This is a firsthand account of the latest Bungie Twitch Reveal from a NO SPOILERS ears ONLY perspective.
I am a player that likes to keep my eyes clear of any major spoils that could happen during events like this. Showing levels, strikes, or even worse, raid portions or elements are something I feel very strongly against.
Designers in my opinion today give out too much actual game play before a title release. At times it feels like it’s the main points of the game that are (or could have been) so exciting when experiencing them for the very first time in a first person hands on impression. It’s like they are trying so hard to sell the movie that they basically show you the ending. I’m sure we can all relate with how many summer flicks have been spoiled even before you could make it in to see the movie by just the commercials trying to remind you to go see it.
With this in mind, I have wanted to deliver this type of spoiler free perspective for some time. It’s my pleasure to bring you a very EARS ONLY recollection of the latest Bungie Twitch Reveal events. Please remember that I am attempting to do something “out of the box” here, so I could get things wrong, or simply not be able to cover all the info to its fullest as if I had images to write directly about. Thanks for your understanding and hopefully if you made it this far you too are a player that can appreciate this type of journalistic perspective.
Enough of that.. Let’s talk about the goods!
Today’s Destiny stream was abruptly interrupted just short of its starting by what the team later called “a power hit”. Deej, Bungie’s Head Community Manager, that we know and love, was quick to joke as the stream came back up, blaming the little fiasco on a Tunderlord replica. He was claiming it had something to do with its experimental power source. I personally think they love being tweeted funny puns like how the stream had been weaseled or possibly something to do with dinkle bots revenge.
Joining DeeJ at the caster station was James Tsai, a design/strikes lead on Destiny the game.
After a quick dialogue between the two they told us about what we had all anticipated on seeing.. errr, hearing today, a new strike entitled Shield Brothers and set in the heart of the Dreadnaught its self. The lucky players for the day were Mr. Fruit, a casual YouTube content producer, Claude Jerome (a sand box designer for Destiny) and Cozmo, the recently announced Assistant Community Manager for Bungie.
The players took turns talking a little about each new class/ subclass that they would be playing as in the activity. I’m not going to talk allot here about the breakdown of each out of respect to time of the reader. The factual builds of each character are not anything that I feel falls into the “spoiler free” zone of this presentation. If you’re interested in these I will highlight a source article that you can go back and enjoy at your leisure.
Moving on… the team jumped into orbit, ready to ascend on the mission before them.
At this point I will provide a descriptive play-by-play of sorts. Keep in mind that I wrote these notes while listening to the presentation, choosing to save my eyes for the actual launch day events.
Claude is tasked with leading the way at first. Setting in on the mission, it is clear that the Cabal has made their place in this area. Seems heavy fighting breaks out rather quickly as the players make light of Mr. Fruit asking, “what is this thing” and steps into something that seems to have exploded. Laughter is exchanged and the phrase, “that went off with a bang”, is said with a smile. The players seem to continue fighting what is described by one of them as “allot of centurions” for a period of time but uncharacteristically for this type of encounter seem to stop, and without much climax, move on to a new area that is soon described as the hull of the ship.
Upon entering the hull area, DeeJ & James break back in giving a brief description of the section to come and what can be expected. The team goes on to talk about how strikes have changed from the vanilla experience of Destiny.
– Guardians are to expect a revolving type of strike experience. Gone are the days of playing the same thing over and over. Instead, they claim players will see rooms spawned with different enemies at differing points throughout the experience. Not every strike will be the same. Though the experience is set in the same area(s) no one encounter should be the same as the next.
The next section is described by DeeJ as “the first encounter”.
While moving into position, Psions are spotted to the right and up ahead.
One of the players use this as a chance to try out the new Titan super ability which gives the Guardian a flaming hammer or sorts. Tossing around fire, one of the players says, “these supers are so good! So, lovely, so so.. warm and tingly!” Banter is exchanged as the team is becoming comfortable playing together in this new environment.
“Whoa! Oh god! Watch out! FIRE” Is exclaimed, as a player says, “we must have stepped into the kitchen”. Just after that another player calls out TANK!! Which really surprises me as the team seems to have been playing inside the hull of the ship at this stage. This lends one to believe that the area is very large if it can support a tank in play. The Dreadnaught interior is either very large at this point or the areas open up to larger spaces. Can’t tell exactly which as the fireteam isn’t being very descriptive as to the surroundings and how they look visually.
