Ex-Bungie Dev reacts to reprisal of his past work | Destiny 2: The Whisper and Zero Hour

[@Skarrow9]

As someone who has spent waaaaay to much time playing and making content for Destiny, I really want to thank you for everything you did to help make Destiny what it is. Being part of the first people to start to piece together and solve whisper led to my channel having its first huge bump in subscribers. The stuff you worked on literally changed my life. So thank you for doing such an amazing job

[@nailinthefashion]

Oh you’re really hot and kind. Subscribed lmao

[@frogcatdog]

Hearing you compare Mithrax to the Arbiter is insane. Ever since we started getting more lore and information about him, I’ve been making that link between the two characters. Thank you for your work on the game.

[@dev-asya]

"you may not be good enough to do this" "Well, we did that" Damn. Glad to see how much love was returned back to you

[@YeahhDan]

It is really important and it's something I want to see more of in the future. I think it leads to a lot of community engagement to have community secrets, puzzles to solve, and things that are difficult. They haven't done anything big in a while and I'm hoping we get some crazy secrets in TFS.

[@babytricep437]

@@YeahhDandestiny is too casual to ever be a difficult game, that’s kind of how it is now a days. This guy gets it when he says, “I’m not gonna hand you something because your cried, get good at it, it’s supposed to be difficult”

[@Hedron1027]

@@babytricep437And yet literally everything in the game is ridiculously easy as long as you’re not brain dead and you have a good Power level.

[@mrepis]

What made me fall in love with D1 was the sense of mystery and secret it had, I felt like the game was almost encouraging us to explore the environment and try to imagine what's behind a closed door or destroyed pathway that you couldn't access. Sadly that's something I didn't originally find in D2. But these two missions really embody this feeling and I absolutely love them for that reason (especially Zero Hour which I loved because of the whole "exploring inaccessible parts of the D1 tower" thing). So watching someone who made them talk about them was super interesting. Thank you so much for that!

[@RealityRogue]

I felt the same way, well said.

[@YeahhDan]

37:00 a lot of the community needs to hear this. The live service team works miracles and does everything they can with limited resources, but still catches the most flack and I think that sucks hard.

[@spamtong.spamton8275]

Damn, bro, it's so nice to see how the person behind such a masterpiece shares some moments and development details from his past. It’s especially interesting to learn more about the processes that went through the team’s heads. Thank you for all the work you put into this game and good memories for the entire fanbase

[@Soyism]

It's so cool to hear the BTS of Mithrax and what he was to become.

[@mdombro69]

Still one of the greatest missions of all time out of any game

[@ferowaw]

20:00 Fucking based, this is what we are missing nowadays, I really hope the Pantheon is extremely hard

[@freakinschweeet]

I just wish I could rewind the clock and play the OG Whisper again. I had no clan, played solo, and had no sense of buildcrafting. I don't think I ever made it to the boss room. Now that I have improved considerably I was able to solo the legend version, but it just isn't the same game anymore. Thanks for creating a real challange that felt worth my time despite the failures!

[@johnpaulcross424]

Crazy to see how much stuff the community loved came from this guy

[@AgentDisruption]

You're a legend, Whisper and Zero Hour are easily in my top 10 favorite activities from the entire history of D2. One of my favorite memories associated with the game is managing to get Outbreak on day 1, with a couple of LFG's.

[@Bobizard]

Thank you for creating one of the coolest experiences ever

[@joshschimke4258]

The Whisper mission is honestly my favorite moment in Destiny. Thank you thinking big!

[@thebuttermaster51]

You are responsible for my favorite mission in Destiny history. I can't believe I found this video, thank you so much for all of your work. Whisper of the Worm hasn't left my inventory since the first day this mission came out. The Whisper mission is a large reason as to why Destiny is my favorite franchise of all time.

[@jlsaproductions]

so cool to see that the whisper mission is just a flipped version of black spindle thought it felt familiar

[@jlsaproductions]

and whoever designed the secret ship I would like to thank personally it's still my favorite ship i use in d2

[@chpoppinggaming]

OG Whisper mission hit just right

[@Terribadguy.]

