The shift towards banes and randomized elements has oddly reduced the sense of diversity in activity and skill expression.

I’m gonna make an odd reference to a game that should make sense in a sec: Sea of Thieves.

In SoT, there is literally no hard progression. You don’t get any better gear, you’re just doing it for the love of the game and some frankly lackluster cosmetics.

But you are a pirate. You have a crew. Learning how to read the maps, efficiently haul loot, lay siege, work cooperatively like a well lubricated heist squad or solo loot goblin feels fantastic.

In Destiny you are a Guardian. A skilled operative with an arsenal of tools at your disposal and centuries of experience. You move through the battlefield like a liquid, overwhelming the enemy because you know the battlefield, the enemy, and you’ve prepared accordingly.

I remember farming master lost sectors for my missing exotics, GM Nightfalls for the best loot. Learning the champion spawns and building a loadout to take everything out as quickly and efficiently as possible to earn that sweet sweet loot.

But now everything feels like the same white noise. All the banes boil down the to the same thing: attrition. Modifiers add chaos but not necessarily challenge in anything other than numbers. You can use the same loadout for everything, there’s no point in preparing or learning anything because the only way to play is to let your build run on autopilot for you while everything explodes.

The limiting factor on the speed of your farm is how fast the enemies can spawn instead of how effectively you can dispatch them. I don’t feel like a guardian I feel like a Warframe.

And I know most people hated champions and prefer banes. And I know people like the increased density and speed. This is just my personal preference. I just miss feeling some tension and though in second to second gameplay that made those moments when it it click really make you feel like a professional.