For a strictly solo player, this is- arguably- the worst expansion to date. Solo players have been locked out of what can only be described as essential content. That includes access to the exotic class item, as well as access to the new exotic weapon Microcosm. Both of which would have likely been attainable by anyone if Bungie had followed their own established exotic mission trends.For perspective, I'm a ten year veteran of the game who has been playing since the alpha of Destiny 1. I've done just about everything under the sun, with a fireteam and without. These days I play solo, because time was not friendly to my fireteam, and for one reason or another we no longer play together. I still dip into the raids and other endgame content when it seems interesting (or worthwhile). I'm a fairly capable player at this point, both in terms of experience and skill.Playing through the legendary campaign solo I found to be a draining and tedious experience. What enjoyment I had in seeing mechanics make their way into fights was quickly overshadowed by the sombering realization that they'd treated every single fight in that manner. Every. Single. Fight.Each became a laborious timesink. Every boss had health gates. And every death required a restart, even the ones that weren't earned (teleporting in one-shot tripmines to a dynamic battlefield midway through a battle is a cheap trick, not a fun mechanic). I don't expect to waltz through a legendary campaign, but given my skill and experience levels, I expected to have a smoother time than I did. This wasn't an enjoyable bump in difficulty in my opinion. It was a frustratingly drawn out experience laden with cheap mechanics and behaviors that soured my enjoyment of the story at large.Then we move on to the introduction of the Pathfinder system. Ostensibly, this system is meant to enable players to do what they want and earn rewards that Bungie has removed from the traditional bounty system (which has largely been eliminated from the game, with a few exceptions). In practice, though, it is again a case of Bungie saying one thing but doing another. Despite repeatedly talking about giving players more agency, more ability to play their way, Pathfinder seems to force players into different activities- regardless of what they want. For some reason, the Pathfinder board is shared between Vanguard and Crucible, even though Bungie has demonstrated that they can separate the board by activity (the Pale Heart has its own, for instance).That means if you're a PvE player that refuses to engage with PvP content, you will not be able to earn the rewards that you previously, normally would have using this new system. Similarly, if you're a PvP player that doesn't engage with the story content, you will not be able to earn those rewards either (despite previously being able to). There is no way to change the nodes, so- despite the actual system being agnostic to what you do- Bungie seems inclined to force you into playing what they want. In my case? I done been there, man. I am not interested in PvP even in the slightest, not even for ten seconds. It is enormously frustrating, then, to be locked out of rewards I normally would've been able to acquire via bounties because Bungie has replaced them with this half-assed system. This frustration then extends into the next two areas of concern for our strictly-solo players at large..In the case of the exotic class item, while solo players can actually unlock access to the mission, completing it requires two- and only two- players, and that's not optional. It utilizes rune mechanics that require two people to complete, and it has a timer. This is, notably, bad for both fireteams and solo players. A fireteam in Destiny is three players. This means that even if you have a regular fireteam with whom you play, one of you will not be able to join the other two in completion of this mission. This also means that, subsequently, one of your friends (or you) will be doing twice the work, since they'll need to repeat it with the person who was unable to join the first time around. For individuals with anxiety or social interaction disorders, this activity requires active communication. You will not be able to simply work it out together with bullets and intuition.With regards to the new exotic weapon Microcosm, Bungie has locked that behind 'coop focus' missions. Despite the name implying it, there is no matchmaking here. Once more you'll need to reach out and find a group, and again you will need to communicate with those individuals. If you have anxiety or a social interaction disorder, this activity requires active communication. These missions are not soloable. Not because of difficulty, but because they've specifically inserted enemies and mechanics which- by design- require multiple players and active use of the communication channels.I'm not sure who approved this decision, but it was a mistake in my opinion. While Bungie heavily advertised these rewards, they never indicated at any point that they'd be locked behind activities that require this level of interaction. To some, this may seem trivial, but for folks with the aforementioned issues something like active communication can be an insurmountable barrier. It's also in direct contradiction to the established trend for exotic missions. At the end of the day, some people will not be able to get something they probably should be able to acquire.This issue doesn't have to impact me personally to see it as problematic. I would argue both Microcosm and the class exotic are essential for this DLC, and that all players are entitled to earn them regardless of their play preference. In other words, I believe both should be achievable by anyone by themselves, or with a partner, or with a fireteam. This isn't a competition- we're all on the same side.If you're a solo player that is fine with some limited interaction, your success will vary. The game isn't very conducive to text chat, and even when I've used the text chat in the past people have just straight up ignored it. Though, in this case given the communication is a forced expectation they may be more likely to pay attention. The mission is timed and there are few opportunities to convey a message, so if you're typing, you'll want to be quick. It just seems like another unnecessary hurdle in an expansion that's been filled with them.Who, exactly, is calling for all this? It feels too easy to simply fall into the trap of blaming streamers and their audiences, who seemingly have a disproportionately large impact on audience perception. But, glancing around the forums and the myriad messages from upset players, it does seem a bit like Bungie has catered to a relatively small percentage of their playerbase.To what effect, one must ask. Especially in light of the abysmal launch. Beyond Bungie completely bungling the 24 hour maintenance downtime (in fact, it was some 26 hours before they were "back"), the game was inaccessible by many nearly two days after it was meant to launch, and for some remains so. The raid was subsequently stilted by the poor launch, with world's first teams suffering from disconnects and crashes. Those that streamed their attempts- and parternered with Bungie to profit in the viewership- did so with black or blurred screens, muted voices, and/or full-screen face cams. Entire chunks of the raid were a miss, because teams were so competitive, so incentivized to withhold information, that they frequently left fans with larges swathes of time watching nothing, listening to nothing. Remind me how that's good, again?And they were stuck like that for some 19 hours, because the raid was so difficult to complete. The streamers and other raiders might tell you they had fun; but, having seen their sallow, sweaty, disappointed faces after being hours into a raid and making no progress, I'm not so sure. I hear them say that, but I just don't [i]see[/i] that.Remind me how something that difficult, that inaccessible, is meant to revive interest in the raids? Bungie actively identifies and laments how few engage with their endgame content, but then continues to make that content beyond accessible for the majority of its playerbase.As a solo player, this campaign felt like a confusing insult. The Pale Heart is a solo instance! You can unlock the exotic class mission solo! Bungie regularly rewards solo completions with emblems. But this time they suddenly decide to scrap all of that? The messaging across all this makes no sense. I am unhappy with this release. I'm even unhappier for my homies who won't be in here telling you how upset this makes them, because the community can be so toxic they refuse to engage at all.To me, Bungie lost sight of the fun in their chase for difficulty. While there is a lot of potential here, there are also some serious missteps with regards to accessibility that I think Bungie needs to address.
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