History YMMV / Destiny

* HypeBacklash: So far, the reviews for Destiny are averaging in the 6-8 range, while it was hyped up to be a 8-10 game with ''tens of millions'' of dollars being put into its advertising. The most common criticisms of the game are lackluster storytelling, repetitive missions, and frustrating item drops.

** The goddamned Gjallarhorn, that seems to elude many a player, and hits like a truck. Oh and Wolfpack Rounds shreds whatever wasn't killed by the rocket itself. And it homes in on its targets too. Bungie has since nerfed the Wolfpack Rounds for Year Two, and it did not get an updated version for Year Two, preventing it from gaining enough power to be useful in the higher level content introduced.
*** That is until ''Rise of Iron'' came out with both a new boost in power by bringing it to [=RoI=] standards (with the one you get via the Exotic quest having a light level of '''350''') and a new version altogether by way of the Iron Gjallarhorn.

** Despite his Status as a AnnoyingVideoGameHelper, Lord Shaxx is still quite liked for his BoisterousBrusier personality.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Several attempts were made in regards the levelling system in Year One.
*** After complaints that the only way to get to the level cap was to play the Vault of Glass and hope for a drop giving you the piece of armour you need, Bungie made it so future Iron Banner events could reward players with armour allowing them to reach the level cap.
*** After complaints that everyone had to wear the Crota's End or Iron Banner gear to reach the level cap and thus everyone looked the same, and that the only weapons and armor able to be upgraded to the new max levels were exotics, Bungie implemented the Etheric Light mechanic in ''House of Wolves'' that allowed any Year One legendary to be upgraded to the maximum.
*** After complaints over the Light Level system, which increased your level based on the power of your armor, Bungie abandoned this mechanic for Year Two - it was announced that with the launch of ''The Taken King'', the Light Level would be replaced by a more traditional levelling system, and Light Level would merely indicate the quality of your gear.
** ''The Taken King'' seems to be this for Year One of ''Destiny'' in general, rectifying many complaints players had over the course of the year.
** The Exotic quest for the Thorn resembles its original Exotic Weapon Bounty, except that the developers took out the most annoying parts of the old Year 1 bounty. Death no longer penalizes players when trying to perform void kills in the Crucible and the final step requires that players have a Skeleton Key to open the chest at the end of "The Abomination Heist" strike (a reworked version of "The Summoning Pits") instead of having to kill a secret boss.
** A humorous one: Players weren't happy when Bungie announced gear wouldn't carry over to the second game with old characters. The first full trailer consists largely of Cayde-6 telling a mob of other Guardians that it's the new villain's fault they all lost their stuff, and encouraging them to counterattack with the promise of "a ton of loot".

* PoorMansSubstitute: Some of the exotic weapons have less effective and cool legendary counterparts.
** The exotic pulse rifle Red Death has one in the form of [[https://www.bungie.net/en/Armory/Detail?type=item&item=1258012244&itemname=Red%20Spectre Red Spectre]], a legendary Auto Rifle that can drop in the Crucible. As one can guess, that weapon doesn't get the cool perks the Red Death has.
** Hawkmoon one in the form of [[https://www.bungie.net/en/Armory/Detail?type=item&item=1132793057&itemname=Eyasluna Eyasluna]], a Legendary Hand Cannon that can drop in the Crucible. That one is naturally not as cool as Hawkmoon.
** Dragon's Breath has [[https://www.bungie.net/en/Armory/Detail?type=item&item=3677466371&itemname=The%20Hothead The Hothead]], a Legendary Rocket Launcher that drops from a quest.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Bad Juju went from an almost useless weapon with below-average capacity of 15 rounds to an excellent tool for raids or strikes with 24... which also [[SimpleYetAwesome recharges your super.]]

