Opinion: My Paradoxical Love Of Destiny’s Grind

For many players, the idea that anyone would still be playing Destiny three to four months into the game’s life cycle seems insane. Peruse any comment thread in a story about Bungie’s open world shooter, and you find your fair share of incredulous gamers, aghast that anyone would still be spending time in a game they’ve labeled as shallow and lacking in content. Other players continue to feverishly play Destiny, but regularly cry foul as they’re forced to grind for XP and reputation in order to advance. I’m not here to tell anyone they’re wrong. Destiny is undoubtedly an imperfect game that needs to evolve in many key ways before it’s the ideal adventure we all hope it could be. But that doesn’t change my experience; I unabashedly enjoy my time with Destiny, grind and all.

Let’s get this out of the way – I don’t think Destiny is a game for everyone. Its lackluster story is an easy turn off, and players who hate engaging with the same missions multiple times are likely to balk at the expectation of repeated playthroughs in the same areas. So what is it that keeps me and others coming back for more? 

The glib answer from critics is that we’re all gluttons for punishment, or that we don’t have anything better to do with our time. But the reality is more complex; devoted Destiny players are plenty eager to dive into the game night after night, and they have a great time doing it. Speaking as someone who has access to a lot of different games, I’m a Destiny enthusiast who could be playing something else, but I often eschew those other titles for another night blasting away with my guardian. 

Destiny demands patience, and it can be hard to understand why anyone would enjoy such a grind for months on end. Part of that perception goes back to some fundamental assumptions about the experience of a gaming grind. The word “grind” comes with a lot of negative connotations, many of which are well deserved. It recalls visions of old-school RPGs and early MMOs in which the only path to having a later fun encounter is through first endlessly completing the same tasks over and over again, even though those tasks carry little to no value or fun. 

Destiny demands that you repeat story missions, strikes, raids, and competitive matches on the same familiar maps. The difference is how much fun I have in the moment-to-moment experience along the way. Old RPG grinds often demanded engaging with battles that involved little skill or attention – the experience often seemed built to waste time before moving on to something more meaningful. 

In contrast, I find my battles in Destiny to be continually exciting and captivating, even as I level a new piece of gear or gather reputation. Enemies are varied and demand different strategies for successful engagement. The weapons I use and abilities on tap are regularly evolving, and I find joy in experimenting with them. The social experience as I level with friends is much like going for a round of golf – relaxed and entertaining as we all participate in a shared entertainment.

I was taken aback in recent weeks by the vitriolic response that many fans had to the new exotic upgrade system unveiled in The Dark Below expansion. This system introduced new grind elements into a game that already demands high-level players spend a lot of time upgrading and leveling. For many players the new exotic system seemed to put them back at ground zero after they had already hit the game’s highest peaks – the gaming equivalent of moving from being the biggest kid in middle school to the littlest guy in high school. 

For my part, I’m not sure what would have been a better option than introducing some variation of these new leveling and upgrade options in the expansion. Certainly, Bungie could have provided an option to automatically gear up all your existing exotic and legendary weapons and armor to level 32 with the flip of a switch. But if players had that option, what incentive would be in front of them to keep playing and leveling? Take away the drive to level and improve your character, and it rapidly starts to feel like it’s time to move on to another game. Sure, maybe I had already leveled Suros Regime up once, but the expansion gives me a reason to slowly unpack a newer, more powerful version of the same weapon. The grind may seem tedious, but it’s that slow process that makes the reward feel worthwhile. 

Once again, I don’t take issue with any players who don’t have the stomach for this sort of grinding. For every Destiny player in the Game Informer editorial bullpen, there’s another editor who doesn’t enjoy this kind of end game loop. I get it. But for those of us who do enjoy the game’s enemies, weapons, leveling, and science fiction world, the grind is a big part of what keeps us playing – whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not. There’s an allure to that distant level number, whether it’s 30, 32, or whatever comes next. It’s exciting to max out that awesome Gjallarhorn rocket launcher. Even when we gripe about the drops we’re not getting in the raid, it makes the eventual acquisition of that chest piece sweeter when it finally happens. 

Along the way, if I hated every battle I got in, then I would have jumped ship a long time ago. But my actual experience is that while I’m doing this grind, I have friends by my side to chat with, I have fun abilities to perfect, and I have dastardly aliens to shoot. Do I want more Destiny missions? Of course! And when I was six, I also wanted even more Christmas presents, even though I’d already gotten a great haul. It’s human nature to want more of something we enjoy. But in the meantime, Destiny offers a compelling loop that keeps me coming back. It won’t last forever, but I’m not yet ready to condemn Bungie simply because they’re trying to come up with new ways for me to engage with a game I already love.