Veteran Destiny 2 developers have addressed the “barriers” to entry with the MMO, and how Bungie has tackled these over the last few years leading into The Final Shape’s launch.
Destiny 2 The Final Shape expansion launches later today, June 4, and to commemorate the launch, Destiny vice president Mark Noseworthy has put out the tweet thread just below. It’s an attempt from the executive to point out how there’s “never been a better time to play Destiny” thanks to the efforts of Bungie to remove certain barriers to entry over the last three years or so.
Let’s talk about barriers to entry.“I’m too far behind.””I can’t play with my friends.”“I can’t play the endgame content.”These are common refrains.Through the last year and now with Final Shape, we’ve taken deliberate steps to erode some of these barriers. 1/xJune 4, 2024
Starting out with the obvious, Noseworthy points out that New Light, Destiny 2’s introductory campaign of sorts, can be skipped by newcomers if they’re “comfortable playing shooters” or already know what Destiny is about. Noseworthy also points to Fireteam Power and Fireteam Finder as two great features that let newcomers play with their veteran friends, and find other random players to partake in Raids with, respectively.
The executive also reiterates how The Final Shape expansion resets all players’ overall Power level, so everyone starts off on the same foot. Honestly, those last three reasons, in particular, are tempting me back to Destiny 2 as someone who fell off just before The Witch Queen – a lack of matchmaking was always a sore point, and immediately being able to catch up with veteran pals is a great incentive to pick up the MMO even after all these years.
Additionally, Destiny executive creative director Luke Smith put together his own brief tweet thread on The Final Shape’s launch. It’s not so much a reason to play as Noseworthy’s thread, but more a simple message from a Bungie veteran who’s been around for the whole journey with Destiny 2, imparting feelings from the development team towards similar veteran players who have been around for the long haul.
It’s a Final Shape Eve – a 🧵. Hopefully it’s an exciting time for you and I know it is for the Destiny Team. First and truly, thanks to all of you who have spent any time in Destiny since 2014’s launch. It has for us and you been a long trip. 1/June 3, 2024
“Our Hope is always the same with Destiny games, expansions, seasons, DLCs, exotic missions, secret missions, in-game events, merchandise, et cetera – we genuinely Hope you enjoy the time you spend with it. Anything we’ve made or will make, that’s the Hope,” Smith writes, before adding, “Make your own fate.”
