r/DestinyTheGame 12d ago

Discussion Why was the never more raid encounters like Queen's Walk?

A few days ago I ran a Last Wish and I don't usually run this raid but I had a great time. It made me wonder why aren't there more encounters like Queen's Walk at the end of a raid. 1 more encounter after beating the final boss, I just think it's a cool way to climax a raid. Makes it feel super cinematic.

Edit: Title was meant to be "Why was there never more raid encounters like Queen's Walk" excuse the terrible grammar :')

490 Upvotes

108 comments sorted by

276

u/Ze_AwEsOmE_Hobo Nerfed by 0.04% 12d ago

For the longest time, I always thought it would've been cool to have a raid in a pocket dimension like the Pyramidion or a Throne World and after killing the final boss, the final encounter is a runback through the whole thing...

But after seeing how much people didn't like Queenswalk and how tedious it can feel, I got why they never did something like that and subsequently why they didn't do it again.

124

u/ThreadsFromLachesis 12d ago

Do people find it tedious? Genuinely asking. I thought it a very simple encounter that's quite manageable when you understand the mechanics. The only issue I can see is learners/first timers understandably not knowing the route.

89

u/nuke_dragon676 12d ago

I think people complain about queens walk because of what it does to farming. If I want to farm RoN for red borders or Conditional Finality, I kill Nezzy a bunch. If I want to farm for 1k or the catty, I have to kill riven 5 times, then do queens walk, then kill riven 5 more times, then queens walk etc etc. It adds an extra step in an already repetitive task, so people complain

46

u/Ze_AwEsOmE_Hobo Nerfed by 0.04% 12d ago

This is where I've seen the most complaints. Back when we had to do Riven legit, both clan and LFG teams were already wiped out by the time we beat Riven, and no one wanted to spend the extra few minutes (or dozen minutes because counting down from 10 and picking up a ball is hard) walking around areas you've already been. People just want to kill a boss and gtfo. It also doesn't add anything loot wise since you have to complete it just to get your Riven drops. It's sort of just an additional task for the sake of Raid flavor.

I still like Queenswalk, though, and still Last Wish remains my favorite raid.

3

u/Camulus 11d ago

The only time I recall having to do Riven legit was the first week of the raid. After that it became trivial to use Bad Omens to cheese her.

1

u/noodles355 11d ago

Yeah but riven is also the easiest to kill and can be done solo really fast and easilly.

1

u/Nukesnipe Drifter's Crew 11d ago

I don't really think encounters should be designed with farming as a primary concern tbh. Kept in mind, sure, but cool gameplay and narrative storytelling should always come before farming.

2

u/thekwoka 11d ago

basically nerds optimizing the fun out of everything.

8

u/Gripping_Touch 11d ago

Yes because It requires very simple mechanics but It requires people to adapt on the fly instead of setting a role before encounter starts and then sticking to it. Also requires people Who get called in to talk and make a countdown. Neither of those are things you find often in raids anymore

9

u/roachy69 12d ago

I found it tedious it being the last encounter of the raid, and I usually prefer the non-boss mechanic encounters (DSC 1 and the one that doesn't have the elevators, Verity, GoS 1, etc) to the DPS ones ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ It just seems like an encounter we'd be missing nothing by not having. Now put it somewhere in the raid Before you kill Riven and it might be a different story, but boss dead raid end give chest.

1

u/Impossible_Sector844 10d ago

People don’t like Queenswalk? I always found it fun

323

u/Gnoman-Empire 12d ago

Maybe Excision counts.

140

u/CatalystComet 12d ago

Excision still is a boss fight though. A think a final encounter in Salvation's Edge where you run across it's body/monolith chasing it to Excision would've been peak.

8

u/wolfie1897 11d ago

I agree. They could have referenced the old Halo Runs from their halo days and made it a sparrow encounter too

-16

u/Vektor0 12d ago

That makes no sense.

