THE TAKEN KING: How Destiny Should've Been

Destiny: The Taken King expands on the foundation built by the main game and improves the core experience in a meaningful way. It is a true expansion that solves most of the staggering problems that plagued the vanilla game. 

First of all, Year One Destiny was a miser when it came to loot drops. Engrams, which you could decode to get gear often gave you lower level gear than what they were supposed to. Thus, frustration would set in to the players as the grind became unbearable for the most part. While this issue was fixed in a later patch in Year One, loot drops were still extremely rare. This time around, loot drops are abundant and the gear you get will be based on what the players currently have so they will almost always end up with gear that is better than what is currently equipped. So even mid-rarity gear will be important. Thus progression requires much less grinding and is much more enjoyable. 

Destiny Year One was plagued by an incoherent story which made no sense and subpar dialogues which made even the most talented of voice actors seem plain bad. In The Taken King, a majority of those issues have been done away with. The story finally links up with all the events that have transpired up until the start of the new missions. The voice cast is finally allowed to shine as dialog has been considerably improved. Bungie have finally learned how to incorporate a decent storyline in to the Destiny universe.

A new quest system has been incorporated which allows players to see what exactly they need to do to finish a quest. Other than that, when parts of a quest are finished, you can return to the quest giver for a reward. Sound familiar? Because it is omnipresent in every single game that has any sort of RPG element to it. It is shocking to think how this was absent from the game in the first place. 

Despite all these changes, unfortunately, the grind is still real. Bungie revamped the levelling system in a way that getting higher levels does not mean you have to have the best gear out there. However, there is another level that does increase with better gear. The light level. And basically, the light level dictates what the player can do. Want to do the new raid? Too bad, you have to grind for better gear and get to light level 290+ to survive. Even with the new loot drop system, grinding is still a must although it is not as excruciatingly exhaustive as it was before. 

All in all, The Taken King really does improve Destiny for the better. Fans will find this a blast to play and even a few naysayers might be convinced to try it out again.  

Shahrukh Ikhtear is a gamer who doesn't rage. A writer who doesn't read. A musician without a teacher. Full time procrastinator. You can reach him on twitter @sr_ikhtear and email: shahrukh.ikhtear@yahoo.com