Just 36 days before the release, Bungie’s next Destiny 2 expansion Renegades, which takes some cues from the Star Wars universe, is already creating a lot of turmoil among gamers. The reactions from the community to this new expansion have been divided with players expressing different levels of enthusiasm concerning the plot while others being outright negative sharing their doubts about the game’s future and its ability to run smoothly.
An official account for Destiny 2’s progress tracker initiated the 36-day countdown with a mere post that went viral very quickly through the gaming community. The post came with a tweet that read: “36 days until Destiny 2: Renegades, inspired by the Star Wars universe,” and it was also shared by a promotional drawing that very clearly reflected the aesthetics of Star Wars. But what does “inspired by” really mean? A number of gamers are asserting that it is outright copying rather than being just a matter of inspiration.
A user was very open about it when he stated, “Not inspired. Copied. Inspired would be to say Forsaken. Renegades is flat out copied.” Ouch! That’s a really tough critique. However, there are still a few users who are puzzled if it is an official partnership or just Bungie piggybacking on the Star Wars trend. “When it’s a direct collab?” one asked, while another said “It’s literally a direct collaboration….” So, which is it? A lot of confusion is indeed there.
Still, the thrill is very much there. “be hype cuz I am” one happy guardian shouted, and another just answered “I hope it pops off”. However, the cheer for having a fresh tale in Destiny comes along with some strong skepticism about the actual Renegades content. Players have already started throwing up questions regarding the fresh new strikes and pvp maps – “How many new strikes and new PvP maps in the renegades DLC???” was one player’s question. Good one, really!
The possibility of new firearms has players fantasizing on a grand scale. “If we don’t get an exotic sword that is a lightsaber which you can customize then it will be a disappointment but I am sure it will still be cool” one guardian speaks out loud. A customizable lightsaber in Destiny? That would be totally crazy, even though it would be hard to guess from Bungie’s track record with swords if they might just end up making it another skin.
There are also concerns about the game being in a bad state. A player pointed out, “36 days until the launch of so many untested bs that will be full of problems and we will have to wait for fixes all through the expansion.” Ouch! That is indeed harsh but considering Destiny’s past with buggy launches it is not an entirely unreasonable prediction. The community remembers the past expansions all too well.
Not only that but it is also a very strange time when Bungie is silent about the expansion and there is no information coming their way. “36 days until release and we have heard almost nothing about this new expansion” one user complained. “Everything in the 10min vidoc released a month ago was said to be subject to change, so that’s how bad it is. They did the same thing with EoF and look what happened.” Wait, they really plan to put out an expansion in over a month and then not show much? That’s… alarming.
There are heated discussions about the bigger picture as well. Some gamers are already talking about what comes after Renegades and even about the ultimate fate of Destiny. “If Marathon is a success, Destiny won’t last long. We might see the end of the Fate saga,” one user speculated, referring to the shooter by extraction that Bungie plans to release soon. Others are simply begging for a clean slate – “Honestly, please let this be the last DLC (Edge of Fate) before we just get a new game. Everybody has a reset point in the game.”
The question of “is this still Destiny 2?” is one that keeps haunting the debates. “@ this point we should all be questioning is it still Destiny 2? Ship of Theseus paradox!” one philosopher-gamer reasoned. He is right – after a long time of content vaulting and major changes to the system, what is Destiny 2 anymore?
Platform-specific issues are another source of grievances. One user stated, “I pre-ordered on Xbox. The Darth Vader items are really disappointing that I can only use Kylo Ren. Why wouldn’t @Bungie make it universal ornaments?” The cosmetics that come with the game are breeding misunderstandings in the community? That’s always a wrong idea.
The players who are in favor of catalysts are also longing for Blockbuster changes. Really hoping for another wave of new catalysts for exotics. It seems like we have been only getting catalysts for new weapons as they come out for a while now.
