As the numbers drop has Destiny 2 ultimately had it ’s day ?
Right now , in the heart of November 2023 , Destiny 2 has see its average live service daily actor numeration drop to an all - clock time low of only 33,552 . This is the first time in the biz six year life span it has seen the servers so barren .
Are the downcast musician counting due to outside competition , or has Destiny 2 just finally reach out its limit ? The alive service plot has been updated , tweak , added to , and retrograde one C of times over its lifespan . It sincerely is a will to the potential of the live Robert William Service model . However , every dog has its solar day , and maybe this is the augury to take an sure-enough hound for the aeonian walkway around the block .
Not the first of its kind
Destiny 2 is by no way the first hot serving game to attempt a foot race as long as it has . With EVE Online having play since 2005 andreporting almost as many players as Destiny 2,there are still some onetime hands in the biz . humankind of Warcraft , despite rash ’ secrecy when it come to instrumentalist tally , still rack up decade of thousands , if not more , players per Clarence Day .
Bungie took an educated risk when it decided to keepDestiny 2as its one and only release out there . However , it had some juggernauts standing in its style . The roaring and seemingly endless success of many other live service game paved the way for a first - person shooter in a unrecorded table service market place that really did n’t have one .
Destiny 2 took the traditional shooter and translate it into the same model as game like World of Warcraft and EVE . What really put it apart from the rest was its gameplay . Whereas the others in the market were all persona - play game , Destiny 2 tolerate alone as the only first - person shot . Of course , Warframe precede Destiny 2 by a few twelvemonth , but as a third - person shooter , it sits slightly asunder .
PC Invasion
I feel that a great deal of the other , more long - standing game have a certain boundary over Destiny 2 plainly for the fact that they are RPGs . Of of course , Destiny 2 has guardians constantly come back for the slowly unravelling narrative . But at the end of the day , players are still just shooting or leap their way around a map . The mart is already oversaturated with this mode of gameplay .
Just more of the same
Where I cerebrate the problem lies with Destiny 2 is that it has simply not brought enough to the mesa for it to be able-bodied to range as a live service biz as long as it has . Of of course , every new time of year introduces a little something raw to the admixture . The story is marching ever on , for better or , more recently , worse . And , of trend , cosmetic , armour , and weapons are forever being churned out .
But , for me , someone who has course on and off with the game almost since release , it all feels a little haggard out at this point . I will admit that from the early days , when the game was still not free - to - play , it is almost unrecognizable . The changes and developing have made it into a shooter with a storyline that is quite unlike anything else on the grocery store . However , that does n’t mean it ’s a secret plan that abide unused over half a decennium of playability .
Going through the motions
I often find myself just going through when I take on Destiny 2 . My mind shuts off , and I campaign through the same dungeons , the same raids , and PvP over and over again until Iget the curlicue I wantand the layer I necessitate . I know there are new one every year , but in the same breather , they ’re not really all that different .
Each season we get a whole crowd of new sensational preferences . They never fail to make me stop and wonder . The raw maraud will come with some dead mind - boggling mystifier that takes pro participant time of day to fathom . However , once this initial shine has break off and the puzzle and secrets are all learn , it is just the same game with maybe a few new mechanics throw in .
I have never play WoW or EVE , so I ca n’t gloss on how relatively fatuous the grind really is . But , for me , a week or so after sacking , all that is give is the grind . I fuck the plot inside and out . I know I am just going to have to keep running through the same old poppycock to complete the season . This is n’t particularly fun . If it was n’t for the fact that live inspection and repair games knead on a very deeply ingrained Dopastat system , I would n’t bother .
PC Invasion
A Golden Goose named Destiny 2
Over the years , Destiny 2 has raked in Bungie century of millions of buck in microtransactions alone . This number is dwarfed by the ground - shattering $ 3.6 billion that Sony buy the company for . Of of course , Destiny 2 is n’t the only IP that occur with the studio , but it no doubt had a significant script in the deal .
With every new enlargement , Destiny 2 thespian are expected to fork out around $ 40 . This is currently about half the price of a full AAA game . To purchase all the packs , and the prices vary , it will cost around $ 200 . This is no small price to pay if you require to get all six eld of content and feel a game without borders .
you could further rack up the dollars if you start to invest in cosmetic item . Over the years , players of the live service game have been up in weapon system as Destiny 2 tries once again to squash the fan stem for cash . Of course , the cosmetics are just that . However , after the amount guardian yield for the capacity alone , they can be forgiven for wanting a interruption .
PC Invasion
I can quit any time
Something that Destiny 2 has peg , and something of the essence to any springy service plot , is the dopamine hitting . Every time I finish a task , the little pop of reward come me going . Each new piece of armour , each shiny newfangled weapon , and the promise that the next one might be well keep me playing . I run through the mundanity of the same levels just for that promise of the bay window of gold at the conclusion .
