[b]E3[/b] quickly approaches. A myriad of details are being ground down to a fine powder by the Bungie team and will soon be ready to be dolled out to the slack-eyed addicts of the B.net community. (and if they're feeling generous, the world) The time for speculation is narrowing quickly, with the sweet ambrosia of tru7h quickly approaching at the beginning of June. But alas, there is time yet. Time to dream of what could be, what will be. Some of you (most of you I hope) have probably read [i]MrGreenCastle[/i]'s in-depth analysis of the ViDoc [i]Pathways Out of Darkness[/i]. For those of you who have not, [url=http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?mode=thread&id=1878]educate yourself.[/url] Big kudos to MrGreenCastle and the boys over at [url=http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?mode=thread&id=1878]DBO[/url] for keeping the discussion hot. He's hit on all the main points (and a few surprising one's) so I won't reiterate his work here. My personal analysis of the content is focused on answering the following question: [b]1. What does Bungie mean by a [i]shared-world shooter[/i]? How does it differ from the persistent world of a traditional MMO?[/b] There's been plenty of comparisons between Destiny and traditional MMOs. And for good reason. Shooter's featuring loot and leveling was a concept brought into the main fold by 2009's [i]Borderlands[/i], which essentially was an FPS version of Blizzard's classic [i]Diablo[/i] franchise. With Destiny, Bungie seems to be combining themes from [i]Borderlands (2009)[/i], [i]Journey (2012)[/i], and their earlier experiences with [i]Halo[/i]. Note that all three of these games referenced are linear in nature, delivering the player a brilliant, scripted experience completely defined by the Developers. Even with the little information we've been given about Destiny, that is clearly not the case. To paraphrase the ViDoc, [i]"Destiny will be a living, breathing world. It's something we don't entirely control."[/i] But while we can settle the question of Destiny' linearity (a resounding no), there's been much speculation on just how the level design is going to pan out. Will the world be persistent? My conclusion is [b]no[/b]. Here's why: Referencing the "Main Menu" image contained on Image 2 of [i]MrGreenCastle[/i]'s analysis, we see several "adventure" options available to our group of intrepid guardians. The first, [i]Home[/i], has already been partially revealed. This is the hub, in which we shall meet and greet with other guardians, craft/gamble/buy/trade equipment (all but gamble are uncomfirmed), form parties, join guilds, and (possibly) stand about admiring our sexy selves in 3rd person. It's unclear if this content will be instanced in any way, (can you imagine the entire player population of a console showing up in one area? o.o) but it's clear this is the area in which you'll do most of your planned social connecting. Second, we have a Tricorn symbol telling us a specific [i]Chapter[/i] that we can embark upon. Combining this information with the information contained on Image 3 of the post, we can see that Destiny's story will be divided into [i]Books[/i] (probably Acts) and further divided into [i]Chapters[/i]. But what is the scope of these two terms? Let's think of it this way: [i]Books[/i] define the major story arcs. We'll most likely see cinematics (starring our Guardian/Guardian team) and major plot points develop at the turning of a [i]Book[/i]. Chapters can be inferred as individual missions (probably greater in length than [i]Strikes[/i], which I'll talk about momentarily) that make up the majority of our storyline gameplay. If progression to certain areas is locked, these will most likely be the method by which we advance from planet to planet and area to area. Destiny's major focus thusfar has been to create dynamic experiences. So it's enitirely possible individual [i]Chapters[/i] can play out in several ways. Branching storyline anyone? We'll see. On Image 3, we can also see a Tricorn with a "18" next to it. I believe this number dirrectly correlates to the number left of the Player name on Image 1. (Main menu) The two greatest possibilities are that it's a qualifying prereq to take part in that particular Chapter/Event. It could require a cumulative party level or require that all individuals meet the minimum rank. This makes sense in terms of progression. You'd' have to split your time leveling between Story missions, Strikes, Faction Wars, and Raids in order to progress through the overall Destiny experience. Also on Image 3 is a number of [i]rewards/achievements[/i] that will most like be related to achieving specific goals within the specific level. (i.e finish the chapter only using a sidearm. Bonus credits/exp rewarded on completion) Next is [i]Bounty[/i]. As MrGreenCastle points out, there are 3 stars on the far right. What are they? My best guess is that a Bounty is made up of several goals, each of which must be met before the close of the week to recieve the [i]Bounty[/i]. Think the weekly challenges in H:Reach. The next two have great bearing on my thoughts concerning world instancing in Destiny: [i]Strike[/i] and [i]Raid[/i]. Before I jump in-depth, I'd like to reference the [i]Grognok[/i] preview video shown at the GDC panel. (Link:[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD5qgFTKMgI[/url]) Here we get to see some quick level-building in [i]Grognok[/i]. I'd like you to take a look at the space that's being developed during that video. It's pretty big, but not big enough to justify an open-world scope. The details and revelant areas are pretty tightly packed around the big structure we see developed. This correlates to my thoughts that [b]Destiny will feature seperate instanced areas to which we travel via the Party/Ship screen.[/b] It will not be open-world, but will instead consist of hundreds of smaller map chuncks which we will visit and revisit multiple times on our many adventures. This brings me back to [i]Strikes[/i] and [i]Raids[/i]. That Grognok video can help us define what the space will feel like. But what about what to [i]do[/i] in those spaces? That's where [i]Strikes[/i] and [i]Raids[/i] come in. [i]Strikes [/i]are subheaded by the phrase [i]random hopper[/i]. I believe this system will throw you into a random area map with a random objective (and possibly random enemies) to create a dynamic adventure for you and your team. It's like a great compromise between H4's [i]Spartan Ops[/i] and classic Halo [i]Firefight[/i]. It's possible that certain environmental aspects will also change, a la [i]Left4Dead 2[/i]'s AI director. The important thing is that it serves as a co-op filler between qualifying for your next [i]Story Chapter[/i], participating in [i]Faction Wars[/i], and gearing up for those big [i]Raids[/i] you and your friends have had your eyes on. Speaking of Raids, I'm thinking these bad boys will be the penultimate in instanced content. Like [i]Strikes[/i] on steroids, [i]Raids[/i] will feature custom locations with harder mobs and bigger challenges. These will probably be more scripted to balance out the challenge of additional difficulty. With that said, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to replace the statis system ideas with more dynamic ones. Say the [b][i]Depth of Darkness[/i][/b] is a Hive raid deep into the bowels of the Hellmouth. The dynamics could be anything from changing up paths to enemy numbers to even the way a boss mob behaves or looks. (Dem Necomancers scare me already) These will most likely give the best loot, but also present the most difficult challenge of any of Destiny's modes. Finally, we have [i]Faction Wars[/i]. Absolutely nothing has been revealed about this mode. (save what we can infer from t-shirts and art) Therefore, these theories are entirely extrapolations of my co-op theories set in a competitive context. Joining a [i]Faction Wars[/i] hopper will match you and your party (depending on size) with an equal number of an opposing factions player and insert you into a map with a random objective. It's possible you may get to vote, but with the lack of menus I have few ideas on how such a concept could play out. I'm of firm belief that PVP will be restricted to certain locations/circumstances under which a balanced and fair playing field can be provided. In conclusion, I believe Destiny will be seperated into bite-sized chunks of instanced content featuring a variety of dynamic modes and objectives that will give players interesting choices to level their characters. Character level will slowly unlock additional [i]Books/Chapters[/i], areas, [i]Raids[/i], [i]Strikes[/i], and gear. All of which I could see successfully enslaving me for the coming years. Thanks for reading. Be Brave.