Destiny 2’s Biggest Problems Don’t Include a Lack of Loot

The one thing that continually will linger on the mind while playing is the exact sentiment above. Why was Curse of Osiris not included in the base game? Curse of Osiris is small, adding only one new destination, a new raid space next week and some other minor things, which I’m sure you can guess. It’s grating, because for such a slice of content, it could have easily made its way into the base game — obviously I’m not a developer nor do I pretend to know the ins-outs of development — that said, this DLC really is small enough that if booting up Destiny 2 for an outside party, they might think it’s part of the base game.

Other (obvious) additions to Destiny 2 Rite of The Nine 2 are the new subclasses and extra abilities. I'm a Titan main, so most of my time was spent with the new Sentinel class, but I also got to check out the Dawnblade Warlock and the Arcstrider Hunter. All three are similar in a lot of ways to their previous subclass, but with more aggressive tendencies. The Arcstrider is almost identical to Bladedancer, save for the super, which gives you some mad bow staff skills. Dawnblade gives you a flaming sword and the ability to essentially fly around the map as you swing fiery blasts at everyone. That's instead of Sunsinger, which brought you back to life and gave you unrestricted access to all the melees and grenades you wanted. Instead of Defenders and their Wards of Dawn, Sentinels will get a Captain America shield that they're able to throw around and smash into people with. So while I think that the new subclasses are less tactical than the original ones, they grant new and interesting game mechanics to players. The new supers are about taking out as many baddies as you can, and in that case, all three are extremely successful.

Much of the gameplay changes lie under the hood. Primary, Special and Heavy weapon classifications have been replaced with Kinetic, Energy and Power weapon classifications. While many may lament the fact that Sniper Rifles, Fusion Rifles and Shotguns have been moved to the Power Weapon slot, the changes made to the classifications are ultimately smart. Players now have more viable weapons to choose from, making it easier to melt enemy shields with Energy Weapons, pound unshielded enemies with Kinectic Weaponry and better control crowds with Power Weapons. New gun types like the submachine gun and grenade launcher are thrown in to add more variety and are quite fun to use.

With the Destiny 2 Beta in full swing now, there's a lot to unpack. Many changes have been made from the first game, but much will be recognizable. While the Beta shouldn't be taken as a done deal -- they could still change things -- it's good to talk about the balance the team at Bungie has struck between the new and the old. And with many people unable to play the Beta, as access is limited to those with a pre-order, hopefully this preview will give you a good feel for where the game is at right now. The Beta comes with the first story mission, a strike, and two multiplayer game modes, and all have changes that we'll get into right now.

But anyway, the Inverted Spire is all about putting a stop to Protheon, the Modular Mind. To get to him, you'll have to fight through hoards of Vex and Cabal who are also fighting each other. They take you down into a dig site, where the Cabal have been looking for Protheon. It's pretty straight forward, but there are some cool set pieces, like the dig site itself, which has you dodging huge drills as you descend, and Protheon's temple, which changes as the fight goes on.

Including all content from Curse of Osiris in the base game might have helped ease some of the end-game pains that the launch brought with it. It’s not too much more to do, but it might have smoothed over a few wrinkles by including that extra content. It would also have made the loot pool larger; maybe Guardians wouldn’t be as frustrated at the limited item sets, lackluster exotics and other cosmetics. Giving more isn’t always the best idea, but in this case, it could have been.

As for yourself, you are a Guardian which, thanks to a ghost, is bestowed with the power of light (from The Traveler) to battle the Darkness. These are mechanical drones that originally came from the Traveler attach themselves to a deceased soldier. They serve as scouts, librarians, and mechanics, being able to access different types of machinery and bypass alien decryptions. They are vital to the survival of mankind, ensuring their warriors are properly guided and revived when need be. As for the allied races, there are Humans, Awoken and Exos. We really don’t have to talk too much about Humans as it’s pretty self explanatory what they are. Awoken were formerly human, but were transformed during The Collapse, and now they stand divided, either on Earth or with their recluse Queen on the Reef. Finally, Exos are mechanical beings created by Humans long ago to be proficient in combat. At some point they became self-aware, but unlike the Terminator, they stand with humanity.