Destiny 2 PC Beta - Impressions

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

Well, there's no denying that it runs remarkably well. It can be run on just about anything honestly. I've seen videos of it being run at 1080p on specs as low as a 750ti and a $60 CPU, surprisingly close or stable at 60FPS.

An odd thing I noticed, gunplay felt considerably more smooth and snappy in the PVE than PVP. In PVP I felt like my control was sluggish. Not sure what was up with that.

I did find it odd that they never mentioned the abilities. You clearly HAVE them, but I didn't know what any of them did or what key they were bound to. Out of the three I remember seeing, I think I only ended up using two. And it took me forever to realize I even had any type of grenade, which I was convinced barely made any damage.

Honestly, I'm just happy a modern game that's multi platform even runs reasonably. I'm getting really tired of feeling like my 980ti I spent hundreds of dollars on a couple years ago has been going to waste. I've been burned on so many games (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Far Cry 4, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Forza Horizon 3 and more) that it's a relief.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I found it an odd experience. I tried another Beta just an hour ago, for "Raid - World War II" and like Destiny 2, it was more of a demo than a beta. Both offered two different levels and the base classes, rather than a Beta version of the finished game.

That said, I did enjoy what little there was of it. In searching for games over the last couple of years, Destiny frequently comes up as something I'd like, but being platform exclusive, I cannot play it. So I was quite excited for D2, and thought the core gameplay was good. The weapons, mobility, level design are all quite polished and what little storytelling there was in the demo was well presented. I ran thru with all three classes, and did the Strike with them too. I tried PvP with the Titan and it was a horrible experience...the rest of map was Hunters and I got owned in every confrontation.

I think the Void Warlock and Gunslinger Hunter seemed quite fun. On the basis that the demo gave me the experience of a max level, max geared character however, I felt a little wanting. One class skill, one subclass skill and the weapons...all fine, but can this sustain dozens of hours of gameplay?

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I tried PvP with the Titan and it was a horrible experience...the rest of map was Hunters and I got owned in every confrontation.

Heh, that brings back memories. Hunters were, and to an extent, still are over represented in PVP in the first due to their higher base speed. Think of them as Destiny's noob-tube. Strong out the gate, but they'll fall back into parity as the player base gets more skilled.

I think the Void Warlock and Gunslinger Hunter seemed quite fun. On the basis that the demo gave me the experience of a max level, max geared character however, I felt a little wanting. One class skill, one subclass skill and the weapons...all fine, but can this sustain dozens of hours of gameplay?

Destiny is mostly based on load outs. Three options of subclass, three Grenade types per sub-class, two optional modes that broadly modify the sub-classes stats and other abilities, three options for extra mobility and three gun choices.

Doesn't sound like much, but, and this is key for high level play, you can swap out any or all of these abilities on the fly. It'll trigger the cool downs for those abilities, but it lets you bring the right skills and gear for the job.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I tried PvP with the Titan and it was a horrible experience...the rest of map was Hunters and I got owned in every confrontation.

Heh, that brings back memories. Hunters were, and to an extent, still are over represented in PVP in the first due to their higher base speed. Think of them as Destiny's noob-tube. Strong out the gate, but they'll fall back into parity as the player base gets more skilled.

What I found was that it was a combination of the Hunter having high burst damage weapons vs the lower DPS weapons of the Titan, along with the Titan's benefits (increased resilience?) having no impact whatsoever on their longevity. Unlike TF2 Heavy f.ex vs whatever, there's no tangible health/armour/mitigation benefit to speak of that I could see. While mobility may well be a factor, it seemed to me to be more that Titan couldn't compete in terms of damage and derived no benefit from supposedly being tankier.

 

[sXeth]

I tried PvP with the Titan and it was a horrible experience...the rest of map was Hunters and I got owned in every confrontation.

Heh, that brings back memories. Hunters were, and to an extent, still are over represented in PVP in the first due to their higher base speed. Think of them as Destiny's noob-tube. Strong out the gate, but they'll fall back into parity as the player base gets more skilled.

What I found was that it was a combination of the Hunter having high burst damage weapons vs the lower DPS weapons of the Titan, along with the Titan's benefits (increased resilience?) having no impact whatsoever on their longevity. Unlike TF2 Heavy f.ex vs whatever, there's no tangible health/armour/mitigation benefit to speak of that I could see. While mobility may well be a factor, it seemed to me to be more that Titan couldn't compete in terms of damage and derived no benefit from supposedly being tankier.

Any class can use any gun. I'm prettysure every class had the same guns for the first two slots in the Beta, other then the exotic ones.

Armor has traditionally in Destiny meant next to nothing in PvP though. D2 seems to have shoved the time-to-kill even lower, so its even more meaningless. Which would penalize the Titans that had beta gear with all armor perks on them and reduced mobililty (I managed to get the whole Titan mobility set over the course of it, which immediately improved things)