With the launch of The Taken King expansion back in September 2015, Bungie seemed to finally be delivering on the promises of Destiny. The beginning of the second year of DLC for their sci-fi shooter brought about a number of changes, altering the leveling system, nerfing weapons, and introducing a new voice actor for the player’s Ghost companion. Most importantly, the studio seemed to place new emphasis on the storylines of the game, giving players new reasons to care about the supporting characters and the state of Destiny’s universe.
Unfortunately, after the release of The Taken King, Bungie’s plans for DLC have been disappointing. Rather than introduce new story content or new worlds to explore, the plan is to release a number of free, themed events over the next year. It started on Halloween of 2015 with the Festival of the Lost, which was followed by the official Sparrow Racing League. The events both included new game types and exclusive loot, similar to the Iron Banner. The developer also introduced microtransactions to their game, the latest of which allows new players to pay a fee to upgrade their Guardian to level 25.
The latest Destiny live event was Crimson Days, a Valentine’s Day-themed event that ran from February 9th to February 16th. Like its predecessors, Crimson Days saw the Tower redecorated for the occasion, featuring red and white banners and red flower petals scattered across the ground. Aside from the aesthetic changes, the event brought a new crucible mode called Crimson Doubles and an exclusive pair of Ghosts that drop randomly during the new mode.
As it turns out, Bungie was a lot stingier with the new items than most players expected. And that says a lot. After a few days of the event, players began complaining that they weren’t unlocking the exclusive items after playing multiple rounds of Crimson Doubles. The complaints seemed to be universal, prompting the developer to examine the drop rates for their event. Bungie drew a similar conclusion - the drop rates were too low to be rewarding. Bungie Community Manager DeeJ released the following statement:
That fix is pretty straightforward. All players who have completed seven matches of Crimson Doubles will be awarded with one of the two exclusive Ghosts pictured at the top of the article. The equipment looks unique, but it’s the 320 light level that will impress most hardcore players. Players will only receive one of the two Ghosts, decided randomly. Disappointingly, the package will be addressed to accounts, not to Guardians, so players will only receive one to be shared across their three characters.
“Feedback has been unmistakable: the drop rate has been pretty low. We agree. We took a look at the data, and the number of Ghosts awarded has not been what we expected. That’s no way to tell you that we love you, so a fix is in the works.”
Though it is by no means an easy task to balance drop rates in their massive game, it’s a little surprising that Bungie missed the mark by such a large margin after a multitude of events and exclusive drops. Still, it’s nice to see that the developer continues to pay attention to their player base. The changes brought about in Year 2 of Destiny were largely influenced by player feedback and the Sparrow Racing League was inspired by an unofficial league that began on Reddit. While their plans for DLC are a disappointment, these examples bode well for Destiny 2. The game will undoubtedly improve upon its predecessor and Bungie’s openness to feedback indicates the sequel will address the problems many fans have found with Destiny.
Destiny is available to purchase from all participating retailers for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.
Source: Bungie
