Last week Destiny 2 was all directed by Data Krake Telesto. No place was safe from the “Queen of Bugs”. But what was supposed to be just a little fun from Bungie for a badge ended up showing what the hearts of the Guardians really want.
What was going on in Destiny 2 last week? The exotic and most buggy Fusion Rifle became the all-controlling force in Destiny 2, spreading like a virus throughout the game. Telesto was everywhere and no one could really escape her.
This “Telesto Week” was intended to be fun, reward Guardians with a new badge, and make the Fusion Rifle iconic. But you always have to be prepared for the unpredictability of a Telesto.
Exo Weapon shows Bungie what Guardians really want
Bungie actually just let Telesto haunt the game a bit. But the crazy weapon had a mind of its own and instead revealed to Bungie the greatest wish of the guardians: the longing for new secrets in the game.
The fact is: For several seasons, no real secret has found its way into the game. It is precisely this secret and surprising content from Destiny 2 that Guardians particularly like to play.
When Telesto started to go crazy, many players still hoped that it would finally be time again and a new secret would be revealed. The entire game was eagerly searched for clues and even those who didn’t actively participate followed every new piece of information with interest.
But that spark of hope was dashed by Bungie when the weekly blog post stated, “There really is no secret!”
After that, there was only one big question left: “Why actually?”.
Secret missions require effort: Of course, such secret missions are not part of the content in Destiny 2, which can be quickly integrated into the game. Bungie needs some development time for this.
However, most players would be happy to accept these longer development times if a secret mission were to come into play at all. Bungie should know that by now.
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Are dataminers to blame that Bungie isn’t hiding anything anymore? Another option might be the Dataminer faction in Destiny 2. They are only too happy to spoil prematurely what Bungie has planned.
That’s why players took the opportunity over the weekend and asked Bungie’s Head of Engineering, David Aldridge, in an interview round on reddit-AMA if it was difficult to encrypt such secret missions to prevent them from getting into the game through data mining ?
In his answer he explains that there is of course an awful lot that needs to be hidden. There is not just the secret mission itself. The associated quest, any voice lines or rewards – everything has to be “hidden”. And he explains that at the end of the day, Destiny 2’s validation systems groan because they’ve destroyed what he calls other content sets.
Bungie’s Head of Engineering, David Aldridge, further adds:
Like most things, it’s all solvable, it’s just expensive, and so far we’ve decided it makes more sense to spend more money on cool experiences instead. All of this would have been a lot cheaper if we had thought of that when designing the system and forced more modularity around things that we might want to keep secret in the future. But we had many other priorities on our minds at the time and couldn’t foresee the future value of mystery and surprise.
said David Aldrige in the reddit-AMA interview
This statement initially implied that Destiny 2 will probably no longer want to do these missions in the future. However, Bungie’s community manager later called this a misinterpretation and clarified:
The context is crucial. In relation to a recent Reddit AMA with our technical lead, a question was asked about data encryption. The answer was mistranslated as “Bungie will never do secret quests again” by some readers. We have issued a more specific clarification.
wrote dmg04, Destiny 2 Senior Community Manager via Twitter
In another tweet, he adds: “Ultimately, it’s about surprising and delighting, but not every surprise can be a 60-hour cross-community puzzle. I’d recommend lowering expectations accordingly, but we’ll pass on the feedback and wish for more secrets.”
3 reasons why the greatest guardian wish remains unfulfilled
None of the statements really answer the Guardian’s question as to why. Paul Tassi from forbes emphasizes that it is certainly frustrating to deal with a community that never seems to be satisfied. But Bungie’s statement itself is also frustrating for anyone who might have been hoping for more specifics.
Accordingly, he believes there are other explanations responsible for the lack of new secrets in Destiny 2.
1. Hidden quests cannot be used as a selling point
Bungie is increasingly focusing on more publicly accessible projects. For example, a seasonal team was set up that only takes care of seasonal activities that later also serve as a sales argument. A new exotic quest, which might have been a new secret before, is now being announced to show the value of buying a season.
2. Bungie’s monetization policy has changed
Dungeons, for example, are much more complex than a smaller secret mission, but they are now an integral part of Bungie’s monetization for Destiny 2.
If you don’t want to upgrade to the Deluxe Edition, you have to buy a so-called “Dungeon Key” in the Everversum in-game shop in order to experience this content. This key then counts for two dungeons and costs the keepers around 2,000 silver, which is the equivalent of around 20 euros. That’s more valuable to a developer like Bungie than a free secret free mission.
3. Bungie has learned from the past and your feedback
Tassi sees another reason in the feedback from past players. Certainly there are players who also want to gamble on difficult secrets and puzzles in the game. But they often lacked the team for it, because Destiny 2 has quite a few solo players who then have to pass time-critical quests designed for 3 players.
The rest, depending on the species, also feel deterred. The criticism at the time was that, for example, the “Niobe Labs” or the “Corridors of Time” were only “streamer” events. A few core people have been working on a solution for the larger community. The average player would have little or no chance of solving them themselves.
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Also, hiding content annoys many players because they expect instant access to everything they paid for.
So in the end, Telesto Week may not have brought a new event or secret quest into play. But she made sure that Bungie was once again made aware of this strong desire from her community. After all, it’s not the point to “just be baited all the time,” as beolden7 finds.
How do you feel about secret events or quests in Destiny 2? do you miss her Most importantly, would you mind if these came into play but were previously known through data mining? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments.
There is currently a crisis in other places in Destiny 2, as the YouTuber KackisHD explains: