I like that Destiny 2's first live event was slow, but I wish Bungie communicated this better

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I like that Destiny 2’s first live event was slow, but I wish Bungie communicated this betterKERSPLODE!

KERSPLODE!

On Saturday,Destiny 2held its first live in-game event, inviting players to witness the destruction of a vast spaceship on a collision course with Earth. Perched on the gantries and rooftops of the Tower, we watched the ship looming large in the sky and… waited. What many expected to be a few minutes of fireworks turned out to be 90 minutes of watching projectiles move almost imperceptibly slowly. I genuinely liked the big, sci-fi slowness of it all - even if I did miss part of the climax because I’d walked away to do household chores.

The Almighty, a system-destroying weapon thousands of miles long, has been headed for Earth all season. Earth’s spacewizards have spent the season reactivating weapons systems of Rasputin, our iffy AI ally, so he could blow it up. With the next season starting on Tuesday, it was time to fire and wrap up the Season Of The Worthy.

It was far slower than I expected, after Fortnite events likethe Travis Scott showwhich cram a whole lot of excitement into ten minutes. This was so slow that at one point I got a book out. Then I cooked dinner, ate dinner, and did the washing-up after dinner. The Almighty was a little more ablaze, the other lines a little closer. So I hung my washing out to dry, and came back just as a large chunk of the now-burst Almighty roared into the atmosphere.

Here’s a sped-up, snazzed-up look from Bungie:

Thanks to your efforts, Rasputin’s full power was on display and saved Earth from certain doom.Re-live the heroic time-lapsed fireworks.pic.twitter.com/9eNS2EQkYu— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame)June 7, 2020To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Thanks to your efforts, Rasputin’s full power was on display and saved Earth from certain doom.Re-live the heroic time-lapsed fireworks.pic.twitter.com/9eNS2EQkYu

Whereas here’s a minute of what we saw in real time:

I quite like that this was slow. Some of these weapons were fired from as far away as Jupiter’s moon of Io, of course they look slow to us. My favourite parts of Destiny arethe big sci-fi spacesand watching shots come in across millions of miles is pretty cool. The season is really about Rasputin, not the Almighty, and this is a big show of force from a character who has definitely shown he considers us expendable. There’s anDefcon-y vibe to just standing there watching as unstoppable devastation rolls up.

That said, Bungie handled this terribly. Expecting players to wait indefinitely in a season which has already wasted so much time witha bounty-grinding eventanda laughably unrealistic community goalwas a big mistake. I myself would still want the full hour of build-up, for dramatic effect, but the first half-hour was a waste and the wait would’ve been so much more palatable if Bungie stated an ETA for impact. “Launch at 10, impact at 11:30” and yer done. This season may have been empty but that doesn’t mean I’ve proven a willingness to do nothing for 90 minutes.

I don’t doubt Bungie will talk this week about learning from feedback. They’ve talked a whole lot about learning from various mistakes they’ve made, topics fromFOMOtofashion, and the talk is good. It doesn’t mean much until they follow through, mind, and stop making so many obvious mistakes in the first place.

The still-unnamed new season will begin on Tuesday at 6pm. Bungie will announced it at 5pm, as well as announcing the next expansion. This might be a good omen for the season, that Bungie want to spring a big surprise. But after three decreasingly-good seasons, I’ll not get my hopes up until the autumn expansion.

I’m up for Drifter and Eris Morn getting back out there:

Coordinates received. The future of Destiny 2 arrives.June 9 // 9AM PT🔺https://t.co/003kheRMmXpic.twitter.com/9lV2l7Snvp— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame)June 3, 2020To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Coordinates received. The future of Destiny 2 arrives.June 9 // 9AM PT🔺https://t.co/003kheRMmXpic.twitter.com/9lV2l7Snvp— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame)June 3, 2020

Coordinates received. The future of Destiny 2 arrives.June 9 // 9AM PT🔺https://t.co/003kheRMmXpic.twitter.com/9lV2l7Snvp

Something calls. It’s time to answer.June 9 // 9AM PT🔺https://t.co/003kheRMmXpic.twitter.com/Yj7dEQpjJK— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame)June 4, 2020To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Something calls. It’s time to answer.June 9 // 9AM PT🔺https://t.co/003kheRMmXpic.twitter.com/Yj7dEQpjJK— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame)June 4, 2020

Something calls. It’s time to answer.June 9 // 9AM PT🔺https://t.co/003kheRMmXpic.twitter.com/Yj7dEQpjJK

Just please,don’t destroy Titan.