztecross's take was pretty insightful, if not a bit too generous given Destiny is losing access to 300+ Employee's who worked on the franchise as of yesterday. He makes some solid points about where the next Destiny release goes from here though under the guidance of Christopher Barrett. I think many of us in the community hope that the next iteration of Destiny is a platform base and not another sequel, and the hints were heard and leaks from reputable sources seem to hint towards that direction, I just think a project of that scope (one we already know has been underway for at least since last Summer) will take Bungie many many years, though the heavy rumors at this point were already a Fall 2020 release. I wonder how feasible all of that is if Bungie plans to release a Forsaken style update once again in Fall 2019.

Another interesting response to all of this was from Phil Spencer yesterday. He tweeted "Looking forward to a very bright future working with one of my favorite independent studios on one of my favorite franchises. Excited to see how they continue to grow and evolve Destiny." Some in the community are speculating that this is an indication of Bungie's plans to end Sony's Platform exclusivity now that Activision is out of the picture, but I kind of doubt that since Bungie will need cash and deals like that are quick and easy ways to obtain it. However, Bungie themselves have mentioned in the past their strong interest in things like Cross Save between Platforms, and with everything going on in the industry and Sony's loosening grip on such things, I think it's very likely we will see features like this going forward in the future, even if it's just Xbox One/PC since Bungie doesn't have to worry about upsetting a Platform holder as badly as Activision did.

I'll update this is any more interesting not quite factual things come to light today.

Yesterday morning Jason Schreier put out an extremely cryptic tweet (response 1, 2, and 3) that kind of set the Destiny fanbase into a frenzy.

"There have been tensions between Bungie and Activision since before Destiny 1 even shipped. With Bungie (wisely) wanting to prioritize hardcore players and Activision unhappy with sales, I continue to wonder about that relationship, and the future of Destiny..."

When pressed he responded with a few things.

"I don't want to share anything until I know it for certain, but I'm keeping an eye out today...", "Sorry. But if what I'm hearing is true, I'll find out *very* soon. Bungie's having a team meeting shortly.", and "Here's what I know for certain: Bungie has a team meeting in a few minutes. The buzz around the studio is that it's "good news" for them. I've heard rumors about what it might be, but I don't have enough details to want to share just yet. More coming shortly."

30 minutes later, at 1:05 PST Bungie themselves tweeted this with a link to a full explanation. https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/47569

"Today, we're announcing plans for Bungie to assume full publishing rights for the Destiny franchise."

In "Our Destiny", Bungie goes on to explain that back in 2010 they needed the help of a big Publisher like Activision to get Destiny off the ground, and together over the past 8 years "we created something special". They thanked Activision for that partnership but announced that Activision is transferring the Publishing Rights of the Destiny Franchise to Bungie so that Activision can focus on "owned IP projects". One of the more interesting notes is Bungies line saying "we look forward to... surprising our community with some exciting announcements about what lies beyond." Another interesting line is "We know self-publishing won’t be easy..." and it's indication is that Bungie will no longer be working with a Publisher at all.

Less than an hour after this announcement Jason Schreier had an article up, https://kotaku.com/bungie-splits-with-activision-1831651740.

In it he describes a first hand account of the news breaking at Bungie Studios yesterday afternoon of Champagne being popped and employee's cheering to the news. Jason describes one of the most tumultuous parts of the Activision/Bungie relationship having stemmed from Activision's rather rigorous release schedule that many in the community have often attributed to the sometimes poor quality of seemingly rushed Destiny products. Blizzard was quick to mention in a tweet that Destiny 2 PC will continue to receive full support on the Battle.net launcher. Jason also mentions a few of the more interesting concerns over this whole situation, in that both Vicarious Visions and High Moon Studios have been working as partners on Destiny for the last couple years, and the release of Activision as a Publishing Partner is pretty much a guarantee Bungie is losing the help of those 200+ and 100+ employee's at those studios, which will likely limit Bungie's ability to release content at the current levels going forward. Also, if we remember back to June, Bungie got $100 million from NetEase, a Chinese Publishing company, to release a new, non-Destiny related game, https://kotaku.com/bungie-gets-100-million-for-new-non-destiny-game-1826496634, which further splits the 750+ Bungie employee's into another project.

It will be extremely interesting what the content pipeline for the Destiny Franchise looks like going forward. I think for many in the Destiny fanbase, this news is extremely exciting, but I think we are also all on pins and needles waiting to hear about these new announcements about what lies beyond, especially now.

