Making Destiny 2 More Accessible To New Players Is Good For Veterans, Bungie Says

If you've never played Destiny before, it can be a bit daunting at this point to try. Four expansions, countless updates, and activities that require a very high level to play all make it difficult to jump in. But Bungie hopes to bring in a lot of new players to Destiny 2, even if they never touched the first game. We sat down with project lead Mark Noseworthy after the official Destiny 2 reveal event to learn more about Bungie's philosophy behind appealing to new players.

When asked if attempting to make Destiny 2 open and accessible to beginners would potentially alienate existing players, Noseworthy explained that Bungie doesn't see it that way. Rather, catering parts of the game to help onboard newcomers will make a more positive experience for everyone, he argued.

"What's good for new people is almost never bad for someone returning," he said. "Ultimately, Destiny is a social game--you can play it solo, can play the rich story and have a great time by yourself. But the thing that makes Destiny truly unique is the presence of other people... The more people that are playing Destiny, the special-er it can be."

"By introducing new players to the world, and really introducing all the new mechanics to the game, that's good even for returning players, who are like, 'I know all this stuff, you don't have to explain anything to me,'" he continued. "Because it means they're going to have other players that are going to come on board."

In addition, he said that Bungie is changing enough systems in the game that it will even help players who spent a ton of time in the first Destiny. "We're changing some systems," he said. "There's stuff that's going to be different than Destiny 1, and so returning players might think that they've got it all figured out, but some things have turned on their head."

Noseworthy made a point, however, to say that veterans will be recognized for their commitment to the game. Although Bungie hasn't announced anything specific yet, they will be giving long-time players something. "We have announced that players that have reached level 20 in the original Destiny are going to receive some honors and be able to continue that character from Destiny 1," he stated. Players can bring their current character over to Destiny 2, but without its level progress and gear. "At some point in the future we will probably say, 'And here are some of the other achievements that you do that we'll recognize.' It's really important for us to let players know that we remember, we remember what you've done and who you've done it with. So we have some special things in store there."

Some of the major additions to Destiny 2 include Guided Games and an overhauled weapons system; you can read more about those changes here.

Destiny 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 8, and PC at a currently unspecified date. However, Bungie talked a lot about the PC version, and you can read more about it here. Bungie will hold a beta for the game this summer for consoles, and at some unknown point in the future for PC.

Check out all the rest of our Destiny 2 coverage here.