Destiny is suffering from the same problems that plague MMOs

I’m a level 28 Titan in Destiny. If I wanted to farm for materials I could probably push it to level 29. If I wanted to continuously run the Vault of Glass raid, I could get the armor required to hit level 30. The question is, why would I want to do that? What’s the incentive to reaching current max level?

That is the question that has long plagued many MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online games). Now Destiny isn’t an MMO, but it does have MMO elements — and I’m not just referring to the idea that you can meet up with a few other Guardians and dance in the Tower or cheese Atheon in the Vault of Glass.

Destiny’s gameplay approach is fairly simple, one that we’ve seen countless times with failed MMOs in the past. Heck, even now, many MMOs use this formula. You create a character, venture into a new world, and complete quests in order to gain XP and level up. You repeat this process until you eventually hit max level. Destiny’s a bit different in this sense as experience gets you to level 20, but every level after that (up to the max level of 30) is determined by the gear you have and leveling up specific armor pieces.

How you go about getting these pieces is completely up to you, but upgrading them generally involves earning experience with the armor equipped and then going to a planet and farming the required materials. Towards the end, you’ll need Ascendant Shards which you can get from Raids and weekly Strikes. Needless to say, it’s a lot of farming. And some people like that. I did for the first month, but now I’m starting to lose interest.

As I sit here, staring at my Destiny case, I ask myself: what’s the point? I beat the game; I experienced the story. What’s the point of getting to level 30? What’s the incentive to hitting max level?

Destiny is suffering from the same problems that plague most other MMOs, in that once you hit max level, there’s nothing to do. There’s no “end game.” In its current form, there’s exactly one end-game challenge — the Vault of Glass — and thanks to a game-breaking glitch even, that isn’t even a challenge anymore (though Bungie is fixing that). The point of completing Vault of Glass is to get raid armor so that you can reach level 30 or exotic weapons. The point of reaching level 30 is… what exactly? So that I can have an easier time running the Vault of Glass raid? What’s the point of that, exactly?

I like Destiny. I enjoy the Crucible PvP, but I’m just not feeling compelled to play it right now — not when there are so many other good games to play. Weekly events help give me something to do. The Iron Banner, despite its pointlessness, actually gave me something to strive for. Even then, getting Rank 3 in Iron Banner reputation meant nothing because at the end of the day, it’s just more gear that could maybe increase my Guardian’s level.

Right now, when I play Destiny, it’s strictly for the Crucible PvP. But I can find competitive multiplayer in tons of other games. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Halo: The Master Chief Collection are both right around the corner. And I think it can be argued that both of those have the track record of doing competitive multiplayer much better than Destiny.

Maybe I’m missing something here. So tell me, why do you play Destiny?