Just needs a little spit shine
When Destiny launched, there were a few issues with the game that I wished Bungie would address. With the release of its second expansion, Destiny is getting a host of new content, including alternate activity types and a bunch of new armor and weapons to hoard. If you haven't checked out Destiny, or just simply fell off the wagon, all of the new stuff and fixes definitely make it a great time to give the open-world shooter another shot.
Like many MMOs that have come before it, Destiny isn't the same game it was at launch and it only seems to be getting better. But that isn't to say there isn't more to improve. How far has Bungie come to completing my fix list? Here's a recap of what I asked for and whether the issue was fixed - plus I threw in a few new things to keep Bungie on its toes.
What's been fixed
Let players see faction rep from the character screen
The previous situation: Getting this request would save me a ton of time running around the tower and allow for more time to kill bad guys. The only way you can see how much reputation you've earned with a particular faction is to actually earn some rep and wait for the two-second pop-up icon notification, or drop what you're doing and go all the way to the faction representative at the Tower and talk to them. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to see your accumulation of faction rep points all in one easily accessible location, like on the inventory screen?
How it got fixed: Ask and you shall receive. Bungie did exactly what was detailed above. Now all you have to do to check your faction reputation level is bring up the inventory screen and highlight a drop-down arrow for a full view of every faction point you've earned.
Set up proximity chat
The previous situation: I like to help out my fellow Guardians when we're out in the field. Thing is, I don't necessarily want to join a party or fireteam to do it, therefore giving me no way to communicate with them. Easy solution: bring in proximity chat. This would allow anyone close by to hear you gabbing on the mic. It would be perfect for coordinating with others during public events, telling players secrets about the world, or potentially finding people you actually do want to party with.
How it got fixed: Instead of there being no ability to chat outside an Xbox Live / PSN party or fireteam, players can now jump in team voice chat channels during any team-based mode such as Strikes or Crucible matches. All you need to do is opt in from the Dinklebot menu and you'll hear everyone else in your current channel. You still can't chat with players directly while on Patrols, but this is a start.
Let players queue for weekly Heroic Strikes and dailies
The previous situation: I really want to play the weekly Heroic Strikes. I really do. But, alas, I don't have a giant pool of friends I can call upon to do them with me. Selecting a weekly Heroic Strike from the travel map just drops you into the mission, all by your lonesome if you aren't in a fireteam. Why can't these be like the Strikes selected from the world map, which let you queue up with other random players online? Please, Bungie, please. I need to earn more Strange Coins.
How it got fixed: Bungie added matchmaking to the weekly Heroic Strikes. Now if you want to jump in a Heroic and get your nine strange coins for your effort, you don't have to go looking for a group to do it; the game does it for you. The drawback is, now the few who enjoyed soloing the Heroics will have a hard time doing so alone. With that in mind, it would be great if Bungie could go the extra step and make the matchmaking optional. That way everyone is happy. Dailies, on the other hand, still have no option for matchmaking. Maybe we'll see that in the future.
Add an undo-discard button
The previous situation: Ouch. Did you just discard that legendary you picked up? Of course, it was an accident, but there's no going back now. Good luck finding another one.
How it got fixed: If you were ever worried about accidentally breaking down an exotic or legendary item (despite the long safety gauge), you can now lock your most precious items in your inventory so that doesn't happen.
Refill all ammo after respawning at a checkpoint
The previous situation: Okay, maybe no refills for group missions, but doing solo missions requires a ton of effort and sometimes you get in a little over your head. People make mistakes, and you die from time to time. Considering the difficulty of some of these missions, it would be so very kind of Bungie to give us at least a chance to get back on our feet by filling up our magazines. At the very least, we should get a refill on the primary and special weapon ammo.
How it got fixed: It was already in there. It was a little known fact back at launch that ammo refills if you completely deplete your reserves in all of your weapons. If you're low on ammo, just spend everything and wait around. More ammo will magically appear.
Make item leveling not-so-complicated
The previous situation: With every expansion that hits Destiny, the level cap goes up. When the game first launched the Light level cap was 30, and you got to that point by upgrading your gear. With the The Dark Below content in-game, all of your precious exotics need to be boosted to the new level cap so they don't become useless. The way this problem is currently solved is by allowing players to purchase a higher level version of the same exotic through Xur using the item you already obtained and an exotic shard. Doing so resets the upgrade progress you have with that exotic, setting you back at square one and forcing you to grind the weapon back up to full power. Can we get an easier, more efficient way to do this, please?
How it got fixed: Now that the House of Wolves content has landed, the old exotic item upgrade process has been shunned, and another, simpler system is now in place. All you need to upgrade your weapons and armor to the new level cap is an item called Etheric Light. It's obtained as a random drop after completing certain Prison of Elders challenges. Once you have one, just use it in any legendary or exotic upgrade tree, and BOOM, that item can be upgraded to have level 34 item stats.
What Bungie could do to improve Destiny now
Add emotes that facilitate communication between players
Yes, you can point, wave, sit, and dance, but none of those emotes really let you communicate anything functionally useful. What players need is a visual option for communication - especially when playing with randomly-matched strangers without a mic. We need emotes that clearly say, "yes" and "no" and "STOP!" And because a huge focus in Destiny is being in a fireteam, players should have a set of tactical squad signals while on foot. It could work like Bloodborne: you have a menu of emotes to choose from and assign them to the respective D-pad buttons. It would give mic-less players a better way to communicate in team activities like Strikes and Raids. And if Bungie ever implemented matchmaking to Raids, grouping with players without mics might not be as great of a concern as it is now.