The gameplay loop of Destiny 2 proffer just enough to annul painful blase . If running raid and keep is too much , switch to PvP. If your PvP battles are becoming dull , try Crucible as the crossbreed . I have to give it to Bungie . They know how to keep their players lock in . Over the year , they have added enough fresh modes and auto-mechanic to ensure the game does n’t ever get so wearisome that the rewards are n’t worth it .
The gameplay hook
The gameplay itself is remarkably fun for a while , too . Of course , the opposition are spongy , as they always have been , but the process still holds fast . trip the light fantastic around the mapping , figuring out new build , and aiming for the current meta has a sense of achievable expertness to it that not many other games really do . Due tothe nature of build craft , it feel like when you ’re practiced at the game , it is because you earned it .
The shop mechanic need to be see , and the well weapon and armor require to be earned through 60 minutes of gameplay . When play with a group , the fact that your protector is kitted up to the orb and able to carry a squad is because you have fiddle enough and dedicated enough time to Destiny 2 . The good sense of pride , I venture , and accomplishment is visible in more than just hours play and prize earned . It is now display in gameplay .
The Struggle is real
Destiny 2 is under some pretty hard stress at the consequence . At the end of October 2023 , Bungie laid off approximately 8 % of its workforce . This number included the fabled composer Michael Salvatori known and have it off by anyone who has ever alternate Destiny 2 on . On top of this , the secret plan has necessitate in its abject wage to escort , even with the conclusion of the current plot line on sale .
The layoffs are ostensibly tied to the improbably low uptake for The Final Shape , which is the conclusion to the current Light and Dark plot line . The bad gross revenue could be for a number of grounds . However , I think that the independent reason is the failing of the previous expanding upon , Lightfall .
The last elaboration currently sits at anabysmal 3.0 Metacritic grade . The expansion did not meet the expectation of the Destiny 2 hearing on any degree . Storyline - wise , it asked more questions than it answer . The character felt one - dimensional , the new location was uninspired and thudding , and the questline seemed less like a chapter and more like a makeweight .
Steam
This washout of an expansion was , for some , the concluding push towards no longer investing money into the company . This came at a life-sustaining clock time for Destiny 2 , as they really needed to tantalize the live service player base for the grand stopping point of the storyline . Where Lightfall should have been the huge cliffhanger that bring back players , it instead encourage many not to disoblige separate out , once again , for another expansion . With the added cognition that so many of the squad have been let go , there is even less religion that the finale will be well - drop a line or inspired .
Don’t call it a comeback (It’s been here for years)
However , with all that enounce , there is a chance that Destiny 2 could make a remarkable comeback in the final round . There are more than just terrible scriptwriting and devastating layoffs afoot . There is also the tally pressure of other games on release at the same time .
We have just seen the press release of Modern Warfare 3 , Diablo 4 , and the free weekend of Half - Life 2 . Each of these are a potential drag of players aside from Destiny 2 . However , over time , they may terminate up returning . BothModern Warfare 3 , and Diablo 4 have not done so well in the rankings themselves . As player drift away from the much younger biz , they may just end up returning to Ol’Reliable .
I call back that despite the terrible pre - gross sales of Destiny 2 : The Final Shape , it could still eek out a triumph . Due to theLightfall flop , role player may just be a little more hesitating to order the next expansion before the verdict is in . This is not a bad practice session , and I would love to see it more often in the play industry .
If Bungie manages to bring forth a high-pitched - quality and piquant conclusion to the Light and Dark saga , the players may render . However , with their dwindle staff , this does n’t look too hopeful . cut so many from the squad is certain to damage the creative turnout . The move also stinks of panic mode and does n’t instigate trust .
So what’s the fate of Destiny 2 as a live service game?
With fleshy layoffs , a dwindling player tally , and humbled ingestion on The Final Shape , it does n’t look good . However , I am not one to eat up a game before it ’s idle . Many live divine service games in the past times have made Undertaker - panache comebacks . It is n’t unusual to see a magnetic dip in players . Not every biz can have the 400,000average player consistence of Dota 2 .
fate 2 now has the great power of Sony behind it . I have religious belief that they can use some of that to develop something truly spellbind for the end of this saga . With the new beginnings available to the game , post Light and Dark , some serious change could be underway . I feel they need to build on the rhombus - laborious foundation they have made and invigorate the whole biz with a new engine , Modern environment , and a impertinent storyline .
We wo n’t see Destiny 3 because it is n’t postulate . However , a whole fresh game , build on the magic they have laid underneath the mouldy previous game on top , would impart Destiny 2 back to the former glory I still recollect .
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