Season 17 of Destiny 2 starts this coming Tuesday, and Bungie hasn’t shared a single detail about it. We know some things that were previously announced, including a new dungeon and either Solar or Arc 3.0, but in terms of the story, the activities, and the gear, we’re completely in the dark. I expected some details in the May 12 TWAB, and when that didn’t happen I thought wow, they’re really waiting until the last minute with this one. Then reset came and went on Tuesday and we saw nothing. Then the May 19 TWAB came, and Bungie finally acknowledged the elephant in the room by saying… nothing. Here’s what community manager A_dmg04 wrote in the weekly update.
“There will be a day where many of your questions will be answered, but today is not that day. It’s a scary, but fun, balancing act in the grand scheme of things. I’ve said it before, but player discovery is one of the most potent things in gaming. Do we spill the details in TWABs and tweets, or do we hold things a bit closer to the chest with each Season to let players dig in on day-one and find out some cool things in the game itself?”
Bungie is taking a new approach to the hype cycle, which has been well established over the previous 16 seasons. Normally we’d see a trailer that tells us what enemies we face and shows off all the fancy new loot we can collect. The exact details of the new seasonal activity and progression system aren’t always laid out, but at the very least we’re told if it’s going to be a public event or playlist activity. Whatever’s coming in Season of the [Redacted], we’ll find out either when it starts, when the trailer drops the morning of, or when the Xbox store inevitably leaks it.
Players are frustrated, somewhat understandably. They’re used to seeing a preview of the upcoming season to get them hyped, which happens so consistently that it’s become an expectation. I don’t think Bungie has a responsibility to appease entitled gamers - it’s free to advertise new content however it sees fit - but I do wonder what effect playing things “a bit closer to the chest” will have. Will it make the discoveries that much sweeter, or is it a missed opportunity to build excitement? Worse, this new approach could just be setting expectations unreasonably high.
If Bungie is keeping this tight of a lid on Season 17, it stands to reason that there must be a good reason for it. The Witch Queen represented a huge step in the way Destiny 2’s story is told, and the Season 16 storyline, Operation Elbrus, tied into the events of The Witch Queen in a way seasons never have before. Season storylines are episodic. They build on each other and contribute to the overarching plot, but if you look back at Season of the Lost, Splicer, Chosen, and Hunt, they were all very loosely connected. Season 17 indicated that that could change going forward, and the secrecy around Season 17 is certainly building a case for one continuous narrative that started with The Witch Queen and continues throughout each season.
In the absence of information, my theory has developed into an expectation, which means there’s a high probability for disappointment. A lot of Destiny 2 players that are frustrated about the missing trailers and information are just worried about feeling let down. The most common sentiment around the internet right now is ‘this better be good’. Bungie hasn’t promised anything at all, yet still managed to set expectations sky high.
The hype cycle is an important part of every season, not just for giving players something to look forward to, but also to attract lapsed and casual players. My clan is inconsistent to say the least, but in the lead up to each new season I always manage to pique their interest with trailers, screenshots, and details about what’s to come. The last couple of weeks, all I’ve been able to tell them is “Bungie isn’t saying anything, isn’t that exciting?” This strategy of secrecy ignores the casual players that need to be pulled back every season. It relies on positive word of mouth from the people that are going to show up on day one and tell everyone else what they’re missing.
I can appreciate Bungie’s desire to create exciting moments for those day one players, I just wonder if this plan is counter-productive to actually getting players to show up on day one. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Destiny 2 in Season 17, but if I had just stopped playing at the end of March and waited for the next season to start - like many of my clan mates - I might not even know a new season was starting on Tuesday. That doesn’t seem like a great way to market a season. I’m hopeful that whatever happens next week will make me glad it was kept secret, but I’m skeptical.