Since the release ofDestiny 1in September 2014, Bungie’s vision for the franchise and its goals on how to expand and evolve the loot grind has continuously changed in conjunction with player feedback. At times,Destinyhas been tailored to hardcore players like the ‘“forever 29” early days ofDestiny 1, or casual players with the release ofDestiny 2vanilla and its infamous “2 tokens and a blue” Mercury Public Event. Players are always looking for reasons to come back toDestiny 2,so guiding that vision and giving players the incentive they need to keep checking in week by week is indubitably a full-time Job.
There’s a little over a month untilthe end of Season of Dawn, meaning thatDestiny 2is beginning to close in on the half-way point of its third year of content. To date, Bungie has attempted almost every format of DLC under the sun, from annual expansions like Forsaken to smaller releases like Curse of Osiris, and multiple attempts at theFortnite-inspired seasonal model. With the lack of compelling endgame activities, the latest seasonal model is beginning to suffer from too many “had to be there moments” like the Corridors of Time secret mission, and in turn, there’s an unintentionally created and ongoing fear of missing out that’s leading to an increasing problem of player burn out.
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The Destiny 2 Year 3 Seasonal Grind
TheDestinyloot grind has always followed a similar model to the MMOs that helped inspire the game: New activities and loot are released as part of each expansion accompanied by a level increase and that content is eventually made obsolete to make room for the next release. Following the ongoing success ofFortniteand its seasonal model, like many other live service games, Bungie made the decision to adopt the seasonal model on a three-month release schedule with a roadmap of content and activities to tide players overuntil the next majorDestiny 2expansion.
Season of Dawn introduced a new six-player matchmade activity called the Sundial, and a seasonal grind that involves completing a number of weekly bounties to earn the Polarized Fractaline, a consumable used to level up Obelisks, resulting in extra loot when completing Sundial runs. On top of that,eachDestiny 2season has multiple eventslike Iron Banner or the upcoming Valentine’s Day event Crimson Days, new Exotic weapon quests, and exclusive rewards through leveling the Season Pass and the seasonal Artifact
In short, for most playersDestiny 2requires a significant weekly time commitment to complete the Season Pass, collect all of the exclusive Sundial weapons with decent enough perk rolls, participate in each seasonal events, lengthy quests for new Exotics, and a handful of limited-time events that come and go like theCorridors of Time and it’s exclusive Lore entries. There’s a huge amount of content there to keep players busy from season to season, but the format doesn’t lend itself very well to those that can’t be around in the moment.
The Fear of Missing Out in Destiny 2
When new content or rewards are released that are limited-time or exclusive, there’s a level of fear that begins to distill itself in the player base and it’s only becoming more prevalent in society as time goes on. For example, Iron Banner is one of the only realPvP Endgame activitiesthatDestiny 2has on offer and it features its own unique new gear and weapon set with each new season. Considering that Iron Banner is only around for one week each month, players are required to log on that week and complete the fairly lengthy season quest or risk missing out on exclusive gear forever.
Right now,Destiny 2’s endgame is severely lackingwith little else to focus on week-to-week other than the Raid or Master Level Nightfalls, activities that don’t provide much of a challenge once the level cap has been reached. Without difficult content and meaningful endgame experiences, the entire leveling system instantly becomes meaningless. Why level when there’s no need to be max level? Grinding for hours to unlock all of the seasons content only results in exclusive mods that will soon disappear and the Savior title: a bragging rights accomplishment that represents time invested rather than player skill.
That sort of long-term grind can be enjoyable as it constantly gives players something to strive for and work towards, the only thing anyone really wants from a game likeDestiny 2. However, for many, it’s not sustainable. Speaking with a number of players in the community and looking at the feedback online toward Season of the Undying and Season of Dawn, the fear of missing out has led to extensive game time, leading to players feelingburnt out from theDestiny 2seasonal grind.
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Bungie changed the seasonal formula inDestiny 2: Year 3 to make it more sustainable for the developers after the company split ways with Activision and moved to self-publishing. Creating timed events and activities helped with providing the same type of new experiences that last year’sAnnual Pass was able to offerin the Black Armory and Season of Opulence while maintaining a sustainable development cycle and combating the ever-increasing file size ofDestiny 2with each new release.
Moving into the next year ofDestiny 2content seasons and thepotential release ofDestiny 3, the most important thing that Bungie can do is continue to update the game with brand new experiences for players while trying to find the right balance between which events and rewards should be limited-time exclusives and which need to be made permanent. Most players want to have new things to do inDestiny 2whenever they log on, but if all of the content is limited-time and none of the loot matters due to a lack of endgame content, the fear of missing out will drive players away.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeepis available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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