Still fighting the Tank encounter, I hear a player mention something about the new tether ability that’s expected to be wielded by Hunter guardians. I assume one of them had used the ability here.
Again… it seams’ like the team takes out the tank and moves on to the next section without much resistance. I’m not sure if this is due to the level that the players are playing as or if the encounters are truly this thin and easy to move through.
With the next section the team move through another small transition area. Taken, the new enemy race that is to be found in The Taken King, are seen in this next area. Sorcery and magic are both descriptive terms the players use to describe these newly discovered enemies. Couldn’t tell by the audio if a fighting mechanic is changed here but it’s sure to be a different experience as it is to be expected with any new addition into the general enemy classes.
DeeJ & James break back in here giving a brief description of how TTK strikes will be more rewarding to the players. Each Boss is said to have specific/ unique gear or “items” to be won by completing the challenges. This is a very refreshing find for me as a player since the grind, as we say, is certainly with Destiny and its strikes are such a major part of the end game. Doing them over and over could gain you more than just coins or blue engrams.
On to the next section of gameplay.. a player activates the new lightning storm ability of the Warlock calling out, “Lightning Time!”, but is quickly smashed down by an enemy causing the player to lose his super ability. Coordinating supers is talked about between the fireteam members as the general sound and clicks of the controller continue within the broadcast.
“OOooohh, this place looks neat. Spaces, lighting” is exclaimed, as the players move into a boss arena as it’s called. James continues talking as the players advance into the new space, describing how the bosses have had more focus put into how they perform in the given environment. Personality, interesting attacks and patters in their behavior are furthered in conversation as DeeJ adds in that bullet sponge type bosses were very much talked about and how that was something they didn’t want to remain in the game as the only part of the “Boss Mechanics”.
The BOSS arena is entered next by the players… Something is said about one of the player’s controllers vibrating as spacey machine like sounds are broken by a heavy building wave of BOSSesk* Cabal music that takes the main field of sound. Ohh OH! BODYSLAM!! is shouted as the boss enters the room and dives at the players. It seems that they are having a hard time staying away from the boss actually. This encounter is a much faster pace than previous Cabal boss encounters (shivers at thoughts of Valus To Oryx come to mind). A little more avoiding ensues and the boss seems to back off and away. The players start talking about a big gun on his back that he is shooting. Splash damage comes into play here maybe? Something with an elemental burn? They didn’t say for sure, but being a Destiny player one would assume.
After a few more waves of adds ANOTHER boss enters the room! Can’t tell if they are fighting at the same time but almost seems from the commentary that they take turns backing down and coming at the player with special attacks all the while waves of adds are introduced into the fight. Size of the second boss isn’t made clear either but the Cabal are normally large and bulky so these guys are likely very large being that they are bosses!
Things start heating up when at one point a player says “Oh, you don’t want to stand in the fire, that’s bad.” Something either in the geometry of the room like lava or an area of flames on the floor like the kitchen area that was talked about earlier in the play through maybe? One is also left guessing that they room again must be of some size since not one but two large Cabal bosses are being fought here.
I normally like to describe more about what the player is seeing in pieces like this but they aren’t being very descriptive as most “players” aren’t when playing. They authentically seem to be blasting and enjoying one another’s company in team work against the darkness.
The fireteam fight on for what seemed to be 3-5 minutes taking turns, using the new super abilities, and clearing out the added enemy hordes before finally taking out the final boss. Not allot of cheering when they completed the Strike by the players but one did say, “more like Valus To DEAD!” in a smug kind of tone. (applause)
Closing the stream, DeeJ steps back in and ask the players what they thought of the encounter.
Mr. Fruit says, “It’s clearly not what I signed up for. Was expecting more bullet sponges and it clearly wasn’t that.. like what the heck!” He was excited to see that the experience wasn’t like most other strikes found in Destiny today. DeeJ ask if (Mr. Fruit) if this would lure him out of the crucible a little more and get him playing more strikes, to which the fruit responded, “it did feel more natural and I didn’t have to find a corner to cheese. The fight had smaller mechanics but less places to hide and I had to stay moving to stay alive.” (applause)
This brings my account to a close as nothing more was really introduced other than the reminder that this was only one in a series of new strikes that would be coming with the addition of The Taken King.
What are your feelings on this new Strike? Did you enjoy having an account of the presentation without the visual spoilers as a player? If so please let us know in the comments below or start a new topic in our forums.