I just wanna say, thanks from the bottom of my heart for making this piece of content available in D2. I didn't get into the first game until a little before Rise of Iron and didn't really have a group to play with at the time, so raiding and some of those classic guns were a bit out of reach for me at the time (for context the Xbox One was the first modern console I ever had and before that I was playing PS2 and such so I didn't really know what LFGs were at the time). The Whisper is my favorite quest in all of Destiny and I'll never forget it. It's so unique and the atmosphere is some of the best the game has to offer. There is something different about the atmosphere in D2 compared to D1 (which isn't a bad thing), but The Whisper really makes me feel that sense of unknown I had while playing the first game. The "Green Room" is so iconic and I'll never forget that skip for as long as I live. I vividly remember having a "hey, what's this?" moment when I found it organically.

[@mkloven101]

Thank you so much for mithrax, season of the splicer was one of my favorite seasons

[@jakebragg7515]

The fact the grave of Ulan tan was significant because of his heresy and whisper is the grave of xol (kinda) it perfectly mirrors the heresy of nokris as a necromancer that goes against the sword logic

[@yafjke4027]

20:10 this is soooo nice to hear. This is what made destiny so good to play - is that you could, and sometimes had to, master the game. There always was something to chase not because there were constantly new shiny things to collect being added, but because there were ways to improve on yourself and your skill. You weren't chasing just numbers and rolls, you were "chasing" for your skill to improve. "Numbers" were a way to confirm you reached a certain milestone and a tool to strive for a next milestone. And that is why current destiny feels so shallow aside from day1 raids for me personnaly.

[@RealityRogue]

I joined Destiny 2 in lightfall and I’ve played through all the content this game has to offer right now. And yet, THESE exotic missions have been the most fun I’ve ever had playing that game. That says a lot. I just love the feeling of exploration and mystery these little stories have. I honestly wish all the story campaigns were more like this. Imagine if the campaign team had this mindset when coming up with missions and side missions.

[@KibblesDoesStuff]

Please post more regularly! I think I speak for the community when I say we love hearing about the destiny behind the scenes

[@Overlycomplicatedswede]

you have made 2 missions in destiny 2 that made me fall in love with the game and you did nothing short of an outstanding job back when you worked for bungie i still play this game to this day! black spindel and icebreaker made snipers prove themselves as viable as fuck in damage phases love from sweden

[@jarreneaston8348]

To me when the whisper came out I thought It was one of the coolest things destiny 2 has ever created. To me there hasn't been another thing like it since zero hour.

[@Lucky_2847]

Very refreshing. Thank you for giving love to the game I love the way you have. Whisper started it all. I still remember the first rumor and the first time I saw the entrance on Io. We flipped out. It was and still is the game changer.

[@brandonyork9465]

Thanks Vince! Dev perspective for bungie and destiny is what the community sorely needs rn. Obviously not all the details but shedding a bit of light on what goes on behind the scenes. We’d love to see you do many more of these

[@THEELEMENTKING]

Thank you so much for the twenty minute timer on whisper and zero hour. When me and my friend were a lot younger him and I would try to grind the heroic versions and we would always come up somewhere between 10 seconds to a minute short and lose to the timer every time and so it felt so incredibly rewarding whenever we would complete a run

[@babytricep437]

The 40 minute timer is ridiculous. It’s egregiously long and even the creator behind these missions said so

[@THEELEMENTKING]

@@babytricep437 fr, normal mode should’ve kept the 20 minute timer or maybe been like 25 if they wanted to give the newer players more of a chance. But I end my normal mode runs with 20-25 minutes left usually

[@babytricep437]

@@THEELEMENTKING This guy understood challenge is fun, anf should be rewarded. All the people, I call them people but whiners is more appropriate, who said it was too hard are the same reason why RoN is what it is

[@EpicDan]

This was such an amazing peak behind the curtain. I carried thousands through to get their whispers & outbreaks back in the day and agreed fully with your mindset on these activities. Thank you for creating such a fantastic piece of content.

[@Disatraced]

We need more guys like this in destiny point blank period

[@lololololololol444]

Whisper is my favorite mission. Thank you

[@ryanseegmiller225]

This is amazing. As a dev I love hearing other dev stories on games I love to play

[@superblahman]

Thanks for the two best exotic missions ever.

[@SpinfoilHat]

if i had someone carry me through literally anything in destiny and told me they made it i'd absolutely lose it, maybe start asking all sorts of questions (if they were legit, and had the time for excited 'tism fueled questions) I'm gonna make something, not sure what yet, that has a slanted slope with a flat collider because that is deliciously devious design, and I love that.

