Destiny’s Friends-Only Raid Solution

Bungie's 'friends only' raiding isn't a terrible decision, it's a masterful one.

[Stevefantisy]

It is nice feature for sure.

[XBLSkull]

I just hope you can make private games. The whole time me and my buddy were playing we were both complaining about random people running around ruining it for us.

The multiplayer also left a lot to be desired, its not nearly Halo caliber and felt very generic, class C experience.

[hakeem0996]

it's a damn MMO ,why would they give you the option for private games?

[King_of_Nothing]

You must be new to gaming. Thats not how MMO's work.

[Volkama]

It's great if you have friends, or if you're comfortable making friends online. The best online experiences are with friends, having fun on the comms. That is the epitome of social gaming.

It also means that content can be tuned to be a bit tougher, to require communication.

But for some people it just means they will never see that content.

Personally I used to make friends online with no effort. I ran a quake 3 clan, and mmo guild, and made real friends all the time. For some reason these days I cannot do that, i have retreated from talking to anyone I do not know. Fortunately I know several people that will be playing destiny :-)

[FanboyKilla]

@hakeem0996 i wouldnt call six players running around on a map a mmo. the only thing massive about destiny is my disappointment for the game.

xboxskull hit the nail on the head.

we are going to see how masterful it is, when there is one guy standing there alone and cant play. who wants to recruit people to play a game with them. now im putting random people on my list just to play. thats what matchmaking is for. defeats your purpose bungie. im still not playing with friends they are random people cluttering up my friends list.

what happens when my friends decide they are bored? do i go make new friends? no, i go play with others who want to play. i mean i need someone to play the game with, when i find someone i doubt we will become friends. masterful? or maybe a mistake?

lol we are all guardians or something like that, fighting against the fallen or something like that, but then we all get together and kill each other. wtf sorry bungie you dropped the ball. hince your tweets and comments, trying to reassure us. you put out a beta, no need for your words. your game should say it all, and believe me it does. hype train derailed.

[Battlefieldlover]

Ya forget about the space you share with thousands of players,

I must admit i didn't read ur book on why you hate destiny. Odd article to be in then ant it? Prolly has something to do with you having no bubbles. Thank god i only have to see your stupid spewed once.

[Gozer]

I don't mind the friend requirement for raids. But I have at least 40 people on my friends list, some of which I made during the beta.

My suggestion to people that think they will have trouble getting enough people for raids is simply network a little. I don't know about the ps4, but the X1 has enough social features that you can get to know people if you try a little. Or try joining a gaming forum, and just let other members know that you are looking for players. Or even start a clan that revolves around your needs. You would be surprised at the amount of people looking for the same thing. You cant grow a friendship if it doesn't start somehow.

For all the dads out there working, and taking care of their kids. You might find what you are looking for here-
http://www.bungie.net/7_Com...

[JeffGUNZ]

I joined a clan for the xbox one on the destiny site. Got several friends on my list there and I met a few guys yesterday playing titanfall who are just killing time till Destiny. So, it's doable, but I don't see the harm in making the matchmaking optional. If you have friends, great, then it doesn't apply to you.

[-Foxtrot]

" If you don’t have 5 friends that you can count on, to help you complete a raid then you need new friends "

But not everyone has 5 friends who own the same consoles and own the game.

You should never force someone to make friends in a GAME just to experience a mode.

It was like Portal 2, I don't see why I had to be forced to play with someone else to experience the other half of the game.

I mean look at Borderlands or L4D, they are co-op built up games but you can play them as single player games. They don't force you to play with other people...not everyone wants to be social.

People like choices

[JoeIsMad]

I think that you can find 5 people that you want to play with in-game, and become friends. Bungie is encouraging making friends instead of making enemies in shooters.

[-Foxtrot]

The thing is though that sounds like one of those things you would see for a games promotional trailer where they all make friends, get along, help each other and are organized right down to the last detail when going into battle....in reality however nobody is like that.

I think they need to realise not everyone is social and wants to make friends in a game...enough to be all buddy buddy to play on Raid mode together.

People just like to play through a game in peace and quiet after a long days work/college etc. I know it's an online game but they have promised on several occasions you can play the FULL game by yourself without bugging anyone.

