Destiny Deja Vu – Why I Am Probably NOT Buying Forsaken

Back when it was fresh, a few of the BAYOG guys loved the game. But now, no one really touches it. But what was it that made a few of us just quit? To me, there’s various reason why I stopped playing and almost none of them have to do with the actual gameplay of Destiny 2. Let’s get into it.

Okay, so I lied a bit about gameplay not being an issue. I have a slight problem with gearing in Destiny 2. As of right now the only things that matter with gear is your weapons and the one exotic armor piece. Forsaken is supposed to fix the biggest complaint about the current weapon system by giving us free reign over what weapons we carry in each slot. They even introduced a new weapon I think I would like, a bow, which does high damage but is slow to fire. Armor is still cosmetic only aside from the one exotic piece and this is my biggest issue. From what I heard of EA’s upcoming competitor, Anthem, each slot of equipment is important and that’s what I look for in a game that revolves around loot.

My biggest complaint though is that they are following the same model they had with Destiny 1. The initial launch is a full priced game but has severe flaws with it. Along with the launch was a season pass with 2 planned DLC “expansions” that were pretty much planned and in production from the start. So essentially it’s a $100 game. I joked previously with friends saying “2 is a weird name for DLC” and it wasn’t even that because Destiny 2 regressed on some things The Taken King and the following DLC did right for Destiny 1’s players.

In a way, you can view the 2 DLC that came after launch as patch updates and the payment was the “subscription cost” akin to an MMORPG. But Destiny and Destiny 2 are not MMORPGs. They are shared-world shooters that take elements from MMOs such as weekly quests and daily challenges along with raids and smaller group content. Ubisoft just today announced The Division 2 already has 3 planned DLC updates that are free to all players. Honestly, the $40 for Forsaken is fine but the extra cost Bungie/Activision is asking for the Season/Annual/subscription pass for the extra DLC that Destiny is too much for this guardian. And considering Destiny 2 followed the same model of Destiny 1 where everything got better at the Year 2 expansion, who’s to say Bungie wouldn’t do the same for Destiny 3?

There is one more thing I actually want from Forsaken. Gambit. It’s a new competitive game mode where it pits two teams of 4 guardians against wave after wave of AI to collect tokens and deposit into their bank. After certain amounts, the other team’s bank is locked and an elite spawns and they must defeat them to unlock the bank. One guardian from the locking team can also invade the other team during this to cause a little more havoc. This game mode is easily something I see myself playing often, especially if I had a few friends with me.

It’s not that I don’t want to play Forsaken. I want to play it, I want to like it, but it’s just all this plus a few small and minor details are pushing me away. Whether or not I pick up Forsaken depends on the reviews and if my friends want to jump back to Destiny (or if Bungie admits they did us wrong and apologizes by giving us Forsaken for free). But as it stands right now, I’ll gladly watch streamers take on the new raid and all the new content because Forsaken probably won’t be added to my library.

UPDATE 6/11/18 10:56 PM: The Sony E3 conference had the Destiny 2 Forsaken story reveal trailer and it’s honestly something I want. They also used a song from one of my favorite bands, Murder by Death.