‘Destiny 2’ is Building a Better Experience for Solo Players
This time around, you can easily progress alone.
There were many things about the original Destiny Bungie did well, such as continually improving aspects of the game players felt were lacking by adding story cinematics or additional, challenging end-game activities with each passing content update.
But regardless of how much the development team worked to improve the experience for players, a few major pieces of the game consistently felt out of reach for many — including some of Destiny’s best activities, like the weekly Nightfall and various Raids available with each passing expansion.
For those who preferred playing solo, Destiny often got frustrating because many of the activities were built for groups of players. Not only were Nightfall Strikes and Raids extremely challenging for players from a gameplay standpoint, but it was impossible to find groups for them unless you had a steady clan or used third-party matchmaking sites like Destiny LFG.
With Destiny 2, Bungie is looking to fix this problem by adding two new features called Clans and Guided Games, both of which connect groups of players looking to complete content within a new kind of matchmaking system.
Now, Clans will be able to fill holes in their Raid groups with a player or two from the Guided Games matchmaking system, which actively lets solo players complete content without having to dedicate time to a specific group of fellow players.
PvP is going to be more accessible and balanced for every player come 'Destiny 2' as well.
It’s a great start to resolving one of the original game’s biggest problems, and Destiny 2’s World Lead Steve Cotton tells Inverse that this change of pace will also be heading into the open world aspects of the sequel.
“I’m primarily a solo player,” he said, “and so I’m always thinking about what I would want to do and what would make the game more accessible to someone like me. When exploring the worlds [of Destiny 2], there are now many more different activities [such as Lost Sectors and Side Quests] that hit a lot of different moods, and all of these activities can be completed by just one person.”
Having these activities more geared towards the single-player experience won’t stop you from meeting other Guardians in the open world of Destiny 2, however.
“Adventures, primarily, are amazing solo content,” Cotton said. “But we still collide you with other Guardians. Public events still require other people to get the largest rewards, but there is no pressure for you to join others to have fun and feel like you can help strangers.”
Though the new changes make it easier than ever for players that prefer a solo experience to succeed and thrive in Destiny 2, the experience for all players will still involve working with other gamers. “The thing that’s always amazed me about Destiny is how easy it is to enjoy having other people around in your experience, and how it really does make everyone’s experience better,” Cotton explained. “It also makes the world feel more like a real place that everyone is enjoying together.”
The decision to make sure every new open world activity is accessible to solo players is another step in the right direction for Destiny 2, especially considering how well it pairs with the game’s new Guided Games feature.
Each of these features will allow players to repeat activities continuously as well (albeit, for lesser rewards), which offers the opportunity to discover better gear through equipment drops without having to join a group of strangers to do so.
