Three months ago Bungie released their reawakening called Forsaken. The game really brought back the D1 feel and I think hit the sweet spot for this game. Were their problems? Absolutely, but no game is Flawless(Smokey! Excellent! Noob Saibot.). So, how did this DLC expansion do? What DID it do? Let’s delve into it, shall we?
Loaded Question
Usually, when Bungie is getting ready for a new Content drop we get the info about it TWO weeks before the release, but this time it was only One week. There were Bug fixes, glitch fixes; the standard we found something broken, so we fixed it issues. And they released two trailers. These trailers revealed weapons(like they always do) and the story beats(never revealing too much). Looked promising. Within that ViDoc was info about the new Raid. It will be similar in design to Wrath Of The Machine from Rise of Iron. More action, more shooting, and fewer puzzles(?). Not sure about that last one, cause it hasn’t released. But if they said similar to WOTM, then yes. They also included a new activity called the Forge, which is basically The Blind Well in Forsaken; Escalation Protocol in Osiris, Archon’s Forge in Destiny 1, Prison of Elders (D1), and Court of Oryx in Taken King. And this one will be Matchmade, something the Community PLEADED Bungie for. All looked well.
No Time To Explain
Yesterday was the day. I had to download it and wait. When I loaded in, I was greeted to the Destiny Forsaken screen, Music wasn’t changed, Selected my Main, and I was greeted to the announcement of The Black Armory. Selected the Director and low and behold … looked like nothing changed. Now mind you I expected this. They TOLD us players they are getting rid of Campaign style DLC’s, after the epic failures of Curse of Osiris and Warmind. They said clearly do not expect a story mission. So, how the heck do I start Forge? Whelp, here’s where it enters The Grind. Folks, I won’t sugar coat this at all. If you hated the grind in Destiny 1 prior to The Taken King. You will hate it now. You are now entering THAT grind. It’s time-consuming. You need to speak to Spider, get a code, load into the Tower, find Ada-1; the Black Forge keeper, and do a QUEST that is similar to D1’s Sleeper Simulant quest. I was able to do it in a day, THIS is NOT the problem. The trick is Mars is this week’s Flashpoint; basically, Public Events(PE) span faster, get Powerful gear when you do activities a few times, and has Escalation Protocol(EP). Do three PE’s and Two EP’s and you are DONE! Go back and Ada-1 will tell you to activate a Forge on the EDZ and it’s by the Sunken Isles. I was greeted to the Sudden Realization … This is Destiny One. The Location on the map says Required Power Level 610. I am RIGHT NOW 602, and this is after all day doing my Milestones. I am six under power, this is like starting a Final Fantasy game and just spawning to the final boss. No magic spells, No healing, and your DPS is weak AF. I was getting MAULED. BECAUSE it’s match made I was with two other schlubs … we were getting raped. It was a slaughter. Like when the New Orleans Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles 48-7. It was that bad. I did some research(aka read Reddit) and they said that once you go up levels the Power increases. The Director says 610 is when the activity begins? 615. Level 2? 620. Level 3 and Final Boss? 625. The Raid is 630. The new power cap is 650. This is insane. No one is able to complete the Quest which BASICALLY is the starting point for this DLC. And as you PROBABLY heard by now … the Community is NOT happy about it.
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The Right Side Of Wrong
The biggest issue is the Soft/Hard Cap. Every Destiny has what’s called a Soft and Hard cap. That means how PROLIFIC the higher powered gear drops. Say you are 450 and you get a Prime engram(one of the ways high power gear drops). Usually, it will be 10 over your current … so 460. Sound great RIGHT? Soft cap for Forsaken is 500. So, after 500 the Prime engram drops occur more slowly, but it will still be over 10. The way you advance is do those Milestones (three Vanguard strikes, three Gambit matches, etc). But the random gear(Not prime Engrams) instead of dropping at 10 over, it drops 5 over. And it’s all based on Computerized chance aka RNG(Random Number Generator). AND this is what’s called The Destiny Grind. Once you reach the cap everything (usually) drops at current power. This is the issue, because with Black Armoury they increased the Power cap to 650, but did NOT increase the Soft cap … so anyone who JUST joined the game and got to 500 will be STUCK there for a LONG time. The same LONG TIME as in Destiny 1, pre-House Of Wolves. To us players that have been playing forever, we SHOULD be at 600 by now. But Infusion is all messed up. Like I said in the previous reviews I have explained how it works and how this is messed up. With requiring us to use Masterwork … ahem … Enhanced Cores and the lack of where they drop. It has put a halt on a lot of players to Infuse gear. Then, add to it the lack of Exotic drops in Forsaken. Along with the issues with Black Armoury, this has EXACERBATED the anger within the Community.
