A while ago, something like 5 years ago. I swore off MMO's after spending something like 3 years playing Guild Wars 2, then sitting there one day after a 4 hour session and wondering, what the hell am I doing this for? I had really advanced gear, knew most of the dynamics of the game, purchased all the add on packs and a bit of the cosmetic upgrades and then one day it just clicked in me that this was a massive waste of time. This wasn't my first time going down this road either, I had been "addicted" to several other MMO's in the past and eventually I would come to the same conclusion. Ones that stick out in my mind were Anarchy Online and Dark Age of Camelot and I am pretty sure that those games don't even exist anymore.
I like MMO's but I also realize about myself that these types of games just end up in you doing the same things over and over again simply in the hopes that you are going to get a better loot drop and then when you finally DO get that loot drop, you just do the whole thing over and over and over and over until one day you realize the pointlessness of all of it and kind of feel bad about what you have been doing with your free time for the past few years.
Sounds like a pretty dismal outlook on the part of a person that really enjoys gaming and spends a lot of his free time doing so, I know. When Destiny 2 DLC became free for PS-Plus members, I didn't know what kind of game it was but I figured I would at least have a look. Now after playing it for 5 hours or so, I realize that although it isn't on a PC, it is basically an MMO and I feel as though I should walk away now while I still can.
This game doesn't advertise itself as an MMO but honestly, that is what it is.
The only reason why I haven't already quit is because at first, it didn't really look like an MMO. I thought it was a FPS game but then noticed other players on my screen. I was going after objectives and all of a sudden other people would be there as well. It was fun for a bit but then after a few hours I realized that I was just joining community events, which are alright I guess, but I wasn't really contributing much to the actual damage being done. This is likely because the game has been around for years and those other people that have much nicer looking outfits than I do have likely been playing this for a very long time.
There are zero non MMO's that I have ever played consistently for years and the only one that I can even kind of think of would be Starcraft 2, which definitely isn't an MMO although they did try to incorporate certain aspects of of MMO-dom into it.
now to be completely fair to Destiny 2 it doesn't seem like the other MMO's that I have played in the past. There are, as far as I can tell at this point, very little in the way of "fetch quests" that just irritated the hell out of me about the Final Fantasy Realm Reborn MMO. The action is a lot more in your face and omnipresent and the game does actually feel like a FPS game. A kind of watered down FPS game albeit. That doesn't mean that I don't like it. I really do enjoy playing it even though I am using a controller and it is quite evident to me when I am on screen with someone that is using a mouse and keyboard. I don't think anyone will argue that FPS games are significantly easier on a PC because the "mouse look" is simply superior to any controller. If I was playing this on a PC I would have walked away already because of the fact that I swore off MMO's because of the negative impact they seem to have on my social life and overall mental health.
It is very easy in a game like Destiny to just keep going because there really isn't any end to the game. For example, when playing Horizon games, you reach the end of main story then it is completely up to you if you want to do the plethora of side missions to seek out the best equipment in the game. In Destiny, getting the best equipment in the game is the entire point of the game once someone reaches endgame and it appears as though most people have that appear on my screen.
I'm not even that far into the game and I have so much friggin gear that I don't even know what to do with it all. Just like any looter-shooter you end up with mostly trash that gets dropped and because I don't want to do tons of research online (like the experts suggest you do) I have zero desire to continue to grind for better and better equipment.
Now I know I will ruffle some feathers out there by saying this but I feel as though this type of game is actually very bad for a person. Sure it can be a healthier way to pass the time than say, going to the pub all afternoon to night, but only a little bit. A game that has no end is in my mind not a great game to get involved in, especially when the endgame content tends to be, like it was with fantasy MMO's I played in the past, enjoyed by a very dedicated group of people with extreme skills that results in the lessor-talented members like myself being treated to a rather toxic community.
Since there is nothing really clogging up my already downloaded section of my library at the moment I will likely continue to play this once the story portion of the game is over and then just walk away from it... or if something good comes along in the next month in the PS-Plus catalogue, walk away from it before then. These kinds of games generate a ton of money for the devs because they can always add more content and then micro-sell them to the userbase. I have already encountered many paywalls that I will not cross over. I will not spend money on games of this sort, ever again.
So good for you Bungie, you have created a real money maker here I think, but you aren't going to get any of mine!
Then I see that there are thousands of Destiny 2 videos out there advising people on how to play I realize very quickly that this game is extremely involved and there are certain builds that are "the best" and what not. I am not really this kind of gamer. I don't want a video game to completely encompass my life.
Seriously? one video out there talks about 70 things you are doing wrong in Destiny 2
I don't think I have even done 70 things yet but if this expert were to watch me, I bet he would say I am doing all of them wrong.
It's just not good for my life to get involved in a game like this, so I will not be playing it for much longer. Or will I? If there is one thing that manufacturers of games like this do very well, it is to get you to stay interested in them and spending money.