Destiny 2 : Live Event Recap

Activision held their live event today and provided all sorts of good news for Destiny 2 fans. The 1 hour event finally gave answers to questions we’ve been waiting to hear since Destiny 2 was announced in late March.  While the original Destiny launched with a lot of promise, Bungie really struggled for a while to get into a cruise control status after changing a lot of what the original game launched thus resulting in upset fans. Eventually they fused together a working formula which has kept gamers coming back with new DLC and better story telling that left many people wanting more. It was very apparent that during this presentation Bungie has listened to fans in a number of ways.

The presentation opened with Luke Smith, Destiny 2’s game director, giving everyone an idea of what to expect from the much anticipated game in general.

“A World that Pulls you In”

Destiny 2’s universe will consist of 4 planets. Earth, Titan, IO and Nessus. Earth is said to have the largest created world by Bungie and the area will be called EDZ: European Dead Zone. Titan, a moon of Saturn looks beautiful. IO, is a moon of Jupiter and sacred to the Guardians. And lastly Nessus was covered by very interesting vegetation and occupied by Vex.

The story at this point appears to be a dire situation, where all Guardians have lost their powers and must struggle from the bottom to regain everything. While the main plot was revealed, the main villain was merely teased with shadows and voice alone. Simply put, he wants to steal as many Guardian powers as possible. The resulting mood of the campaign therefore, was one of despair and revenge.

Bungie reiterated a number of times that this title will have the largest cinematic campaign they’ve ever worked on. Voice acting appeared to be top notch and the witty nature of their characters came through with every scene shown. They are also looking to welcome any existing and new Destiny fans with a welcomed gaming experience.

“Amazing things to do”

New Modes detailed:
-Red War Campaign
-Strikes- which can be played with 3 players online promised to give loot hungry players what they are looking for.
-Crucible- which will consist of 4v4 across a number of game types. A new attack and defend mode called Countdown was announced.
-Raid was mentioned, but stated it will be shown at another time.
-Patrolling on planet returns with new modes called: Adventures and Lost Sectors

A new feature that gained a lot of of applause, was the new ability to move from planet to planet by simply opening your map and choosing where you want to go without needing to return to orbit.

“Always Someone to Play With”

Bungie’s Social Lead shared their new direction to create a bridge for all gamers with a social experience that will help gamers play in a number of scenarios.

For groups of people that have been looking to work as a group,  official clan support is being introduced inside of Destiny 2’s UI. In game rosters, tools to build a Fireteam and custom banners are fully supported. A new reward system for active and casual players that are in the clan as well. No longer must you log in every day to gain rewards.

Another new program coming is called Guided Games. This allows users looking to join a clan the ability to join a clan hosting a game type. This could be incredibly useful if you’re missing a clan member or two and want to fill a spot for your mission. Bungie also appears to be wanting to create a stronger community together for casual and hardcore Destiny players. Based off what was shown it’s an interesting option for all sorts of scenarios.

Closing Statements

Eric Hirshberg, CEO at Activision closed out the live stream with thanking everyone for their hard work at Activision and thanking the community for supporting their product. A beta is expected later in the summer for everyone but not date was specified. Bungie’s relationship with Playstation was mentioned specifically with 4k support and the absence from Microsoft of the upcoming Scorpio was omitted with any support or messaging. The big bombshell at the end was the Destiny 2 was coming to PC, but not in the form many may have expected. Activision has partnered with Blizzard and will be releasing the game solely on Battle Net.

Our take

September 8th can’t come soon for people rabid for some new Destiny content. The gameplay footage shown was very impressive and exciting. It’s great to hear that Bungie has listened to the core audience they’ve gained for the past 3 years and are bringing great content for everyone. The number of new features announced and showcased today keep us very excited and interested in what the new title will bring. While some of the social features may have gotten a bit more spotlight than necessary, we look forward to getting our hands on the title when it releases. We just hope that some of the mistakes from the first title don’t echo into the second.