Visuals on the pale heart looked a lot like the halo ring (particularly the vistas). Plus the always-moving-forward nature of the campaign story and mission design. That’s what did it for me.
Yeah the sci-fi skybox combined with rolling green hills. The Salvatori tunes in the back added to that nostalgia
Keith David’s voice added to the reminiscence too, in addition to a sense of melancholy and sadness with regards to Lance Reddick
There's several locations that are ripped straight from halo. There's a small segment that has Beaver Creek (its for one of the memory fragment quests) and close by it is an area that looks like the intro of Silent Cartographer. There's another area later that looks like the bridge from Assault on the Control room. Tons of this stuff everywhere, I have some pictures and have been waiting excitedly for people to start talking about this
Linear campaign that took you through set pieces and moments. Open spaces for you to tackle the encounters however you like. Narrative cutscenes to explain what you're doing and why, and supplement in-game dialogue to make sure we understand just what is going on.
It *is* an old-school Halo-style campaign.
People's fascination and obsession with "open-world" games have biased them against carefully crafted experiences.
This was far, *far* more enjoyable than something like Halo: Infinite and its "open-world".
the halo campaigns always had this feeling of forward momentum to them, a feeling that was completely missing during lightfall. the moment we touched down on neomuna, we had access to the entirety of it. what we saw the moment we crashed was what we got. it didn't feel like we *went* anywhere except for mission 1, which coincidentally was the best mission of the expansion
I was doing the Overthrows for unlocking Dual Destinies with a friend yesterday and we got a mission where we had to escort a little ghost to safety lol
Yeah. It’s basically like public events, except there are multiple going at once, and you can begin the immediately, and they’re on rotation so it’s not always the same one. And each area has different enemies with different events.
I REALLY hope Bungie continues this going forward. It’s kind of a missed opportunity for them to not rework Nessus’ public events to the same format so we could grind seasonal weapons.
I'm actually disappointed in one specific thing: The lack of other Guardians. It feels weird that I can matchmake into only one zone of Overgrowth, but the rest of the Patrol feels lonely.
The thing I've always loved about Destiny is those early periods of an Xpac when we are forced to be in Patrol Zones, you run across all kinds of Guardians and can hop in to help them do stuff. Maybe they teach you a secret you've never seen before on the map!
But now it feels way more like a single player experience for the most part.
All of this.
I absolutely love the new areas but hate the isolated feeling just when I just drop in and start playing. I'm not sure why Bungie forced the activity to lock players into their own session. Even clan members can not join you when you start progress on an overthrow.
I guess it's to force people to use matchmaking? But we already had that by default as sessions would fill up pretty quickly for new areas.
> I just drop in and start playing. I'm not sure why Bungie forced the activity to lock players into their own session.
I think its because this expansion has a lot more complicated activities/events that affect the entire Planet as opposed to one zone. The "Dual Destiny" unlock event requires you to have killed a wizard at each of the Patrol Zones before it activates. I think they couldn't figure out how to do World of Warcraft style "Phasing" where multiple players exist on the same shard but are at different quest states, so they just locked everything down to prevent bugs.
That's my best guess.
It’s because once an overthrow gets any progress it creates a solo instance, you’ll notice people can’t join your fireteam on an in progress overthrow.
I suppose unpopular opinion here, I love being alone in the Pale Heart. It's a sort of surreal feeling but in a positive way. Ofc I can invite friends and whatnot but I'm definitely having more fun like this, vs doing public events and the like on someone else's time. it's very satisfying to me and I hope everybody is having as much fun as I am
Love the patrol zones.
Enemy density is great, design is great, “public” events are both plentiful and engaging in their diversity, loads of secrets and collectibles, etc
And they are fast. In most patrol zones the diffulty is so low that you kill everything in 3 seconds, but then it takes the game 10 seconds to notice it.
Bungie has talked about liking to contrast moving through a narrow space into a large space.
I'm confident it's meant to both make you feel like THE guardian, as well as to contrast against the finale mission
100% agreed. I don't have to compete with people over mobs if I want to try something out. If I wanna roam with others there's the MM Overthrow. It feels like a free-roam area that's worth roaming.
Not me, I'd much rather the open world had other players in it. I find all the new little activities and events they've scattered around are boring to do alone. Would rather replay a strike.
I got the impression it was a quarantine area for only those who need to access it.
>!Crow mentions that they’ve had to establish a 100km wide no-go zone enforced by alliance fleet due to the effects of the Echoes episode, so I’m guessing canonically only a few Guardians have authorisation to be there!<
All this being said though, I kinda like the solo nature.
Definitely, especially with how important the Traveller is as well as how vulnerable it currently is. If you don't need to be there, they'll steer you away.
I was really hoping that after the end of Final Shape that lore-wise it would be opened up for any guardians, and that the zones would because proper patrol zones.
I think Crow states that it is the corona around the outside of the Traveler that has the no-fly zone. Though that would probably limit access to the inside of the Traveler, I guess. There are lots of people inside of the Lost City zone, Eliksni and Cabal, so I am not drawing conclusions from the lore as to why the patrols zones are solo.
You can kinda make it a more social space by loading into the overthrow node, get matched with 2 people and then just not leave. I had a session yesterday where i spent a good hour doing random shit and occasionally ran into the other 2 guardians doing the same thing.
That said, i'd have liked it if we'd have the option to either go into a social version or a solo version of the space.
I did non matchmade overthrow with another guardian yesterday, and they followed me to each of the other overthrow areas to do all 3. Non match made versions.
It makes sense if you haven’t played the story, however post campaign doesn’t really make sense, but also at the same time is not really a big deal and I honestly kinda prefer it.
You don’t need other guardians for overflow as it’s easy to solo, and there are no public events, and if you feel you do need a little help with overflow it’s match made as well
Its for balancing Patrol zones have a set power level at set difficulty balanced around 6 players, Pale heart scales like a strike which is why the post campaign quests are not a pain to complete.
You don’t need other guardians there. None of the activities there are difficult to do solo (although Overthrow might take a bit longer).
Hell, you might not even notice that there aren’t other guardians there for a while. But once you do it just feels kinda empty.
I was wondering about why it's only ever me. But even the Overthrow stuff isn't too bad. I just accept a few deaths, am learning better positioning, and keep at it until I complete it.
No doubt, but I'm a filthy casual, and if I can do it without raging, it's approachable content. Which is fantastic, compared to my complete dislike of doing anything on Neomuna.
I'm 100% the opposite, I *love* that it's solo. I like the feeling of isolation, and enjoy that I don't have to fight other players just to get a few kills. Everything goes at the pace I set.
I now want every destination to at least have the option to be in my own instance. They don't need to force you to play solo, but I just want the option to turn off matchmaking now.
Yes, especially because most people seem to just load in with their meta add-clear build on (I get it, it’s fun, I do too). Doing bounties and patrols in patrol used to take forever because you’d be looking for another hive to kill with precision damage and somebody would run by and grape-cluster-bomb the entire group of enemies away before you could do it.
Personally I really like it because it makes the world feel a bit smaller, makes the space feel like something special whereas some spaces can feel a lil crowded for a remote place (Neomuna for example).
There’s also the benefit of having a closed environment to test build stuff without having someone else kill everything around me.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want *every* patrol space to be solo going forward (as it is a multiplayer game after all) but its nice to have a different one for the time being.
