Eyes up Guardians, I don’t talk much but now is the time.
I wanted to share an experience that happened to me tonight because simply I’m kinda irritated, but mostly just sad about it, I’m posting this because I have a deep love for this game, I’m not the best player, never have been, I used to be better when I was 10 years younger, but god what a journey it’s been, I know there’s been a lot of ups and downs, the good times and the bad, life happens, I’ve been here and there, not played for months, then come back happy and excited like it’s a new game all over again!
I came back to Destiny 2 a month or 2 ago, you see, I don’t have excessive amounts of time, to get personal, I care for my wife and 2 kids, it’s not glamorous, and it certainly isn’t easy, but it is what it is, fulfilling.
Anyway due to this moneys tight, and time is sparse, I tried streaming for a while, but because I have responsibilities I simply can’t find the time to make a consistent go of it, so gave up a few months back, but alas I digress. I can’t use a microphone when I play, because at night, when I get some time to myself, around 9-10pm UK onwards, once I have put my wife and 2 kids to bed, I like to play Destiny, my wife can’t sleep unless I play something to settle her, so she knows I’m there and she can watch what she enjoys, then listen, then sleep. Recently I was having a lot of trouble with the mission Derealise to get my guardian rank up, and I must have tried it 10-15 times, multiple days, I could not solo it, when my wife suggested I use the fireteam finder! I did. And after a few tries with a few different people, I eventually managed to get it done, and the last guys were phenomenal, truly, they carried my butt through it so fast I could barely keep up, and I thought “huh, it’s great having help.” See I used to play with a fireteam, but that was a few years ago, me and my duo don’t talk anymore, as we have grown apart, as happens, and the same with my fireteam members, I check now and then, but none of them sadly have been on in years! Times change, people grow! It is what it is, and I wish them the best!
Anyway, I do play with my wife mostly, in the few points of the day we do manage to play, it’s nice, we laugh, we joke, and we take our time, carefully trying to duo dungeons, which is difficult, I’m not the best, and she has real difficulty with jumping 😂 and I struggle because I love raids and dungeons and all the fun complex bits, seeing how this game has changed over the years has been a pleasure, and I still now, as I have since the start of D1 love this game, the only thing holding me back from raids is simply, time, and a headset, y’see, I can’t afford to replace my old Alienware, it was 7 years old and the Bluetooth connection died in the dongle, and I can’t use my controller mic as I am kinda half deaf 😂 and I can’t put my controller to my ear and play unfortunately! So I’ve been sticking to the easier stuff, tonight I did the nightfall! First time since I have returned and at 460 odd light, let me say, it was fun but terrifying, I think I’m underlevelled, because I could kill goblins, and hobgoblins, that’s about it! But the 2 I was with, were super kind and also damn good, and we smashed through it, I only died twice! (I got hit by a train that scared the crap out of me for one of them! Best jumpscare so far) I didn’t wanna be a burden, but I managed to somehow stay mostly alive! After that just did a few crucible matches, and then checked the fireteam finder, that’s where my night twists!
I joined a Fireteam Finder listing that was marked "newbie friendly" and “no mic required” for Pantheon. I was incredibly excited and seeing a "friendly" listing felt like my chance. But as soon as I spawned into the instance, my brain couldn't even process what was happening. Reward rank passes were going off, Pantheon triumphs were exploding across the screen, Engrams, glimmer, weapons, and armour were raining everywhere. No one else in the fireteam seemed surprised, no one was even moving, at first I just assumed they had brought me in right at a boss checkpoint and already killed it, but then the loot kept spawning, and I realised what it was, it was some kind of loot exploit lobby.
The moment I realised, I left the fireteam straight away, and then was removed from the fireteam finder listing, clearly they must have been upset by me being ungrateful 😂 My vault was already close to full, I was at 1275 slots out of 1300 used, and my guardian was full of the nightfall and crucible loot!and now I was loaded with - bunch of pantheon armor, a bunch of pantheon weapons (one of which is a shiny Zaouli's Bane, a gun I have wanted ever since Destiny 1. Hand cannons are my favourite, and it’s meant to be good! Plus the shiny is black and blue so that’s awesome) My season pass shot up by 5 or 6 ranks instantly, but the thing is, I was super excited to get to the rank 90-100 page, it made me happy!
Seeing it now at 96 didn’t honestly.
Now this is the thing, I can appreciate a few bugs, bugs and glitches can be fun, can help you grind out a specific weapon, or run around doing daft things like super speeding around the map, or messing around sword slicing across a canyon, or even tweeting Crota or Morgeth out of this world, and I can enjoy it as much as the next person. They can be fun and helpful. But spawning endless loot and auto-completing triumphs? That is ridiculous. It undermines the point of this whole game! And doing it to innocent players who just wanted to experience the content is terrible. I have had my Titan, warlock, and hunter Guardians since the very first year of Destiny 1, I have spent years grinding away, taking breaks, and coming back to rebuild, hell, I even swapped from ps, and made Xbox guardians fresh and used them in forsaken! Stuck with that for a bit before switching over to Ps again! Upsettingly losing all the stuff I had on that account, but my PlayStation guardians were my originals! I transferred them to Destiny 2, an amazing idea, and I loved that! But I’m getting off topic.
If there is one thing Destiny has taught me over the last decade, it’s that the game isn’t about being the best, having maxed out loot, or never struggling. It is literally found in the Guardian Tenets:
Devotion. Sacrifice. Bravery. Death.
