I Finally Figured Out Why I Do and Don’t Like Destiny 2

I have a massive love/hate relationship with Destiny 2. It’s a game that I have drifted to and from, right from the start. Okay, sure, I never played Destiny 1. But when the beta came out on PC, aabicus and I played it, doing the one available strike on Nesus. While it was, well, alright, Destiny 2 didn’t really stick to me. In fact, many of the previous articles I have written about Destiny 2 have been somewhat negative.

In the mean time, I played other games. Warframe is the big name among them, and had just the right balance between grind and fun. Destiny 2 was a different story, and I’ve stopped and started playing more times than I care to count.

Now, after much pestering from friends and family, I am starting to play Destiny 2 more regularly. To the point that I think I am beginning to genuinely somewhat like the game. I even went and bought the Beyond Light DLC and the season pass. However, despite all that, I still get genuinely infuriated with it as well.

“Git gud, scrub”

Yeah, me sucking at shooting and aim is part of the problem. Guardians are surprisingly mortal and rather squishy. But with enemies generally firing at you from all directions, getting overwhelmed is very easy. For me personally, the problem is that I completely lack the ability to carry. If I am in a good fire team, then I can be at least vaguely useful, while only vaguely remembering various gimmicks. On my own though, I am too much of a noob. There’s no way for me to carry a team of Guardians through even a bog-standard normal strike.

The general lack of skill combined with the fact that I am shit at parkour makes things very awkward. Surprisingly, I don’t try to bullet-jump at all, a leftover reflex from Warframe. But I am still god-awful at correctly judging gaps I have to jump over. On top of that, it’s very easy to flub a jump on some piece of errant geometry, which sends me spiraling to my doom.

I can’t play this game solo, or with random players.

A big part of this is due to the almost zero communication in Destiny 2. I’ve actually discussed this before in a separate article, but the game is eerily silent. Okay, sure, the NPCs talk and there is music and all that. Interaction between players on the other hand is pretty much non-existent. People just don’t interact with each other in-game. It’s all reliant on Discord servers and other third-party sites.

While it’s nice to not have anyone spamming slurs in chat, there’s also a problem on the opposite side of the spectrum. When I play Warframe, I can at least ask for help in-game. In Destiny 2 however, no one ever takes the time to stop and talk to you. So, if I need help or even someone to play with, I HAVE to leave Destiny 2’s walls and look elsewhere.

Do I actually like Destiny 2?

The fact that no one talks at all might be a big part of why I dislike the game. However, if I am playing with friends, I feel more relaxed, thus making me enjoy the game more. After all, I regularly get lost, and having a friend to help does reduce frustration. At the very least, we can all joke about my fuck-ups, rather than getting nothing but silent dismay and anger from random players.

Maybe I don’t like Destiny 2 at all? Instead of me actually enjoying Destiny 2, I think I’m just confusing that with enjoying playing with friends. It’s stressful when you die or fall to your death. It can be infuriating when you keep on failing. But with friends, we can all just happily laugh it off.

Do I like Destiny 2? I guess. But playing with friends is immensely less stressful than trying to play on my own…