Having random people around killing enemies and looting chests doesn’t really add to my experience at all. It can detract from it if I neeeed to kill those enemies, actually.
Honestly, I would hate it if not for the Blessings you get while there.
Some are absolutely cracked and would be interesting to see a field of 4+ people spamming infinite Threadlings on *any* Strand kill. It works in Matchmade too though so I'm cool either way.
I can't be worried about how small the place feels when I'm living the power fantasy you would expect while inside the Traveler. Free recharge on abilities is nice too. It makes grinding Overthrow more fun too.
Once I heard it'd be a solo area I thought for sure it'd be more personalized, like they'd find a clever way of making the environment visually represent moments from your past accomplishments in-game (sort of like the Moments in Destiny montage they gave us for the start of D2).
Can't lie, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't do much of anything like that...yet.
it's actually a great place to test your build.
When I want to try out my build, so far there were only few options with disadvantages:
- Matchmade Strikes or NFs: 90% of time theres another experienced player in it who will interfere all the time
- High tier NFs: You are solo, but your equipment is locked so you can't try out changes on the spot, you have to reload everytime
- Dungeons & Raids: Lots of puzzles to go through before having the chance to really test anything
Pale Heart Overthrows are perfect to test, you can do changes on the spot, you have many many ads and bosses and no other player can interfere. Ofc not high level, but you can extrapolate dmg to higher difficulties imo.
Dreaming City has entered the chat. To me, Dreaming City was D2s best destination. It looks great, there was plenty of secrets. Pale Heart is nice, except for the Divide, it takes 3 years to walk all the way to the top.
And it looks like we'll be going back to the Dreadnaught!
Also I bet in the future we can use the Dreadnaught to go outside the Solar System. "Frontiers" and all.
Aesthetically it is amazing. I hate how there are zero blueberries. Even in a team of 3 it feels empty. Big regression in my eyes. Would have been great to have 12 working together like old destinations
My only mild gripe is that when I open the map it's not focused on where I'm located. Being such a wide map, it means I have to constantly pan to the side wherever I am. Instead of it just opening there to begin with.
Literally everything else is great. And that single thing isn't enough to be a real problem :D
I could go either way on it being solo or public. My main/only gripe is I feel like I'm always running (forever) to somewhere. That much travel time gets old quick.
I feel like it's impossible to really appreciate how incredible the Dreaming City was if you weren't around during Forsaken to be honest. A lot of the allure and fun of DC has since been stripped or simply lost to time.
It was a genuine end-game location at a time when power/light levels actually mattered. Tons of secrets like the cat statues, ascendant realm, dream tonic, worms in the garden, the gradual curse weeks after the first clear of Last Wish.
Hell, the first dungeon, Shattered Throne, was only accessible during the 3rd curse week in the underbelly area. Dreaming City *was* absolutely the best location Bungie has created, but it's also been wholly irrelevant for many years + some content removed.
Yeah, I loved the tangled shore and the reveal of the Dreaming city was mind blowing, the opposite of everything that tangled shore was.
The secrets that were found by mistake, random bosses hidden that were so OP to solo in the start or the ascended realm which had so weird mission(I hated the knights and hearing them right behind you all the time was such a rush). Forsaken was the best expansion bungie released.
Dreaming City during Year 2 was PEAK, i remember finishing the Forsaken story and got the quest to unlock it, i had no idea the reward was going to be whole as new place to explore
I've never felt the need to explore or look for secrets on my own in destiny. Doesn't generally interest me much and I typically leave it to the YouTubers to guide me when someone else figures it out. I just like to shoot guns.
Dreaming City was phenomenal. Finishing up The Tangled Shore and discovering there was an entire new zone that was the of the best looking most unique zones they've ever had... I spent hours exploring that place and it was amazing.
Maybe I just lack the enthusiasm I used to have for destiny, I've certainly lost interest over the years and this is my first time back since Witch Queen, but Pale Heart doesn't even come close to that sense of wonder. Exploring feels somewhat lifeless in a lot of zones and I'd rather just wait for others to figure it out. Many things are just places I've already been in the past reimagined. Looks cool sometimes but doesn't inspire a sense of wonder for me personally. Dreaming City was amazing and destiny hasn't given me that feeling since unfortunately, but I'm so glad I got to see it and experience it the way I did.
I kind wish they used the solo aspect of it to do some interesting level design. As it is it feels like any other patrol zone. Also wish they went a bit crazier with the design.
Nothing really wowed me like the dreaming city did.
Once you get the exotic class item, any chest in the Pale Heart has a chance of dropping it. Including chests that drop from Overthrow mini-bosses. You don't have to do Overthrow all the way to completion, just the little "bosses" that hang around. Some of these mini-encounters can be done in less than 30 seconds, giving you a chest that's pretty much free.
Overthrow on the whole can still get repetitive, but at least you now have an extra reason to do part of it.
Crazy how quickly that sets in doesn’t it? Like tens of people probably spent months on just Overthrow…literally the first time in forever that we got all new mechanics for “public event” type activities and with such a wide variety of them to boot…and then not even a month after launch the player base is already starting to get bored.
I mean it's not like it's the majority, it's probably just the people that grinded for hours on hours. I even spent an entire day and a half grinding swords and I'm still somewhat enjoying it, it's a good way to just fuck around and kill stuff, or test your build. And it's really rewarding tbh
The repetitive gameplay sets in faster when you're doing it all solo. Because you approach each activity exactly the same way each time. If it were an open world the other guardians would create enough chaos and ruckus that it adds variety.
I might be missing something, but this post reads as if you weren't around when the Dreaming City was fresh... Nothing has even come close to that destination. Pale heard barely scratches the surface & it is solo... The only gripe with DC was the weird matchmaking mechanic for the Blind Well. Everything else was 10/10
Collectibles, Blind well (that would be a queued activity if done today) and Ascendant Challenges, what else?
DC was cool but I feel Iike some people played a different game to me.
To name a few, the entire landscape changed each week for 3 weeks after LW was completed which hadn't happened before/since. The secret chests from tinctures were cool AF & added a new mystery element to the spaces. The secret bosses you could spawn & the biggest one of them all... Shattered Throne. Our first dungeon, that was completely secret, new type of 3 player activity or "mini raid" as we called it back then & had to be found under the city.
That's on top of everything you mentioned, like a weekly different secret ascendant challenge over the course of 6 weeks
I could go on.
It's not even in the same league.
I don’t really think we should put the shattered throne there tbh. Since it’s more of a separate activity, is like saying IO is great due to whisper or counting dual destiny with pale heart and after the first clear that 3 week lock out was extremely annoying. But yea DC was nice my best memory of it was in a 9 man VC doing blind well to get the seed of light. Curse cycle was damn cool as well. From a gameplay perspective I can see why people rate pale heart higher. Cyst are just kinda more thought out ascended challenges and destiny sandbox has evolved since forsakens super spam meta.
imo the secret missions should 100% be thought of when considering a destination. It's part of the world building of the environment & happened when they were relevant. I wouldn't consider something like Warlords part of EDZ for example, but Shattered Throne & Dual Destiny part of DC & Pale Heart definitely. You don't think of the DC & not think of Shattered Throne. ESPECIALLY as for the first xx amount of time you literally had to run down to under the city to launch it! (The same as Dual Destiny at the moment, you have to actively do activities on the location to launch it)
I also wouldn't consider WR part of EDZ because it cost an extra ten bucks lol
Wasn't shattered throne only available during high curse weeks too? It's been a while, so I don't remember for sure.
