Destiny 3: Essential Systems to Abandon for a Fresh Start

With Destiny 2's decade-long saga culminating in The Final Shape, the franchise finds itself at a crossroads. Bungie's hints at a future codenamed 'Frontiers' remain nebulous, leaving the community buzzing with anticipation for a potential Destiny 3. Many players are clamoring for a clean slate – a complete refresh offering new assets, unexplored sandboxes, and original stories. If a third installment is on the horizon, it presents a golden opportunity to jettison outdated and problematic mechanics that have hampered the current game. Let's break down the key systems that need to hit the bricks for Destiny 3 to truly shine.

1. Ditch the Formulaic Seasonal/Episode Grind

Let's call a spade a spade: the Seasonal Model (rebranded as Episodes) has become the definition of predictable. Players know the drill by heart:

• A new Battle Pass packed with must-have guns and materials ✅

• A drip-fed weekly story ✅

• An exotic mission unlocking a unique weapon ✅

Rinse and repeat, season after season. The core issue isn't necessarily the price tag or the frequency; it's the crippling lack of dynamism and surprise. When every week is meticulously mapped out to mirror the last season, innovation takes a backseat. This rigid structure actively constricts the game's potential, forcing developers into a box where genuine surprises or bold experiments are off the table. It's time to break free from this suffocating cycle. Enough with the same old song and dance!

2. Scrap Character-Locked Progression (Where It Doesn't Belong)

Destiny 2's mix of character-specific and account-wide progression is a hot mess. While gear progression makes sense per class (Titans can't rock Warlock robes, duh), locking other elements behind individual characters is pure tedium. Players are forced to replay:

• Exotic quest steps 🔁

• Subclass upgrades 🔁

• Entire campaign progress 🔁

...across multiple characters, even though the content offers little to no variation between playthroughs. It feels less like meaningful progression and more like a blatant time-sink. Bungie's $20 campaign skip for alts feels like monetizing a problem they created. Forcing players to grind the same story three times just to access basic abilities on different classes? That's a big no-no moving forward.

3. Retire the "Last-Minute Vehicle Escape" Trope

Okay, this one might seem like a nitpick, but hear us out. Bungie has been leaning on the "desperate vehicle escape from imminent explosion" sequence since the Halo days. While iconic in Halo: CE and Halo 3, its overuse in Destiny has turned it into a tired cliché.

Game/Expansion	Occurrence	Player Sentiment
The Taken King	First Time	Mildly Interesting
Destiny 2 Expansions	Multiple Times	Awkward & Predictable

The initial surprise in The Taken King (fake mission completion text followed by sudden danger) was neat. But seeing it rehashed multiple times across Destiny 2 expansions? It feels forced, easy, and frankly, baffling why Bungie keeps returning to this well. Time to park the Warthog (or Pike, or Drake) for good on this gimmick.

4. Eliminate the Dungeon Key Paywall Fiasco

This monetization strategy is a real head-scratcher and a major pain point for players. Dungeons, once a core part of the expansion content (like in most respectable MMOs), are now locked behind an additional paywall: the Dungeon Key. 🤯

• The Problem: Even if you bought the latest expansion, you still need to fork over an extra $20 (per year!) just to access the dungeons released that year.

• The Obfuscation: It deliberately muddies the value proposition. What used to be a single purchase now fragments into:

  • The Expansion 💰

  • Seasonal/Episode Battle Passes 💰

  • Event Passes 💰

  • Dungeon Keys 💰

• The Irony: Dungeons are arguably some of Bungie's best content! Locking them behind a separate key feels like nickel-and-diming players for content that should be part of the core package. It creates confusion and sours the overall experience. This paywall needs to vanish in a potential Destiny 3.

5. Commit to True Evergreen Content (No More Sunsetting!)

Sunsetting content – removing activities, gear, and locations players paid for – was a colossal misstep. It erased history, prevented new players from experiencing past content, and left veterans feeling cheated. For Destiny 3 to thrive long-term, it needs a foundational shift:

• Build an Evergreen Pool: The game must be architected from the ground up to support a growing pool of permanent, relevant content.

• Deepen, Don't Discard: Instead of vaulting content only to rehash similar ideas later, new updates should add to this foundational pool, making the world deeper and richer.

• Enable Experimentation: This allows developers to rearrange, refresh, and tweak existing content over time, fostering innovation within a stable framework.

Yes, this forces new content to be genuinely innovative to avoid redundancy, but that’s precisely what the community is demanding. No more throwing the baby out with the bathwater!

6. Overhaul or Abandon Arbitrary Gear Score Grinds

The Gear Score (Power Level) system is the ultimate hamster wheel, and it's gotta go (or get a massive overhaul).

• The Supposed Benefit: It tries to stop new players (blueberries) from jumping into endgame content unprepared.

• The Crushing Reality: It's an arbitrary engagement tool that disrespects player time and skill. 🔄

  • Experienced Players Punished: A veteran who takes a break returns to find themselves locked out of content they previously mastered and paid for, solely because their gear score is now "too low" due to an annual reset.

  • The Forced Grind Fest: Players are railroaded into playing content they don't enjoy (often old, stale activities) just to grind a number high enough to access the content they do enjoy (new raids, dungeons, high-tier activities).

  • Locking Out Purchased Content: It's fundamentally restrictive, locking players out of experiences they own unless they jump through Bungie's prescribed hoops for "engagement."

This system is designed to manufacture grind, not to enhance the gameplay experience or respect player investment. Destiny 3 needs a progression system that values player skill and meaningful loot acquisition over a meaningless, constantly resetting number that gates content.

The Bottom Line

For Destiny 3 to recapture the magic and build a sustainable future, Bungie must be willing to make bold cuts. Sticking with the tired formula of restrictive seasons, tedious character grinds, monetized core content, vaulted experiences, and artificial gear score treadmills will only lead to diminishing returns. The community's desire for a true refresh is loud and clear. It's time for Bungie to step up to the plate and deliver a sequel that learns from the past decade's mistakes, focusing on deep, lasting, player-respecting systems. The ball's in their court. 🎮