For those who have been playing the game through its many phases, it will be easier to see how Destiny 2 has changed over the years and how it has improved both in terms of gameplay and narrative. Destiny 2 is a daunting game to get into, but one that knows how to reward its players with constant content drops, exciting new gear, great sci-fi storytelling, and plenty of updates that show Bungie is self-aware and listening to feedback. More recently, Destiny 2's accessibility features have taken center stage, and for good reason - they are what allows more and more players to join the Vanguard every day, and the recent changes to reticles in Season 21 should inspire Diablo 4 to do something similar.
While Destiny 2 and Diablo 4 are very different games, they still share common roots by being looters packed with action. Because it can be quite hectic on the players' end of the screen, it is often key to find a balance between what sort of information is available for players to immediately grasp and what can be delegated to the sides of the screen, away from the fray of battle. However, Destiny 2's Season of the Deep changes to reticles show the importance of conveying information efficiently, and Diablo 4 should follow suit.
How a New Season 21 Destiny 2 Feature Can Inspire Change for Diablo 4
In a first-person shooter game like Destiny 2, having weapons provide information about their shooting patterns, showing clearly what's visible when aiming down sights, and having an adequate field of view to adjust shots can be extremely valuable. With Destiny 2's Season of the Deep, Bungie is making good changes to this system by having updated reticles for several weapon archetypes, such as sidearms, fusion rifles, swords, and hand cannons. For example, enemies popping up on the screen where the reticle is will color it red, which effectively tells players when to shoot.
On top of that, the changes made to the reticle for fusion rifles and swords help them provide players with further crucial information in the form of charge meters. Fusion rifles now have a built-in charge meter underneath the reticle that will tell players how far into charging the shot they are, whereas swords now make it easier to see their corresponding guard energy. These quality-of-life changes to Destiny 2 go a great way in showing how Bungie wants to cater to its audience, and that's something Blizzard should draw inspiration from.
Diablo 4 is not going to have quality-of-life features on launch like a way for players to have their health and resource pools show up on the character model, for example, which can make it hard to pay attention both to what's going on during fights and on the skill bar's sides. Much like Destiny 2's fusion rifle charge meter, resources in Diablo 4 would be much more visible and easy to monitor if they were in the center of the screen, exactly where players would normally be looking anyway. Similarly, not having cooldowns show up on the HUD outside of the skill bar can be detrimental.
A big factor of Diablo 4's gameplay is using Basic and Core skills to generate and spend resources, respectively, and then having several cooldown skills that can be used occasionally, often granting defensive boons or providing powerful attacks. These skills are visibly on cooldown on the skill bar, but players are required to shift their attention from the middle of the screen to the skill bar and its sides during fights, and this can make some of Diablo 4's powerful bosses even more difficult to handle. As such, after six years after its launch, Destiny 2 is learning the importance of conveying information where players are looking, and it's a lesson Diablo 4 would be wise to learn.
Destiny 2 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.