Edit: Going through some of the DTG and Bungie responses (look for anything more speculative in comments, not post updates), and I'll update some of what they have said. Deej posted yesterday on his own Twitter that while change is afoot for Bungie, nothing from the Annual Pass Gameplay Calendar is changing. Cosmo announced that yesterdays scheduled TWAB was being pushed to today but would be coming, so expect more news later today.

@mister_v: I didn't realize you were in the EU. While they are set to Approval Required, Style High is probably the most active EU clan on PC and they have 21 spots available. You should request join on their Bungie page and join their Discord and ask Al about joining.

@ll_exile_ll: I agree that a bumbling Uldren Guardian walking into the Tower, not knowing the steaming pile of poop he's walking into is going to be very interesting (think D1 our character first loading into the Tower and being told what a Guardian is, but with everyone hating his guts being probably the most reviled character in the galaxy currently), but even more so, the fact that if you think back on the Guardian Hunter Dare Cayde-6 put out that the Hunter who killed him will take his place as the Hunter Vanguard, and that Zavala said they will be honoring Cayde's Dare, it gets real interesting if Uldren becomes the new Hunter Vanguard. Since Cayde's death, many have speculated who that might end up being, and to be honest, there really hasn't been that good of a candidate in my opinion. This really could be the most interesting choice of that possible, that Uldren might not only be stepping into the Tower as the most hated person in the galaxy, but also as the new Hunter Vanguard as well.

Note: This is the Ghost we see, at least that's who many assume it to be. He is rather beloved by many lore enthusiasts as a favorite, so him choosing Uldren as his Guardian is kind of a big deal.

This scene leaked 3 weeks ago or so but we didn't know when it would drop. I had already seen it, but boy was it fun being in a party with Uppercase last night when he watched this for the first time. Needless to say this is a kind of a big deal. It has some of the biggest, most interesting story ramifications that have ever happened in the Destiny franchise. It hits on all the things that happened throughout the Forsaken story campaign, original D1's story, a ton of lore ramifications, and the story as a whole going forward. This honestly is a must watch for anyone even with a passing interest in the going on's with the Destiny universe going forward if you are caught up through Forsaken. I highly recommend taking a look at it.

@notnert427: Just as an update, this weeks TWAB just dropped and this was one of the points for next weeks update.

• Players under 600 Power will begin to receive higher-powered rewards when completing Director Challenges
  
  • Developer commentary: This change is being made to build upon changes in Update 2.1.2, where we increased Power rewards from Prime Engrams.

Hopefully this change will help players still under 600 more quickly get up to that level and able to experience Black Armory. I would expect to see all Powerfuls go up to +5 or more due to this change which should help dramatically.

@notnert427: The biggest suggestion I can make is to make sure you are doing things you weren't able to do before this ramp up and the Season changes. I would highly recommend trying to get into some of the early week Last Wish runs on Discord that will be happening since a lot of us are trying to use that to level up and still pick up 1k Voices still, especially if you haven't been able to do Last Wish yet. Next week you should be in striking distance of running Shattered Throne and I highly recommend doing that while it's up as well, those are the 2 best Activities that launched with Forsaken, bar none, and if you haven't experienced them now will be a great time because a lot of players will be running both of those for the Powerful Rewards. All of the grouping Activities from Forsaken are in a really good place right now due to the increased activity from 100k Nightfalls (especially since 110 Handicap is busted), to Tier 4 Blind Well, to Ascendant Challenges, etc. It is also a great time to grind some of your Gambit matches for Breakneck because not only is that a Powerful Reward but it's one of the best PvE Weapons in the game. There is still a lot to do, especially for players who haven't done much group activities with Forsaken, but again I understand where you are coming from. But just be aware that what is here for Black Armory besides the new Scourge of the Past Raid is extremely slim, so if you need to take a break or only grind X amount of easy Activities per week to slowly get up into the 600's before Niobe Labs launches in January, you have time. The Forges seriously are not that significant of content, so you aren't missing out on much at all until then.

So Black Armory has been out almost a week, and I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what's going on with it, how I feel about it, and some recommendations of if/when to purchase the Annual Pass. First and foremost, if you don't already own the Annual Pass, and are not at least 600 Power Level, DO NOT buy the Annual Pass, at least not yet. Black Armory, and likely by extension all of the Annual Pass Updates, are considered End Game content. This means to get your money's worth out of them, you will need to be at the previous contents Max Power at launch. That means 600 now, 650 in March, and 700 in June. Onto the news about Black Armory.

