Edge Of Fate’ Grind Sounds Questionable At Best

We’ve been able to digest the glut of information we got from the recent creator visit to Bungie headquarters focused on July’s Edge of Fate expansion for Destiny 2. The game is now entering a new, untested phase called “frontiers” with two small expansions a year and “major updates” instead of actual seasons or episodes. And now, the goal is for Bungie to keep players grinding. And grinding. And grinding.

Of course, the grind is a core part of the looter shooter, and that’s always been true with Destiny. But I find myself reading through all this and uttering “ehhhh” more I consume. Granted, we won’t fully know how this all works until we experience it in practice, but I’m finding some red flags here and there.

The idea is already that Destiny is trying to do more with less. The developer has been slashed to half of what it was a few years ago, plus a chunk of devs are now working on Marathon. So the game is shrinking, hence the two smaller expansions, one raid and one dungeon a year.

The goal seems to be to stretch out those two expansions into lengthy, six-month super-seasons punctuated by larger updates in the middle, albeit again, not something like an old season launch.

Bungie is inventing new ways to grind and pursue power, but it feels like it’s going to be quite a shift in terms of both the systems themselves.

There is what appears to be a seasonal armor grind that will almost force players to complete it if they want the max amount of damage reduction. It’s a way to encourage a grind, sure, but in a way that feels more like a punishment if you don’t do it rather than a bonus if you do. The same goes for a grind that will flat-out increase your damage with certain weapons over the course of a season.

This is also combined with the concept of “New Gear” as one aspect of how this is going to work. While Bungie says your old gear is “viable,” it sounds like the goal is definitely a form of soft-sunsetting, as you can see in the most recent TWAB:

“Your current gear is still very viable in The Edge of Fate and you will surely use it in the near future when beginning the new expansion, and even in Contest Mode for the World First Race.”

On top of that, there will not be an increase in vault space, so you’re going to have to start cleaning house given how much old gear will be sub-par under the new system even if you can technically use it. New Gear is also the only way you can push your power over the new 200 cap, a system that involves a new form of dismantling and materials that makes infusion more convoluted than it is now, which does not sound like a terribly positive addition. This raises questions about power-enabled activities like Trials of Osiris and raids and the caps for higher level Nightfalls and such, a re-grind that sounds more intense than what we currently have if it’s only limited to New Gear.

The other issue I see with all this that I’m not seeing mentioned much is that the entire structure of the game changing to be about “portals,” which will range from strikes to old season activities to new ones added every so often. It’s meant to streamline the new player process of knowing what to do but simply shifting around portal activities every major update feels like a somewhat underwhelming motivation to do these grinds in the first place.

All of this feels like a stab at what players wanted from a Destiny 3, a hard reset, but without getting…actual Destiny 3. Rather new content drops that are probably a tenth of what a Destiny 3 would look like if it were real. And I’m not sure hard-ish resets without an actual new game, just a new “era,” will produce the result they hope it does.

This is, of course, all a pre-judgement. Even the creators who got to play the Edge of Fate were mostly focused on things like trying out new weapons or early campaign moments. We have a month or so until we see how this works, but I am a bit concerned at this point.

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