[JoeIsMad]

Fox, I think that this is going to work exactly like WoW. If you just want to play and have fun, that's going to work for everyone. You can do your solo thing, but you'll have to accept that you simply can't get the things that are in end-game raids.

PVP doesn't require you to have the best gear, so you can take this to the same level that most people play CoD - multiplayer solo all day and that's great. Those who want to socialize will prosper in the PVE and complete the game for all of its gear and lore.

You'll still get all the main story, just like those who play MMO titles can alone, but you won't experience all there is to play. At least adding people to your 1,000 person friends list on Xbox One or PS4 will allow you to know how good your 'friends' are before jumping into a raid and being drug down by a random player.

If you're all bad, that's OK, and everyone will laugh and have a good time. if you're all great, the same is true. I already have a fireteam of 3's and 6's ready to go, and if they aren't available, I'll add people in PVP matches that play on my level for Pick-Up-Groups. I think it's a fine system.

[Dark11]

I agree .. No Raid Matchmaking = no buy.

[JeffGUNZ]

That's drastic. I really think they will patch it in when they see the amount of people playing to the amount of people doing raids.

[SINISTERGENESIS]

Agreed and most of my friends have jobs so it's really a pain in the ass to have to sync up every time I feel like doing a raid mission, also sometimes I'm up playing around 2am while others are sleeping etc... Too many factors happen to make co op like that overly complicated , simple fix is to make raids more convienient is to have matchmaking for those missions as well bottom line.

[Shadonic]

forgot about the late into the morning players. I had a friend who would be on well until like 6am on just gears. I'm probably all defensive of the no matchmaking decision as it brought back memories of preparing for Hoard mode and gathering friends and randoms from online. Maybe a Matchmaking is needed though.

[Shadonic]

I made about what 8+ new friends from adding friends of friends on Destiny and randoms as well so I'm set not to mention I have big enough balls to ask people online if their up for a certain mission or something else. I did it in the Beta asking people if I could join their party and they became my friends in less than 3 minutes.

Its not like their being asked to perform the trails of Hercules just to get a raid going. The thing is that for Portal 2 it wasn't some mass hybrid between an FPS and an MMO with other players popping in around you in hub areas meant for showing off an socializing a bit. Borderlands and L4D are no different as you can do activities like exploring and what not alone in Destiny the thing is that the raids like on MMO's are Made to be played with by other players and prove to be a challenging experience, even if you could play alone your going to get destroyed.

If you dont have 5 friends it doesn't mean you cant make em, dont like to do it through PSN ? theres at least about 100+ sites that at the least provide ways for people to group up for certain activities pertaining to Destiny. Personally if its added its going to take away from some of the excitement for the preparation. Maybe its because of those videos detailing how Raids usually go in a MMO

[-Foxtrot]

"Its not like their being asked to perform the trails of Hercules just to get a raid going."

Well to some it is because as people and myself have mentioned above your friends might not have the same console as you, they might still be on last gen hardware, they might have different sleeping patterns, they might work at different times or they might just want to play alone...hell what if they don't like FPS or the game it's self. It's a lot of hard work just to play a mode.

People are less willing to make friends in the game, people don't like strangers, we don't know each other and people can be unpredicatable. I like the look at the game but I don't want to use my headset to talk to people, I just don't like that sort of thing, I usually just mute people when in online games

"The thing is that for Portal 2 it wasn't some mass hybrid between an FPS and an MMO"

True but my point with that if your paying for a game you shouldn't be forced to play with other people just to play the other half of the game. Portal 2 for me was done wrong because of this as they were in a unique posisition...the developers were Valve, these guys shit money so it's not like adding co-op was a way to gain a bigger audience.

Valve could of easily added the co-op story AFTER they made the single player game. The DLC would of been free anyway and they did this with some co-op DLC to expand the missions. They had to cut the story in half because they wanted to add co-op so in my opinion if they made the game with the full story they had and THEN add the co-op after the main game is finished and out the door then both sets of audience would of won.

"even if you could play alone your going to get destroyed"

But isn't it up to Bungie...the developer to make it so they COULD be done as a single player thing. It would be a little harder but they have a number of ways to get around that. They could provide better weapons for you, provide temporary stats upgrades, reduce enemies, tamper with the AI or hell just kick it down a notch in terms of difficulty so it suits how many players there are. It's not impossible for them to do, everything is possible you just have to find a way and experiment.