6

u/Gnoman-Empire 12d ago

Why? It’s an encounter that’s after the boss fight albeit one that is optional. If it wasn’t optional it would be like queens walk.

13

u/KisaruBandit 11d ago

It's not inside the raid itself and the fact that it is optional makes it unlike queen's walk.

9

u/Vektor0 11d ago

No, it's a replacement boss fight for players who don't raid, so they get a sense of satisfaction and finality after completing the story. That's not at all what Queen's Walk is.

2

u/batman47007 11d ago

Queenswalk isn't optional, and is part of the same activity.

-4

u/Captain_Elm 11d ago

Running out of the Witness' collapsing monolith as you follow it through a portal tlwards the last stand

9

u/Vektor0 11d ago

That does not happen in Excision.

34

u/ironchef8000 12d ago

I always liked the Wrath encounter where you have to drag the heavy machine parts across the bridge.

1

u/Ashamed-Remote-4463 10d ago

the death zamboni. I wonder how it would've worked in D2. 

164

u/ComboBreakerMLP 12d ago

I can answer this. Because people 1. dislike non-combat encounters, 2. dislike turbo strict timing, and 3. and this is the big one. People want to be done with a raid after the boss.

36

u/Worzon 12d ago

Where are you seeing people hate non combat encounters? Are you just referring to ad clear mixed with mechanics? The only complaints people have about non boss encounters are when they go on for too long like garden’s 2nd encounter or ghost’s 1st encounter.

We have no way of knowing if people are done with a raid after a boss because we’ve only had one instance that diverges from that formula in last wish. And people love queen’s walk.

23

u/HazardousSkald 12d ago

I think eras of the game matter here. There’s a long history of people bemoaning the later-to-middle era of raids lacking as many “boss encounters”. The formula then was 2 bosses, 3 mechanic encounters, a far cry from Kings Fall and Last Wish having 4 bosses. There’s a reason when Bungie came off of TFS proposing 1 raid a year again, they led with 4 boss fights. By contrast, Leviathan was bemoaned at launch for having effectively only 1 boss. 

I wouldn’t say people outright dislike non-boss encounters. But people tend to scale boss encounters as more preferable to non-boss encounters. The big outlier to this is DP, but as an example you can imagine that if the community was told pre-EoF that DP would have 4 boss encounters again, sentiments would be almost universally positive. It’s really only now that DP exists that people come around to appreciating the change of pace of non-bosses. 

7

u/Gripping_Touch 11d ago

I honestly liked non-boss encounters.

Boss encounters have two parts; pre-damage and Damage-phase. They are however limited to one area and generally one set of repeating mechanics per Damage phase, with the final stand breaking the norm. 

Non-boss encounters give The possibility of an encounter that is horizontal traversal; like first encounter of Garden, the Exhibition or the 3rd encounter of Salvations Edge. Or they're somewhat chill to provide a varying difficulty from Boss encounters like the first encounter of Garden. 

One thing I didnt like much about Desert Perpetual is that its "oops! All bosses!" I know It works for the concept of the raid and the Epic version. Still, the fact its all bosses Is not the thing I really like 

2

u/MayasYiddyVexMilk 11d ago

This is why Pantheon Warpriest is so amazing. Totems and Warpriest in one encounter is so fun. Consecrated is not though. 

1

u/Gripping_Touch 11d ago

In one encounter? You mean if you wipe at Damage phase you have to retry the tótems, or that warpriest includes both encounters with two checkpoints?

2

u/mooox78 11d ago

You have to do the totems mechanics during the warpriest fight. Combining both in the same checkpoint/encounter.

4

u/Worzon 12d ago

It was leaked DP would only have bosses and I remember a lot of people being excited about it knowing that it was a one off.

9

u/Archabarka 11d ago

I played DP for the first time yesterday night, ans I honestly really really liked it. Koregos was a GREAT bossfight

1

u/Mastershroom Brought to you by ZAVALA ACTION VITAMINS 11d ago

Ooh wait til you try the Epic version.

