Destiny 2: Inside The Closed and Open Beta
It is hard to believe that exactly a week ago, today, the Closed Beta went live for the PlayStation 4 Console, and that today, the Open Beta will come to an end at 9PM for us South African fans.
Since the announcement of Destiny 2, and the Global Gameplay Premier Live Stream, I have been extremely hyped up about the new game. I am not ashamed to say, that I over-hyped myself, and even so, I was not disappointed at all! I think I might be even more impatient now than ever for the final release to take up many hours of my “free time” everyday. Alas, not everyone feels the same though.
Haters Gonna Hate
[miptheme_quote author=”Monica Guedes” style=”pull-right”]It’s amaZing! Destiny 2 feels really polished so far. The crucible is really enjoyable, though a lot of people are complaining about the beta already, but it’s the ones that stopped playing Destiny early…[/miptheme_quote]As more and more players completed the opening sequence of the game (which should have taken you roughly 15 minutes max), you found yourself in orbit, able to enter 2 Crucible Types (PvP) and 1 Strike (Raid) to experience the other-side of the coin after playing though some PvE content.
This is when the internet trolls started crawling out from their caves just to make some noise, mainly about the general balance of items being inconsistent or far too sporadic and some aspects being overly powered (OP). Relax guys! It is the Beta! Beta’s are specifically created for stress testing and public feedback, which then gets molded into the final release. I play a Beta and generally get lost in the awe of what the developers have achieved with the pre-release, and Destiny 2 was no different for me, or for a good friend and devoted Destiny fan, Monica Guedes who so generously allowed herself to be quoted. Something worth mentioning though, is that this Beta, was exactly the same Beta that we saw during the Global Gameplay Reveal back in May this year, and if you really apply some common sense, you will also figure out that that specific Beta (that was also available for the audience to play) was being tested just over 4 months away from the final version. Don’t be greedy now! Good things come to those who wait!
My Destiny 2 Beta Experience
I did not enter into Destiny right from Vanilla, but hopped in during The Taken King. I was instantly hooked and enjoyed messing around in PvP just as much as I did in the PvE world, which is a first for me, coming from a few MMO titles, I generally steer clear from PvP. To be honest, I was not really sure what to expect from Destiny 2, but I had confidence that it would be fresh and would need to be “different” to it predecessor if it was generating so much hype! Indeed it was all that and more! As Monica put it, Destiny 2 feels polished, which by very definition means, similar to the original, just better and with smoother edges. There was enough of the original game to make returning Guardians feel nostalgic, but also enjoy more simplified presentation in the menu access and general interface of all game aspects, specifically the sexy HUD.
Talking about sexy, lets get into the graphics and physics for a moment. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything is so rich in texture density that it is easy to take the realism for granted. The minor detail that have gone into weapon trails on missiles (as an example) speaks volumes when it comes to the kind of passion driving the project. The physics are fantastic, while using the anti-gravity boost during swarm fights, you are easily able to predict your projectile angles to take down enemies in mid air or ricochet your splash damage for maximum efficiency, which is required, because you are very very often surrounded by hordes of Red Legion Grunts. Again, as mentioned, I usually get lost in the Beta’s, and for a Beta, this is by far superiorly (it is now a word) magnificent in pretty much all aspects, and I can only imagine what the final version will throw at us in terms of lasting quality.
You might say, “Why a Farm?”, and that is actually quite self explanatory if you pause to think about it. In the original Destiny game, everything was “good”, but now, everything has been turned to ash as a semi-post-apocalyptic wasteland, and utilizing a large gathering area as a “make shift headquarters” is the first step in to trying to gather your remaining resources to regain a foothold in retaking what was once proudly yours.
The Farm was a very clever way of facilitating a server stress test, and I can say that the server seemed to handle the volume of players quite nicely, especially if you were keeping track of the #Destiny2 hashtag on social platforms. When my internet connection was stable, I had no issues connecting to the server or taking part in PvP matches trying to achieve the glorious golden gun status. I sadly did not participate in the Twisted Spire Strike though… but I look forward to doing that in the final release. The Open Beta became available for everyone with a console to enjoy over this past weekend.
The CodeBro Instagram Rant Post
If you missed out on the Beta, I am really sorry to say that you missed out on something truly special. Destiny 2 releases on 6 September 2017 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Consoles. Get your pre-orders in quickly, because I anticipate the orders to increase drastically now after the Beta. If you are a master-race fan and you are waiting to test it out on PC, you can look forward to playing the PC Beta in August, with the final PC release following on 24 October 2017.
