Having gotten fed up with trying to find an appropriate group to run with from Destinylfg.net, it was time to turn to the new feature that seemed like it would deliver better results: the new Guided Games. Guided Games makes players jump through some hoops with good reason trying to create the most toxic free environment for play that it can, it sort-of works. First, Guardians will spend a token to get into GG, then players agree to the Guardian Oath stating they will be friendly, helpful and dedicate the time. Then if you’re a seeker, which I was, it gives an extra-long waiting time to make sure that the player is in it to win it. My first group I ended up waiting over an hour for. After some general party chat confusion and actually doing the banner part without talking in the fireteam I had grouped with, we finally figured it out and we could talk. This did not help either.

Destiny 2 is good at two things: shooting aliens in the face and doing that same thing with friends. Destiny 2 screwed the pooch on players as it's not only is on three platforms, but those three platforms can totally interact… oh wait, no they can’t. Destiny 2’s lack of cross-play is frustrating for the obvious reasons. Being able to play with friends in an online space is one of the many reasons people play online games and one of the biggest reasons people play Destiny 2. Having Guardians on PS4, Xbox One and PC is great as it means a wider audience, but it sucks when Guardians can’t play with their friends over on either of the other platforms. Much like Kotaku discussed in their latest Splitscreen podcast , this is a great way to tear people apart. Instead of enjoying the raid with all my friends, now I get to hear about how my friends did this without me over on Xbox or PC, or vice-versa, and it doesn’t feel good.

Casual players are the single largest audience in gaming; there’s no getting around it. This is the audience that every major publisher wants to appeal to; the one group that every development studio hopes will latch onto their game. After all, capturing the attention of the casual or mainstream audience usually means massive success and wondrous profit. So it’s understandable that they, publishers especially, would have a vested interest in making their games more accessible and appealing to that audience. Making that appeal often means simplification. The simpler the game is, the more accessible it is, the more mainstream appeal it can have. While there’s nothing innately wrong with making one’s game more accessible to the wider gaming audience, doing so always comes at a cost. Just as a game cannot be both simple and complex, neither can it simultaneously serve its niche and successfully appeal to the mainstream audience. Therefore compromises must be made, usually ones that rob the game of what made it special in the first place.

At the time of this writing, Guided Games is still in beta for Leviathan and with good reason, which will be discussed in a moment. The third week due to everyone having a life outside of video games, even fewer people could make it which meant it wasn’t happening with the group that we had been trying to attempt Leviathan with. Of my own volition I was determined to complete this dang raid. I turned back to Destinylfg.net and what I found was a pattern seen in Destiny’s community all gaming communities for far too long — elitism. Before reading any further, go to Destinylfg.net right now and put the search to the Leviathan Raid either LFG or LFM…OK done? Did something stand out? Was it that most people searching said something along the lines of "LFG must be 305 PL quick run must know what to do" This will be the most common thing seen on this website: elitists looking for other elitists to run with and the challenge of Leviathan doesn’t help in the slightest. This not only deterred me, a Destiny vet, but probably deters many new guardians as well. Why even try the raid if those who want to run it only want the best of the best? While I know Sherpas exist (people who will take the time to run new folks through the raid) — I’ve even run in a few Sherpa groups myself — they are few and far between. Only eleven percent of Destiny 2 players have completed Leviathan and I don’t see that number climbing much faster, but only time will tell. When Destiny 2 launched around fifty percent of players in the first Destiny had completed some sort of raid content, which was after a three-year period with the game. Where does this leave Leviathan then? Not looking good and it doesn’t speak well to PvE endgame content for the future of Destiny 2.

Speaking of enemies, Destiny 2 doesn’t add anything new to the mix. Each of the factions from the original game returns with a few new units, but they don’t change the fact that these are the same enemies we’ve been shooting for the past three years. Considering we’re exploring new, Desert Perpetual checkpoint exotic worlds, it would have been nice to get some new enemy species thrown in.