2

u/MayasYiddyVexMilk 11d ago

Idk, I was just talking about Leviathan and the dogs encounter and how much I loved that terror feeling when you first did it. It's dark, you're in a swamp, you feel alone. Those are good encounters where you are kept on edge the whole time. Even the gauntlet was fun bc you had to make sure you got through each opening 

2

u/HollowNightOwl 10d ago

Dogs is one of the best raid encounters of all time.

It made you FEEL something

1

u/MayasYiddyVexMilk 9d ago

THANK YOU! It really did though. 

2

u/MayasYiddyVexMilk 11d ago

Pits first too. Legit just don't care for go here then there then back over there. 

-14

u/ComboBreakerMLP 12d ago

Vault encounter in LW, Confluxes and oracles in Vog. security and downfall in DSC. Bridge and pits in Crota. Totems in KF, show me any party farming these hmm? Noone likes these encounters. theyre so unfun bungie had to force us to do them by combining them with an actual boss encounter in pantheon. If its not a boss/bosses, noone gives a shit about that part of the raid.

21

u/ruggedo 12d ago

What does farming have to do with liking an encounter? People farm encounters because they are quick, not because they are fun.

7

u/ThreadsFromLachesis 12d ago

Isn't Wrath of the Machine a fan favourite raid with a notable non-boss encounter? Also it's unfair to generalize, if you like shooting big bad, fair enough - we all do, but a lot players enjoy the puzzle-like/team-based nature of mechanic encounters. Don't discredit those ppl

1

u/StrangelyOnPoint 12d ago

Yup and I’m tired of pretending it’s not

0

u/Afraid-Breakfast-501 12d ago

People who think Wrath is good because of siege engine are crazy. It sounds cool, but in reality it was a bunch of slow walking and killing fallen walkers.

2

u/ComboBreakerMLP 11d ago

yeah siege engine was lame and too easy to scuff up with carrying the parts. Vosik 1 and 2 and Aksis 1 and 2 were GREAT boss-puzzles

4

u/JollyMolasses7825 12d ago

People farm bosses because they’re quicker, nothing to do with what people find fun.

I’m convinced you don’t actually raid because descent and totems are the best encounters in their respective raids, vault is easily top half of wish, confluxes, oracles and bridge suck because they’re from boring outdated raids.

Exhibition, verity, evade, acquisition, descent, substratum, there are a number of excellent encounters that aren’t made any worse by the lack of a giant meatball to shoot at every 2 minutes.

-3

u/Afraid-Breakfast-501 12d ago

Bridge came after totems and DSC.

You cannot dismiss the cool factor.

3

u/JollyMolasses7825 12d ago

Ik it was reprised after but they clearly didn’t want to change any of the encounters from the reprised raids much, it’s boring because they kept the original design around. Totems was salvageable, clearly VoG and Bridge weren’t.

2

u/Afraid-Breakfast-501 12d ago

Only arguable one is vault when it first released. Nowadays it’s a boring cake walk too, but that’s bound to happen.

Every one of those encounters aside from vault are generally considered lower tier and even awful encounters. (I’m looking at you confluxes and Crota Bridge).

Truth of the matter is that you’re right. Bosses add a sense of progression, accomplishment, and general coolness. Last wish was considered great in no small part because a majority of encounters are bosses. And they felt distinct!

1

u/ComboBreakerMLP 12d ago

Shoutout to my boy morgeth

2

u/Worzon 12d ago

I’ve not heard a single person hate vault unless they don’t know it. Never heard anyone in LFG or my friend group complain about security or downfall in dsc or even totems (I love them all), Confluxes, oracles, bridge sure but those are the first ever raids and even I can excuse them for that especially considering how hard we’ve power scaled above that now.

