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Destiny 2 Beta Impressions: They Really Meant a World Without Light

The Destiny 2 Beta is a step forward for the franchise, but has some notable issues

By Brandon DanielPublished 7 years ago 9 min read
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Captain American fighting Thanos in Infinity War (2017)

Earlier this week, the closed beta for Destiny 2 launched. In a frenzy, I tried repeatedly to get in when the server went live. I kept getting kicked out over and over again. Finally, after a half hour of trying, I got in. And what I saw was glorious.

The beta starts off having you pick your class: hunter, titan, or warlock. Since the hunter has always been my favorite, I started off with the hunter. I really wanted to know what the new Arc subclass Arcstrider felt like. Immediately, I was sent into the mission ‘Homecoming’.

At first glance, the game looks so much better visually. You can finally tell that last-gen has been left behind. Upon further inspection, the game also sounds much better. Every movement, jump, shot, etc., is a melody of Destiny deliciousness.

Now, we do not know whether this mission is the actual first mission of the game. Personally, I feel like it isn’t. I would expect the first mission to be more of a tutorial, teaching users the basics of the game and their respective character. We’ll have to wait and see.

The ‘Homecoming’ mission was nothing short of spectacular. I’m sure most, if not all of you have seen it or played it by now. It’s cinematic, paced well, lengthy, and easily one of the best Destiny missions ever. After Ghaul takes like your light, like Shang Tsung taking your soul, you get kicked into orbit. In the full game, I’m sure there will be another cut scene leading you to somewhere. The Farm, Destiny’s new social space, maybe.

Once in orbit, you have 3 options: a PVE offering (The Inverted Spire Strike), and 2 PVP offerings (Quickplay, in this case Control, and Competitive, in this case Countdown).

I played all of these modes on all three characters. The Inverted Spire Strike is more or less a typical Destiny strike. You make your way through the level by clearing out enemies till you get to the boss, who in this case, has multiple stages. It’s a nice little change, but it does not offer too much of a difference from the regular formula. It was fun and enjoyable nonetheless, and I got that good, joyous feeling after beating it for the first time.

The other thing you can do, and what I would definitely recommend, is going into the strike and just exploring around. If you can get a couple of people to join your fireteam it’ll help immensely, so you don’t get the other teammates who are actually trying to do the strike.

People have already found a few secrets while running around. Two presumably Lost Sectors, which are Destiny 2’s new dungeon system, and what looks like a public event, with a bunch of majors (stronger enemies with yellow bars) appearing and a bunch of warp gates with them.

I ran around myself looking for secrets and fighting a bunch of enemies. While I didn’t find anything new, it was good to run around and a get a feel of Nessus. I expect I will spend a lot of time on these planets looking for Lost Sectors.

Even besides that, I got to familiarize myself with the enemy combatants a bit more. If you wait a little bit, right at the beginning of the strike a whole bunch of Fallen and Cabal will appear and start fighting each other. The new Fallen look excellent, and it was good to get some experience with their tactics and what works against them. There’s also Vex around that you can fight and get accustomed to. Personally, I like knowing what I will have to go up against in the future.

Running around will also give you a chance to try out different weapons, and your super. Getting a feel for how they work and what you can do with them will definitely help as you make your work into the crucible.

The crucible, unsurprising to me, is the largest part of the beta. The new Control mode in quickplay feels fantastic. The new capture system allows players to get back into the action much quicker, and the new simplified point system ensures that both holding points and getting kills are of an equal importance. With the new direction of the map design being specifically made for modes in mind, the action flows nicely. Endless Vale is a great map, allowing for players to use any play style they prefer.

Countdown on Midtown is equally just as fun. The new Search and Destroy/Rescue game mode emphasizes teamwork and communication. Really, the one time that I was able to win in these matches was when I had a team of 3 or 4 people. Not being able to speak to other people is a complete hindrance, and will definitely hurt your chances of winning here.

I’ve spoken about this before, but I absolutely love the new revive system. For those who don’t know, instead of endless revive trains, every person only has 1 revive token. If you revive someone, it’s gone. If you die, you lose your token and do not respawn with one if someone revives you. Plus, if you are getting shot, it stops the revive. I sincerely hope this system will find its way in Destiny 2’s version of Trials of Osiris. It is a complete game-changer.

In terms of gameplay, the crisp gunplay that we expect from Destiny is back in full gear. Worry not, the game still feels like Destiny, and that is a great thing. Destiny’s gameplay has always been its strong point, and Bungie has made sure to bring that back in full effect. The time to kill in the crucible is higher, which is fine. Instead of 3 hand cannon shots, it will take 4 or 5, for example. It gives the player more time to maneuver around.

