Waiting Game

We’re a little more than halfway through the delayed release of Destiny 2’s mid-season update, and for a community of gamers as committed as this one, this wait has been long and hard. Hopefuls sustaining ourselves on speculations and cope-ium battle against dwindling player numbers and lack of new content. Bungie’s next big announcement is just around the corner, but will it be enough to bring players back?

There has been extensive chatter amongst the community about what can be done. “Bring in the third Darkness subclass.” “Get rid of the Portal.” “Give Gambit the update it deserves!” Okay, maybe not that one, but let’s be real; it’s not as bad a game mode as people say.

However, before all of these, there is one thing that Bungie absolutely needs to change, something that has hurt them the most during this waiting game: Communication.

I first began following Bungie’s weekly This Week at Bungie blog posts when the game shifted to a more seasonal flow (it may be called This Week in Destiny now, but it will forever live as the TWaB to me). I was aware that game companies released patch and update notes every so often, but this was the first time I felt connection between gamer and developer. The TWaB gave regular notices about balance changes, upcoming content, and little insights about how Destiny 2 was being made and run. For a live-service game, this was a welcome discovery. I enjoyed checking in every week to see if there was any news about my favorite gear and abilities.

Then, Marathon happened.

To be clear, I don’t have an opinion about Marathon as a game. Extraction shooters don’t really appeal to me. The closest I ever got was Helldivers 2, and at least you don’t lose all of your equipment when you fail a mission. For Marathon, I remain neutral.

However, when the Marathon drama occurred last year, Bungie’s communication on Destiny 2 content shifted. More and more TWaBs released as, what some in the Destiny 2 community call, “nothing burgers.” Earlier this year, it was announced that Shadow and Order, the next content update, would be pushed from March 3rd to June 9th, supposedly to avoid conflicts with Marathon’s March 5th launch. Since then, it’s been nothing burger after nothing burger, with promises of “more info in May.”

I’m reminded of Bungie’s statement about “over-delivering” from a few years back. In context, it was about content releases and not wanting to set unrepeatable precedents (the seasonal model they adopted did not help with this). However, this can apply to their communication, too. There was a level of transparency they set that was unlike other game companies. Sure, members of the Destiny 2 community will argue that it fluctuated on certain things, but the standard was there. Currently, it has been far below their standard. In trying to build anticipation for their next update, they’ve left players in uncomfortable silence.

Maybe the May announcement will be good. I’m hoping it will be good. However, when most of what we’re anticipating is just, as Paul Tassi put it, “catching up to where things should have already been,” it’s tough to say. I understand that game development is time-consuming, but whatever they’ve got planned, it needs to be big. After that, Bungie needs to return to its former standard of communication and transparency. If not, then the old meme will become prophecy: The only true Destiny killer is Destiny.