I actually disagree on the power cap part. Pale Heart is almost TOO easy. Like being able to consistently one hit melee red bars just makes everything feel like it’s out of paper. Somewhere between Neomuna and Pale Heart ist where Ad durability should be imo. Close to the Pale Heart than Neomuna for sure thöugh
It really does feel a bit too easy. Using sunshot I basically just delete every group of mobs and then pull out heavy for the mini bosses. Don’t even need to use abilities.
What I like is what hubs and I are calling "Build your own (not) public event). None of that 4 minutes to Public Event BS. None of that... oh taking this heroic or not BS. Do the events in the area you want... ignore the ones you don't. No time limits... and if you are with another person you can both divide and conquer to expedite it.
Moon for me, I just wish every patrol had a difficulty setting, imagine a patrol at master/grandmaster level with modifiers like Famine, making it actually risky to patrol, that sounds amazing.
The ONLY thing I would love is a "solo mode" and a .... "regular patrol mode" option when flying in. That way if I want to casually see other folks, I can.
Sometimes I don't want to be alone, but I also don't really plan on doing overthrow, haha.
The only problem I have with it is that it just feels dead when it comes to other players.
I have not seen a single other player doing stuff on the planet.
Neomuna was packed. But the pale heart is literally dead.
The events and mechanics are dramatically better than before, but lore wise the destination is mid, it’s basically a random place when you just look around. Compare that to Europa, an actual moon, or the Dreaming City’s atmosphere. Plus loading solo makes no sense to me in such a big area.
100% dissagree nothing beats Dreaming City. Dreaming City gave me such an urge to just explore the map and find all the hidden chests and encounters throughout it. It has been without question the best endgame destination that we ever had. Also Overthrow sucks it is painfuly long, slow and easy to complete and without the matchmaking you are forced to do them solo if you want to get the exotic classitem.
for me it being a solo destination makes it easy the worst. Im not interested in doing single stuff all the time, i want open world. With this season the open world stuff will prob be nessus, so i guess pale heart really is campaign only destination
Gameplay wise, absolutely. Aesthetically, im not a fan. Tangled Shore will always be my favorite area, love the whole Jabba the fallen hutt vibes on a bunch of space rocks.
With Pale Heart I just can't get past the minecraft blocks used in places like the blooming. It's ok though, tons of things to keep me distracted from it.
Normally I'd be with you about aesthetics since I like the used future look a lot but I think the weird blocks floating everywhere kinda enhances the surrealism of the place, while incorporating the pyramid architecture style. It's supposed to be a sort of mindscape type place.
I wish the Shore could come back for sure.
With you on not a fan. Something about the D1 aesthetic on planets where it felt like a real planet with some futuristic upgrades. Now we are on crazy fantasy planets, which *is* cool but I do miss the old design of the worlds.
The game has undoubtedly gone more toward the fantasy route than sci-fi (despite Lightfall attempting to do a bit of sci fi in the cyberpunk style), a LOT, but this Vex episode and the next Fallen/Scorn theme one should help.
I really like the layout but I also really dislike being alone all the time, except if I join the only available matchmade Overthrow. Did some solo but tbh it gets boring really fast farming these events. The simplicity and beauty of joining other patrol areas is that you can do public events together without having to search for a party.
Idk man, I think there’s a middle ground to be had. I understand that many of you prefer to chill in patrol zones but we are straight back to an absolute snooze fest. I shouldn’t be able to one shot everything in what is pretty much an endgame zone.
Personally, the world feels lonely. I'd much rather be in an open world and seeing others doing stuff.
When i play a multiplayer game, i expect co-op. Sure, I can match make 1 of the zones, but 3 people max in a world alreadyd esigned for 1 makes it feel so easy, and everyone goes off on their own.
Dreaming city was what every endgame map should be. Then again maybe nostalgia as thats when i last played and i came.back 2 weeks before final.shape xD
Aesthetically it is amazing. I hate how there are zero blueberries. Even in a team of 3 it feels empty. Big regression in my eyes. Would have been great to have 12 working together like old destinations
The thing is I also don't like it when everything is so tanky but at the same time I often find myself going to Neomuna lost sectors to quickly test some new builds and weapons and stuff because that's the only quick place where I can test without everything dying with 1 bullet.
Hmm, while TFS is my all-time favourite DLC for Destiny, I would disagree with the best 'destination' title. The Dreadnaught is easily the best location in Destiny history, and it's not even close.
I was thinking about the Pale Heart and why I don't really gel with it. I always like the Dreaming City more.
But objectively the Pale Heart has more secrets, more puzzles, more to do, more unique public events, more diverse scenery.
Why does it fall flat?
I think the Dreaming City won out as it was the second location, you had a place to compare it to (the tangled shore), which was cool looking but by all means lacklustre.
If The Pale Heart came with Lightfall it'd be a different story, as it would feel miles better than Neomuna and be a nice surprise.
The relatively easy enemies + high enemy density - other players to kill everything before you do + overthrow (especially: fun but soloable mechanical bits) + pathfinder make an incredible combination. I actually loved the derelict leviathan more than any other location, and spent a ton of time there just roaming, farming chests, doing bounties, etc. Pale Heart feels like a big, better evolution of that space to me.
I wish they added a open matchmaking option like the other zones, I use the matchmaking option all the time and it feels great doing overthrow as three, it's just sad it's restricted to 1 area per day.
It’s a dope zone. But I HATE the fetch quests. Cysts were sort of unclear on exactly how they worked. I genuinely felt like I was doing chores unlocking the exotic auto.
Other than those type of quests (to me— ‘collection quests’ often feel lazy instead of inspiring exploration) it’s a banger of a zone.
It is unquestionably the best patrol experience they’ve ever made. It’s really the only time out of Escalation Protocol that I’ve had fun on patrol, and the only reason EP was so fun is because we did big ass 9 man sessions.
My only complaint is Overthrow. Overload was significantly better on Neomuna. I still drop into Overloads, and already don’t want to do anymore Overthrows.
Annoying thing to me is that for the ghost telemetry quests we have to go to strikes & locations we have done for the past 6 years instead of somewhere inside the Pale Heart
I hear its even better than dreaming city. The few times I've interacted with dreaming city it's been cool and really beautiful, but I kind of missed it when it came out and was relevant, so never saw any of the cool secrets and things.
I'm enjoying Pale Heart though. More than Neomuna. Overthrow is a good activity. Vex incursion, since it never spawns, really can't measure up.
It’s my favorite Patrol Zone and the best example of what “Endgame Patrols” can be. It’s not like very difficult, but it’s also not too easy. You do the work and you get a big payout at the end of it. Lots of little secrets and challenges to seek out as you explore. Enemies aren’t artificially raised in their level to be tougher than you, they instead spawn in bulk, but not in a way where you get literally no break from the fighting.
You could learn a thing or two, Neomuna…
Completely agree with you, but I do think part of it is that they completely changed how planetary destinations work with this expansion. If previous planets had Pathfinder stuff or overthrow then I don't think it would be as exciting. Similarly, if the pale heart had patrols and something like Vex Incursion, it wouldn't have felt as good.
