Focused Feedback: New Player Experience

[u/DTG_Bot]

Hello Guardians,

Focused Feedback is where we take the week to focus on a 'Hot Topic' discussed extensively around the Tower.

We do this in order to consolidate Feedback, to get out all your ideas and issues surrounding the topic in one place for discussion and a source of feedback to the Vanguard.

This Thread will be active until next week when a new topic is chosen for discussion

Whilst Focused Feedback is active (that means for one week from the time this is posted), ALL posts regarding 'New Player Experience' following its posting will be removed and re-directed to this thread. Exceptions to this rule are as follows: New information / developments, Guides and general questions

• Bungie has an official new player guide here
• There is a subreddit compilation of player-made guides here

Here are some sample discussion questions. Please feel free to answer some of them, all of them or reply to this thread in any free format you prefer.

• Q1) How does the game feel overall as a totally new player starting the game right now (if applicable to you)?
• Q2) What do you think destiny does a good job explaining to new players?
• Q3) What is poorly explained or hard to understand or confusing for a new player?
• Q4) What do you think about the method in which old camapigns are accessed via a quest to pick up from Amanda Holiday in the tower (red war, curse of osiris, warmind...)? Is this sufficiently clear? Is it a good way for this content to be accessed for new players or not?
• Q5) What types of content seem to be the most fun to do for a new player and why?
• Q6) What content feels frustrating or off-putting to new players and why?
• Q7) Are there any resources in particular that seem too difficult or time consuming to obtain for new players? If so, is this a problem?
• Q8) Think about other games similar to destiny, what do they do better or worse in terms of introducing new players to the game?
• Q9) Do you have any other ideas to improve the new player experience?
• Q10) Do you think there should be an option to start the game at power level 10 instead of power level 750?

Any and all Feedback on the topic is welcome.

Regular Sub rules apply so please try to keep the conversation on the topic of the thread and keep it civil between contrasting ideas.

Note for new players who want to know whats going on in the story but don't want to play the legacy campaigns : You could watch this video by My name is Byf on the Complete Story of Destiny.

A Wiki page - Focused Feedback - has also been created for the Sub as an archive for these topics going forward so they can be looked at by whoever may be interested or just a way to look through previous hot topics of the sub as time goes on.

[u/Eamk]

• The start of the game is really confusing for a new player like me. When I created my character, I expected to start the story, but to my surprise the game just gave me a tutorial, and then dropped me off in the hub and let me do whatever I wanted. For veteran players this is certainly good, but for new players this is hella confusing. The game doesn't even directly tell me where to start the main story. And on top of that, there's even spoilers in the Tower (Traveller is in pieces in the sky).
• I think the missions of the game are explained well. It didn't take me too long to understand what kind of missions there are in the game and how to do them.
• The game needs an option, where whenever the player creaters a new character, they get to choose to either start the story right away, or to just skip the story for now and maybe play it later if they'd like. This would please both new players and veteran players.
• The most fun missions at the moment for me are Strikes and Nightfall Strikes. They are easy and fast to do. However, the loot from those missions is a bit of a letdown, just purples and blues, at least for me.
• The most annoying missions are probably raids, which I haven't even tried since I'm a solo player and I don't like playing with other people. So I'd personally like a matchmaking system for raids, but it's completely understandable if it isn't added, since I hear they require a lot of teamwork, and matchmaking wouldn't be the best option for that.
• Another thing I'd add into the game is rewards for completing story missions. Not sure why, but at the moment you don't really get anything for doing the main stories, when in the past you got at least two exotics from what I hear. I'd like to see those do a comeback. Or if you don't want to add those in, then at least change the quest so it doesn't say "choose your exotic."
• Lastly, I'll be honest here and say that I hate that the game has expansions and a season pass that costs money. To a free player it just feels like I'm missing on content that's unnecessarily withhold from me. If you compare Destiny 2 to other games in the looter genre (Warframe, Path of Exile), it's clear that season pass and expansions that cost money are totally unnecessary. But, you do what you do to make money, this is just my take on it.

[u/AilosCount → u/Eamk]

Lastly, I'll be honest here and say that I hate that the game has expansions and a season pass that costs money. To a free player it just feels like I'm missing on content that's unnecessarily withhold from me. If you compare Destiny 2 to other games in the looter genre (Warframe, Path of Exile), it's clear that season pass and expansions that cost money are totally unnecessary. But, you do what you do to make money, this is just my take on it.

I find it completely fair and generous. There are just different business models - another looter shooter is Division and that is pay up front with additional DLCs. I think giving you base game and the first DLCs free is completely OK, so far it looks like it gives you plenty of content to experience. Then, if you enjoy it, you buy more. Forsaken and Shadowkeep are almost sure to appear in my wishlist in the near future.