Key Points:
- 🎮 Destiny feels really good to play.
- 💎 But FFXIV has an infinite number of things to do, and no FOMO.
If I had made this channel even a year ago, there’s a solid chance a good percentage of the content would be dedicated to Destiny 2. But here we are five months in, and this is the first time it’s ever been mentioned.
This video was originally released on Feb 7, 2023.
Honestly, it’s because about a month ago – after at least 1,141 hours across Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 – I finally made the decision to uninstall the game. My relationship with the game has been fraught as of late. It’s no secret that the game has fallen into a cycle that’s burning people out. But I always came back eventually. Whether that was for a new season or a new expansion, I LOVE this franchise.
I had planned on making this video and talking exclusively about why Destiny isn’t fun for me anymore, but then I realized that’s only part of the story.
You see, a little game called Final Fantasy 14 ruined all of that for me. That’s a weird thing to say, but it’s true. And not in a “I play so much FFXIV, I don’t have time for Destiny 2” kind of way.
The Problem With Destiny
Why it's not enough.
When you boil it down, Destiny 2 is a game about getting new weapons, armor, and cosmetics. That’s it. Don’t get me wrong. Again, I LOVE this franchise. The art direction, the universe, the lore, and don’t even get me started on the gunplay. AH Those guns feel SO GOOOOD to shoot.
For a long time, all of that was enough for me. Sure, I was grinding seasonal activities, strikes, and other PVE content over and over just to get a slightly better weapon or unlock a new weapon pattern, but it was fun and good, and I enjoyed it.
But realistically that’s all Destiny is. You grind strikes, seasonal activities, raids, crucible, or gambit and that’s it. Over and over, on the same maps, doing the same things, all so you can get a slightly better gun to grind more of the same stuff again.
And that’s before you even think about the fact that a whole bunch of stuff in Destiny 2 is time limited and disappears whenever a new expansion comes out. Combine a really repetitive grind with intense FOMO and it’s just not an enjoyable experience.
What FFXIV Taught Me
The grass is indeed greener on the other side.
The deeper I got into FFXIV, the more obvious it became that Destiny 2 was woefully inadequate. And before anyone says anything about FFXIV being an MMO and Destiny not being one, it’s on the darn Steam page! “Action MMO.”
In FFXIV I have an infinite number of things to grind and they’re all completely different. I can grind my crafters and gatherers, level up my various combat classes, go to the Gold Saucer and focus on growing my MGP purse to get exclusive rewards, head out to public zones and do Shared FATEs to get Bicolor Gemstones, go to Island Sanctuary and work on my island, do my best to understand the in game economy and maximize my Fil income, the list of things to grind in different ways is basically endless.
And the best part is almost none of it utilizes FOMO. Outside of tiny seasonal events and the occasional Moogle Treasure Trove, absolutely nothing that I’m grinding is in danger of going away.
If I get tired of working on my A Realm Reborn relic weapon, I can stop and come back three months later. It’ll still be there.
The question I ended up asking myself is why am I even playing Destiny? It’s fun. The gunplay is great. But so much of it is driven by FOMO. Add that to the fact that FFXIV has a seemingly infinite amount of different content types to grind, and I kept finding myself wondering why I wasn’t just logging into Eorzea.
It’s a shame really. Lightfall is right around the corner and for once I might not play an expansion as soon as it drops.
I know everyone always preaches the whole, if you aren’t having fun go play something else thing, heck, I preach that too. It’s just so weird to get to that point with a franchise I’ve been playing for nearly a decade now.
Maybe one day I’ll head back to Destiny. But for now, it just makes more sense to spend my time relaxing in FFXIV.
If you also play both of these games, I’d love to know if this is something you run into at all.
