The 5 Things Destiny 2 Gets Wrong

What a week it’s been. Destiny 2 launched only recently and so far we’ve beaten the campaign, leveled not 1 but 2 characters to strike worthy status, lost countless hours of sleep (countless because I can’t focus enough do the math), all to get that Destiny fix that D2 significantly satisfies. Yes, the game is good. Bungie has listened and created a story that’s coherent and usually interesting, beautiful worlds to explore that can be distracting from the patented 30-seconds-of-fun gunplay, and tasks to keep even the most dedicated players grinding away for hours into the nights (we know firsthand).

We can’t wait to see what’s next this week with the raid and the return of Xur, heck we even can’t wait for the weekly reset to give us all new missions to take on. We can easily see this game occupying our playtime for the foreseeable months.

But that’s not to say it’s perfect. In fact in our 20sh hours go gaming we’ve managed to source in the last week, we’ve come across several missteps in an otherwise remarkable title. Here now are 5 Things Destiny 2 Does Wrong.

Withholding sparrows

One of the most impressive experiences gamers had in the first Destiny is the first moment they unlock their sparrow. These personalized land speeders are amazing and the mode of choice for just about all of your on-planet travels. The way the sparrow howls and echoes around you as you fly across alien worlds is always stunning. I was stoked to jump into Destiny 2 and see what the worlds had to offer in my trusty sparrow as quickly as possible.

Weirdly though, Bungie opted to keep you grounded until after the campaign (or through random loot drops once you reached the top level). This means for the entirety of the your gaming experience, you’re hoofing it between check points way longer than you should be. Maybe it’s a chance to take in the scenery. Maybe it’s a way to extend the 7 hour campaign an extra hour in travel time. It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s a bizarre choice considering the first game got you moving as soon as you unlocked a handful of beacons on a planet.

Seriously, passing my DMV test was easier than unlocking the sparrow here

You don’t mess with someone’s car, Bungie. Not cool.

Hunters’ new ability is weak

So one of the few new additions to D2 are new additional special moves each class can perform by hitting the O button on the PS4. Warlocks cast rings of power on the ground that cause your team to recharge health or increase their attack power. Titans create a barricade your team can hide against when you can’t find good cover. And hunters, well, they kind of flip to the side to reload their gun.

We don’t get it. The other classes create these beneficial tools that help their team out meanwhile the hunter is off doing cartwheels. It’s weak. Perhaps in PvP or if you’re not with a team this is awesome, but it seems remarkably limited (and honestly selfish) for hunters to use that meanwhile the titan and ‘locks are protecting and healing the team.

Perhaps Bungie makes up for it by giving the hunter the tether which is completely OP

We miss Dinklebot

Peter Dinklage is one of the most likable actors we can think of today. He’s been great in shows like Game of Thrones, Station Agent, Seinfeld. Yeah, he was a bit dry at times in the original Destiny, but damn do we miss him now. Nolan North is perfectly game for the role of your ghost but is completely unremarkable in his performance. He’s just your bot companion. Dinklage gives weight to the role even if the lines and delivery was a bit stiff the first time through but we were deeply saddened to seem get completely retconned from the first game and, now, yeah, we miss him.

Fortunately Fillion and Lance Riddick do a lot to carry the game without the awesome Peter Dinklage

The opening area is too intense

D2 has an impressive opening act. Not only do you have the visually stunning tutorial level as you raid the Red Legion ships that we played in the beta, but there’s also an intense sequence immediately after as you try to recover from your near fatal encounter with Ghaul. It’s unlike anything you’ve played in Destiny before.

It’s actually remarkable how long you play before you get into the core of Destiny we’ve come to know. That’s not the complaint though. The first time you’re left to wander on your own you’re deposited in the European Dead Zone (EDZ). It’s here you’ll start to find missions, engage in public events, really experience everything the new Destiny has to offer.

Enjoy the view for about 3 seconds before the fallen armada and cabal dropship opens fire on you

But likely you’ll warp in under heavy fire and make a mad dash to the nearby church for cover. It’s perhaps by design but you’re going to have to seek sanctuary to stay alive because for whatever reason Bungie has made the area immediately outside the church about the most brutal portion of open area in the game. There’s a constant battle between cabal and fallen at one end and a public event that starts on the other side that spawns countless high level enemies on all sides of the church.

Seriously, it’s the most intense battlefield in the open world and it’s right where you first spawn. We don’t get it.

We’ve been conditioned to grind

It’s hard to be mad at Bungie for this one. If you’re a returning player to Destiny, you are likely eagerly awaiting news on the upcoming raid. Raids are the pinnacle experience to have in Destiny but they require a team of skilled, dedicate players to solve. When it goes right, it’s absolutely stunning and better than just about any other game we’ve played.

So, if you’re like us, you’re gearing up as fast as possible to be ready this week when the raid comes. This means we’ve blown through the campaign and many of the side activities as fast as possible to be ready. The problem is it’s actually a pretty impressive campaign that you’ll likely not slow down to appreciate. Any cursory search of D2 now has countless articles about how to maximize your gear. But moments like encountering the Hive on the derelict Titan or attacking the cabal with their own tanks are great. We forced ourselves to stop and enjoying the skyboxes or the lighting effects, but we always felt that inner urge to keep going, win just one more heroic public event, accomplish one more milestone, for that off chance of an exotic drop or get us closer to 300 light.

The world is pretty interesting this time around provided you can stop to enjoy it

Bungie’s conditioned us to grind, but it’s a shame because you’re likely not going to stop to appreciate the game they designed along the way.