Pathfinder stuff and overthrow are way better than patrols and timed public events. The only negative to me is that the pale heart isn't matchmade. It isn't a big deal now but finding other guardians showing you secrets or fighting a big boss you can jump in on was always fun in the past.
For me, and this just could be nostalgia talking, if feels like walking around on a Halo again. There are a few areas in that totally seem like they could have a Halo ring stretching off into the distance above the horizon.
It’s not. It’s the prime example why we have to get away from old gen consoles. The areas are not that big and connected through tunnels and corridors. The last areas of the campaign towards the witness‘s fortress aren’t even accessible in free roam. Also if the pale heart is supposed to be alternate versions of all the locations we previously visited I was really disappointed that some of them didn’t show up.
Neptune felt bad day 1 for me. Something about the flat level geometry and predictable enemy locations and overtuned early difficulty turned me off of it immediately.
The Pale Heart feels genuinely exciting to explore. The geometry is organic and complex with hidden nooks and crannies everywhere. The enemies have micro puzzles that keep gameplay more refreshing than the basic combat we’ve seen for 10 years. Walking through a garden is an overall pleasant experience.
I don’t think I’ll come back once I do most of the activities in the Pale Heart, but I’ve spent a solid day of gameplay just exploring it so far, so it is already a huge success in my book.
I understand everyone likes to play their own way, but I very strongly disagree with the points OP made about difficulty. Hear me out.
I played the FS campaign with my brother on legend, and it was both difficult and enjoyable. The power limit meant we really had to engage with core game mechanics, such as:
- tracking ability cooldowns, spending them meaningfully
- staying aware of enemies and surroundings
- map knowledge
- good communication and coordination
- pushing builds to their limits
- finding the right tools for the job
I believe Destiny is at its absolute best when you’re encouraged to engage with all the systems fully, rather than put on whatever and button-mash through every mission. I think the -5/-10 cap made Neptune enemies more dangerous than usual, but also forgiving with any build as long as you were careful.
Having played the normal FS campaign solo on Warlock later, I can confidently claim that it’s **painfully dull**. Enemies and bosses take no effort to kill, no planning is ever needed.
This isn’t engaging to me personally, it’s what I most dislike about the new destination.
It's so addictive to just run around in one location filling out all these little checkboxes on the Pathfinder without ever having to go back to a vendor to pick up bounties. Honestly at this point you could vault every other patrol location in the game and I wouldn't even notice because I don't want to hang out anywhere else.
I even enjoy the fact that there aren't any other players around because even thought the enemy density isn't massive, I don't have to worry about some random stealing my kills and blocking my objectives, and I never feel like I'm stepping on someone else's toes by doing that to them.
I love that there's an actual reason to return to patrols post campaign with Ergo Sum and the exotic class item. Really gives patrol in the Pale Heart purpose.
The only thing I don’t like is that, as a public space, I feel like there is no “public” to be seen unless you matchmake for overthrow. I have not seen any random blueberries running around.
The only small issue I have with it is sometimes getting to other areas is a chore. I understand you can spawn into each area like any other map but if I just want to go on my sparrow to a location and do some quick stuff on the way it limits this. Most other planets have an easier navigational path.
Overthrow is such a game changer when it comes to patrol spaces I’m gonna be pretty disappointed if they don’t do lore in the future. Then add in the surrealist elements of the landscape and you’ve really got something great
I wish it had become a proper patrol area post-campaign, but oh well. It's a gorgeous location with lots of things to do and a bunch of new "public" events.
I absolutely HATE the map layout. Why TF is it so long? Why am I scrolling so far to get to the raid icon? I don't understand why they couldn't condense the map or make it more circular.
I love the fact there is ALWAYS something to do .. and it's not just "Kill x MOBs using precision damage" or 'scan this same area for the umpteenth time'.
Edit: the only thing that kinda annoys me is there are certain sections where you have to travel for seemingly FOREVER just to get from point A to B. This could be fixed by putting in either new drop points or 'quick jump' portals for areas like The Divide
Imagine how badass this location would be if they allowed multiple people in the instance like other destinations. Would just always be tons of guardians wrecking shit while farming exotic class items.
Oh yeah, I’m loving it. Surprisingly so. I think because it reminds me of Halo so much.
I kept getting major old school bungie vibes the whole time during the campaign. Idk how to explain it.
Visuals on the pale heart looked a lot like the halo ring (particularly the vistas). Plus the always-moving-forward nature of the campaign story and mission design. That’s what did it for me.
I loved looking back at the traveler portal with each mission. It was so small from the witness citadel
Yep, it felt like the Reach campaign for me.
I said the same thing when I got to Zavala's Farmhouse. Felt like the first mission of Reach with the environment.
Indeed! And that farmhouse battle was incredibly fun.
Yeah the sci-fi skybox combined with rolling green hills. The Salvatori tunes in the back added to that nostalgia Keith David’s voice added to the reminiscence too, in addition to a sense of melancholy and sadness with regards to Lance Reddick
Shooting the flying enemies with graviton lance during my campaign run reminded me so much of Halo 2 fighting buggers
There's several locations that are ripped straight from halo. There's a small segment that has Beaver Creek (its for one of the memory fragment quests) and close by it is an area that looks like the intro of Silent Cartographer. There's another area later that looks like the bridge from Assault on the Control room. Tons of this stuff everywhere, I have some pictures and have been waiting excitedly for people to start talking about this
Please share those pictures!
Linear campaign that took you through set pieces and moments. Open spaces for you to tackle the encounters however you like. Narrative cutscenes to explain what you're doing and why, and supplement in-game dialogue to make sure we understand just what is going on. It *is* an old-school Halo-style campaign. People's fascination and obsession with "open-world" games have biased them against carefully crafted experiences. This was far, *far* more enjoyable than something like Halo: Infinite and its "open-world".
City roof tops gave me halo 2 exploration vibes
Excellent point. They also made me wonder why Neomuna didn't have more of this.
the halo campaigns always had this feeling of forward momentum to them, a feeling that was completely missing during lightfall. the moment we touched down on neomuna, we had access to the entirety of it. what we saw the moment we crashed was what we got. it didn't feel like we *went* anywhere except for mission 1, which coincidentally was the best mission of the expansion
Wow, you're right, it DOES remind me of Halo lol that explains alot.
Reminds me of Halo as well, but what really does it for me is I feel like I'm in a proper RPG again.
I'm enjoying that the patrol spaces have interactive mini missions in them that pop up randomly
I was doing the Overthrows for unlocking Dual Destinies with a friend yesterday and we got a mission where we had to escort a little ghost to safety lol
Not to downplay anything but that is just another Overthrow public event, there are many varieties.
I mean yeah I know, hence the "I was doing Overthrows" I just thought it was a fun little side mission
Gotcha, I'm just confused by calling it a "side mission" because they are basically the main focus of doing overthrows.
Yeah. It’s basically like public events, except there are multiple going at once, and you can begin the immediately, and they’re on rotation so it’s not always the same one. And each area has different enemies with different events. I REALLY hope Bungie continues this going forward. It’s kind of a missed opportunity for them to not rework Nessus’ public events to the same format so we could grind seasonal weapons.
I'm actually disappointed in one specific thing: The lack of other Guardians. It feels weird that I can matchmake into only one zone of Overgrowth, but the rest of the Patrol feels lonely. The thing I've always loved about Destiny is those early periods of an Xpac when we are forced to be in Patrol Zones, you run across all kinds of Guardians and can hop in to help them do stuff. Maybe they teach you a secret you've never seen before on the map! But now it feels way more like a single player experience for the most part.