[@milkwentbadd]

Here from the algorithm, was really interesting to see such insights from someone who worked on a game I've loved for the majority of my adult life. Thanks for your contributions, you've made a mark on many people that will last a lifetime!

[@kiwi1294]

Whisper is without a doubt my favourite exotic in the game. Its aesthetically perfect and everything an exotic should be. Sure, it may not get the usage of other exotics like Sunshot or even other heavy exotics like Xenophage but its physical and audio design is S++ tier

[@bluberryboom5463]

God i remember when whisper first dropped and I used to hate it so much BECAUSE it showed the skill disparity between me and my friends (and I was not great at traversal at the time). Now I really appreciate it, especially the soundtrack. Feels so great to revisit these missions with years more of skill under my belt

[@x.I.N.K.x]

this was very insightful on development side of games, nad on one of the most iconic parts of destiny. thank you vince.

[@chrisburden15]

This was so insightful and such a pleasure to watch. Hearing this take unfiltered is a breath of fresh air and to this day I believe Whisper and Zero Hour are the best moments of the Destiny franchise, your are a credit to yourself good sir and I thank you for the work you did over the years. You guys don't get the recognition you deserve but I'm truly grateful for what you and your team put out there. I would love to hear your take on sunsetting, specifically the old content if that's ever something you are able to talk about. I understand most people probably wouldn't play the red war campaign these days if it was left in being realistic but I've never understood why it (and all other content) couldn't stay, was it really just a file size issue?

[@JeffreyMcLain]

Doooood, thank you SO. MUCH. for sharing this. I'm like 3 minutes in and just so excited to hear in your voice this excitement and passion that I love. I'll never understand what you guys do for a living, but I love to hear about the things that people love and why they love them. At the end of the day, thanks for helping make Destiny what it is - it's been a big thread in my life for the last, ugh, decade? ish? Crazy.

[@masterjim666]

What a great vid. Thank you for sharing. I remember practicing the jumping part in Whisper for days before I would dare to lfg for it :) And you couldn't just restart it.. "Cabal, again?" That was such a great time. It was obvious immediately what effort and love went into that mission. This week we used 6 Whispers on Oryx in Pantheon, and it was epic.

[@elegy8187]

32:25 This was true for Destiny 2 before Forsaken, but once Well of Radiance was added it turned any damage encounter into "stand in one spot and hit the bosses crit". I remember when Whisper got nerfed so it would take bullets from reserves instead of giving them for free there was many people who said "why bring back the unnerfed White Nail perk just to re-nerf it again" and I think Well of Radiance is to blame for that. Currently Whisper refills 2 bullets from reserves and gives you one for free, as a compromise between both designs. 33:30 I think another reason why people really disliked the ship from Zero Hour was because the puzzle you had to solved to get it was so complex that it built up the communities expectations a lot, so it was really disappointing to get a ship that looked like a bunch of scrap instead of something cool like Nanophoenix.

[@codymiller4119]

Awesome video man your channel needs blown up you should be getting way more recognition

[@BenjyF563]

This was so cool so see a bit of insight into two fantastic pieces of content I remember meeting you back at gcx back in 2019, I still have the printed mini whisper you gave me lol, much love bro

[@jacobtyner2524]

Good to know the devs were just as scared of TR3-VR as the players! 3 months of balancing to get the feel just right would be a nightmare. Especially with all the other aspects of level design to deal with at the same time along with the fact the player is on a time crunch. So he has to feel scary enough to intimidate the players and give them a challenge, but not easy enough to be negligible. I cant begin to imagine how tough that was to get a feel for. Huge respect to the game designers that bring us content like this, especially after doing some level design myself for college.

[@nicholascodallos2154]

Very much loved this mission, I did not play destiny so going into destiny 2 I had no mastery over the movement but this quest absolutely helped me develop mastery over that and helped immerse me in this awesome game!

[@kingcurmudgeon8685]

Whats sad to me is that I don’t feel like Bungie has this level of creative inspiration and drive anymore. We are constantly taking nostalgia hits as content. Outside of certain raids and dungeons most things feel uninspired. There are no real “Wow” moments. As good as WitchQueen was it didn’t have anything special. It just delivered a good Savathun story. When I entered that portal on IO and got into the whisper mission I literally became completely hooked on Destiny. Zero hour also delivered that for me. The only things that came close beyond that are the Prophecy dungeon and that moment outside the space station in DSC.

