The Warmind expansion is a change in gear from the usual. Warmind brings the promised grind from Bungie, but rewards the player for their efforts. People thought that the previous expansions were too simple, and they were right, so Bungie kicked it in the other direction and now we have gotten what we have asked for, even if it feels like it’s too difficult. The balance between effort and reward is now a right of passage and something that is respectful instead of expected. Warmind is a good way for Bungie to begin to right the ship of their D2 game and make it closer to what was promised at the beginning of this Destiny journey.
The ‘final’ expansion to Destiny 2 this year, Warmind, has hit, as of May 8th. We have had a few weeks to process how it is and to say the very least it is certainly a different gameplay direction to go.
Since the first Destiny, all the expansions and updates that have hit with new content were basically quick run-throughs that expand the universe, but never offered up particularly tough challenges outside of the raid. Most hardcore Destiny gamers could run through these things like a hot knife through butter. For those with seasoned veterans and big enough teams, the raids would take a day or so to wrap-up. All of this combined meant that while the expansions and updates made a bigger world for Destiny to reside in, the experience would be over much too quickly. This also meant that players would take their gameplay in small doses, mostly PvP and strikes with every Tuesday content update, but never really connect with the game again until Bungie put together another expansion or update. Why is this bad? Well, the lack of content means the lack of connection, which means the lack of fans for future Destiny releases. Bungie may not retain those dedicated fans if the content simply isn’t there to support them. That’s a scary bottom line.
To remedy such a disastrous scenario with Destiny 2, which was on the quick track to this scenario, Bungie has put together a combination of good content and a little bit of old arcade standards for their content. The former we’ll get to in a bit, but the latter deserves some time to explain because most of you probably weren’t alive during this time period.
Back in the mid 80s, when the video game industry was experiencing the great collapse, which took down traditional mom/pop arcades, arcade owners had the bright idea that if they upped the difficulty of the arcade machines, then people would be forced to keep pumping in quarters and not easily beat the games. Thus, arcades could recover from the lack of Atari and new arcade machines. What they didn’t anticipate was that gamers would just give up on arcade games completely because of their difficulty. It’s one thing to keep pumping in quarters to get through the game, but it’s a wholly other to pay $20 to get beyond the first level of a game. See the problem? You cannot simply raise the difficulty of the game to make it stick with players. This isn’t Dark Souls. Making worthwhile content to play is the key to making people stay. The longevity of that content should not be dictated by the difficulty of it. That’s a bad route to go. This is the route I felt, at least at first, Bungie had taken by making the content more of a grind than meaningful. It took about a week to get that out of my system, but it honestly felt like that was where they were going. Again, that is a bad route.
Thankfully, having pushed through the initial difficulty barrier, the game did open up a bit. While it is a grind, it’s a worthwhile grind. The game is broken down into several new things. Here’s what they are:
Ana Bray Story: Rasputin is certainly an interesting carry over from the first Destiny, something that needed more inside game story to tell, and deserved a good amount of time to develop. Rasputin is a protective machine built to keep the human race alive, and one that calculates different wartime scenarios. Putting Rasputin back to gather, delivering data to do so, and trusting Bray and Rasputin with future impending attacks is how the story goes. It does leave with a cliffhanger, which needs to be wrapped up at some point soon (I’m sure it will be in the near future). The story starts simple, gets complicated in the middle, and then there is a giant worm God at the end of it all, which leads you to the release of Rasputin. That story sets the tone for the rest of the game and adds sprinkles of itself throughout the entire set of experiences. It also introduces you to a new breed of enemies, Frozen Hive (vicious mothers), who have been trapped in the icy surface of Mars. Anyway, the story of Rasputin is a solid addition to the overall lore of the game. It’s worthy of your time.
Escalation Protocol: So, what’s harder than a raid? Escalation Protocols! These are protocols that require at least a light level of 380 to successfully complete (still working on it). They are multi-staged timed events that will also require about 7-8 people to successfully pass. There are small towers that you unlock to start the protocols, which activate a bevy of enemies. These towers end their cycle on a huge and difficult boss that requires everything to take down. The reward for passing a stage is another stage, which is even more brutal, thus the escalation part of the name. I have found these to be more difficult than the raid, mainly because of the timed part. They’re amazing parts to the game, but the very definition and reason to grind the game out. Bungie could have eased back a bit on these protocols, as their near impossibility makes for a frustrating time. They’re good, but frustrating. They are also required (not for completion) to receive a special weapon from Ana Bray. You just have to get beyond the first boss. Regardless, this is the reason why you would grind out the game.