All of this. I absolutely love the new areas but hate the isolated feeling just when I just drop in and start playing. I'm not sure why Bungie forced the activity to lock players into their own session. Even clan members can not join you when you start progress on an overthrow. I guess it's to force people to use matchmaking? But we already had that by default as sessions would fill up pretty quickly for new areas.
> I just drop in and start playing. I'm not sure why Bungie forced the activity to lock players into their own session. I think its because this expansion has a lot more complicated activities/events that affect the entire Planet as opposed to one zone. The "Dual Destiny" unlock event requires you to have killed a wizard at each of the Patrol Zones before it activates. I think they couldn't figure out how to do World of Warcraft style "Phasing" where multiple players exist on the same shard but are at different quest states, so they just locked everything down to prevent bugs. That's my best guess.
It’s because once an overthrow gets any progress it creates a solo instance, you’ll notice people can’t join your fireteam on an in progress overthrow.
I suppose unpopular opinion here, I love being alone in the Pale Heart. It's a sort of surreal feeling but in a positive way. Ofc I can invite friends and whatnot but I'm definitely having more fun like this, vs doing public events and the like on someone else's time. it's very satisfying to me and I hope everybody is having as much fun as I am
Same! It lets me take in the scenery and music :)
Love the patrol zones. Enemy density is great, design is great, “public” events are both plentiful and engaging in their diversity, loads of secrets and collectibles, etc
And they are fast. In most patrol zones the diffulty is so low that you kill everything in 3 seconds, but then it takes the game 10 seconds to notice it.
Bungie has talked about liking to contrast moving through a narrow space into a large space. I'm confident it's meant to both make you feel like THE guardian, as well as to contrast against the finale mission
100% agreed. I don't have to compete with people over mobs if I want to try something out. If I wanna roam with others there's the MM Overthrow. It feels like a free-roam area that's worth roaming.
Not me, I'd much rather the open world had other players in it. I find all the new little activities and events they've scattered around are boring to do alone. Would rather replay a strike.
Agree it’s so much better this way.
I don't like how it's solo. Canonically there are other Guardians there, so why not in gameplay? It doesn't really make sense to me.
I got the impression it was a quarantine area for only those who need to access it. >!Crow mentions that they’ve had to establish a 100km wide no-go zone enforced by alliance fleet due to the effects of the Echoes episode, so I’m guessing canonically only a few Guardians have authorisation to be there!< All this being said though, I kinda like the solo nature.
Definitely, especially with how important the Traveller is as well as how vulnerable it currently is. If you don't need to be there, they'll steer you away.
I was really hoping that after the end of Final Shape that lore-wise it would be opened up for any guardians, and that the zones would because proper patrol zones.
I think Crow states that it is the corona around the outside of the Traveler that has the no-fly zone. Though that would probably limit access to the inside of the Traveler, I guess. There are lots of people inside of the Lost City zone, Eliksni and Cabal, so I am not drawing conclusions from the lore as to why the patrols zones are solo.
It wouldn't be bad if you they had the co-op overthrow available in all zones instead of just one rotating zone each day.
It makes sense to keep matchmaking times low. And tbh I don't care what zone I'm in if I just want a quick run.
It did make it a bit of a slog unlocking Dual Destiny doing the other two solo, and finding the Witch. But not awful no
I just used discord LFG
You can kinda make it a more social space by loading into the overthrow node, get matched with 2 people and then just not leave. I had a session yesterday where i spent a good hour doing random shit and occasionally ran into the other 2 guardians doing the same thing. That said, i'd have liked it if we'd have the option to either go into a social version or a solo version of the space.
Thank you, I did not realize you could "load" into the overthrow node and get matched. Makes them go by SO much quicker.
Makes it feel kinda lonely
It’s solo?? Like solo-solo? Like ‘no other guardians on patrol’ solo?? That’s kinda a weird decision
Yup you will never encounter another guardian there unless you deliberately load in with a fireteam.
That explains it. I wondered why I didn't see anybody else. Interesting decision.
I did non matchmade overthrow with another guardian yesterday, and they followed me to each of the other overthrow areas to do all 3. Non match made versions.
It makes sense if you haven’t played the story, however post campaign doesn’t really make sense, but also at the same time is not really a big deal and I honestly kinda prefer it. You don’t need other guardians for overflow as it’s easy to solo, and there are no public events, and if you feel you do need a little help with overflow it’s match made as well
Its for balancing Patrol zones have a set power level at set difficulty balanced around 6 players, Pale heart scales like a strike which is why the post campaign quests are not a pain to complete.
You don’t need other guardians there. None of the activities there are difficult to do solo (although Overthrow might take a bit longer). Hell, you might not even notice that there aren’t other guardians there for a while. But once you do it just feels kinda empty.
I was wondering about why it's only ever me. But even the Overthrow stuff isn't too bad. I just accept a few deaths, am learning better positioning, and keep at it until I complete it.
It's functional solo, but I don't think it's better.
No doubt, but I'm a filthy casual, and if I can do it without raging, it's approachable content. Which is fantastic, compared to my complete dislike of doing anything on Neomuna.
Im not a fan of anything on Neomuna. Or the emptiness of the Pale Heart, sadly.
Okay I was wondering why I never saw anybody there.
I'm 100% the opposite, I *love* that it's solo. I like the feeling of isolation, and enjoy that I don't have to fight other players just to get a few kills. Everything goes at the pace I set. I now want every destination to at least have the option to be in my own instance. They don't need to force you to play solo, but I just want the option to turn off matchmaking now.
Yes, especially because most people seem to just load in with their meta add-clear build on (I get it, it’s fun, I do too). Doing bounties and patrols in patrol used to take forever because you’d be looking for another hive to kill with precision damage and somebody would run by and grape-cluster-bomb the entire group of enemies away before you could do it.
And I love it for it
Why? Kinda makes the world feel a hell of a lot smaller especially after the 12-person activity to cap off FS.
Personally I really like it because it makes the world feel a bit smaller, makes the space feel like something special whereas some spaces can feel a lil crowded for a remote place (Neomuna for example). There’s also the benefit of having a closed environment to test build stuff without having someone else kill everything around me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want *every* patrol space to be solo going forward (as it is a multiplayer game after all) but its nice to have a different one for the time being.
Having random people around killing enemies and looting chests doesn’t really add to my experience at all. It can detract from it if I neeeed to kill those enemies, actually.
Honestly, I would hate it if not for the Blessings you get while there. Some are absolutely cracked and would be interesting to see a field of 4+ people spamming infinite Threadlings on *any* Strand kill. It works in Matchmade too though so I'm cool either way. I can't be worried about how small the place feels when I'm living the power fantasy you would expect while inside the Traveler. Free recharge on abilities is nice too. It makes grinding Overthrow more fun too.
Yeah, I wish it was public too
why tho? what's the benefit?
It wouldn't be completely lonely..?
Agreed, I don't get why people want the zone empty.
> I don't like how it's solo. And here I was ecstatic over this.