With the change of shotguns, snipers, and fusion rifles into the new power weapon slot, the game has become one that really focuses on primary gameplay — something that Destiny 1 was sorely lacking in. Overall, the gameplay puts a lot of emphasis on gunplay, an extremely welcome change. The game is now about your skill as a player, not how well you can run around with a shotgun or spam your abilities.

Speaking of ability spam, that is completely dead in Destiny 2. Grenades and melee abilities take a very long time to recharge when used. Close to a minute. That is a massive change from Destiny 1’s very fast cool downs. I feel like the ability cool down could be increased by 10 seconds so it does not feel like an eternity between them. But we also do not know whether specific armor pieces will change cool downs at all. Plus, abilities are significantly weaker than in Destiny 1. Having them a bit more may not be such a bad thing.

In terms of super energy, there’s certainly an issue there. With Countdown, the super bar works perfectly, but with Control, it’s a bit too slow. I’m okay with people getting their supers once a match. The way the super bar works right now, most people do not get them until the last minute of the match. Then all hell breaks loose.

In some games, you do not even get your super before the match is over. The super energy bar needs to be sped up just a bit, so that players can get their supers in 5 minutes rather than 7 minutes. Unless you are playing extremely well, there is no way you will get your super significantly earlier than that. Hopefully this issue is rectified when the full game releases.

While the new ability cool downs are toned down for PVP, it makes PVE sort of a drag. One of the best parts of PVE, at least for me, is to throw as many grenades and use as many supers as possible. With the cool downs being exactly the same, you are stuck with shooting enemies for copious amounts of time, waiting forever for your abilities to come back. Bungie has said that they can treat PVP & PVE differently, so I hope that they change the cool downs for PVE, because it sucks right now. I also hope that power ammo is copious, because we need those snipers for the raid! Presumably.

Speaking of abilities, let’s talk about the subclasses, Hunter being first. The Gunslinger returns with some marked improvements and feels fantastic. I’m not a huge fan of the six-shooter perk, but I can see how it can be used effectively. The exploding knife is a much needed addition. The Arcstrider is a lot of fun to play with, and a huge improvement over Bladedancer. The meele-dodge perks are great, and can be extremely devastating if used efficiently. The only issue I have with it is that the super itself feels a little slow. From close range it is deadly, but if someone runs away it’s nearly impossible for you to catch up.

For the Titan, the new Sentinel subclass is amazing. Maybe the best subclass in the game right now. It is extremely versatile, and allows you to be both defensive and offensive at the same time. That’s the best part of the Defender return, and you also get to be Captain America. That’s a win for everyone. I wish the other roaming supers had a way to guard like the Sentinel shield does. The Striker subclass is pretty good. If you are a fan of the original version, you will like this one as well. The double grenade really is the only reason to use this class in the beta. But given a choice, I would go Sentinel almost every time.

The Warlock is a beast all around. The new Dawnblade class is great, specializing in aerial combat. The Daybreak super itself needs a little tweaking. The tracking on it is not as good as it should be, and it’s actually annoying trying to kill people at close range with it. It would be nice if it had some sort of melee attack, like an exotic sword. The Voidwalker is also fantastic. The energy drain ability takes some of your super energy to supercharge your grenade, and does it ever make your grenade powerful. Blinking around feels super smooth and incredibly fast. The new Nova bomb is going to take some getting used to because of how slow it is. Often I feel like I have missed my target, but it actually hasn’t even hit yet.

Overall, the Destiny 2 beta is a good sample of what we can expect from the game, from a gameplay standpoint. From what I’ve seen, this is going to be another game where I’m putting thousands of hours in. In terms of content, this is really a bitesize from what the full game will have to offer. I like that they are keeping their cards close to their chest, even though I wish I would have gotten to experience an adventure like their new quest-type missions. If you are a fan of Destiny 1, you are going to love this. If you fell off of Destiny because of the content but liked the gameplay, this is going to be a game for you. The open beta starts on July 21st, and I would highly recommend everyone trying it. I can’t wait to play some more and get the full game.

P.S. If you want to see what it looks like, check me out streaming at twitch.tv/branddnh.

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About the Creator

Brandon Daniel

Staff writer for The Unbalanced. All things culture, entertainment, and everything in between. Find me on all socials at @branddnh. Find me on YouTube at 'Brooke & Brandon'.

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