What is Destiny?
Bungie’s Destiny 2 is the sequel to the original Destiny, a space fantasy themed first-person looter-shooter. The player controls their very own “Guardian”, a cunning gunslinger with special powers. The game has three classes, Hunter, Warlock, and Titan that players can choose from. The core loop of the game is completing activities to collect weapons and armor with different perks and stats. As you aim to defend the source of your powers, players use those weapons to best the forces of darkness.
What are Looters?
Destiny, and subsequently Destiny 2, are looter-shooters. The goal of looter type games is to complete missions and slay enemies to gather random loot drops. Destiny has a range of item rarity going from the lowly common to the powerful and rare exotic. Weapons roll with two random perks that can improve their reload speed, damage, or plenty of other aspects. Armor will have randomly generated stats across six different categories. What players find most hypnotizing about the game is playing the same one or two activities one hundred times in a row just for that perfect roll weapon or high stat armor.
What does Destiny do Different?
The world of gaming has seen its fair share of looter shooters. Borderlands, The Division, and Warframe are all games with massive playerbases that fight for the crown. To make sure they stay king of the genre Bungie has added two features to their games to ensure they stand out and draw in players. Raids and dungeons are an experience unique to Destiny. Those activities are a huge draw for players looking for spicy loot and a fun challenge. The game also has special exotic loot which players can hunt for and build loadouts around to tackle that end-game content.
Raid and Dungeons
Fairly unique to Destiny are raids and dungeons. Raids are activities requiring six players to work together to defeat the hardest enemies in the game’s story. Dungeons are a similar activity, though those only require three players. Raids and dungeons are gamemodes that take upwards of multiple hours to complete and require strong gear and good communication. Both activities consist of multiple encounters requiring players to either solve complicated puzzles to clear rooms or figure out ways to break boss armor and slay the massive foes that stand before them. These challenges aren’t just here to create difficult experiences for players to conquer or speedrun. Dungeons and raids are home to very rare, powerful, and exclusive loot, with each including an especially rare associated exotic weapon.
Exotic Gear
The highest rarity of loot in Destiny are exotic armor and weapons. Getting an exotic rewards players with a bright yellow animation and flashy sound. Exotic weapons have set rolls and a powerful special unique perk. Similarly, exotic armor have a special perk alongside their stats. Players will typically make entire loadouts centered around these powerful exotic pieces, whether that be a weapon that has seeking nanite projectiles or armor that improves your super ability damage. The chase for these rare pieces of loot to create builds and dominate high end content like raids is what keeps players coming back. Solving puzzles with your friends and a powerful weapon in your hand is what makes Destiny different from every other looter-shooter, and is why it will always be the king.