** Due to the competitive nature of the LooterShooter market and ''Destiny''[='=]s prominence in the genre against all criticisms, many gamers have taken to calling upcoming big releases that might significantly take away ''Destiny''[='=]s playerbase as a "Destiny killer". [[labelnote:*]]Recurring candidates are ''VideoGame/TheDivision'' (though this one was initially marred with many issues until the developers got a hold of things and revamped it to appreciable levels) and ''VideoGame/Anthem2018'', but nowadays the term is also derogatorily used to mock ''VideoGame/Destiny2'' as the game that ironically drove away much of its playerbase.[[/labelnote]]

* WinBackTheCrowd: The Taken King and patch 2.0 have been very well received, and many people have stated that they find the game fun again, if not for the first time.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by Bungie, who are deliberately making the game more hopeful and idealistic to contrast the angsty grimdark shooters that seem to be prevalent in recent times (indeed the game's CentralTheme is about keeping up hope even in the darkest of times).

* ToughActToFollow: The series is Bungie's first following (their) conclusion to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', and naturally expectations for ''Destiny'' are higher. [[ILikeThoseOdds But Bungie's accepted that challenge]].
-->'''CJ Cowan''': We didn't even know how big ''Halo'' was going to get; how can anything be bigger than ''Halo''? ...We'll find out.

*** After complaints that the only way to get to the level cap was to play the Vault of Glass & hope for a drop giving you the piece of armour you need, Bungie made it so future Iron Banner events could reward players with armour allowing them to reach the level cap.
*** After complaints that everyone had to wear the Crota's End or Iron Banner gear to reach the level cap and thus everyone looked the same, and that the only weapons & armor able to be upgraded to the new max levels were exotics, Bungie implemented the Etheric Light mechanic in ''House of Wolves'' that allowed any Year One legendary to be upgraded to the maximum.

** ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' fans are included too, with fans producing a picture of transport ''Serenity'' [[http://www.forgetfoo.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/destiny-serenity-02345.jpg in orbit]] on a ''Destiny'' game screen. The fandom goes both ways: during the beta test, Bungie sent out [[http://n4g.com/news/1554225/sorry-but-serenity-isnt-coming-to-destiny this tweet]] showing ''Serenity'' landing in the Cosmodrome area; sadly, there is officially no possibility of having this ship in the actual game. There's also the presence of ''Firefly'' alums Creator/NathanFillion & Creator/GinaTorres as the voices of the Hunter & Warlock vanguards, Cayde-6 & Ikora Rey, which likely helps.

** The first Queen's Wrath event was hit hard with this - prior to the start of the event, Bungie hyped it by saying the Awoken Queen was cashing in the favor the player owed from the story, getting people excited for more story content. In actuality, the event was just more bounties to unlock an already existing mission with higher level enemies & a damage modifier. Whilst people weren't happy with that, they accepted it as an easy way to hoard Legendary gear to break down for shards, until Bungie realised people were maxing out their gear far sooner than intended because of this, and subsequently patched the game so Queen's Wrath gear no longer gave Ascendant Shards when dismantled. People were pissed about this, pointing out that there was no reason for people with Legendary gear to play the event anymore. The response to the event as a whole was so bad, that after the Iron Banner's negative response (see below) led to Bungie announcing they would be reworking the event to remedy the complaints people had regarding it, they mentioned that Queen's Wrath was being taken back to the drawing board & completely overhauled.

** The player's Ghost is not very well liked, despite being voiced by fan favorite Creator/PeterDinklage. Its voice acting is generally dull and uninteresting, and it constantly spouts unnecessary exposition. While in cutscenes he does much better, Dinklage's enthusiasm is absent in gameplay. After being completely absent from the ''The Dark Below''[[note]]Aside from the [=PlayStation=] exclusive "Undying Mind" strike[[/note]] & ''House of Wolves'' expansions; Dinklage was eventually replaced in the role with ''The Taken King'' expansion by Creator/NolanNorth, with North even rerecording all of Ghost's existing dialogue to match. WordOfGod states that the recasting isn't down to complaints about Dinklage's performance, but rather down to his inavailability due to his busy schedule.

