July 17th, 2024: Holy Cow this PC Gamer Article

Long Live Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 is my most played game of all time. I have thousands of hours on it, having played it since its 2020 expansion, Beyond Light.

As an MMO, it will always have constant ups and downs, periods of content drought and community discontent, and periods of joy and wonder when new raids, destinations, abilities, and weapons are added.

The standard cycle of Destiny is to play new content for the sake of story and exploration, then repeat the content you enjoy to get loot drops. Almost every activity has a unique loot pool of weapons that can come in many random permutations. Players will frequently hunt for God Rolls, or a specific random roll of a gun with the most desired perks. Or they will chase Red Borders, a semi-random variant of a gun where, if you collect 5 Red Border copies of one gun, you unlock the ability to craft the gun and choose the perks you want, for a price.

A recent PCGamer article dropped, and I was in awe at the writer. I'm not sure if I should applaud him or shake my head in shame, so I shall simply share his accomplishments.

The writer, Tim Clark, was in Chicago, when tornado warnings started dropping on his phone. Despite that, he continued to fight on in the game's latest raid, Salvation's Edge.

Salvation's Edge is the raid that dropped with the Final Shape, where players journey up a massive tower to reach the Witness, the ultimate enemy of the Traveler, a god-like being that the players are blessed by and fight for. As the latest raid, it's weapons are unique and desirable. Every raid also has a special Exotic weapon as part of its loot pool, able to be randomly dropped from the final boss. These unique Exotics tend to have creative attributes that no other weapon in the game can replicate. You only get 3 chances a week to get it, and if you don't manage to obtain the Exotic, you'll have to wait until next Tuesday to try again.

Tim Clark here had done the raid 11 times in the past, meaning he has pulled that lever 11 times, with no Exotic drop yet. For reference, a full run of the raid probably takes around 2-3 hours, even with a skilled team that knows what they are doing. It'll take longer for a team that is teaching some of the players.

So Tim Clark is off, working away, making progress. A neighbor knocks at his windows to see if he's ok, and he indicates that he's fine. His fiancee breaks into the basement, saying that neighbors will probably come down to join him, since the basement is the safest location. His teammates hear the situation, and start making jokes as they continue through the raid. And at the end, he doesn't even get the Exotic he worked so hard for. Better luck next week.

"I stroll sheepishly into the lounge to find our neighbours, three kids, snacks, candles, both dogs and my wife-to-be. I say hi and try for a 'hey, no big deal' vibe as I make small talk."

This is just hilarious, and speaks to something about Destiny. Is it the addictive nature of chasing randomly generated loot? Is it the magic power of teamwork overcoming a challenge in a weekly ritual? Is it a testament to Destiny's ability to make activities so interesting that players would do them 11 times across several weeks? I don't know, and neither does Tim Clark.

To be honest, I would probably put the game down, say a sheepish, "Sorry guys, I gotta go, a tornado might hit us," and leave. Entertaining guests, reassuring the kids, keeping the snacks and drinks flowing should probably take higher priority. Despite that, I can somewhat respect the chase. Tim Clark loves Destiny, and sometimes, you just can't ditch your squad.

Hopefully, he gets the gun next time, without any tornados bothering him.

The article can be found here, for free:
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/yesterday-i-ignored-10-tornado-warnings-to-finish-a-destiny-2-raid-didnt-get-the-exotic-drop-and-disappointed-my-fiancee-is-there-some-sort-of-lesson-here/