PvP: You’re ranked! And it’s two different types of ranking, depending on what type of PvP you’re playing. The competitive PvP is a give/take scenario with ranking. If you win, you take! If you lose, you give. The ranking is sorted by a circular indicator with upgraded names as you progress (such as Fabled). It’s a neat system and adds a bit more motivation to the PvP experience, plus it makes it far more competitive. I will say that on competitive mode you’re more than likely going to hate AFK-ers more than you typically would. Who doesn’t like those folks? Anyway, I do like the simple addition of a rank indicator and I found myself staring at it after each PvP match. Again, in the long run it may not mean much, but it does give you some bragging rights.
Strikes/Heroic Strikes: The strikes you receive are repeats of the story, which isn’t surprising considering that is usually the case with most strikes. There is a point in the game where you will be required to do heroic strikes and just note that these are not simple. Getting one-shotted in the game on strikes is frustrating and if you go into the heroic strikes at the wrong level, then that will be the outcome. Level up before you dive into these, which will be necessary to work on an Ana Bray quest. The gun acquired through the Bray quest by doing these strikes is worth the hassle.
Raid: Still a work in progress. It’s brutal and unforgiving. That’s what you should know. You should also know that Bungie isn’t joking when it asks you to be 370 in light level for this raid. Don’t go in unprepared or you’re going to have a bad time. Completing the other raids (even again) and going through all of the above (and below) will help you get through the grind of leveling. That said, don’t even try it at a lower level. It’s not worth the frustration.
Other things to do: You are given tasks throughout the game that lead to nice items (swords, ships, etc.). The expansion will have you on the search for data pieces, small bits of data scattered everywhere on the new map that equal out to a badass sword and a sweet sparrow. The initial data is 45 pieces big and they are hidden everywhere. In addition, you get some data from Rasputin from public events and taking down other baddies, which, when combined in four, create a data cache that allow you unlock diamond-shaped sleeper nodes that are everywhere in the new expansion (40 in total). I’m about 30 in right now and will update this article with the result of finding those nodes. Beyond these things, Ana Bray has her own set of adventures and tasks for you as well, which equal out to a badass gun — though the adventure getting there is not easy. All in all, the additional smaller adventures help to stretch out the expansion and properly reward players for their efforts.
Leveling: Good luck with this one. When Bungie told you there was going to be grind, they weren’t joking. The leveling is slow and steady throughout the expansion. It took a few days to break free from the 340s and enter into the 350s. The second half of the leaps in 10s seems to be the grind of the game. Just prepare yourself to run through heroic strikes and play the long game when you’re preparing to level up. You will need all the level and patience you can get to prepare you for the raid and escalation protocol. The grind isn’t bad, though the enjoyment of it comes in waves. It’s like climbing a large wall and feeling every ounce of your forearms hurt towards the top, almost begging you to quit, but you’re thankful you didn’t when you reach the top. Bungie doesn’t push you too hard or too far, but it pushes you enough with the leveling and makes it all worth the effort when you get there.
Beyond the above, there are some new maps for PvP, which are fun, and some work and some don’t, but all in all the rewards and time taken to complete the above is made worth your while. Whatever content Bungie has planned at E3 and in September is going to ride on the fact that you’ve completed a all or a good chunk of the above. Don’t skimp. They did a good job of preparing you and their shift in gameplay style works well for those looking for a deeper, more meaningful Destiny experience.
Overall, the expansion is a change in gear from the usual in a Destiny expansion. Warmind brings the promised grind from Bungie, but rewards the player for their efforts. People thought that the previous expansions were too simple, and they were right, so Bungie kicked it in the other direction and now we have gotten what we have asked for, even if it feels like it’s too difficult. The balance between effort and reward is now a right of passage and something that is respectful instead of expected. Warmind is a good way for Bungie to begin to right the ship of their D2 game and make it closer to what was promised at the beginning of this Destiny journey.