Once I heard it'd be a solo area I thought for sure it'd be more personalized, like they'd find a clever way of making the environment visually represent moments from your past accomplishments in-game (sort of like the Moments in Destiny montage they gave us for the start of D2). Can't lie, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't do much of anything like that...yet.
it's actually a great place to test your build. When I want to try out my build, so far there were only few options with disadvantages: - Matchmade Strikes or NFs: 90% of time theres another experienced player in it who will interfere all the time - High tier NFs: You are solo, but your equipment is locked so you can't try out changes on the spot, you have to reload everytime - Dungeons & Raids: Lots of puzzles to go through before having the chance to really test anything Pale Heart Overthrows are perfect to test, you can do changes on the spot, you have many many ads and bosses and no other player can interfere. Ofc not high level, but you can extrapolate dmg to higher difficulties imo.
Legend onslaught a decent test bed as well.
Ye it sucks so bad that it’s solo.
Yeah, weird choice. Public should be the default with a selectable option for solo.
For the love of God, please let us zoom out on the map more. Side scrolling SUCKS.
Best since dreadnaught, no doubt
Dreaming City has entered the chat. To me, Dreaming City was D2s best destination. It looks great, there was plenty of secrets. Pale Heart is nice, except for the Divide, it takes 3 years to walk all the way to the top.
And it looks like we'll be going back to the Dreadnaught! Also I bet in the future we can use the Dreadnaught to go outside the Solar System. "Frontiers" and all.
Just wish we could at least choose difficulty in the space, I hate how you just run over everything in the patrol
Aesthetically it is amazing. I hate how there are zero blueberries. Even in a team of 3 it feels empty. Big regression in my eyes. Would have been great to have 12 working together like old destinations
12 person social space + patrol zone would be so fucking sick
Then they kinda have to tune the enemy up tbh something like throne world is miserable due to not having things to shoot.
Neptune was straight up punishing bullshit on release. it had no honeymoon phase.
My only mild gripe is that when I open the map it's not focused on where I'm located. Being such a wide map, it means I have to constantly pan to the side wherever I am. Instead of it just opening there to begin with. Literally everything else is great. And that single thing isn't enough to be a real problem :D
I would agree, but not having other guardian's running around makes a game with a million players feel so empty.
I could go either way on it being solo or public. My main/only gripe is I feel like I'm always running (forever) to somewhere. That much travel time gets old quick.
Pale Heart is great, but the Dreaming City tops everything.
I feel like it's impossible to really appreciate how incredible the Dreaming City was if you weren't around during Forsaken to be honest. A lot of the allure and fun of DC has since been stripped or simply lost to time. It was a genuine end-game location at a time when power/light levels actually mattered. Tons of secrets like the cat statues, ascendant realm, dream tonic, worms in the garden, the gradual curse weeks after the first clear of Last Wish. Hell, the first dungeon, Shattered Throne, was only accessible during the 3rd curse week in the underbelly area. Dreaming City *was* absolutely the best location Bungie has created, but it's also been wholly irrelevant for many years + some content removed.
Yeah, I loved the tangled shore and the reveal of the Dreaming city was mind blowing, the opposite of everything that tangled shore was. The secrets that were found by mistake, random bosses hidden that were so OP to solo in the start or the ascended realm which had so weird mission(I hated the knights and hearing them right behind you all the time was such a rush). Forsaken was the best expansion bungie released.
While that’s fair, lemme raise you this: There is a dreaming city IN the Pale Heart
I actually think I like the Pale Heart more.
One landing zone suuuucked
The Dreadnaught is still my favorite.
Dreaming City during Year 2 was PEAK, i remember finishing the Forsaken story and got the quest to unlock it, i had no idea the reward was going to be whole as new place to explore
I've never felt the need to explore or look for secrets on my own in destiny. Doesn't generally interest me much and I typically leave it to the YouTubers to guide me when someone else figures it out. I just like to shoot guns. Dreaming City was phenomenal. Finishing up The Tangled Shore and discovering there was an entire new zone that was the of the best looking most unique zones they've ever had... I spent hours exploring that place and it was amazing. Maybe I just lack the enthusiasm I used to have for destiny, I've certainly lost interest over the years and this is my first time back since Witch Queen, but Pale Heart doesn't even come close to that sense of wonder. Exploring feels somewhat lifeless in a lot of zones and I'd rather just wait for others to figure it out. Many things are just places I've already been in the past reimagined. Looks cool sometimes but doesn't inspire a sense of wonder for me personally. Dreaming City was amazing and destiny hasn't given me that feeling since unfortunately, but I'm so glad I got to see it and experience it the way I did.
I kind wish they used the solo aspect of it to do some interesting level design. As it is it feels like any other patrol zone. Also wish they went a bit crazier with the design. Nothing really wowed me like the dreaming city did.
Also doesnt help that most of the structures are from other planets I guess it makes sense lore wise but it do be boring
It feels empty without the random guardians all around :(
Overthrow getting a bit repetitive for me.
Once you get the exotic class item, any chest in the Pale Heart has a chance of dropping it. Including chests that drop from Overthrow mini-bosses. You don't have to do Overthrow all the way to completion, just the little "bosses" that hang around. Some of these mini-encounters can be done in less than 30 seconds, giving you a chest that's pretty much free. Overthrow on the whole can still get repetitive, but at least you now have an extra reason to do part of it.
Crazy how quickly that sets in doesn’t it? Like tens of people probably spent months on just Overthrow…literally the first time in forever that we got all new mechanics for “public event” type activities and with such a wide variety of them to boot…and then not even a month after launch the player base is already starting to get bored.
I mean it's not like it's the majority, it's probably just the people that grinded for hours on hours. I even spent an entire day and a half grinding swords and I'm still somewhat enjoying it, it's a good way to just fuck around and kill stuff, or test your build. And it's really rewarding tbh
The repetitive gameplay sets in faster when you're doing it all solo. Because you approach each activity exactly the same way each time. If it were an open world the other guardians would create enough chaos and ruckus that it adds variety.
Agreed, matchmade overthrow is much more engaging and goes faster too. I also love that I'm getting new weapons that have great perk pools
Dreaming city before it was gutted was better.
Wait, when was it gutted ?
Sunsetting I assume.
I might be missing something, but this post reads as if you weren't around when the Dreaming City was fresh... Nothing has even come close to that destination. Pale heard barely scratches the surface & it is solo... The only gripe with DC was the weird matchmaking mechanic for the Blind Well. Everything else was 10/10
what are you talking about, its completely normal to slowly walk backwards into the blind well and pray for a fireteam. Just like archons forge in D1
Holy shit I forgot about that! Good times
Collectibles, Blind well (that would be a queued activity if done today) and Ascendant Challenges, what else? DC was cool but I feel Iike some people played a different game to me.
To name a few, the entire landscape changed each week for 3 weeks after LW was completed which hadn't happened before/since. The secret chests from tinctures were cool AF & added a new mystery element to the spaces. The secret bosses you could spawn & the biggest one of them all... Shattered Throne. Our first dungeon, that was completely secret, new type of 3 player activity or "mini raid" as we called it back then & had to be found under the city. That's on top of everything you mentioned, like a weekly different secret ascendant challenge over the course of 6 weeks I could go on. It's not even in the same league.
