Destiny 2's Onboarding and Retention isn't Getting Better

Destiny 2's Onboarding and Player Retention have been lackluster for many years, with many new players who try to join the game met with a wall of content immediately after taking their first steps within the game.
In this video I address this topic from the perspective of a player who is neither a Veteran or a New Light, but still plays a lot of Destiny and can hopefully shed some light on just how bad Destiny's new player experience really is. And more than that, show why retaining new players is such a challenge.

[@Fritz-ex6pn]

I have only been playing since the drop of Lightfall. My two biggest issues are, needing to have my laptop open to youtube to get tutorial information while I'm playing the game. Second, I have a personal issue about buying an expansion that has been 90% gutted of content. The only reason I still play is because I got TFS as a gift. I might keep playing but I won't be buying the next dlc.

[@evocaeden2932]

Anyone who has ever asked me about starting Destiny, I tell them not to. It is far too predatory in its sales, and far too sparse in its onboarding experience. The game is actively hostile to anyone who hasn't been playing it for years already. And yea, having most of a year's content removed when the next main expansion arrives is ridiculous.

[@zackvisions29]

I think we need a D3 a complete reset. A game built from the ground up with a system in mind around content/activities and story. Destiny 2 has sunset content, a horrible ui, awful new player experience, multiple expansions that need to be purchased for the game to be enjoyed properly, its story is stitched together and its reputation is in the dirt. But then people cry that they have to start again and lose everything 😮‍💨 Personally i just feel a new game built with purpose that would attract new players willing to jump in fresh is worth the risk rather than the one we got stitched together through trial and error after multiple course corrections.

[@evocaeden2932]

Thanks for the response. I am honestly torn about whether or not Destiny 3 would be a good idea. From a business perspective, having a brand new game would be more likely to attract new players as well as the old guard coming from D1 and D2 to play it as well. Though a full new game would take many years to make, especially with so many of Bungie's employees having been scattered to other Sony projects and the remainder split between D2's ongoing development and Marathon's release/development. I think even with a fresh start in D3, D2 would still exist and the fact that it is horribly stitched together with so much of its important content just gone would still be a problem - at least for those who care about that kind of thing. If Bungie wants players to care about the narrative and experience, then they need to build the game to adhere to that, right now it is the furthest thing possible from that. I want Destiny 2 to be a complete Destiny 2 experience, but it isn't, and I am not hopeful that it will ever be.

[@zackvisions29]

I enjoyed the video 👏 it's always good hearing other people's opinions. As somebody who payed for every expansion and the base game who played them on launch bungie lost all goodwill from me the moment they vaulted campaigns I payed full price for. Red War is still a better introduction to the game than reusing the Destiny 1 introduction mission and then spamming the new player with whatever the latest seasonal quest is 😮‍💨 You are right tho with resources being stretched thin and the absolute horrendous running of bungie for multiple years I have little to no hope. It's a shame tho because they could do something really special and clearly people want a great destiny because nomatter how bad it gets they always come back with a big update. I couldn't even begin to suggest a way to fix the current narrative tho because you got years of seasonal stories just lost to the void. I can boot up D1 and play though all the campaigns it's a completed game for better or worse. I really enjoy the D2 gameplay I just with it's structure wasn't Frankensteins monster 🤣 My apologies for rambling on

[@dave7474]

​@@zackvisions29These comments were fine, no rambling! The comment section is made exactly for this purpose 🙏

[@evocaeden2932]

@@dave7474 100% agree, there's no character limit here and I would rather people flesh out their full thoughts than try to condense them for the sake of brevity.

[@7218007]

Making a new game ground up means shutting down d2 for a few years which is never happening bcos they need to print money for sony now.

[@evocaeden2932]

That's just untrue - they didn't shut down Destiny 1 while they were making Destiny 2. And Destiny 1 is still active to this day, alongside D2. If they decide to venture towards making D3, they wouldn't shut down D2 to make it happen, they need the money like you said so doing that would make no sense. I think the decision to make D3 was pitched by Activision just before the release of Shadowkeep, that way the very first thing for D3 would have been Beyond Light and the introduction of Stasis. But Bungie told them making a whole new game from there would take too long and cost too much so it was better to continue working on D2. And here we are with a game that has a huge amount of cut paid content, numerous bugs and little hopes for major developments in the future.