Bungie is banking on Destiny’s end-game content to keep players coming back, and they’ve been careful with their raids in order to set the hook.
“[Raids are] going to take you and your group of five buddies into a place that you’ve never seen,” designer Luke Smith told IGN. “A place that you will return to frequently. And [it will] demand of you things you’ve never even really been asked to do in a shooter before.”
Smith asserted that raids will not play out like abnormally large dungeons. Instead, they aim for the bar set by the likes of World of Warcraft and are designed for several hours of play. “It’s getting people together and getting them into a group and making your way down to the Vault of Glass and seeing what’s at the bottom of it — if you can get that far,” he added.
The traditional, static level system won’t apply to raids, which often begin at a lower level and work their way up, allowing participants to upgrade their gear and guardian as they go in preparation for latter waves.
Smith describes raids as one of Destiny’s hardest and most intelligent components—asking players to do something their familiar with but to do it cooperatively—and also as a gamble. “Raids are a really big bet for us. It’s a bit of a risk. Because the activity requires you to have a group of five other friends to play with.”
And what good would a raid be without reward? Smith added one final tidbit to get MMO veterans drooling: “Hopefully the gear makes you want to come back.”