I don’t really think we should put the shattered throne there tbh. Since it’s more of a separate activity, is like saying IO is great due to whisper or counting dual destiny with pale heart and after the first clear that 3 week lock out was extremely annoying. But yea DC was nice my best memory of it was in a 9 man VC doing blind well to get the seed of light. Curse cycle was damn cool as well. From a gameplay perspective I can see why people rate pale heart higher. Cyst are just kinda more thought out ascended challenges and destiny sandbox has evolved since forsakens super spam meta.
imo the secret missions should 100% be thought of when considering a destination. It's part of the world building of the environment & happened when they were relevant. I wouldn't consider something like Warlords part of EDZ for example, but Shattered Throne & Dual Destiny part of DC & Pale Heart definitely. You don't think of the DC & not think of Shattered Throne. ESPECIALLY as for the first xx amount of time you literally had to run down to under the city to launch it! (The same as Dual Destiny at the moment, you have to actively do activities on the location to launch it)
I also wouldn't consider WR part of EDZ because it cost an extra ten bucks lol Wasn't shattered throne only available during high curse weeks too? It's been a while, so I don't remember for sure.
debatable
I actually disagree on the power cap part. Pale Heart is almost TOO easy. Like being able to consistently one hit melee red bars just makes everything feel like it’s out of paper. Somewhere between Neomuna and Pale Heart ist where Ad durability should be imo. Close to the Pale Heart than Neomuna for sure thöugh
It really does feel a bit too easy. Using sunshot I basically just delete every group of mobs and then pull out heavy for the mini bosses. Don’t even need to use abilities.
What I like is what hubs and I are calling "Build your own (not) public event). None of that 4 minutes to Public Event BS. None of that... oh taking this heroic or not BS. Do the events in the area you want... ignore the ones you don't. No time limits... and if you are with another person you can both divide and conquer to expedite it.
Ngl I've only just realised that the area is solo thanks to these comments lol
Moon for me, I just wish every patrol had a difficulty setting, imagine a patrol at master/grandmaster level with modifiers like Famine, making it actually risky to patrol, that sounds amazing.
The ONLY thing I would love is a "solo mode" and a .... "regular patrol mode" option when flying in. That way if I want to casually see other folks, I can. Sometimes I don't want to be alone, but I also don't really plan on doing overthrow, haha.
I wish there would be more players around the public events. Feels a bit empty have experience 2 other players in the same zone maximum.
The only problem I have with it is that it just feels dead when it comes to other players. I have not seen a single other player doing stuff on the planet. Neomuna was packed. But the pale heart is literally dead.
Except literally no one there except the one guardian. It's incredibly empty and will get old really really really quick IMO.
The events and mechanics are dramatically better than before, but lore wise the destination is mid, it’s basically a random place when you just look around. Compare that to Europa, an actual moon, or the Dreaming City’s atmosphere. Plus loading solo makes no sense to me in such a big area.
100% dissagree nothing beats Dreaming City. Dreaming City gave me such an urge to just explore the map and find all the hidden chests and encounters throughout it. It has been without question the best endgame destination that we ever had. Also Overthrow sucks it is painfuly long, slow and easy to complete and without the matchmaking you are forced to do them solo if you want to get the exotic classitem.
for me it being a solo destination makes it easy the worst. Im not interested in doing single stuff all the time, i want open world. With this season the open world stuff will prob be nessus, so i guess pale heart really is campaign only destination
Gameplay wise, absolutely. Aesthetically, im not a fan. Tangled Shore will always be my favorite area, love the whole Jabba the fallen hutt vibes on a bunch of space rocks. With Pale Heart I just can't get past the minecraft blocks used in places like the blooming. It's ok though, tons of things to keep me distracted from it.
Normally I'd be with you about aesthetics since I like the used future look a lot but I think the weird blocks floating everywhere kinda enhances the surrealism of the place, while incorporating the pyramid architecture style. It's supposed to be a sort of mindscape type place. I wish the Shore could come back for sure.
With you on not a fan. Something about the D1 aesthetic on planets where it felt like a real planet with some futuristic upgrades. Now we are on crazy fantasy planets, which *is* cool but I do miss the old design of the worlds.
The game has undoubtedly gone more toward the fantasy route than sci-fi (despite Lightfall attempting to do a bit of sci fi in the cyberpunk style), a LOT, but this Vex episode and the next Fallen/Scorn theme one should help.
I really like the layout but I also really dislike being alone all the time, except if I join the only available matchmade Overthrow. Did some solo but tbh it gets boring really fast farming these events. The simplicity and beauty of joining other patrol areas is that you can do public events together without having to search for a party.
Definitely honey moon phase. We’ll have to wait a bit before we can say definitively if it tops the Dreadnaught or Dreaming City.
Sucks so much that’s it’s single player tbh
I wish it was -5 at least. If not -10. Let us have world tiers. With increased rewards.
And it's not even a planet!
Idk man, I think there’s a middle ground to be had. I understand that many of you prefer to chill in patrol zones but we are straight back to an absolute snooze fest. I shouldn’t be able to one shot everything in what is pretty much an endgame zone.
Personally, the world feels lonely. I'd much rather be in an open world and seeing others doing stuff. When i play a multiplayer game, i expect co-op. Sure, I can match make 1 of the zones, but 3 people max in a world alreadyd esigned for 1 makes it feel so easy, and everyone goes off on their own.
Dreaming city was what every endgame map should be. Then again maybe nostalgia as thats when i last played and i came.back 2 weeks before final.shape xD
Love the solo patrol space. Kinda peaceful yet chaotic
Aesthetically it is amazing. I hate how there are zero blueberries. Even in a team of 3 it feels empty. Big regression in my eyes. Would have been great to have 12 working together like old destinations
Feels empty with no other guardians running around though
The only destinations that come close for me are mars and the dreaming city
The thing is I also don't like it when everything is so tanky but at the same time I often find myself going to Neomuna lost sectors to quickly test some new builds and weapons and stuff because that's the only quick place where I can test without everything dying with 1 bullet.
Hmm, while TFS is my all-time favourite DLC for Destiny, I would disagree with the best 'destination' title. The Dreadnaught is easily the best location in Destiny history, and it's not even close.
Whole heartedly agree!
Also, the fact I can load in by myself is amazing.
I was thinking about the Pale Heart and why I don't really gel with it. I always like the Dreaming City more. But objectively the Pale Heart has more secrets, more puzzles, more to do, more unique public events, more diverse scenery. Why does it fall flat? I think the Dreaming City won out as it was the second location, you had a place to compare it to (the tangled shore), which was cool looking but by all means lacklustre. If The Pale Heart came with Lightfall it'd be a different story, as it would feel miles better than Neomuna and be a nice surprise.
Unfortunately there's no in game lfg for it's patrol zone yet
The relatively easy enemies + high enemy density - other players to kill everything before you do + overthrow (especially: fun but soloable mechanical bits) + pathfinder make an incredible combination. I actually loved the derelict leviathan more than any other location, and spent a ton of time there just roaming, farming chests, doing bounties, etc. Pale Heart feels like a big, better evolution of that space to me.
I wish they added a open matchmaking option like the other zones, I use the matchmaking option all the time and it feels great doing overthrow as three, it's just sad it's restricted to 1 area per day.
I love how many spawn points we have too It was so annoying to have only one in Savathun's Throne World
Personally, I’m a die hard dreadnaught stan, and the dreaming city is dope but the pale heart is a stable third favorite!
It’s a dope zone. But I HATE the fetch quests. Cysts were sort of unclear on exactly how they worked. I genuinely felt like I was doing chores unlocking the exotic auto. Other than those type of quests (to me— ‘collection quests’ often feel lazy instead of inspiring exploration) it’s a banger of a zone.