[@schols0619]

Thank you man for making my childhood memories :)

[@NotTheBeltAgain]

Man. We need more devs like you at bungie. They just hand everything out now. No challenges at all in the game, no secrets

[@TheFarrmark]

What a great video. Thanks for all your hard work and for The Whisper Mission especially 😎

[@simonjack9699]

I do love the full upgrade version of the whisper❤ beautiful ❤ Especially with a enlighten action❤

[@plaztik767]

The original Whisper mission. Was epic..!! Props to you for being a key part of the inception of this fabulous “truly secret mission” that just appeared one day. And became an obsession of mine until able to solo it. The new reprised version is excellent just much easier than the original variant.. Also rip to Luis Gossett Junior (enemy mine) always a favorite of my childhood 👍🏻

[@Joe-wl8hk]

Dang. It’s really cool to hear from the guy who made the content that I remember so fondly. Your content is what inspired me to get into design so thanks for sharing your experiences, first hand.

[@Kaiser8361N]

Really cool behind the scenes lore on the conception of Mithrax! I remember doing that Titan mission and at the end I was confused because this fallen captain was just staring me. Thought it was a bug at first! Easily one of destiny’s best characters imo

[@eranronen573]

Thanks so much for these 2 missions, they were so fun back in the day

[@Stickfigure414]

I LOVED getting this insight into two of my most favorite things in D2. Thank you so much for making some of the best content I've ever experienced in my favorite game!

[@meltnova]

Thank you for this! It's always interesting seeing how games are made and how the people behind them think. Good stuff in here.

[@IcyCastles]

Thank you for designing one of the best experiences I’ve had while gaming 🙏🙏

[@DeuceTreyz]

15:15 Sooo in the Final Shape trailer, they show an actual traditional "maze" that we see

[@OanKnight]

I loved hopping around io, and I really wish they'd spent more time delving into Ulan Tan - I suppose they kind of did with elaborating on the whle light and dark thing, but I spent so much time idling in that grove.

[@foemonkey123]

amazing video man so cool to see these kind of insights

[@homelessshark9637]

Really entertaining video, i love when people talk and gush about things their proud of

[@loquek]

This was the quest that got me hooked on the game.

[@victoratwork]

Love seeing this type of content!

[@thehale_]

19:56 BASED

[@Tigerbro6]

thank you for making my favourite sniper for crit dps, its really insane this season with the solar 3.0 synergy!

[@Cultist-of-Ukotoa]

Thanks for the awesome memories ^^

[@roan0209]

Great insights. Amazing to hear as a player

[@NovaUmbral]

Really fantastic deep dive!

[@MyNameIsNurf]

Man, must be such a dream job to be able to create things like this. Wish I could have found a way to get into game design like this. So jealous.

[@erik7317]

Real question: What was the deciding factor to remove the day/night cycle and the snow detail for the cosmodrome in the new light release?

[@ExplosiveBdawg]

Your little falling captain has become one of the most important characters and allies to the guardians. Such an awesome idea to begin with turned into one of my favorite Destiny characters.

[@willalers225]

Absolutely fascinating

[@fysy9989]

Very interesting insights from you!

[@n00bstude]

incredible insight!

[@thrilla72]

33:37 WHAT THE FARK!? It's not like they are bringing back Wrath so there will be no Nanophoenix in D2!? What a stupid decision

[@derpersona]

Wow you're the hero we need in Destiny right now 😭

[@mythe6669]

I like not giving handouts and participation trophies and keeping the 20 minute timer but nevertheless, the idea of having an easy mode with more time and also the sherpa switches is great for carrying. I remember trying to save time and get the combat done while my friends still did the jumping part but having to die in the next room instead so I could spectate and tell them where to go because they couldn't find the way through the jumping puzzle on their own so I had to give them left, right, up, etc in real time.

[@endar2401]

Very cool to hear your insight on this. I also want to hear how you feel about Bungie removing so much of the things you created for Destiny 2. It's nice that Whisper and Zero Hour are back, but there is still a lot missing in the game. It sucks really bad for the players, but I imagine it sucks really bad for developers too. Games are usually permanently available, but Destiny 2 has not been like that. I feel like creating a game like that would be really infuriating for an artist. Other forms of art like films, books, or just drawings can be experienced anytime. But Destiny 2 was missing The Whisper and Zero Hour for years, despite being some of the best content in game. Still waiting for the 5 removed raids to come back too.

