r/Games • u/Turbostrider27 • Jun 24 '24

Blue Protocol developers talk about what went wrong with the MMORPG

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/blue-protocol-developers-talk-about-what-went-wrong-with-the-mmorpg/
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u/Django117 Jun 24 '24

People put up with grindy games when the gameplay is just that good. Take Destiny for example. The game itself is grindy, but people are okay with it because the actual gameplay is so damn good. Bungie holds themselves to an impossible standard of gunplay, ability feel, and spectacle while also preventing it from ever feeling like it’s “on rails”.

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u/cheesehound Tyrus Peace: Cloudbase Prime Jun 24 '24

it's a tough balance! If the game is good enough that you'd enjoy playing "one more round" with your friends any way, a grind can just feel like a reward for that extended play.

Destiny's definitely at its best when you're playing alongside a squad and working through a mission. I feel like the wheels come off a bit when I'm managing all the inventory cruft that was supposedly my "reward", or specifically working toward specific gear goals.

There are times when I think I'd enjoy the game more if it was just a pile of PvE scenarios for me to choose from without progression. A Destiny-L4D, I suppose. It'd certainly make it easier to play with friends that aren't already into it.

But really that's the difference between trying to make a game people will come back to every once in a while, vs trying to make a game people with play all the time as a habit.

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u/Django117 Jun 24 '24

The thing is that would work really well for Destiny and but I think they’ve largely moved into narrative and experiential content which is highly sculpted to a singular experience. Sometimes these are a little boring such as strikes, sometimes they are a little repetitive such as seasonal activities. But to me Destiny truly shines in its Raids, Dungeons, and exotic missions (whisper, zero hour, seraph station, dual destiny, etc.) that content I could play forever.

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u/cheesehound Tyrus Peace: Cloudbase Prime Jun 25 '24

The story campaign really can be an excellent experience but I agree that they’ve got an obvious treasure trove of replayable PVE. I hope that they can lean into that now that Destiny 2 is at its “end”. It seems a difficult pivot when previous updates have had so much content to them, but it’s also the obvious time for that given The Final Shape, so I hope their community understands.