Destiny: Rising is the first spin-off game in the Destiny franchise. It’s a character-based gacha mobile game developed by NetEase. The game lives in its own timeline and is nothing like what we’ve seen so far with Destiny 2.
While the games are completely different, Destiny: Rising still has that MMO looter-shooter feel to it. In some places, it feels even more like an MMO than Destiny 2 itself, so here are five things that Bungie could bring from Destiny: Rising into the main series.
5 things Destiny 2 needs to take from Destiny Rising
Detailed perk descriptions
Perks are everything when it comes to hunting down god rolls in Destiny 2, but the game barely ever tells you exactly how potent the perk is. Someone fairly new to the game wouldn’t know that Vorpal Weapon on Heavy weapons only grants a 10 percent damage increase, which is nothing compared to Bait and Switch.
There are great third-party resources, like light.gg and D2Foundry, and those are fantastic for theorycrafting, but some of that information needs to be displayed in-game. In Destiny: Rising, you inspect the weapon and see that Subsistence reloads 25 percent of the magazine when defeating targets. No more, no less.
Permanent roguelite mode
Roguelites are meant to be replayable, and the best modes in Destiny 2 have always been those with enough incentive and variety to play over and over again. For example, The Nether from Heresy was one of the best seasonal activities despite its different approach to health. We even saw new encounters and Boons as the season progressed. Unfortunately, much like every other piece of seasonal content, it was removed with The Edge of Fate.
Destiny: Rising has a mode called Singularity: Chaos, where you traverse random rooms with objectives and pick up modifiers along the way to improve your run. This mode is tied to farming specific resources that don’t exist in Destiny 2, but the design is simple, replayable, and it’s available all the time.
Destiny 2 needs a core activity like that. We saw The Coil and Onslaught return to the Portal, but those aren’t nearly as rewarding as they used to be and, depending on the rotation, may not even have matchmaking available.
New player experience
It’s no secret that the new player experience in Destiny 2 is confusing, to say the least. Content vaulting back in the day made following the story impossible, and while The Edge of Fate marked the start of a new saga, the new player experience always felt rushed and disconnected from the rest of the game.
Destiny: Rising is a new game with a dedicated progression path tied to the story, which isn’t something Destiny 2 can replicate in the current state. However, it desperately needs a more detailed and polished new player experience that shows (not tells) what players can do in this game, especially as we approach Renegades, aka the Star Wars expansion, which is bound to attract some new blood.
Clans and clan housing
Destiny 2 was always meant to be a social game—it advertises itself as an MMO after all. Clans and clan activities have always been a major part of MMOs, and Destiny 2 never had much happening on that front. There’s clan XP and rewards from Hawthorne, but that’s basically it. Clan engagement mainly takes place on Discord, where Guardians put together teams for raids, dungeons, and high-difficulty activities, and it’s awkward that there are no clan activities in the game itself. Even joining a clan takes place on a Bungie website and not in the game (unless you get an in-game invite).
In Destiny: Rising, clans feel more true to the MMO format. There’s a clan (or Pack) browser, where you can find a clan or join a temporary Wanderer pack. Clans have a dedicated housing area that members can upgrade and decorate by collecting resources in the Pack Hunt, which is a minigame where you can head out on expeditions and explore the map around the Den.
The Den is a place that clan members can call home and feel like a part of something without having to do many things outside of the game—something that Destiny 2 never really had before. That’s on top of the fact that everyone is grinding Solo Ops since The Edge of Fate released.
Leisure activities
On the topic of MMO-related features, Destiny: Rising has multiple casual activities. Those aren’t a part of the core gameplay loop and are more for you to relax between strikes while still earning some rewards. There are activities like fishing, Sparrow racing, and even a card game.
Destiny 2 had fishing during Season of the Deep. You’d go to dedicated spots and catch fish that could then be exchanged for seasonal loot. It was also a part of the secret Exotic quest to get the Wicked Implement scout rifle. However, as with most seasonal content, it was limited to only that and was removed with the next expansion.
Technically, those modes don’t really contribute to the core gameplay loop, and adding fishing back to Destiny 2 wouldn’t change how you grind for Power or acquire high-tier gear. But it’s those little things that make the game feel alive rather than just a Portal menu. Also, we’ve been asking for SRL to return for years now.
