'this Was The Wrong Path For Destiny': After 4 Months Of Dwindling...

"Even if our execution had been perfect, and we see plainly that it was not, it is clear that grinding Power will never be a substitute for earning a trophy."

It's been a difficult few months for Destiny 2, ever since the release of The Edge of Fate expansion's Portal—a new progression system that replaced the old seasonal content model with, bluntly, a soulless and underbaked grind. I've written extensively about my problems with the Portal's many baffling design choices, but until now Bungie has only tentatively admitted to the size of the problem.

A series of patches and U-turns have tried to soften the abrasive edges of the Portal's design—aimed at reducing the absurd power grind as well as making buildcrafting feel less restrictive and punishing. Still, these felt like temporary stopgaps—desperate attempts to staunch the bleed that didn't address the root issues at the heart of the new design.

In a blog post last night, Bungie finally laid it all out:

"With Edge of Fate, we presented a different vision for the future of Destiny 2’s core game. One intended to refocus our releases and player call-to-action on a familiar but deeper pursuit of Power and ascending to higher Tiers of gear across a wider range of activities supporting customizable challenge and commensurate rewards.

"Very quickly, the feedback made it clear that this was the wrong path for Destiny.

"Even if our execution had been perfect, and we see plainly that it was not, it is clear that grinding Power will never be a substitute for earning a trophy. Climbing though throwaway tiers en-route to the gear you want to build around isn’t aspirational. And the Portal itself surrenders too much of Destiny’s feeling of place and exploration. These lessons, and many others besides them, have been taken to heart by our team over the last three months."

It'll go down as one of the more major mea culpas in Destiny 2's history, perhaps rivalling the lengthy video former game director Joe Blackburn once posted to social media addressing the game's previous failings.

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As for what Bungie is going to do about the current state of things, that's less clear. A big 'State of the Game' post is due next year, along with a multi-year roadmap laying out the future of Destiny 2. For now, though, Bungie is continuing to pile on quality-of-life fixes to mitigate the current problems.

Source: PC Gamer