Bungie's final 'Destiny' in-game event seems to miss the point
Destiny is officially over, friends.
Bungie at last unveiled its final Destiny live event -- dubbed "Age of Triumph" -- in a live stream on Wednesday. The big takeaway? All the raids are getting leveled up, complete with new, similarly leveled up loot.
That's exciting! Get excited! Fans have been begging Bungie to level up the old raids -- Destiny's ultimate cooperative activity, pitting six players against the game's toughest puzzles and bosses -- for more than two years, and it's finally happening.
At any other moment in the game's colorful history, this would have been a landmark moment. But I have to say: after spending 1,126 hours inside Destiny's universe, Bungie's plans don't feel to me like the "victory lap" they're meant to be.
Age of Triumph is -- the way it's been introduced, at least -- a sprawling, new Record Book. The 13-page in-game tome challenges you to unlock achievements pulled from nearly every facet of the Destiny experience: the story, the exploration, the PvP in Crucible, the cooperative raids and strikes, even the individual Guardian classes.
Some of those records will be unlocked on day one by virtue of the fact that you've been playing Destiny for however long. Many others will need to be chased anew -- whether it's grinding out strikes and Crucible matches or taking on the newly tweaked raids.
Your reward for filling in the record book and leveling up as you go: emblems. And eventually -- if you level up all the way -- a personalized IRL T-shirt that you still have to buy from Bungie's online store.
Here's the problem: for three years, Destiny has been a game about acquiring things. It's a loot-driven RPG. You play it to earn better loot that you then use to earn even better loot, on and on until you reach the top of the power ladder.
That changed on March 3 when Bungie announced that only your character's appearance would carry over to the next, as-yet-unannounced Destiny game. None of the gear you put in so many hours to obtain, none of the emotes or other cosmetic baubles you spent actual money on. It's all going bye bye.
That's how most games work, but let's be clear: Destiny isn't most games. It was framed from the very beginning -- before it even came out -- as a 10-year journey with whatever character(s) you created.
That promise created expectations. While you may technically bring your Destiny Guardian into the next game, everything that makes said character unique is disappearing. Even if ditching all the weapons and armor is a good idea (it is!) losing the emotes, the emblems, the shaders -- all of that -- does even more to strip away your Guardian's identity.
Now, every Guardian has an expiration date. Yes, Bungie will support Destiny after its successor comes out. But fans will have moved on. And so, the digital baubles we earn for participating in Age of Triumph's grinds have short-term value.
At this point in Destiny's life, the loot grind -- the epic quest for more things -- doesn't cut it anymore. But the game is also special because it's a place where friendships are forged. As the loot grind loses its luster, the social makeup of Destiny coupled with its supremely sticky shooter gameplay is what makes it fun to come back to.
Already, my private Facebook group of Destiny pals is tittering with excitement about getting the proverbial band back together. None of us expect to re-embrace the daily grind, but we're all jazzed to hang out again in this familiar space where so many memories were made.
In the end, that may well be the "victory lap" Bungie is going for. But Wednesday's stream didn't make that clear. Destiny is not the sort of experience that can be summed up in 13 pages of new things to unlock. Not anymore.
Maybe the new helping of weekly activities -- which Bungie is set to reveal on March 15 -- will make Age of Triumph feel like more of a goodbye. If this final live event is going to be the send-off that Destiny deserves, it'll have to find new ways to carry all of us fans back to the many happy memories we've made in the game.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
