Life isn’t fair.
That’s what my father used to tell me, so many moons ago. It’s a guiding tenet of my philosophy on life; life isn’t fair (though that doesn’t mean you should actively contribute to it’s inequality.)
Earlier today on King Gothalion’s channel, the age old issue was once again brought up as it pertains to Destiny: Casual v. Hardcore. We’ve all heard it before, debated it probably ad nauseam (literally, to the point of nausea.) There are many out there who will fiercely join said debate, claiming that one side is simply correct over the other.
Before I address the great debate in Destiny terms however, let’s break down Casual and Hardcore as the terms apply to gamers (at least to me) so you can understand where I’m coming from. Quite simply, I consider said labels to be self-identifying. To put another way, if you say you’re casual, you likely are. If you say you’re hardcore, you likely are. Casuals tend to have less time to put into a game, whether that is from working, having family affairs to handle, or deciding that just one game is not enough to put forth your interest in. You may play Destiny, but also spend time in World of Warcraft, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or Overwatch. Jack of all Trades, master of none, if you will.
Hardcore players, on the other hand, go head first into a game, sinking their teeth into it and never letting go, devouring every aspect a game has to offer. They devote their free time into exploring every aspect of a game, forsaking every other game (and sometimes a shower) in order to conquer the many challenges the developers put forth. Sometimes, if a game is especially large (such as Destiny 2) players may specialize in an aspect of the game. ImSarahDaniels and SayNoToRage, for example, specialize in PvE content, helping others with the Nightfall or Raid so everyone may experience content. Others, like RealKraftyy and Luckyy and Buttwipe jump into PvP content, offering trials carries and generally crushing the Crucible.
Some, like Char, are just really damn good at the game.
Since Wrath of the Lich King in World of Warcraft, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have begun a trend where mechanics are consistently watered down and rewards for high end, difficult content are often shared through various means with people who do the easier side of content. This is often seen as a direct factor into WoW’s population decline, as hardcore players began feeling slighted that their achievements could not be celebrated or rewarded with in game power, difficult to obtain (and maintain) titles, or unique, epic looking loot. This is a large factor into WoW’s decline, but there are other reasons to look at as well.
So, what does all of this history have to do with Destiny 2? Well, let’s circle back to Destiny real fast. Destiny was slow out the gate, but full of potential. Content was challenging, and the grind, while sometimes grueling (RIP Loot Cave), yielded amazing results. For the most part. Completing the raid on Heroic difficulty awarded Heroic level loot, and you, as a player, felt accomplished that you had achieved something truly difficult but satisfying as a result. This is called Risk vs. Reward. You put in the time, the risk of failing these challenges, and are appropriately rewarded when you accomplish them.
Destiny’s raid armor sets came with set bonuses starting with The Dark Below, a concept brought over from MMOs that have preceded it. This addition caused players to want to complete raids multiple times to finish their sets and allow them to have additional bonuses that would alleviate a few minor mechanics issues, often linked to the raid that they were obtained in.
Mechanics in general are a large contribution to the hardcore and casual distinction. Simplifying mechanics in a game is often a large contributing factor to hardcore player burnout. Determining the most efficient methods of min/maxing (the delicate art of mathematically determining what is the best weapon, armor, and class load out for a character to maximize their damage per second) keeps players engaged, though the daunting task often frustrates casual players, who struggle to grasp more advanced concepts, due to either time or energy. Destiny’s weapons had several customization options on their Legendary and Exotic weaponry, truly making these weapons feel, well… legendary and exotic. Destiny 2 has drastically cut back on these customization options. While the addition of armor and weapon modding is an excellent touch, one slot on an item leaves much to be desired.
With all this history in mind, let’s tear into the heart of of the issue: In the Hardcore vs. Casual debate, both sides are right, and both sides are wrong.
Casual players have rightly pointed out that certain parts of Destiny 2 lack coherent explanation or explanation, with Lord Shaxx’s Call to Arms being a requirement to dive into the Trials of the Nine. Call of Arms requires one to complete two quickplay and competitive matches, then has Shaxx ask you to “achieve glory in the Crucible” which is a poorly defined (yet very much in lore) way to word “win games, kill people.”
Casual players also argue that their inability to achieve loot consistently to upgrade their load outs (particularly past the 265 light wall, where upgrades can only be obtained via “powerful engrams” that are often only obtainable once per week for very specific quests) by grinding engrams, strikes, or crucible. This will invariably cause them to be left behind rather quickly, so while their friends tackle more difficult content (i.e. the raid). This becomes an endless, frustrating cycle, as players feel left out in the cold while others enjoy Destiny 2's current endgame.