[@a_n_g_e_l_tash]

I just wanna say Whisper was my first dungeon(ish?) encounter when I first started the game in Nov. 2018, and I was a baby Titan who was super jump challenged and DID NOT have Lion Rampants. I kept trying. Even later when I got LRs, I never used them - I refused to. Green room for catalyst run was painful, but my clan mates sat there in the thrall basement underneath and completed catalyst kills while I practiced and practiced. This was a punishing series of encounters especially with the time limit, but by far, the most fun, most engaging, most immersive, and most addictive exploration ever. Thank you so much for giving us this because difficulty barrier, sure, but it definitely grabbed my attention, sparked my sense of wonder, and just made me wanna explore the world of D2, work hard at getting good at the game. Still not streamer level at it (far from it), but I still love this place the most.

[@cryboi.mp4_848]

😭 WHY DID YALL HAVE TO MAKE THEM LEDGES SO SLIPPERY

[@riacardi7011]

this so awesome!!!

[@oxsila]

The only reason for me that Gambit isn't fun to play is the imbalance of abilities and weapons. The mode itself is one of my favorite in Destiny. But the invasions started to become predetermined by whoever decided to equip a rocket launcher or whatever was equally as brainless and op.

[@Sin526]

Leviathan's Breath...

[@Gunth0r]

Hey, the Dawning cookie baking is one of the peak D2 experiences. Don't you dare tarnish it!

[@rukasuygo]

I just want to know if WoTM will ever comeback or have the chance too

[@ThisMightBeAnAccount]

weirdly enough i liked zero hours combat more than the whisper

[@Shrekswamp21]

So they want wrath to have its ship but still don’t reprise it for d2? How long have they been working on the raid then?

[@simonjack9699]

You seem very accomplished and creative like I wish you never left bungee! Maybe it's just me but I feel like people a bungee are not as passionate like they used to be for destiny one They want everything to be a sweat fest but they don't want to make good quality content that doesn't require recycled.

[@bumpster810]

34:21 does this confirm wotm is coming back?

[@tearmyskinoff]

no

[@antoineharvey-boudreault5565]

the song was the best

[@cqrson8079]

Why did you stop working at bungie?

[@shekel2356]

Too many blacks

[@aksis2133]

20:05 SO FUCKING BASED OMFG

[@quellepls2568]

Great Video. Gamit Was a good ideer but i think its very hard to do a good pvp pve gamemode. At the beginning Gambit was ok but it didnt age well as core playlist sadly. Great work. But Great work over all. Destiny just needed to get Great Dlc at least once a year and not lightfall.

[@Uchoobdood]

VICE GRIP GARAGE!!!

[@JamesTheHuman]

I remember when whisper first came out doing it for the first time I instantly fell in love with the mission I loved the setting and the eerieness of being in a place that we probably shouldn't be And it was hilarious to hear you talk about how you could trivialize the jump puzzle by using lion ramparts and shoulder charge because it's exactly what I did and doing it help me carry a ton of people i would post on Xbox LFG for free carries just to help people get whisper because I loved the mission that much and now that it's back I'm doing the same thing I'm glad that it's back but a 40 minute timer is massively excessive especially with the movement kits we have nowadays lions grapple heat rises. Thank you for opening the door and revealing how the whisper mission came to be

[@skoly3030]

The Infinite Forest, could have easily been the best thing to happen to Destiny--Bungie could have done whatever they wanted in this "simulation" and it would have made sense. Old content could have all been explained through the infinite forest instead of Meditations...

[@jrnexe6143]

that would be brutal if the hole was randomized.

[@ivanmoravetz7801]

Oh so you're the guy that put those cringe boop things in the boss room 😠

[@someonestolebigboi-imbigboi]

it took me 2 days to figure out the green room, by then i had caved and just looked up the answer yet another reason to despise bungie (youll know why once you find how to continue as well)

[@oxsila]

I found the green ledges solution by myself. I only found out about the shortcut through youtube. The green ledge solution is incredibly obvious if you just pay attention to your surroundings and use common sense. It's a very common thing for devs to place certain things that seem out of place to make it clear to the player that they want you to go there. That's what the green grass ledges are.

[@someonestolebigboi-imbigboi]

@@oxsila theres green ledges... everywhere, tf you mean obvious XD

[@Cabbage22927]

Gambit isn’t fun because it’s the same thing over and over again. We need variation. If crucible was just 3v3 elim for 5 years people would hate the concept of destiny pvp as well.