Oh hey, it’s me. After a solid hiatus, I came back to the game just before Beyond Light but this season had to step away, possibly for good. For me, it wasn’t just how terrible Lightfall was (and it is terrible). I don’t even care about PvP being neglected, though that is a huge L for that crowd. For me it’s just the hyper aggressive escalation of their monetization for the game. And frankly, I thank them for it because after Destiny 2, I’m adding “live service” to the list of criteria that make me dodge a game entirely. I’m not an ATM, I’m just here to enjoy a game.
I also stepped away for good because it became apparently clear Bungie is in the process of milking their fan base. The game has never been as monetized as it is right now and the price also got increased. They even killed whatever interest I had in the new Marathon game, because there’s no reason they wouldn’t pull the same shit there. Their videos about Marathon definitely felt like the same overhyped shit they make for Destiny.
Honestly I never really forgave Destiny (the first one) for shipping a half finished game. I got to a point where I couldn’t progress any further in the main storyline, they wanted us to buy the dlcs to continue the main story. Was outraged that I wouldn’t get to bring it to full conclusion as I always think a game should have the entirety of the main campaign available.
Never spent another penny on it and won’t. Shame cos I liked a lot of it.
Destiny 2 got better and much, much worse in that aspect. You got a full campaign, The Red War, on release. The downside is that at this point The Red War (and all of the other year 1 dlc that I paid for) has been removed from the game and is no longer playable. What actually made me stop playing is that they started locking story content behind timed battlepasses. So if you want to have any clue what’s going on in the new DLC, you better have bought and played every battlepass since the last release. Absolutely weaponized FOMO.
Combine that with them resetting the minimum light several times… if I started playing Destiny 2 again right now on my existing characters I’d be at roughly the same spot as a new player, I’d just look cooler and have a lot of frustration over trying to constantly upgrade my existing guns to whatever my current light is. In all honesty I’d probably give up until light progression slowed down and just use whatever drops. Oh yeah, and I’d be in about $120 deeper than that new player.
Sounds like Bungie used their time with Activision to learn the absolute worst consumer practices and implement them.
Honestly I preferred the game when it was under Activision. First game I’ve ever said that about lmao.
Lightfall has been a major disappointment. I really wish they would have just delayed The Final Shape and included everything into one package. Even if they made us wait an extra year for it. It’s been clear from the beginning of this expansion that Lightfall was filler content, which just makes it even more insulting that this was also the most expensive expansion so far.
I hate how invested I am in the game, though. Like, I know that I’m going to buy The Final Shape anyway, because after playing this game for so many year, I need closure to the story. But Bungie is going to have to really impress if they expect a lot of people to buy anything beyond that. Going into a new narrative direction after The Final Shape is already going to be risky enough, but it’ll truly be the end of the game if Final Shape flops.
Lightfall killed my interest in the game.
On top of all that, they’ve upped the low-end difficulty to the point that everything feels like a chore instead of fun, and I just find myself not wanting to play more than the current story for the week, when I used to put 40-80 hours per week in. And I only did enough PvP to get the rewards, so that was almost entirely PvE play.
I fully admit that I played too much, but I enjoyed all that, until they decided to up the base difficulty. I’ve yet to meet anyone that enjoys the new difficulty levels, because now the base is too hard to casuals and the top end didn’t get any harder, which is what the hardcores wanted. I’ve even heard the hardcores complain about the slog through lower-level content that is still no challenge for them, just more time-consuming.
I don’t think they could have managed to screw up that change any more than they did.
Lightfall isn’t the worst expansion in the game’s lifetime which is kind of crazy to think about. Hell, for myself, and so many others, Shadowkeep destroyed interest and motivation to want to play.
Lightfall is similar to that feeling, which sucks as the game is still very fun to play, but the campaign was so boring and just a slog. I don’t foresee the game’s numbers breaching LF’s record but I do feel that a lot of players are going to quit after Final Shape once the Light and Dark saga has concluded. I’ve been consistently playing for 3 years since I got back from my post-Shadowkeep hiatus but I might take an extended break again. Either way, it’s still my favorite game, 4500+ hours and counting