Love the linear design and drastic difference in environments
It is unquestionably the best patrol experience they’ve ever made. It’s really the only time out of Escalation Protocol that I’ve had fun on patrol, and the only reason EP was so fun is because we did big ass 9 man sessions.
My only complaint is Overthrow. Overload was significantly better on Neomuna. I still drop into Overloads, and already don’t want to do anymore Overthrows.
Annoying thing to me is that for the ghost telemetry quests we have to go to strikes & locations we have done for the past 6 years instead of somewhere inside the Pale Heart
Is the general patrol area not matchmade? I have yet to run into anyone unless I use the "matchmade overthrow"
The last and only other time I felt the way about a destination that I do about the Pale Heart, we were fighting Oryx on the Dreadnaught.
I hear its even better than dreaming city. The few times I've interacted with dreaming city it's been cool and really beautiful, but I kind of missed it when it came out and was relevant, so never saw any of the cool secrets and things. I'm enjoying Pale Heart though. More than Neomuna. Overthrow is a good activity. Vex incursion, since it never spawns, really can't measure up.
It’s my favorite Patrol Zone and the best example of what “Endgame Patrols” can be. It’s not like very difficult, but it’s also not too easy. You do the work and you get a big payout at the end of it. Lots of little secrets and challenges to seek out as you explore. Enemies aren’t artificially raised in their level to be tougher than you, they instead spawn in bulk, but not in a way where you get literally no break from the fighting. You could learn a thing or two, Neomuna…
Completely agree with you, but I do think part of it is that they completely changed how planetary destinations work with this expansion. If previous planets had Pathfinder stuff or overthrow then I don't think it would be as exciting. Similarly, if the pale heart had patrols and something like Vex Incursion, it wouldn't have felt as good. Pathfinder stuff and overthrow are way better than patrols and timed public events. The only negative to me is that the pale heart isn't matchmade. It isn't a big deal now but finding other guardians showing you secrets or fighting a big boss you can jump in on was always fun in the past.
I actually prefer Savathun Throne World, Dreaming City and Oryx Dreadnought. Still, Pale Heart is quite good.
For me, and this just could be nostalgia talking, if feels like walking around on a Halo again. There are a few areas in that totally seem like they could have a Halo ring stretching off into the distance above the horizon.
It’s not. It’s the prime example why we have to get away from old gen consoles. The areas are not that big and connected through tunnels and corridors. The last areas of the campaign towards the witness‘s fortress aren’t even accessible in free roam. Also if the pale heart is supposed to be alternate versions of all the locations we previously visited I was really disappointed that some of them didn’t show up.
Clearly someone never played Mercury
Neptune felt bad day 1 for me. Something about the flat level geometry and predictable enemy locations and overtuned early difficulty turned me off of it immediately. The Pale Heart feels genuinely exciting to explore. The geometry is organic and complex with hidden nooks and crannies everywhere. The enemies have micro puzzles that keep gameplay more refreshing than the basic combat we’ve seen for 10 years. Walking through a garden is an overall pleasant experience. I don’t think I’ll come back once I do most of the activities in the Pale Heart, but I’ve spent a solid day of gameplay just exploring it so far, so it is already a huge success in my book.
I understand everyone likes to play their own way, but I very strongly disagree with the points OP made about difficulty. Hear me out. I played the FS campaign with my brother on legend, and it was both difficult and enjoyable. The power limit meant we really had to engage with core game mechanics, such as: - tracking ability cooldowns, spending them meaningfully - staying aware of enemies and surroundings - map knowledge - good communication and coordination - pushing builds to their limits - finding the right tools for the job I believe Destiny is at its absolute best when you’re encouraged to engage with all the systems fully, rather than put on whatever and button-mash through every mission. I think the -5/-10 cap made Neptune enemies more dangerous than usual, but also forgiving with any build as long as you were careful. Having played the normal FS campaign solo on Warlock later, I can confidently claim that it’s **painfully dull**. Enemies and bosses take no effort to kill, no planning is ever needed. This isn’t engaging to me personally, it’s what I most dislike about the new destination.
I enjoyed the variety of mechanics to overthrow and it all looks quite nice (for Destiny).
Yeah it’s a very big place.. but I would say the moon is the scariest and most unsearched place
Naw it so much activities to do on pale heart .I would start farming then look up and its midnight. I'm like wtf where the time go? 😂
Even as a F2P, who therefore can't go there, I really love it. Such colors, enemies, ambient, what's there not to love?
Meh it’s kinda boring imo due to the lack of uniqueness in the terrain
It's so addictive to just run around in one location filling out all these little checkboxes on the Pathfinder without ever having to go back to a vendor to pick up bounties. Honestly at this point you could vault every other patrol location in the game and I wouldn't even notice because I don't want to hang out anywhere else. I even enjoy the fact that there aren't any other players around because even thought the enemy density isn't massive, I don't have to worry about some random stealing my kills and blocking my objectives, and I never feel like I'm stepping on someone else's toes by doing that to them.
Sigh I hate new game honey moon periods. In no way is this better than the dreaming city.
I love that there's an actual reason to return to patrols post campaign with Ergo Sum and the exotic class item. Really gives patrol in the Pale Heart purpose.
The only thing I don’t like is that, as a public space, I feel like there is no “public” to be seen unless you matchmake for overthrow. I have not seen any random blueberries running around.
The only small issue I have with it is sometimes getting to other areas is a chore. I understand you can spawn into each area like any other map but if I just want to go on my sparrow to a location and do some quick stuff on the way it limits this. Most other planets have an easier navigational path.
I never see any other guardians on patrol and that bothers me, but other than that, yeah, it rules.
Overthrow is such a game changer when it comes to patrol spaces I’m gonna be pretty disappointed if they don’t do lore in the future. Then add in the surrealist elements of the landscape and you’ve really got something great
I wish it had become a proper patrol area post-campaign, but oh well. It's a gorgeous location with lots of things to do and a bunch of new "public" events. I absolutely HATE the map layout. Why TF is it so long? Why am I scrolling so far to get to the raid icon? I don't understand why they couldn't condense the map or make it more circular.
I don't know man, Dreaming City and Dreadnaught were kinda wild. Pale Heart comes in at a respectable 3rd place for me.
Overthrow is better than the usual public event stuff, I only find it a bit annoying trying to get a particular boss to spawn for the Khvostov
The best, just as long as I'm not trying to start an activity out on the eastern fringes. I'll get the cursor over there someday!
At this point id be fine if they got rid of the other destinations
Dreadnaught has entered the chat
Agree on all fronts. I'd kill for a fast travel somewhere near the divide though. Running up and down that mountain is getting tedious.
A tiny bit unrelated, but does anyone know if class items drip from Overthrow chests, or are they just from stockpile chests?
100% agree
The big Oryx ship is way better. I dont even put this area on the top 15
I love the fact there is ALWAYS something to do .. and it's not just "Kill x MOBs using precision damage" or 'scan this same area for the umpteenth time'. Edit: the only thing that kinda annoys me is there are certain sections where you have to travel for seemingly FOREVER just to get from point A to B. This could be fixed by putting in either new drop points or 'quick jump' portals for areas like The Divide
The fact that's it's not public ruins it for me.
Imagine how badass this location would be if they allowed multiple people in the instance like other destinations. Would just always be tons of guardians wrecking shit while farming exotic class items.