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Destiny’s Biggest Fans Are Embracing Their Saltiness
Ask any Destiny fan where you can find the best conversation about the game, and chances are you’ll hear the same thing repeatedly. The Destiny Subreddit, a bastion of Bungie diehards, has a new unofficial name, and it hints at growing discontent among a typically loyal community.
Whether you are searching via Google or find your way directly to the subreddit, the group’s weariness is apparent. Instead of appearing as “Destiny” or “Destiny the Game,” the Subreddit is labeled as “Rahool’s Salt Emporium.”
For those outside of Destiny’s immense gravitational pull, Rahool is the name of an NPC known for performing his programmed function like a master troll. Also simply known as “The Cryptarch,” Rahool decodes mysterious items gathered in the field. Especially early in the game’s life, he was notorious for delivering underwhelming goods to gear-hungry Guardians.
The change to the Subreddit happened last week after Bungie’s weekly Destiny update underwhelmed many fans. Since Bungie has abandoned major paid DLC for the time being, fans were hoping that the replacement in-game events would be enough to hold them over.
While some fans enjoyed the Sparrow Racing League event that kicked off in late 2015, many Destiny players felt like the event did little to offer meaningful new core shooting fun. With this latest update, Bungie announced it will be decorating the Tower social hub for Valentine’s Day and adding a heretofore undetailed PvP mode entitled Crimson Doubles. Many fans, from Destiny's various community sites to well known streamers, are eager to see deeper additions to the gameplay experience.
“Folks in the community tend to be called ‘salty’ if they're very negative, so after all the negativity immediately following last week's Bungie Weekly Update, I changed the page title and sidebar flavor text labels as a way to try and lighten things up,” Subreddit moderator MisterWoodhouse told me. “The response from the community has been great. We put in little easter eggs like this from time to time, though they've never been as conspicuous as the page title change (except on April Fool's Day and Gjallarhorn Day).”
The community has also been quick to latch onto recent reports about the status of the second full Destiny title. A Kotaku report last week suggests that the title was originally planned for a fall 2016 release. That allegedly changed after recent discussions between Bungie and Activision. The publisher and studio have never publicly announced a release window.
Kotaku’s multiple sources also suggest that the studio doesn’t have a clear plan for how to proceed between now and Destiny 2’s release (though the game may not be called that at all). Devoted Destiny players, some of whom have put thousands of hours into the 16-month-old game, remain hopeful that Bungie can deliver something to keep the flame alive until the sequel.
Our Take
While it’s not uncommon to see negativity swirl around games (especially Destiny), rarely does it come in tidal wave form from inside the community. Bungie needs to reach out to its most active fans and communicate more clearly about what’s to come between now and the sequel. As of now, there appears to be a deep gulf between expectation and reality.
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