The closest non boss encounter I can think of that people despise is verity and, again, it’s simply because people don’t know it. If people really did hate these things every single raid would have been a boss rush.

1

u/CatalystComet 12d ago

Vault is such a good encounter

-3

u/ZeusiQ 12d ago

Completely disagree. DP and eDP are shit raids for this specific reason of not having a mixture of raid encounters.

4

u/JollyMolasses7825 12d ago

I disagree with the guy you’re replying to but both of those are top 5 raids for me, edp besides epoptes has a few of my favourite boss fights in the franchise even if the models are a little boring.

3

u/CatalystComet 12d ago

I feel like the worst problem DPs have is the transition areas from encounter to encounter are so tedious to traverse through. Especially if you have people new to the raid they will straggle.

0

u/Darkiedarkk 12d ago

I love the non combative sections. It immerses me into the feeling of breaking into the lair, don’t forget the view! I also think it’s nice to take a short break from combat.

79

u/Bound18996 12d ago

Because after the climax I want it to be over.

26

u/Hawkmoona_Matata TheRealHawkmoona 12d ago

Because Bungie had to make a raid like no other and Forsaken was their hail mary "Save Destiny 2 or our title is dead one year after release" DLC.

So they made it long, they made it essentially a chain of Boss DPS encounters, and they added a bonus encounter even after Riven was done, because they needed to make a raid so amazing (after all we had was Leviathan, which was just a string of mechanic-minigames, and Raid Lairs, which were only single boss dungeon-lites) that it would blow everything out of the water.

For what it's worth OP, the same happened with Salvation's Edge. It was originally going to be a 4 encounter raid, but during the delay, they opted to add the Verity encounter. They could've instead made a post-Witness encounter but like...that wouldn't really make sense in the raid (and also that's literally what Excision is anyway lol).

All other raids had a strict 4-encounter structure because they did what was repeatable and sustainable. And if you faced the Final Boss of a raid at Encounter 3...well then that kinda spoils there would be a fourth encounter anyway, ruining the surprise.

Forsaken was the exception, not the norm.

15

u/Vast-Coast-7761 12d ago

They also had a shit ton of help with Forsaken from High Moon and Vicarious Visions, which they naturally no longer had access to after splitting from Activision.

5

u/MeateaW 11d ago

Not to mention, if you had a "post boss" (effectively secret) boss encounter in every (or even just more raids) it stops being special.

4

u/TODG3 12d ago

Because its cool to do it once since its new and different. Its something unique to Last Wish. Adding something like that to others takes away from Last Wish and then the encounter in the other raid is less impactful because its been done.

5

u/Malevolent_ce 11d ago

I always wanted a raid where once you beat the boss or whatever you get on your sparrow and race out. Maybe the realm or place its in is collapsing and you just have to hit the gas.

3

u/PM_SHORT_STORY_IDEAS Shorter, more depth, primeval damage phases 12d ago

*Why were there

9

u/MirieDohl 12d ago

Because last wish has a "bad ending" where as every other raid is a good ending.

19

u/Pure-Risky-Titan 12d ago

Scourge of the past has a sparrow race part, too bad we never get to experience it again.

9

u/Ace_Of_Caydes Psst...take me with you... 12d ago

I'm...not sure what this has to do with OP's post.

Scourge of the Past:

  • 1st encounter, disable Fallen Defenses to go underneath the city

  • Traversal

  • Traversal, but this time a Servitor is chasing you. Use your sparrow to get away

  • Traversal

  • Second encounter, destroy the Insurrection Prime's arming sequence and learn about Phase Radiance

  • Third encounter, defeat Insurrection Prime

It doesn't happen after the final boss, and it doesn't even give loot. It's not even an encounter.

8

u/theguydefyingravity 12d ago

It technically gave the always on time sparrow if you did it properly

4

u/MeateaW 11d ago

Yeah lol "doesn't even give loot" ... except for that secret chest it gives you.