Raids might be done like that in other MMO games but this is Bungies chance to break the mould, do something different and make their version of it. It's not a full on MMO so it's not like they have to follow the rules.

If they spent a little time catering it for solo players would it ruin the game for those who find 5 friends to play with?

[theDivision]

I agree people love choices and Can definitely agree with your points they are quite sound. I should not be forced to make new friends just to experience a part of the game.

[Shadonic]

"But isn't it up to Bungie...the developer to make it so they COULD be done as a single player thing "

Yea of course but when the entire gamemode is built upon the idea of grouping up with either longtime friends or some random dude who had some sexy ass loot and going through some extremely difficult 6 hour plus long mission for some incredibly rare and extremely hard to obtain gear or weapon. We're still unaware of what Raids like the "Vault of Glass " holds in terms of challenges and how its designed. Again something we will have to wait and see before we fully judge, they could most likely implement a single player option, thought I honestly wouldn't see the reason for it in the least if your already far enough into the paying for the online service to play the game region. It honestly depends upon just how these raids are designed considering what we know so far its built upon team work I wonder how much would need to be taken away or edited just so that a player could traverse alone.

I'm honestly getting the vibe that you wish that Destiny was a purely Single player endeavor, this gen seems to be sort of bonkers restricting last gen staples like in game voice chat which made processes like meeting other gamers while pushing more co-operative play.

Yes not everyone wants to meet and chat with other gamers and make friends on the 50 dollar online subscription service they use but me and many other gamers do want to experience instances brought on upon that communication. I personally felt as though any game I played had a more lively and long lasting community because of voice chat and that social interaction.

Gonna stop rambling sorry basically that social interaction between some strangers could be a huge plus to you your a stranger to them as well, you should give it a try sometime, if you had a PS4 I would invite you to come play with me and my friends on Destiny if you get it. At the least the game needs some sort of chatting system to interact with other players in a more fluent fashion and matchmaking, possibly implement some sort of planned raid thing that could be sent out to your friends through Facebook or something.

[Kane22]

I shouldn't have to play with others to experience the whole game. Its like punishing people for not wanting to socialize. I hate forced features. You don't have to co-op but expect not to "enjoy" the full game..........

[Si-Fly]

Maybe you should spend your money on a different game.

[DarkOcelet]

Exactly bubble up for well said ...

[Rhezin]

not everyone of those friends are going to be online playing the same game when you are, it's a foolish decision. I'd rather have matchmaking.

[anwe]

I agree. It already exists for strike missions, not allowing it for raids is just silly.

[JoeIsMad]

Why don't you add the people who you play in strike missions with? Make friends. It's easy.

[DarkOcelet]

I still think that was a bad decisions from them , and they will patch it when people complain about it , you will see .

[JeffGUNZ]

Exactly this. Their is not way this won't be patched. To find people who are all on at the same time is tough. What happens if those friends you made have like 10 other friends. You sign on 5 minutes past everyone and they have a full team raid already started, now you're screwed for a few hours. Just add matchmaking, what's the harm? If you have a team, then you're fine. If you don't, then you have matchmaking.

[wls1012]

If you guy's need someone awesome add me shanetsung on PSN,I've won more than 20 Halo 2 tournaments, that was a long time back mind you,but I can still get down with the best of'em

[Gr1mmyshadows]

Honestly I'd rather not raid with a group of 5 random strangers and nobody is talking like you should. If the raids are anything like Bungie is making it out to be then no thanks on matchmaking. I'm happy to have a clan waiting for this game to be released.

[ROQFrost]

I've got my 5 friends for raids. A few of them I talked into getting the PS4 just so we could all play Destiny together. Some of my best friends I've met over online gaming. So to complain that you don't have enough friends and/or you don't want to make new ones is simply your choice. Maybe you're a hard person to get along with? Being more social isn't going to hurt you.

