So…..after talking a little bit about what I think of the beta opinions I have seen, I figured I should share mine. So let’s get into it.

Story

It’s hard to get a whole lot from one story mission, but you can see what Bungie is going for this time around. There is much more emphasis placed on the main characters this time around. They are rolling their sleeves up and getting dirty, and the game will probably be the better for it. The first mission saw Zavala, Ikora, Cayde, and even Amanda play pivotal roles. It’s a welcome sight, and I hope they all continue to play a big role throughout the campaign. The mission felt pretty lengthy, and that’s another thing I hope is the norm and not the exception.

Never bring a knife to a gunfight. Bring 2.

Strike

The Inverted Spire Strike was pretty fun, but one thing I noticed was the sense of scale. There is a section where you have to cross a set of pillars, and it just felt much more expansive and open than the Destiny strikes. The enemies seemed pretty strong honestly, but part of that could be essentially running around with two primaries. It was a pretty straightforward strike from what I remember. The boss fight was kinda fun though. It had three distinct phases, with the second giving us the most trouble. You didn’t have to do anything special to damage the boss, but the arena was changing which forced you to make slight adaptations. Hopefully the other strikes implement more mechanics. Bungie has had enough practice by now.

Characters

Lets talk a bit about the characters and their new classes. I primarily play the Hunter, and the Arc Strider is badass…..in PvE. I’m not the greatest in PvP, but that Arc Super was pretty useless honestly. It doesn’t seem to track like the Bladedancer did, so you can find yourself swinging in place getting shot honestly. I say this while admitting that I may be the issue. The Cap America flavored Titan seemed pretty cool in the limited time I used him. I noticed more Arc Titans in PvP though, so maybe that Cap class is also better suited for PvE. Finally, the Dawnblade swinging Warlock is pretty dope. I love the Rift class move, and the super is well suited for both modes. I like the new classes personally, but I need to see what they can REALLY DO before declaring them amazing.

Gameplay/Sound/Visual

This is a beta, so I didn’t feel these were super important to me. The beta looked more detailed than Destiny, and more colorful. Colors pop more, and effects are definitely enhanced. Supers are a good example of this. The sound is as great as ever, including the music which was a very underrated part of the original game. The game play is as tight as ever, so there will be absolutely no learning curve except for mastering new classes. Guns still feel fantastic, and I noticed power weapons feel even more beastly than heavies did (except for snipers, which felt vastly under powered to me.) The heavy fusion rifle was the standout for me. It felt like a freaking dream. A simple fannnnnntasssssyyyyyy that IIIIIIIIII…….My bad.

CruSeeBlay (Crucible)

Ok. I know 4v4 was a huge deal to a lot of players. While I will admit I still want 6v6 back just so more of my crew can rock out, 4v4 felt pretty damn good TO ME. I think I’m better suited for it as a player, so my viewpoint is slightly biased. I felt Control was much more fun because 2 less players means many more on the fly decisions. Do all 4 of us stay together? Do we send 1 person to sneak to a zone? Do we run in twos? These decisions were present in 6v6, but I feel like they mean more in this scaled down version. That’s just me though. I also feel like it will make it easier to enter the crucible with a full fireteam, which I think makes for a better experience. I played a couple matches of the new mode (Countdown) but not nearly enough to evaluate it. I can say we weren’t very good at it. It seems like a standard Search and Destroy match, but if I’m wrong please correct me. All in all, as with the beta in general, there isn’t enough to know what to expect from the full game. I’m not discouraged though. On a final note, I love how they give you kills on anyone you do damage to. No more assists. I loved that in Overwatch, and I love it here. It makes staying alive more important than getting kills. Just do some damage and let your team clean up. I’ve seen many players doing exactly that, and there is a lot less Rambo style playing. It feels good.

All in all, this was a nice sneak preview of the game. But the operative words are “sneak preview.” One must be careful not to read too much into this beta, although my previous post should show you it’s too late for that. What I played over the past week did nothing to quell my excitement for Destiny 2. Are there things I want changed? Of course. Many others as well. But Destiny is still Destiny, and that’s all I want it to be. I’ll see you guardians on 9/6/17.