Devotion to the grind, working hard to keep pushing your Light. I still remember back in the red war, when you would have to do your weeklies, explore the destinations, because doing the public events were the fastest way to level ip along side getting those few extra drops to boost your light by 1!
Sacrifice of time and effort, spending countless hours trying to overcome hurdles, for this one I specifically remember Genotype null zero! Everyone was going on about the Ikelos shotgun, running escalation protocols for a chance at that 1 2 punch drop, trying to join up in lobbies, each inviting a few so you could all find each other as you could only invite 2, but there was like 10 people allowed in the destination on mars! And me? I loved the black and orange shader, as that was back when you had to use the shaders to wear them, and there was an amount you had found for each one!
Bravery to take on the most challenging foes, no matter the odds, and never backing down. I have been relentlessly going at missions I shouldn’t be, trying to figure out dungeons blind, hell i enjoyed the start of equilibrium, but I died multiple times to figure out what to do (seriously I can’t figure out the whole shadow punch thing, I’ve used it before, I have the timer saying I have it, but it’s not on my grenade spot anymore 😂 it’s confusing!)
Death—dying so many times you feel like giving up, but choosing to get back up, coming back for more, and getting stronger every single time. When I started, I tried an expert solo, then died, so I kept trying, and dying, then once I found that easier, did a master, then a grandmaster, now, I’m trying to figure out the ultimate modifiers, because that’s next rank and I can do grandmaster but ultimate is something else entirely!
But all that being said!
I hate that people are abusing the game this way. The "little lights" shouldn’t have their journey ruined. If you have nothing to strive for, what is the point? You get bored, and you stop playing. And nevermind the little lights, I have done the whole journey legit. I have enjoyed it, even when I’ve struggled, even when me and my raid team were running oracles for the 22nd time because we did it wrong again! Even when my duo got the mythoclast on the second run and I’m on my 15th week and still nada! The story is amazing, the deep lore is phenomenal, and the worldbuilding is peak, to me, the only thing Destiny 2 ever did wrong, was giving us less Destiny 2, as the story evolved I have evolved alongside it, I met Oryx playing the game at an overnighter at my cousins house after school on a Friday, I met Calus with my girlfriend, having a few drinks and playing it together, feeling those emotional tones of the incredible Journey Track! And when I injured my back and was bedridden for 2 weeks over Christmas, I returned to the moon and explored the red hive world, bringing in the new year in isolation from covid, by letting my guardian let off fireworks at midnight, while playing the blind well! When my son was born, I faced off with the witness, while my wife was recovering we played through the whole final shape, and I still have the cutscene saved on my phone, of our matching red titans sitting there watching the traveller as it felt like the end of an era!
Destiny will always be one amazing and beautiful facet of my life, and not just in game, whether it’s arguing with people on a stag do at 2am after watching England get knocked out of the World Cup that I reckon savathun will return, and xivu arath, too, but Savathun was the one to watch, as she’s the cunning one! And them saying they have no idea what I’m on about, because they have seen no mention of her! Whether it’s selling my leather bound grimoires, the amazing books of sorrow, my destiny funko pop collection, Calus, Oryx, my glowing Crota, golden gun Cayde, Cayde, Cayde, (I was going for 6 of them 😂) Atheon, Ikora, Pearlescent Ikora, Ghaul, Zavala, Shaxx, to help me be more prepared, ready, and financially stable to be a first time father! Whether it’s listening to the lore videos of the amazing Byf because they help me sleep at night, and stay awake during the day, or whether it’s looking forward to making the memories with my son, when we get to play Destiny together, and I can carry him, until he can carry me! It’s more than a game, it’s a home, it’s a place to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, because it’s a place to feel revived, feel alive, people from all backgrounds and ages can enjoy and love the worlds of Destiny, and they can do so because it’s a safe haven and full of promise, and most importantly, it’s full of dreams of tomorrow!
Honestly I keep coming back to Destiny because I always have things to do, challenges to overcome, and death to face. Playing solo or quietly is difficult, but I love it nonetheless! I have already submitted an official report, and I recorded the whole thing when I spawned in. I also requested that they roll my account back to exactly before I joined that fireteam, because that’s the point, I don’t want to get it all easy, I want to feel that relief and joy when I finally get what I want, Take the ranks, take the glimmer, and yes, even take my super pretty Zaouli's Bane. I’ve done this legitimately through two games and over a decade! and I’m not starting to cheat now. Intentionally or otherwise.
To the other hackers out there, you do you, if you want to ruin the experience for yourselves, that’s your choice. But don’t take randoms into it, it isn’t kindness, it’s just a trick wrapped up like a treat, exciting at first, and then hollow…Just know this is what you are missing out on, personally I think the point of Destiny, is perfectly summed up in the name of that soundtrack at the start of the original Destiny 2, the one that makes your hairs stand up on your arm and gives you goosebumps, it’s called journey. Because it isn’t about what’s at the end, it’s about the journey you take to get there. If you don’t take the journey, the rewards mean nothing.
I know Bungie has had its issues, and I know they have a lot of work to do, and I’m not denying any of that, but. To the people of bungie, and to the people who put their blood sweat and tears into making Destiny what it was and is who aren’t there anymore, from the bottom of my heart thank you for the hard work you put into making this universe. I’m sorry people try to tarnish it, but the true spirit of the Vanguard is still out here.
Per Audacia ad Astra.