** The Cryptarch is your main way to get loot, besides getting Engrams. The only problem is, when you're Level 20 or above, your need for Legendary Engram rockets, as you need a full set of Legendaries to reach level 28, or even do decently at tougher missions. Why is that a problem? The Cryptarch is practically a RandomNumberGod Vendor, so most of your Legendary Engrams are at the mercy of that guy. Prior to being patched in the 1.0.2 update, you also had a much larger chance of getting Uncommon & Rare level gear.

** During Year One, you were required to get Legendary gear to even progress to the end-game content due to the Light level mechanic. Following the launch of ''The Dark Below'', you were also required to use a Commendation from the related factions for helmets & chestpieces, which is earned by ranking up a faction to 3 and beyond. This was abandonned with the launch of ''House of Wolves''.

** Oryx drips pure malice, and [[EvilIsHammy steals the spotlight everytime he makes his presence known]]. The narration drives it home by making up to be a threat far beyond anything in ''Destiny Year One'' and a return to Bungie's darker villains like ''Halo''[='=]s Gravemind.

** The Vex Mythoclast. An Exotic that has a 3% chance of being rewarded from doing the Vault Of Glass on Hard-mode. Originally 56 shots in a mag, high charge rate and can mob the floor with particles of the enemy, faster than you can say its name. It was so powerful, a hotfix that nerfed it (and a bunch of other things) was specifically called the Mythoclast Fix. Post-nerf, another patch was scheduled, since it made the Vex Mythoclast underpowered, compared to the planned nerf, than it should be. This patch also fixed many other accidently nerfed weapons.

** Sleeper Simulant, an exotic heavy fusion rifle introduced with ''The Taken King''. Whilst it's not intended to be used in the Year One content, it makes a mockery of bosses like Atheon & Skolas - being able to wipe out both bosses within a minute. This is despite damage levels usually being capped when fighting lower level enemies, so that a player decked out in the most powerful gear can play with much lower level players in PVE without removing all challenge from the game, meaning that whilst it should be performing to a higher standard than the weaker Year One weapons, it should not be slaughtering high level enemies in such a small amount of time.

* HypeBacklash: So far, the reviews for Destiny are averaging in the 6-8 range, while it was hyped up to be a 8-10 game with ''tens of millions'' of dollars being put into its advertising. The most common criticisms of the game are lackluster storytelling, repetitive missions, and frustrating items drops.

** The second Festival of the Lost is being considered to be a failure after Bungie hyped it up with a brand new trailer. The reasoning behind it is lack of things to do (it's a two week long event with 2 quests, one of which was straight ''lifted from the previous festival'', that can be completed in about an hour) and the fact that all the new stuff Bungie showed off are in a treasure set that is hidden behind Eververse microtransactions [[note]](You will get 3 free on your account)[[/note]] which has turned many players off because of how absurd microtransactions are becoming in game. It's gotten to the point that the Treasures of the Lost Trailer has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx2C_Q8rlNk overwhelmingly negative]] rating and many players referring to the event as "Failure of the Lost" or "Festival of the Cost".

** The Hung Jury has an insane roll right now![[labelnote:Explanation]]Someone posted on Reddit that Dead Orbit had an amazing roll on one of their vendor scout rifles, several months after it was available and knowledge of it's existence and performance made rounds.[[/labelnote]]

** Golgoroth: Imagine Phogoth with more than ''[[DamageSpongeBoss 20 times as much HP.]]'' Now imagine he can heal whenever a Cursed Thrall goes off too close to him. ''Now'' imagine that you can only die six times (as a fireteam) before he forces a wipe. The fight with Golgoroth really is a marathon from start to finish- it's not uncommon for people who had a lot of trouble with the Warpriest to get stuck at Golgoroth for days before they figure out how to get enough damage off to kill him before he enrages.

