Destiny’s Weekend Event Means More Than We Think

On June 6th at 10 AM PST, an event unfolded in Destiny 2. As people loaded up into The Tower, we were met with the final conclusion on the situation involving The Almighty.  This situation has been built up since the beginning of the current season titled “Season of the Worthy.”

To give a quick synopsis to catch you up to speed, The Almighty was a device used by the Cabal in conjunction with The Traveler Cage. These items together limited the powers of The Traveler, and started the events that created the main campaign for Destiny 2. Since the success of stopping the Red Legion, The Almighty has been hanging out in space.  That is until a situation arose where a Psion Flayer by the name of Amtec took over The Almighty and sent it careening into Earth. That situation would then be the main focus in the current (now kinda ending) “Season of the Worthy.” Since the season’s start, you could see The Almighty slowly approaching, getting in closer with each week.

On Saturday, upon logging into The Tower, you could see the massive imposing ship in it’s largest form yet.  Some NPC’s shouted and pointed towards The Almighty.  At around a half hour later, the sky around the almighty was littered with red lines. These lines being warsats, flung at The Almighty from Rasputin. Over the course of an hour, we saw these warsats slowly inch closer to The Almighty, causing it to explode in a glorious explosion. Upon the destruction, a piece of The Almighty bursted forth, and headed directly towards Earth. It entered our atmosphere, burning with red and orange flames, and and drifted past The Tower.  I watched as it sank behind the mountains, and viewed the fallout of it’s crash. Soon after, black specks could be seen slowly drifting towards the crash, and if you go to The Tower right now, you can still see them.

My Take

This is an incredible situation when you step back and look at what Destiny has been and what it is striving to become.  I talked briefly about how Destiny suffers from an identity issue, and how deep rooted that problem is.  It seems that Bungie has understood their issues, and they are striving to be better. Giving players something interesting such as this live event is paramount to creating a more immersive experience, especially those who are deeply involved in the lore. My only problem is with the implementation of it.

I am no stranger to live events such as this. I have read stories about Fortnite, which happens to hold live, game changing events every so often. I have also rolled my eyes at these situations because, quite frankly, Fortnite is not my cup of tea. I cannot fathom why someone would sit in front of their TV to watch a black hole for an hour. Now, I feel kind of silly for feeling that way.

I’ll state again, seeing this event was very cool. Not only did it get me involved in the world of Destiny 2 again, but I sat amongst other players, patiently waiting as we watched the fireworks ensue.  I was texting my friends. I was tweeting. I was reading what others were saying. And this level of excitement to me was something I haven’t experienced in a while.  Seeing something this major is a huge moment of growth for Bungie. I just wish it didn’t take the length of an average movie.

This is the first time Bungie has attempted something this ambitious since the inception of Destiny itself. Some might argue Halo 3, but I digress. Seeing this live event might end up being just a one time thing, but I hope it’s not. It wasn’t major enough to change anything immediately, it wasn’t small enough where it’s significance could be overshadowed and deemed unworthy (see what I did there). Proper expectations were set for this event. I feel that despite the length and the fact this very well could have been a cut-scene, Bungie nailed it.

Yes, I said it could have been a cut-scene.  The season could have started with this event unfolding, and we wouldn’t have needed to log in at a specific time of the day to view it.  Especially those in other time zones where it may have been anywhere after 12 am. But at the same time, the impact wouldn’t have been there. I wouldn’t have set the time aside, I wouldn’t have talked to my friends in great length, and this op-ed wouldn’t exist. What Bungie did was pave the way for future events for greater immersion, and a fantastic way of experiencing a huge payoff while maintaining strong bonds to their community.  So hats off to you guys! I can’t wait to see what is next!