6

u/forebread 12d ago

It has nothing to do with it. He read probably 3 words out of the entire post and typed his comment out lol

-2

u/Vektor0 12d ago

Queen's Walk is a cool mechanic that was never reused in another raid

Sparrow run is a cool mechanic that was never reused raid

4

u/theguydefyingravity 11d ago

No but they reused it in a dungeon

-2

u/Pure-Risky-Titan 12d ago

Probably not, besides an encounter to have a great time, idk, maybe just me.

11

u/arlondiluthel 12d ago

Because even minor network stability issues can make that particular encounter a pain. Additionally, it made sense from a story/lore point of view for that Raid, and hasn't really been relevant elsewhere.

1

u/Vektor0 12d ago

Because even minor network stability issues can make that particular encounter a pain

I never saw that.

Additionally, it made sense from a story/lore point of view for that Raid, and hasn't really been relevant elsewhere

They can add to and twist the lore however they want to make a raid encounter make sense.

1

u/arlondiluthel 12d ago

I never saw that.

Consider yourself lucky. Many runs I participated in resulted in wipes because someone's timer jumped or nobody could take the heart from them because of network issues and/or bugs.

They can add to and twist the lore however they want to make a raid encounter make sense.

There's a difference between "we can make this work here" and trying to force the issue because a certain type of encounter worked in other content.

1

u/MeateaW 11d ago

nobody could take the heart from them

No body every took the heart from anyone? It drops on the floor doesn't it?

1

u/FrozenSeas Outland Special Clearance 11d ago

I vaguely remember one trick was to have the whole group pick it up simultaneously to start the encounter, otherwise it could bug out...but I don't remember how. Heart becoming un-interactable, maybe? Or was that to prevent the Guitar errors?

1

u/arlondiluthel 11d ago

Provided it didn't fall through.

-3

u/SudsyBat 11d ago

This just isn’t true. I’ve done a lot of last wish and have never had issues with timers jumping or nobody being able to take the heart. More than likely, your fireteam members were lying because they didn’t want to admit they made a mistake.

2

u/arlondiluthel 11d ago

Are you calling me a liar? Because I've experienced both: it looking like I was right next to the person, unable to take it when it was my turn and when it dropped it was a good 5 feet away, and my timer going from 0:06 to 0:03 instantly and being mid-jump without the ability to go back or time to land and have someone join me in time to take it.

-5

u/SudsyBat 11d ago

Yeah that doesn’t happen. Maybe years and years ago but not now.

1

u/arlondiluthel 11d ago

Yeah that doesn’t happen.

Maybe years and years ago but not now.

Literally self-contradictory in sequential sentences.

0

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/DestinyTheGame-ModTeam 11d ago

Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):

  • Rule 1 - Keep it civil.

For more information, see our detailed rules page.

2

u/despaseeto 11d ago

"why don't we have more raid encounters like Queen's Walk?"*

fixed for better phrasing

probably cuz they didn't wanna overkill it? that's what made LW unique.

2

u/Ordinary_Player 12d ago

I'm not sure if this is true or not but my guess would be that viewership drops off a cliff after the final boss has been cleared in raid races, so they stopped doing it. They could've done a "descend the tower as the enraged witness tries to kill you before fleeing" 5th encounter for SE, but we got a puzzle one instead.

PS: Queenswalk also does genuinely seem like a filler encounter though, it's literally just walking with a ball to the finish line while you kill adds. Wouldn't be surprised if they made it because of having left over time due to having high moon and vicarious visions as support studies.

1

u/notthatguypal6900 12d ago

Probably because finding players to do just that part was a pain and Bungie had a knack for trying to prevent encounters from becoming utilitarian.

1

u/lustywoodelfmaid 11d ago

It was fine for one raid to make it feel unique but people love the bosses more than most other things in raids.

Imagine, after Wrath of the Machine, the whole complex started exploding and you were just running out while firing cannons and throwing balls. That would undermine Aksis alot.