[Jacktrauma]

I look forward to meeting new people in game. I've got people i met on WoW that ive known for going on 10 years and I have yet to meet them in person. Part of Destiny is it's social interaction. You dont have to listen to the others during events that require you to have others in your group so its going to be ok ;)

[JoeIsMad]

There are quite a few things that Destiny is doing right, and while some people may disagree with this move, I can tell you for sure that I love not having open chat in PVP matches. Where you'll hear nothing but complaints in a match of Call of Duty, or random trolls, you won't get that from Destiny.

I think this is going to promote more open and friendly grouping, and I've already added some 20 new friends for the Destiny launch from the Beta test. You can disagree, but without the experience of playing the game, I don't think that you really understand how much better this is.

[Si-Fly]

Proximity chat with the ability to turn it on/off would improve the Tower no end.

[Shadonic]

Agreed.

[Torgul]

This friend s only raids scared me but since many of my friends are going to buy an xbox one to play destiny I fell better;)
I know we will spend more than 100hours very quickly.
Can t wait, will be a blast!

I am confident with those guys, we made all easter eggs in cod zombies And always in the 500 ranking 4players.

[Pascalini]

No buy for me this has ruined the game

[DevilishSix]

No its a poor decision from Bungie. For a game that is so heavy involved with online and matching up with other gamers, not just friends, to have a mode with no matching is a poor decision. Justify it all you want its still a poor decision. Few gamers will have that many friends playing Destiny at any given time to do these end of game level 20 raids. It's a mode designed for the loyal fans of this game and should have match making.

[_LarZen_]

At first I was bummed out by this but the more I thought about it the more I embrace it.

Games like this is not just about skills. It's about communication. And just getting matched with some random people that most likely is sitting alone with no microphone and that will ditch the entire raid when things don't go their way is not something I want.

As a old time mmo player I know how irritating that is. Communication is vital!

I don't have that many friends that play on PS4 so I will have to make friends in the game. And go to various gaming forums and most likely join a guild or something.

And just thinking about it builds up my expectations even more.

[JoeIsMad]

If you need a Destiny clan, there's one right here you can pick up for PS4. http://www.bungie.net/en/Cl...

[_LarZen_]

Thanks! I will go take a look!

[SINISTERGENESIS]

Look I can see why the "forced co op" is somewhat of a good Idea but look games are always and I do mean always better when it's open ended whether it's through gameplay, game options, matchmaking, etc... If they're worried about it being too hard but hey I ( others like myself ) love to over- come the odds so to speak by going at something solo that is easier with a team... Even if it's supposedly impossible... Also if people drop out then hey people drop out, if you can't hang solo the rest of the way then quit take the loot you earned and try again... Just like its easy to find players to play with by friending them, it's just as easy to find people in matchmaking that'll finish the raid all the way through as well... It's better to leave that game mode open ended because all it does is give you the player more options on how you can play the game/modes...

By belittling other people because they prefer not to play with others for whatever reason they have is childish and narrow minded... I'm certain this can be removed and it should be because it alienates certain people like myself... I mean I have over 100 friends I know it's not impossible to play with then or new people but in the words of HHH... It's what's best for buisness lol.

[Shadonic]

I know that if it was solo and if someone somehow beat it alone they would wither be labeled as some Destiny Champion or a no life... probably both.

[SINISTERGENESIS]

Please don't tell me that was your attempt to talk trash because it's rather pathetic, moronic, & worst of all shows how scared you are to talk smack in person but only when you're ONLINE miles away...if not then whatever & disregard the previous. The point of you're comment makes little to no sense because you're basing what you said as if I or others like me would give a rats ass what someone else , especially someone who's online, thinks of me because I can do something they can't or doesn't find fun . Seems to me that you're p hurt that what you've said has been dissolved into nothing more than a narrow minded opinion that only makes you and others like you that think that way look like mitches. Remember if you weren't being rude then disregard but you should choose your words better because tones don't reflect in text.

My point still stands and is unrefutible. Have a nice day squirt ;)

[dbbd1388]

What about a guild system. They might not be your friends through PSN or Xbox Live but they you can team up with anyone in your guild to take on these quest. That way you can keep up with the people who have schedules like your own, or the people you meet in the crucible, exploring etc.

[my-proxy]

I just want to play this game :)

[amnalehu]

Provided the Destiny app has audible alerts, it could prove very useful with assembling a strike team.