Fate of All Fools
So, as of this writing, Bungie announced they have “Fixed” the Power level issue with the Voldernr Forge. They lowered it by 5 across the board, which they said should be more ACCESSIBLE and able to finish the INTRODUCTORY QUEST! 5? Really? I have not tried it yet, but even at 5 … anyone who is 600 or under will get killed. Along with the massive amounts of enemies … it won’t be a slaughter like before, but it will be a massacre. Yes, I know there is not much of a difference in a slaughter and a massacre. Which is my point. They say they are listening and with this upcoming This Week At Bungie they “SAY” they are addressing the Community’s pleas for fixes to issues in D2.
Writers note: As of this addition. I have tried the Forge with the lower Power requirement. Guess what … didn’t work. It’s still a crapshow. You will have a better chance outrunning Jason at Crystal Lake than beating the Final Boss. This is horsecrap.
Plan C
Let’s review what NEEDS to be fixed.
Infusion: The way it is now is horrendous. I’d rather just walk around right now looking like a 1960’s Bilderberg Meeting Reject. Than someone who is Stylin’, Profilin’, Jetplane ridin’, son of a gun. And most of the Community feels the same way.
Power level and how to get it: I’ll say it now … it sucks. Destiny 1: Rise of Iron(D1:RoI) had it at the sweet spot, or what we now see as a sweet spot. At the time, we thought it was bad. Boy, were we all wrong. You did stuff, high power dropped. You opened up purple engrams, high power dropped. You punched a Guardian in a bubble, high power dropped. You sat in a cave for a half hour, because in real life, you had to do laundry? High power dropped. Now, you can ONLY gain high power by doing five Milestones that occurs once a week. GREAT!
Exotics: What are they? I got two Forsaken exotics in two days(last week), which seems awesome! Until I tell you these were my first Forsaken Exotics … since September and in that month … I got nothing. Oh, that sounds horrible, because it is. The other exotic drops I got were a Sparrow and Duplicates like an already equipped Wardiff Coil.
RNG: The RNG was in a good place in D1: RoI … stuff dropped and you either dismantled, cause the roll was terrible or you kept it cause the roll was OKAY. I will always tell you of the time I fought Rockets McD!ckface with my clan and I opened the chest and I got Tread Upon Stars(legendary Mida Multi-Tool) with Ranged Lens RLR5, Triple Tap, Explosive Rounds, and Firefly … Yo. I miss that gun. Booms went everywhere and I got bullets back from thin air. Man … I miss that gun … (clicks Destiny 1, yes I got the digital copy … on my SSD) … WHY AIN’T D2 LIKE THIS? WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME, BUNGIE!?!
The game: All the issues of Destiny 2, that have been fixed with duct tape are now leaking again. I repeat Infusion, Power Grind and drops, Exotics, and the RNG … Bungie just trashes the game and place Masking Tape on Destiny: Rise of Iron and write with a Sharpieô … Destiny: Black Armoury. This would be the best course of action.
The Last Word
Look, I love Destiny. The Whole Universe, the gunplay, the space magic, and how you can form friendships within the game. Love it all, but with Black Armoury the main problems people had with Vanilla Destiny 2, along with Curse Of Osiris, have become apparent. The game is on a broken freaking engine, even more broken than Destiny 1 … how is that possible? One word … Bungo. Luckily, because of how these DLC’s are made with a drip-drop of content throughout each season(3months equals one Season). They can address the issues(hopefully), cause there is a ton. And MAYBE with Tomorrow’s(12/5) This Week At Bungie blog … the Community’s concerns can be put at ease. Maybe? Pray to The Traveler.
Foregone Conclusion
So, yesterday Bungie released their TWAB. Basically, a review of this week’s additions or patches, and what’s to come. To be blunt, they said nothing. Plus side, they are hearing the community’s complaints about Scout and Fusion rifles being weak AF, SMG’s (Sun-Machine Guns) being horrible, Sniper’s having too much flinch, Pre-Forsaken subclasses being substandard, Some exotics being OP in Crucible, Some Forsaken Subclasses being too POWERFUL, and basically the band-aid that Bungie did this past Summer is coming off. The negative is what Bungie said in the TWAB. Sure they acknowledged the issues, but they did the “Old, Tired, Bungie Line” We’re listening, We hear you, and the fixes are coming in FUTURE patches … I also believe the Children are our Future … Thank god Bungie and I are on the same page.
The game is broken. Once, Bungie admits it we’d all be in a better place. Vanilla Destiny 2 was terrible. The changes they did from D1 and D2 had lasting effects. And I didn’t know how deep they were. Now we are on the third band-aidô and STILL, the game is MORE broken than D1.