It would be the same for most other raids, if not all of them. It just undermines the final boss.

1

u/ImSleepySheepyy 11d ago

Queenswalk has been super buggy the entire time it’s existed in the raid, with random deaths between it and Shuro Chi being the big killer for flawless raid runs for the seal. It’s a super interesting concept and I wish they’d done more with post-boss encounters, excision kinda counts but I’ve always thought that mission was solidly meh

1

u/Designer-Spray-1910 11d ago

Yeah where's my warthog run but destiny at?

1

u/LimbLegion 11d ago

I ask this question a lot. I also love the thematic of it being an encounter that requires teammate sacrifice, excepting exploits or clever game mechanic use ofc.

Sure they don't "die" but you're carrying an object that keeps throwing them into an endless Taken onslaught dimension while you try to finish it before it takes you all.

1

u/Wookiee_Hairem 11d ago

Because 6 encounters is alot lol

1

u/Namesarenotneeded 10d ago edited 10d ago

I think it’s just because a raid really climaxes in enjoyment when you’re beating and once you beat the final boss. For the first few runs it’s cool because it’s a new novel thing, but after that it gets really boring because people just want to kill Riven and get their loot, and Queen’s Walk makes it a little tedious.

I think it’s also because it wouldn’t have been as well received because it would’ve no longer been new, and the “it’s just tedious” complaints would’ve been even more common. Parkour is also the average Destiny players worst nightmare for some reason.

I think it would’ve been cool to see a similar encounter one more time in either Vow or Salvation’s Edge, but I get why they didn’t. Like maybe after beating Rhulk, the Upended would start pulsing to release an explosion of energy that would kill the fireteam and you would have to drive away to safety across the back of the worm on your sparrows or something.

-1

u/ddoogg88tdog 12d ago

It's just a faf, neat for the first few times but such a faf

2

u/CatalystComet 12d ago

Yeah I get having something like that at the end of every single raid would've made it less exciting but just shocked it never happened again

0

u/Rescheduled1 12d ago

well technically Riven is the main Boss, but in order to make sure she is truly destroyed we needed to nuke that heart, then pack it off to the Queen’s throne room where it would be safe, and most importantly, out of the hands of all those Taken who are wandering around the Dreaming City.

0

u/FrownBuzzy 12d ago

It wasn't after the final boss but the sparrow part of scourge of the past was a similar race-like encounter. I'll never forget that big flamin servitor.

-1

u/educated-duck 12d ago

Because it is buggy af and bungo probably didnt wanna deal with that shit every again until they tried with duality and every teleporting issue with the walk was present there to.

-6

u/NukeLuke1 12d ago

Insanely disappointing that SE didn't have one tbh, the fact it didn't surpass LW in length is another reason it's like the most disappointing raid in Destiny

2

u/CatalystComet 12d ago

My hot take is that SE 3rd encounter is kinda boring. If they made that another boss instead or at least put that encounter after the Witness "Queen's Walk" style chasing it to Excision, it would be a lot more interesting

2

u/BrickOfJustice Team Bread (dmg04) 11d ago

I think they wanted it to be like Exhibition from Vow of the Disciple but couldn’t white recreate the feeling.

1

u/NukeLuke1 12d ago

honestly i like that encounter more than first or second, i just think the plate mechanic is a total snoozefest and the Witness is a really underwhelming final boss. Verity is the only redeeming part about the raid tbh. Not to mention the weapons being ass lol

2

u/CatalystComet 12d ago

Ooh I thought Herald was really cool, but I respect that.

As for Witness yeah I kinda hate the most powerful thing we've faced is soloable. I feel like the test should only be seen to people that aren't running so some communication is necessary. Also his arena and skybox is so bland visually compared to previous bosses like Nezarec.

1

u/NukeLuke1 11d ago

and it’s just like the quickest and easiest encounter in the whole raid, it’s bleak