Hey Socrates, It’s Me Ya Boy
The Athenian aristocrat Pheadrus once said that “things are not always what they seem.”
I’m taking this way out of context (sorry Plato), but I often paraphrase this quote and say it a little differently: “things aren’t always as bad as they seem.” We have a tendency to view the world through cloudy lenses sometimes. When we do, every setback seems insurmountable, every challenge feels Sisyphean, and every piece of bad news feels like it’s going to radically alter our lives. Recently, the Star Wars: Destiny community received some unexpected bad news: Covert Missions has been delayed. I want to offer you some perspective on that today, and tell you that I don’t believe things are as bad they seem right now on social media. The ship isn’t sinking, we don’t need to launch the lifeboats, and nobody has to make any SOS calls just yet.
Better PR Would Solve Many Problems
Let me get the obvious out of the way first – Fantasy Flight Games makes mistakes. Please don’t read this article and think I’m giving FFG a free pass for how the announcement was made. I’m disappointed in the Covert Missions delay, and I’m particularly disappointed that it was announced seemingly at random. I’m willing to believe that Andrew and Evan gave out their answer in the spirit of being as open as possible, but it ended up looking unprofessional. I’ve joked before on the podcast that FFG is in dire need of a designated PR employee for Destiny. At this point it isn’t a joke. I truly believe that many of their announcements would be much less contentious if their communication was more organized. Matt Holland can’t be expected to save the day every time something gets the community fired up!
The first article about this delay should have been a calming and contrite one by FFG explaining the situation. If this delay ultimately ends up only being a couple of weeks into the first quarter, it may only be a difference of a week or two from the original fourth-quarter release date. It could be that we’re all worked up over barely any delay at all! Instead, the first articles about this delay were largely negative and pessimistic pieces written by third-party sites, which doesn’t help the image of Destiny at all. I don’t resent those sites for having their own opinions, but professional communication from FFG could have stopped this from ever becoming an issue of this magnitude. Again, I appreciate Matt Holland, but at some point a more formal method of communication for this type of thing would be nice.
Companies Typically Like Money
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let me try to explain why I don’t think this delay is as bad as it looks. First, I want to point out that Star Wars: Destiny is still a lucrative game that ranks in the top ten collectible games every quarter. Companies rarely abandon products that make them money. I see comments out there about the Convergence cycle being the last for this game, and I think that’s just silly.
As long as FFG has the Star Wars license and makes money on Destiny, they’ll continue to make Destiny. We’ve already heard in previous streams that the Destiny team is excited for what lies beyond Covert Missions. I’ve played games that have been cancelled, and Destiny does not feel like a game about to end. I’m going to have faith here, and hope that it’s well placed.
If You Want to Play Destiny, You Can Definitely Find a Place to Play Destiny
The second thing I want to remind you of is how solid the lineup is for competitive events this autumn. The World Championship in October looks to be an absolute blast, with prizing (foils!) worthy of its name. Watching the best players fight it out is one of the coolest parts of being a Destiny fan! After Worlds, Prime season will start in earnest. We know that Prime tournaments have really neat prizing, and I fully intend to play in as many events as I can to try and win those sweet Kylo shields! There are a lot of Prime tournaments, so my schedule should hopefully stay busy!
We’re still waiting to be able to order the premium seasonal kits, but I know my local store will be keen to host that tournament as well. Covert Missions will almost certainly drop right in the middle of Prime season, so we’ll still get to experience the thrill of a new competitive meta! There’s a lot to look forward to in late 2019 and early 2020 as a semi-competitive or competitive player.
The Meta Can Change Without a New Set
As far as the meta goes, I’m coming around to the idea that Fateful Companions (SH111), C-3PO (SH77), or R2-D2 (SH56) will probably get hit by an errata or be balanced sooner rather than later. Droids decks make up a gigantic percentage of the field right now. They also gate-keep a lot of interactive builds that can’t keep up with their action cheating. I think we’ll see something happen before Worlds. If Droids are left untouched, I imagine some other change will be made to freshen things up a little.
Assuming that we do see a change, the Spark of Hope meta should really open up and let some interesting builds sneak in. It won’t be the same as a new set, but it will be a fresh experience for players. I’m going to be cautiously optimistic and say that you don’t need to worry about having to play against only droids for the next three months. I’m hopeful it won’t come to that.
Fortunately, We Don’t Play Games For the Same Reason the Maya Did
Lastly, I want to ask a question: why do you play Destiny? I know that answer will be different for many of you, but my answer is very simple. I think it’s fun! I’m very lucky to have a great local community that I enjoy hanging out with. To that end, I’m grateful to FFG for creating a game that brought us all together. We’ve talked it over, and we have more than enough ideas to carry us through the Covert Missions release: Trilogies weeks, Infinite weeks, theme nights, drafts, and box tournaments are all things we can do to pass the time. We have a local Prime, so that’ll be fun to compete for bragging rights. In addition to that, the newest seasonal kit should be reaching us soon for free play. I know that I’m still going to be able to play Destiny this year (and have fun doing it).
Don’t Let the Muggles Get You Down
Look, I’m not saying I don’t get it – I wish Covert Missions was releasing this year, too. That said, for all of the reasons I outlined above, and many more, I just can’t see the logic in panicking about this game. Particularly not when it continues to bring me a great amount of satisfaction and happiness. Things are rarely as bad as they seem, and that’s true for this news about the delay. For past couple of weeks on social media, the forecast for our game has seemed rainy at best. My advice: grab your umbrella and go play some freakin’ Destiny!
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