-->'''CJ Cowan''': We didn't even know how big ''Halo'' was going to get; how can anything be bigger than ''Halo''? ... We'll find out.

* TheScrappy: The player's Ghost is not very well liked, despite being voiced by fan favorite Creator/PeterDinklage. Its voice acting is generally dull and uninteresting, and it constantly spouts unnecessary exposition. While in cutscenes he does much better, Dinklage's enthusiasm is absent in gameplay. After being completely absent from the ''The Dark Below''[[note]]Aside from the [=PlayStation=] exclusive "Undying Mind" strike[[/note]] & ''House of Wolves'' expansions; Dinklage was eventually replaced in the role with ''The Taken King'' expansion by Creator/NolanNorth, with North even rerecording all of Ghost's existing dialogue to match. WordOfGod states that the recasting isn't down to complaints about Dinklage's performance, but rather down to his inavailability due to his busy schedule.

--> SYLOK!! THE DEFILED!!! COMES FOR YOUR LIGHT!!!!!!

--> SYLOK!! THE DEFILED!!!

** "I didn't even know someone with the Traveler's gift could die...until they did."[[labelnote:Explanation]]Lord Saladin says this line in ''Rise of Iron'' as he explains what happened to his comrades of old, but the delivery and CaptainObvious nature of it drops what might have been a dramatic line into {{Narm}} territory. It didn't take long for people to mock it with statements like "I used to love playing ''Destiny''...until I didn't."[[/labelnote]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** The Traveler. Mysterious but benevolent BigGood that protects humanity in the face of extinction? Or a manipulative EldritchAbomination using an army of undead pawns for its own purposes? Canon suggests that the truth is somewhere in the middle; [[spoiler:it seems to genuinely want to help humans and the other races, but is being manipulated by the Darkness to only help specific beings.]] In the ''Books of Sorrow'' codex entries, written from the perspective of the Hive pursuing it and thus not totally reliable, it repeatedly builds races up to act as cannon fodder and then abandons them when the war goes badly. Even outside that it is clearly established that the Fallen are a former client race that it abandoned and still refuses to aid.
** ''House of Wolves'' introduced new Grimoire Cards that present a Fallen view of humanity. To wit, the City "hoards" the Traveler to itself, denying the Fallen any hopes of returning to their former glory. Periodically, it sends out "dead soldiers... who come out crusading to wipe all hope away," killing their leaders, cutting off their Ether supplies and forcing them to starve, and generally just kicking a dying and desperate race closer towards extinction.

** Is Eris seeking revenge against Crota and the Hive? Did the defeat of Oryx finally bring her peace? Or is she on a secret mission, sent by her "queen". And who is this person in the Grimoire cards who's sending her messages?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The cast for this game is downright ''[[AllStarCast incredible]]'', with the likes of Bill Nighy, Peter Stormare, Gina Torres, Claudia Black, Nathan Fillion, Peter Dinklage, Jon DiMaggio, Lance Reddick, James Remar, Shohreh Agdashloo, and many others...and what does the game do with all this talent? [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory Not]] [[ClicheStorm much]], to be honest.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: There are countless details and stories in the Grimoire that would have made absolutely amazing missions in the campaign, but are never mentioned at all in the game. For example, in the entries for the Cabal, it's revealed that the Cabal have the technology to move entire worlds and have shifted Phobos out of its orbit.

** "Fucking[=/=]Fuck You, Gary!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Gaul, the leader of the Cabal invasion that destroyed the Tower, is misnamed Gary by Cayde-6 in the trailer. His attack was also responsible for destroying the three years' worth of loot the Guardians had accumulated, explaining why you can't carry old weapons and armor to Destiny 2.[[/labelnote]]
** "FOR THE PUPPIES!!" [[labelnote:explanation]]The Titan in the live action trailer yells this at the top of his lungs when he rushes off to fight the Red Legion[[/labelnote]]