I haven’t participated in the season since week two. That’s the other problem with the seasonal mode of content. Is there good stuff? I surely don’t know because I quit playing because they thought making me grind out idiotic bounties and one mediocre activity would keep me occupied for more than like two hours.

Last season was masked by accompanying a pretty good, content-rich expansion. This season doesn’t have that luxury, Andy it shows just how thin it is.

Again, more power to the folks that like it. I’ll jump back in when they put out something worthwhile. Some bounties wrapped around the Obelisks ain’t that, though. Hopefully we get a good expansion again this fall.

I think the seasonal content model is a failure. I literally don’t think the two seasons we’ve seen this year are worth the development resources to create them. It’s artificial engagement through chores to level up . . .

Saying it is not for yourself, sure, that's fine. Suggesting it is a failure is questionable at best. The game is still lively and active. Engaging with the current content is easy and quick. People are running around with Sundial and Dawning stuff on.

Also can you farm godroll weapons from the Obelisks without paying for the season pass? Is this P2W? Uh oh.

That said, I finally hit 92 and get to play the game I like. Ive been mopping up adventures (they're pretty cool!) and World Quests (they unlock exotics?! Neat!). I even got to play some Sundial (the real reason I bought the pass) and got an awesome roll on Traveler's Judgement 5 (Rapid hit/TtT).

This game is weird.

If it is, that's a special kind of stupid, even by Bungie's standards. As it is, a heavy brick only gets you what, one rocket now, maybe two.

Not gonna lie, I'm really starting to hate Bungie's quests. I get that they want to show us everything, but stuff like this isn't the way to do it.

Yup. All in one single match. And you lose progress if you die.

Wait, for real?

Would I give blatantly false information to anyone for my own amusement?

I just assumed people were blowing this way out of proportion. If that’s true, that’s really dumb. All the steps last season were cumulative.

Regardless of whether or not ten rocket kills is a lot to ask, the problem is that if you want to get past a restrictive wall that keeps you from getting armor as drops (which, given how all of the IB weapons are just recycled drops, armor is the only thing worth chasing), you have no choice but to endure the grind. There are zero workarounds (and the game will only start tracking your rocket kills when you get to that step).

And as a guy who rarely touches Heavy, having to change my playstyle to include "camp around Heavy Spawn and hope we win it, then hope I get a kill, then repeat the process successfully at least nine more times", on top of having to equip a Rocket Launcher (which I suck with), just to eventually progress a single half step of the quest?

It's poop.

And if you want to run a second character in IB? RIP

If it is, that's a special kind of stupid, even by Bungie's standards. As it is, a heavy brick only gets you what, one rocket now, maybe two.

Not gonna lie, I'm really starting to hate Bungie's quests. I get that they want to show us everything, but stuff like this isn't the way to do it.

Yup. All in one single match. And you lose progress if you die.

Wait, for real?

I just assumed people were blowing this way out of proportion. If that’s true, that’s really dumb. All the steps last season were cumulative.

If it is, that's a special kind of stupid, even by Bungie's standards. As it is, a heavy brick only gets you what, one rocket now, maybe two.

Not gonna lie, I'm really starting to hate Bungie's quests. I get that they want to show us everything, but stuff like this isn't the way to do it.

Yup. All in one single match. And you lose progress if you die.

Not gonna lie, I'm really starting to hate Bungie's quests. I get that they want to show us everything, but stuff like this isn't the way to do it.

I think the seasonal content model is a failure. I literally don’t think the two seasons we’ve seen this year are worth the development resources to create them. It’s artificial engagement through chores to level up. That’s it. And it bums me out. As okay as I am putting Destiny down (there are other games! Who knew?), it bums me out that I’ve fired up Destiny multiple times this season looking for anything compelling, only to be greeted with “Kill 25 Captains and get 75 Precision Final Blows with a Sniper Rifle.” No thanks.

I’m just not a big fan of being handed a list of chores for my $10, which is what the seasons have been so far this year. The addition of the season rank rewards makes that even more true, because now the pressure is there to get it all done before it goes away (or choke up even more money at the end of the season).

You might feel railroaded to complete this secondary activity in a specific way. It is definitely appropriate to say that you are being guided to certain methods. But Bungie directing you to the Matchmade Ritual Activities and the current Seasonal Event are hardly nefarious. Even having you visit the Tower periodically is far from some devaluation of your time by some game devs.

Forgoing XP to not "annoy your friends" is a conscious decision you are making just as much as not playing with friends to focus on grinding XP would be. Making a choice to play with weapons you regularly wouldn't to get Bounty XP is also choosing how you want to play.

I forego a lot of bounties and play what I feel like playing, to include "low efficiency" activities. With 73 days left in the season I have 11 more ranks to get to hit 100. Personally I think these issues are mole hills, and nothing more. Any magnification of that is chosen perspective.

I suppose there are a few caveats. I do enjoy the ritual activities. When I’m in patrol I like to hit up Patrol Beacons and hit most Public events I cross. A handful of Crucible matches means 5+ cookies. Insofar as time? Caveat is I’m on PC with Destiny on an M.2 drive.

And it isn’t like I can’t do other bounties while getting the Essence collected. I’ve gone from 82 to 85 just in the small handful of IB games I was able to play so far today. YMMV, of course. But I think it’s pretty easy to mix in with anything else I want to do.

It's not difficult, it's just a pain in the ass.

You have to stop every four minutes to switch weapon types to focus on whatever weapons you have bounties for. Then you have to run back to the Tower every twenty minutes to load up on more bounties (or move on to another activity that still has active bounties).

They doubled-down on making it feel lie you're wasting your playtime if you don't focus on very specific activities to work on that season level.

Bounties should absolutely not be the main source of XP for seasonal ranks. It's really silly. XP should just come from doing stuff. It's sort of ridiculous that you can do a Nightfall and get basically nothing, whereas the twenty minutes that activity takes could have been far better spent doing Destination Bounties or something. They just actively encouraging the worst way to play the game.

For a game that wants you to play with friends, they sure sure go out of their way to cause as much annoyance as possible. You either have to forego that valuable XP, or you have to annoy your party by making Tower runs every time you finish an activity.

For a game that they say they want you to play however you want, they sure do insist on railroading you onto a pretty direct path for progression, if you want to make progress in a reasonable time.

As it stands all the “Get X Kills” parts of the quest steps (and that they only count while on the step) are at least double what is reasonable. Make it take more captures or plain old Defeats, but only force me through 3 Rocket Kills if you want me netting Final Blows.

And it isn’t like I can’t do other bounties while getting the Essence collected. I’ve gone from 82 to 85 just in the small handful of IB games I was able to play so far today. YMMV, of course. But I think it’s pretty easy to mix in with anything else I want to do.