A little background on this past week... The Volundr Forge was the only thing that really launched last Tuesday. Included with it was a smallish Quest of extremely grindy steps, a fetch Quest more or less. This led to the a Weapon Frame and the Volundr Forge itself. The Forge Activities were set at 615 Power Level, and the final Boss scaled to 630. If you know much about Destiny scaling you know that even for a 600 Power player 15 PL's is a tough order, and much more than that is pretty impossible unless you are a top 1% player. Sidenote: Damage scaling in Destiny is as follows: +25 PL's above gets a 12% damage reduction, -10 PL's deals 23% less damage and receives 37% more damage, -15 PL's deals 29% less damage and receives 78% more damage, and -30 PL's deals 42% less damage and receives 175% increased damage. So doing the Forge at all on Tuesday without grinding out all of your Weekly Powerful Gear drops was an impossibility. I actually still found it rather difficult dealing with a -20 Delta after getting to around 610 on my Hunter on Tuesday, so I actually switched to my Titan to start grinding for Wednesday to do the Forge late Tuesday night since my Weapons were around 610-613 so it boosted that character up. On Wednesday, Bungie heeded the outcries of the vast majority of the community in the early afternoon, which can be found here. In a matter of seconds, they flipped a server side switch that lowered the Volundr Forge from 615-630 down to 610-625. This was actually a drastic improvement for those of us playing who at around 610, could now actually complete the Volundr Forge activity and see the rewards located within. Due to this change and the Powerful Gear located within plus playing on a 2nd character I was able to boost my 2nd character to around 621 by Friday when the Gofannon Forge launched. The Quest steps included with the launch of the Gofannon Forge were actually rather lengthy, and represent the first actual "Missions" of the Black Armory, though they were rather bland and frustrating, so I wouldn't get too excited about it. More than anything it just represented another really long fetch quest. Another big thing of note, is that due to a current bug, you do not want to complete anything on the Gofannon Quest if you haven't finished the Weekly Volundr Forge stuff, because holding any two Weapon Frames will wipe the other once you obtain one by completing it. So complete Volundr stuff first before Gofannon. After finishing the Gofannon Weapon Frame, there hasn't been anything else to do this week besides the launch of the Scourge of the Past Raid.

A few things on Scourge of the Past. I have yet to complete this Raid, so I cannot give first hand comments on it. But I did glance at some of the Livestreams for Worlds First and talked to many who have completed it. It both appears to and many have commented, including Bungie themselves who said they designed it to be like Wrath of the Machine from Rise of Iron. While it may not be one of the largest Raids they've ever created (that goes to Last Wish and then King's Fall), it's spaces are not only larger than Raid spaces, they are very likely larger than any single Patrol Zones on any Planet Bungie has ever created for Destiny. I'm trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but the entire Raid (as far as I can tell) not only allows you to pull out your Sparrow to traverse it, but encourages it to quickly get from one objective to the other. I will also say that the Raid Boss and the way in which you are able to fight him is truly unexpected, unusual/refreshing for Destiny, and looks like an absolute blast. I am extremely excited to try this Raid next week. My third and final character is almost ready, as I now sit at 626 and still able to do Last Wish if I can find a group tonight. I should be able to get close to 640+ on all my characters by next week, which is the recommended PL for Scourge, of which enemies scale between 640-650 within.

All of this to say, for the $30-35 (depending on how you bought it) asking price for the Annual Pass, IMO, at the moment unless you are interested in Scourge of the Past and grinding up to 640ish Power Level, I do not recommend purchasing it. Even then, the asking price is rather high, so I'd wait until you are in the 620's since the PL increase is free. I'd wait for Jan. 9th to see what Niobe Labs is all about. There has been a lot of talk that Niobe is the Bubble Location (Smaller but a Patrol Zone like EDZ, Mars, Mercury, Dreaming City, etc) Bungie talked about pre-launch and some PC players have uncovered files hinting that it will include another Dungeon similar to Shattered Thone, which was one of the best new Activities that launched with Forsaken. All of this is speculation however, so the proof will be on launch in January. I, and many others, have been a bit surprised at how little content Black Armory has launched with, as the vast majority of it was due to the free Season update available to all players, but I do think that Scourge of the Past comes close to earning my $10-11.67 I paid for the Black Armory portion of the Annual Pass. It is a bit mind blowing that with 3 separate studios, and 1000+ employee's this is all Bungie can come up with, but we are very early into this thing, so here's hoping that for some insane reason Bungie is holding back the meat of Black Armory for Niobe Labs on Jan. 9th like many are speculating. Until then, I'd hold onto your money unless you are a very dedicated Destiny player and Raid enthusiast like myself.

Edit: Datto, well respected PvE oriented streamer put out his thoughts on Black Armory and boy do they more or less directly reflect my own. Give it a watch if you don't feel like reading through mine and watching a video is easier. He's pretty spot on with his take.