However, hardcore players have raised issue as well. The Leviathan raid as it stands now, is not particularly difficult, nor does it truly require an advanced light level. Some players were 300 Light as the raid opened in preparation, but it quickly became clear that the difficulty was not in ability to do damage to large slabs of meat we call “bosses” but to decipher puzzles left for us by the Cabal Emperor. In truth, only one traditional raid boss in The Leviathan exists: The Emperor himself. One could raise an argument for the Gardens Hounds, however the onus of completing that encounter is more on the mechanics of building damage stacks, less on directly doing damage to a boss. The Leviathan also lacks a lot of Destiny’s trademark platforming puzzles, trading them for side areas that, upon first play through, make the zone feel a tad more labyrinthine, though subsequently have been discovered to be ways to travel quickly between the various encounter areas of the World Eater.
This has allowed hardcore players to essentially complete the raids, wipe free, in the span of an hour. With three characters leveled, that’s a grand total of three hours for the game’s current most difficult PvE content, excluding the oft bugged Prestige Nightfall. This leaves hardcore PvE players with a large hole in content once all powerful engrams have been achieved. What else is there to do? What more is there to achieve?
Player vs. Environment hardcore players often like cosmetic rewards, hard to obtain (but still balanced) armors and weaponry, and methods of showing off how much they have done via numbers (which is a long way of saying achievements.) Destiny eventually introduced the much-lauded Moments of Triumph record book, which allowed players to keep track of progress and earn unique rewards. This was something both hardcore and casual players could appreciate; hardcore players could grind it out in a span of weeks and casual players may take longer, but the requirements weren’t wholly unreasonable for either side. In Rise of Iron, this system was replicated and enhanced. The rewards justified the risk, the time investment. This system is sorely lacking from Destiny 2, and would greatly alleviate the hardcore player concerns about a current endgame content “drought” (a notion that seems almost preposterous for a game nigh three weeks old.)
One method of alleviating this has been the suggestion of providing Xur, who is sorely lacking in items to buy these past two weeks, with cosmetic items worth hundreds, if not thousands of Legendary Shards. This would allow players who put in the time to obtain unique, fantastic looking shaders, armor, or weapon skins, while not directly impacting the balance of the game. Casual players have argued that this is a move that only benefits “1% of the player base.” While I can sympathize with their frustrations to an extent, games need something for you to aspire to, challenges for you to face and complete, even if they’re essentially artificial. Without proper compensation for the time you put in to a game, you begin to ask yourself: “Why do I even play this game? What am I getting out of it?” When these questions can no longer be answered sufficiently, that is how video game burnout begins.
Another method of reducing the pressure from the hardcore base is obvious: release the Prestige Leviathan raid. Obviously, this will be happening in the near future, but Bungie should take a quick gander at the raid one more time to ensure that this is truly a “prestigious” raid; one that Guardians will not complete within a few hours. Risk vs. Reward. Challenge players, they will rise to it. Or perhaps not.
The third method I’d like to propose is to provide “powerful engrams” more readily for completing difficult content, be it the Nightfall or Prestige Nightfall, or simply providing a chance of obtaining one for turning in Vanguard marks to Commander Zavala. Even having a chance to progress justifies the grind for casual and hardcore alike, even if the odds are somewhat low. Perhaps start at 2%, raising this value by ~2% every week until it caps at 10–20%. This will allow casual players to catch up more expeditiously as the weeks go on into Destiny 2’s life cycle, and hardcore players to be afforded more opportunities to max out their gear to prepare for further challenges (or simply for fun.)
The “Guided Nightfall/Raid” playlist or “Sherpa System” if you will, is a good step in the right direction in providing hardcore and casual players a bridge to come together to tackle some of Destiny 2’s more difficult challenges, but I stress that this alone is not enough to save the game or reconcile the two sides. Guides must be adequately compensated in addition to normal rewards for completing content that they have aided others in accomplishing. This will encourage hardcore players to actively partake in this system, and casual players to take advantage, and work toward becoming guides themselves one day.
Finally, I must stress this, I am a hardcore player of video games. I always have been, I always will be, from the moment my mother first handed me an NES controller until I keel over and die (likely at my desk, playing Half-Life.) I tend to sympathize more with the concerns of the hardcore base of a game, not just as a player, but from a professional and business standpoint; hardcore players are the lifeblood of a game. It is they who put together the strategies, spend the most money, and champion the games they play the hardest. I point once more to how World of Warcraft has been getting along since some of their most die hard players left Azeroth for good. Triple A games need a solid, cohesive, fervent core for it to continue on in perpetuity. Should those players go elsewhere, should players seek new challenges those games can no longer provide, the decline will begin slowly, snowballing with each year that game becomes more “accessible” in favor of “challenging” until the inevitable comes.
Casual players, life is not fair. However, do not let envy get the better of you, so far as to demand detrimental changes to the games you love. Think beyond yourself and brace yourself to rise to challenges you never thought you could achieve. It is through the adversities of gaming that we forge lifelong friendships, feel the euphoria of success, and the anxious anticipation of what confrontations are to come.
-Mitsu
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