In the Trenches
The Destiny community was built out of necessity. In this Destiny development post, I went over how the first year of Destiny left many of its player-base to their own devices. Even at its most competitive, Destiny is a cooperative experience. Many endgame activities required fireteams of 3-6 players with no in-game method of matchmaking or LFG (looking for group) functions.
This paved the way for many content creators and community leaders to rise up and help lead groups through challenging activities like raids. Websites like Destiny LFG and the Fireteams Subreddit became posting boards for those looking for groups to play with. We all became united in the struggle. However, these services didn’t appeal to most, resulting in a less than 18% player base participation rate for Destiny 1‘s raids during its peak.
Player groups and clans were supported on the Bungie website, but offered little integration in the game itself. It wasn’t until Destiny 2 that clans were fully supported in-game. Destiny 2 offers the ability to send player invites to clans, clan rosters, and clan achievements that net in-game rewards.
This brought clans front and center, presenting players with an in-game method of finding permanent player groups. Bungie also implemented a new party finding feature called “guided games”. This allows solo players to queue up against clan teams. While this feature has a lot of opportunities, clans themselves are the answer to the solo player’s problems with experiencing the endgame.
The intro to “Leviathan”, Destiny 2’s first raid.
The Next Level
Two months ago, I joined the Knights of Conquest clan through a random LFG service and have had nothing but fun since. Actually, the past few months have been some of the best gaming experiences of my life. It’s nice to be past the barrier of being strangers. Being able to recognize your teammates voices means you can react much more quickly to call-outs than you could with a group of randoms. This allows us to achieve a whole new level of enjoyment that is only made possible by the removal of the awkward unknown. Its a new level that I had only seen big streamers enjoy, and that is: hanging out.
Now when I play, I’m hanging out with friends. We are 100 members strong, and the group I play with most often are all around my age. We can talk, laugh, and joke around. There’s also the shared excitement of experiencing new content together, and helping each other through the game’s toughest challenges. I’ve begun to grow more as a person too; learning to be more social, and caring. With clans, you really can find people that have the potential to become life-long friends. A few weeks ago we took on the challenge to complete the Leviathan raid using only the Rat King sidearm, while slightly less than sober. It was an incredibly memorable night, which there might just be a video of that you can watch down below!
Destiny 2 has become an even more incredible experience with a consistent, fun, and solid groups to play with. I highly recommend everyone find a clan that matches with their personality and needs as fast as possible. The journey is not the most pleasant- my current clan being my 4th clan transition- but when you find the right group to play with, you’ll get the sense that you’ve finally unlocked the full game. Gaming in general is a crucial social tool of our current era and has meaningful positive implications, whether it’s for 1 person, or millions.
Come Together
GuardianCon began 3 years ago as a Destiny community convention. It was founded by community leader King Gothalion, and has grown to encompass much more; including celebrity guests, other games, and vendors. It also functions as a non-profit event focused on charity. Last year they broke $1 million raised for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an effort I was very proud to partake in with profits from my shirt sales going towards the goal.
This year, as of the writing of this article, the community has raised over $2.7 million, funding St. Jude for a whole day of operation. Bungie has even begun to officially participate by matching funds. They also brought a playable presentation of Destiny 2 Forsaken for attendees to enjoy. Visit the GuardianCon website to learn more and see how you can participate.
People think Destiny is about becoming more powerful, collecting exotic weapons and shooting monsters in the face and of course all those things happen, but for us, Destiny is about collecting memories.
-Mark Knowsworthy, Destiny Project Lead
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