📰 an open letter to Tyson Green
december 16th 2024
dear Tyson Green, i am writing to you today to express my concerns about the future you have planned for Destiny 2. you have only been leading the helm for a short while (i have to assume at least since The Final Shape launched), and yet, in this time, you have done nothing but dissapoint. every single turn you make is the wrong one; would it be so bad to listen to the sav-nav once in a while?
this year in Destiny should have been a victory lap, a way to very easily win back everyone that had left, and yet somehow you have managed to make it worse. player counts are at their lowest, and player morale decreases by the second. this game is not that difficult to direct. even i could do it! in fact, here is every step i would have taken this year to progress the game forwards, and to cement Joe Blackburn's legacy.
2024: the victory lap
to begin with, i would address the story post Final Shape. the current model of self contained stories is awful, and it makes no sense. we know that the villain of the season is either going to die or just dissappear anyway, so why not have taken this year to start subtly building up to the next big bad? the darkness is still somewhat outthere, and we know that there is someone bigger than The Witness (he says at some point during The Final Shape that he is 'the First Knife of the darkness'), so why not lead up to the next big release in Frontiers? instead of this cookie cutter bullshit we have now.
next, i would address the loot grind. weapon crafting is not the evil you perceive it to be Tyson. it is a way to keep players engaged, and to keep them playing. the current model of 'play the game for 12 weeks, then leave for 12 weeks' is not sustainable, especically since you have cut the amount of endgame content in half AND you have removed the ability to focus for red-border weapons (of the season that is currently active). to re-iterate for those that do not know, you cannot receive or focus red-border weapons from the season that is currently active, which means you cannot add the crafting pattern for the weapon to your collection. you must farm for the specific roll that you want, except the current method of farming is the absolute worst it has ever been. you can use a 'tonic' to focus your weapon drops to a smaller pool, but it does not guarantee a drop to occur, nor does it allow you to focus for the weapon you want. the way forward that i see, is to take a page out of the menagerie's book, and introduce pure weapon focusing, maybe not exactly as it was back then, but similar. oh and it also only works in seasonal activities. just make the focusing for strikes, gambit and crucible loot cheaper man. none of the loot in those activities is worth the cost. wake up.
the idea is simple: 5 different slots in the 'chalice', each serving a different purpose and using a different (get ready for the real kicker) and very EASILY FARMABLE currencies. the first slot is for the weapon archetype, the second slot is for the weapon slot, the third slot is for the specifc weapon. the fourth and fifth slots would be to enable double perks in the 3rd and 4th perk slots, but the materials required for these slots would be earned from endgame activities (dungeon/raid encounters, trials, GMs, etc.). and even more importantly, you can still earn red-borders towards patterns, to mitigate the grind. this not only encourages player agency, but it respects their time, something you have personally failed to do Tyson.
another pain point is related to loot in dungeons and legacy raids. there needs to be a way to receive a guaranteed red-border weapon at the end of every dungeon and raid, and there also needs to be the same focusing chest that is at the end of raids in dungeons.
finally, i would reintoduce hard mode raids, with cosmetic rewards as incentive. the idea that hard mode raids are not worth the development cost as the amount of players that complete them is not high enough to justify their existance, is an outdated mindset. the pantheon event proves this. the pantheon event even proves that hard mode encounters can be created, as the team at Bungie has shown they are creative enough to change the encounters in meaningful ways! hard mode raids also incentivise players to chase powerful loot with the best perk combos, as it is an environment where you must be at your absolute strongest to succeed, and the cosmetic reward incentive is a way to show off to everyone else. I MEAN COME ON, IT IS LITERALLY THAT EASY TYSON.
Tyson, please, do not continue to cover your ears and eyes and wake up to reality. it's never to late to change, but if you don't do it now, you might not get another chance.
from, gart