Destiny: The Road To The Taken King.

Destiny has officially been out for a year, and what a year it has been. There was the initial high of Bungie's latest AAA Intellectual property. Followed by a low stemming from lack of a cohesive story, repetitive gameplay elements, and a perplexing leveling system. Another big complaint that I have been seeing lately, and thought about myself, is the lack of more competitive PvP avenues. The lack of private rooms/lobbies being the most prevalent. Bungie has put in quite a bit of effort to remedy these problems over the first year, and I think they have done a great job so far.

I was enamored with Destiny ever since I read GameInformer's Destiny cover story. Bungie created something legendary with Halo, so I already had some brand loyalty. After seeing the first images and reading about the premise of the game, that was all it took, I wanted it. 

I played both the Alpha and Beta. Both of which were very fun and helped solidify my interest in the game. When it officially came out, I ran into a problem with the ISP at my school. Since Destiny is essentially an MMO, my school's ISP treated it as Peer-to-Peer file sharing and blocked internet access. I was held up from Destiny for about a month before I could actually enjoy it. 

Enough of my Destiny back story, let us get to what really matters.

Destiny's luster started to wane leading up to The Dark Below. More and more people were beginning to feel the repetitiveness of the PvE, and they needed something new. While The Dark Below gave us a small taste of Destiny's potential, it was basically the salad before the appetizer. It only made you hungrier for more! 

The Dark Below was cool and all. Eris was an interesting character,  she added some flavor to the pretty bland NPC's scattered throughout the game. The Dark Below's story and raid, Crota's End, also left a bit to be desired. Although they were both fun, they were also short and more easily conquered than expected.

The next expansion, House of Wolves, brought a lot of welcome improvements. People were upset that this expansion did not include a raid, but I am thankful for that. Not including a raid in that expansion allowed them time to really work and create something that is hopefully challenging and unique. The 2 big additions in the House of Wolves highly competitive PvP mode, the Trials of Osiris, which had highly sought after rewards. The other was a rewarding yet challenging arena style PvE mode the Prison of Elders. These two game types were a welcome departure from the same old same old that we had gotten used to from day one. Still, the game was not what it could be. As The Dark Below was the salad before the appetizer, the House of Wolves is the appetizer to the Main course. 

Destiny's main course has come and just in time. I had a few friends calling the entire first year of Destiny, a "Glorified beta". 

I will break down my first impressions of The Taken King in a later post, once I get some quality time with it.

Going to orbit.