What did I just watch here?

Deflected nova bomb into a kill, then threw the shield and killed everyone on the plant?

I was gonna mess around with the warlock a bit, but I think I'm kinda done with the beta.

Overall impressions - um, I dunno.  Disclaimer - yes, I know it's a beta, yes I know there are probably newer builds of the game than what we're playing, yes I know that this is mainly testing the backbone and basic functions of the game, yes I know that everything is subject to change and that judging the game overall based on what we've got to play right now is silly.

That being said, there's a few things I don't like. 

As I mentioned earlier, the super simplified, dumbed-down subclass perks and talents suck.  That combined with the talk of locked load outs is a buzz kill for me - the perk/talent trees are one thing, there's like one or two setups most everyone uses for every subclass in the game - but I change weapons and armor all the time in PVP and PVE depending on what I'm doing.  Now if they do locked load outs, that potentially pigeon-holes people into playing certain roles, and I don't like that.  In PVE, I like being able to tailor my subclass and my equipment to fulfill any role or task for any moment in any activity, and in PVP I like being able to tailor my weapons to a particular map or enemy play style I'm having to put up with, but now that may not be an option anymore.

Destiny is a shooter first and foremost, I get that, and Destiny 1 is kinda like shooter/RPG/MMO-Lite.  You grind for gear, you change your gear around for certain situations (while not absolutely necessary to do so, for OCD type people it's an option to help min/max for whatever you're doing), you select different classes for whatever you're doing, etc.  Whereas *at first* (again, beta, I know, very basic and simplistic build we're playing, I know) D2 feels like they took the very basic and simple RPG or MMO-ish flavor of D1 and threw it out the window.  It's like the character set up of D2 feels very broad and generic, and the D1 arrangement was more pinpoint where you could - granted, in a very rudimentary fashion compared to a traditional RPG or MMO - tailor for a specific activity or a style of play that you wanted.  

I think the crucible is probably leaning more towards crash and burn than being something really good.  The underlying good stuff is there though.  It's weird that they're dumbing down the PVE experience with the limited perk/talent trees and locked load outs (maybe), while making PVP cater more to a hard core, competitive audience.  D2 crucible borrows a lot from current competitive FPS' like CS or Overwatch - scoreboard at the top of the screen showing the status of everyone on both teams, all modes are 4v4, maps showing specific call outs for certain areas, set rolls on weapons, etc.  

I like moving away from ability spam and relying more on gun play to win the day in the crucible.  That needed to be done and I'm very grateful for that.  I think with that, we're gonna see a skill gap start to open up to separate the really good players from the dudes who just think they're good, hiding behind grenades and special weapons from D1.

It's incredibly vital to succeed in this style of crucible to play as a team, which is both good and bad.  Solo queuing is gonna suck I think.  Playing against coordinated four man teams is really gonna suck.  But it's also gonna be fun and really satisfying if you're on the non-shit end of the stick, playing with a team who's working together well.  I think ultimately the way they address this is having the crucible directory work like it does (or doesn't?  I dunno) in the beta - a casual quick play list, and a ranked, competitive playlist.  Huge bonus points for a mercenary playlist with no fireteams allowed, for people who are solo queuing.

The weapon slotting is weird, two primaries seems kinda stupid and clunky to me.  In PVE, I used my kinetic primary until I ran out of ammo, switched to my energy weapon and used it until I either picked up more ammo for my primary or ran it dry, whichever came first, lather, rinse, repeat.  Maybe the energy weapon slot will make more sense fighting against shielded enemies and/or with elemental burns, in which case...why not just use the energy weapon from the start?  I wasn't really struggling for ammo for either weapon in most situations, except using that titan minigun auto rifle thing, I kept running out of ammo for it.  I didn't really use power weapons all that much in the story mission or the strike.  In PVP, it didn't really matter either way, although I guess they said elemental weapons are more effective against people in their supers?  I dunno, most supers apart from the Sentinel Shield I just ran away from in the crucible until they went away.

I can't help but wonder if Bungie's trying to avoid the COD thing, where people bitch at Activision/IW/Sledgehammer/Treyarch/whoever about the game being the same over and over, despite it being the same over and over because the formula works.  Maybe I'm in the minority, if they took the basic frame work of D1, used what looks like is going to be a really good story from D2, used most of D2's crucible balancing, throw some new subclasses/perks/abilities/skills in there for the various classes and call that Destiny 2, I'd preorder and play on every platform they've got.  Right now, I'm not so sure.  Only time will tell.

I played like 30 minutes worth of warlock yesterday.

The rift abilities are pretty cool.  Empowering rift seems kinda weaksauce, especially compared to Weapons of Light, but it's better than nothing I guess.  The healing rift is probably my favorite out of the two, you can drop it, stand in it as you get melee'd and shot and such and provided things don't get too crazy, you'll be just fine so long as you stay in the rift and trade shots with the enemy.  Maybe in the full game the thing to do in PVE will be to pair a healing or empowering rift with a Sentinel's bubble?  Like a bootleg Weapons or Blessings?  Or maybe drop a rift behind a titan wall, that could cool.  I dunno.

The Garrison style midair dash is neat, threw myself off the map just I did with it in D1.  It's even easier to kill yourself as a warlock with it, because you don't really have the speed and directional control that a titan does with the Increased Control jump.

The super is interesting.  It's got some auto aim to it that would pull my shots away from something I actually wanted to hit.  Still, I like offensive supers, and this is way better than Radiance ever was.

I'll be on to check the Farm out later this afternoon.

The Farm was very cool.  I really like the refugee camp aesthetic they've got going on, it's totally different compared to the social spaces we've had so far.  The makeshift working spaces, weapon and equipment crates laying around, I think it really helps set the gravity of the situation we're in for the D2 campaign.  It sounds silly, but wandering around the Farm today has been the highlight of the beta for me. 

The opening story mission was amazing.  Even if the nuances with the game don't really do it for me, it looks like at least I'll have a good story to play and experience, which is a hundred times more than what we could say about D1 at launch.

No, beta progress will not carry over to the full game.  Play the beta if you want to, or don't, won't matter any in September.