The Almighty has fallen, battered and scorched as it seethed across the sky after Destiny 2's Rasputin unleashed its might, rendering the Cabal’s mighty superweapon a smoldering crater behind the Tower in the European Dead Zone (EDZ). While this sounds epic, the moments leading up to this resounding step in the lore of Destiny 2 were a far cry from invigorating. The proclaimed Fortnite-style live event was meant to begin at 1:00 PM EDT, and while it technically started on schedule, the time it took for anything remotely interesting to occur made the overall experience not worth it.
Players gathered in the Tower, as instructed by Bungie, to keep their eyes on the Almighty as it hovered in orbit in front of the Sun. Bungie had hinted Rasputin would be doing something to the Almighty in Destiny 2's first live event, but for at least 45 minutes nothing seemed to happen. Guardians gathered, staring up at the sky, waiting to witness something – anything – in vain.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of waiting and being unable to engage in any of Destiny 2's activities without leaving the Tower - save for the few time-wasters such as kicking a ball around – players could finally glimpse golden trails inching toward the Almighty. Unfortunately, watching these presumed projectiles make their way to the target was akin to watching paint dry, as the naked eye couldn’t pick up any perceptible movement from these objects. Looking away for a few minutes and then looking back was the primary means by which one could notice some progress of these streaks. At last, after 90 minutes of watching, waiting, and looking for in-game stimulation, the projectiles slammed into the Almighty, obliterating the superweapon in a blinding flash that sent the powerful construct careening past the Tower and into the EDZ. The crash triggered a shockwave, blasting back into the Tower.
How Destiny 2’s Next Live Event Could Be Better
While Bungie’s efforts to implement new events to keep Destiny 2 relevant are commendable, the amount of time that elapsed from the beginning of the event to the climax did nothing to make the event worth it. Even the actual explosion of the Almighty and its plummet into the EDZ lasted a maximum of 10 minutes. Players could have saved themselves over an hour of time by waiting to load into the Tower until five minutes before the Almighty’s destruction.
The problem was no one knew what was going to happen or when it was going to happen, which discouraging players from leaving the Tower to engage in other activities for fear of missing out on something. Bungie would have been better off letting Rasputin’s projectiles collide with the Almighty just a few minutes after the event began. Bungie could have even just created a cutscene featuring the Almighty’s destruction, in lieu of a grueling hour-and-a-half wait masquerading as a live event. If Bungie plans to continue with live events, they should not pass up the opportunity to make them better. For starters, suggesting an official start time for an event should indicate players will actually have activities to engage with at that time. Instead of making Guardians stand around and hope something happens soon, the developers could implement some unique minigames or missions which lead up to the event’s climax. A little bit of a lull in the activities is fine, but having nothing to do other than typical Tower bustles makes players want to walk away.
Give players some event-related activities that unlock at certain timed intervals, with the community needing to rush to complete them and accumulate progress to acquire access to the event’s apex. Sprinkle in some cutscenes, maybe some extra minigames and mayhem, and send the community on a Easter egg hunt to witness the live animations which progress the game’s lore. Take some more notes from Fortnite's live events and constantly give fans something to watch or do while they wait for the grand finale. At the very least, don’t suggest everyone log in 90 minutes before anything interesting happens. That's just wasting everyone's time.
Destiny 2 is available on Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.