If Halo & Borderlands have a baby, with CoD as Godfather...

Extensive beta will be offered to anybody who preorder, timing unknown, most likely Mid June or early July. As a result, so far more than 700K preorders in USA region alone have been made across the 4 platforms (XONE/X360/PS4/PS3) on which the game will be released, according to vgchartz.com

The game's release date is set at 09/09/2014.

As a gamer who started with Halo, a multi-year CoD player, and a recent Borderlands fan, I will definitely pick up this game (already preordered) and be looking for teammates to play together. Hit me up if you are interested.

Iv already got the pre order I heard this game is supposed to be badass.. I'm going to be on it a lot especially with summer coming up.

For us CoD fans, we tend to be impatient and dislike the grind to level up characters in RPG.

One of the "seven pillars of design" Bungie established at the very beginning of the development is "Enjoyable by the Impatient and Distracted", so addressing the concern above is right in the center of their focus. It has been revealed that



On the other hand, people spending more time will still be handsomely rewarded: there are lots of weapons and gears to be earned and upgraded.

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Reference: 7 pillars of design for Destiny, by Bungie:

Pillar 1: A World Players Want to Be In

Jason Jones: "This pillar really influenced us early in development. Is this world cool? Do I want to stay here? Do I want to learn more about it?”
Joseph Staten: "One lesson that’s critical is that the most important stories we tell aren’t going to be told by us. They’re going to be told by players – their personal legends built from shared adventures.”

Pillar 2: A Bunch of Fun Things to Do

(after describing a three-man dungeon run in detail):
Joseph Staten: “And just like that, The Dust Palace becomes part of my story. The breadth and depth of Destiny’s world encourages me to find my own adventures. It’s a place where I can leave my mark.”

Pillar 3: Rewards Players Care About

Jones explained how the game will have “a lot of great things to earn, find, and make,” reiterating that “everything you do in Destiny earns rewards.” Besides unique weapons, every piece of your kit will be your own, from your helmet to your cape to your armor pieces to your face. Their goal, he said, is to keep players coming back “day after day, week after week, month after month, [and] year after year.”

Pillar 4: A New Experience Every Night

Jason Jones: “Imagine you could spend an hour and accomplish something, but you get distracted from doing the thing you meant to do when you logged on. Every time you sit down to play Destiny you have a different experience than last time.”

Pillar 5: Shared With Other People

Jason Jones: “Everything that’s fun to do is more fun to do with your friends.'”

Pillar 6: Enjoyable By All Skill Levels

Jason Jones: "All core activities can be enjoyed by a novice player, that's not hard. What’s hard is keeping it interesting for your advanced players.”

Pillar 7: Enjoyable by the Impatient and Distracted

Jason Jones: “Players don’t want to work hard, they don’t want to read, and they don’t’ want to go to the Internet to figure out our bullshit.”

Don't care about the wall of text and just want to see what the game play is like? Here is an official game play video:

Beta should happen no later than early July (for XONE. Beta for PS4 will be earlier because Bungie and ActiVision are now buddies with Sony instead of MSFT), so not too far out.

As a long time Halo player, I can see the familiar elements in the video: the 3 round burst, the shotty, the sniper, all have Halo feel all over it.

New game play elements introduced are

1) "Super": a special ability that need to be charged (through kill I think) before can be used (e.g: the gold pistol, which does insane amount of the damage);
2) Special movement: double jump, glide, or jet pack
3) Cool melee moves (e.g.: the throwing knife)

For bros who have not yet preordered, I suggest doing so before E3. Beta date is expected to be announced during E3, and I am sure that as soon as that happens lots of players will pre-order to get into beta. Since Bungie may have a limited number of slots for beta access, do so earlier than that will be wise.

One not well known fact is that you can choose the platform to play beta, not necessarily the same platform that you preordered the game for. If you are still deciding on when to buy the XONE, you can preorder the game for XONE but play the beta on X360, and only buy the console and the game if satisfied with the experience.

The best place to pre-order is probably Amazon: 1) you don't need to pay until when the game is shipped; 2) until then you can cancel any time. 

I pre-ordered for Xbone. Will probably play the beta on 360, though.

E3 is coming in 2 weeks and Destiny's competitive MP will be playable by fans. Below is a fan's recount of everything released so far, pre-E3 edition:

www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post?id=65087528