Does Destiny’s Refer-A-Friend Program Work?

We’ve spent a lot of time since Destiny’s announcement in 2013 discussing the things we like about it.

We’ve spent a lot of time since Destiny’s announcement in 2013 discussing the things we like about it. For some of our editors, Destiny has become a weekly or nightly part of our gaming hobby, and a place where we’ve made new friends and sunk hundreds of gaming hours. You can read our enthusiastic review of The Taken Kingif you're curious. But for some of our editorial team, the game never resonated, and we're interested in hearing that perspective as well.

With Destiny’s newly launched Refer-A-Friend program, we thought it was the perfect time to get their take. I sat down with fellow editors Joe Juba and Matthew Kato, for two days of gameplay to give them a taste of Bungie’s open-world shooter, and then we had a frank conversation about what worked for them, what didn’t work, and whether Destiny might have the power to convert a non-believer.

Miller: Let’s set the stage here a little bit. I’ve been playing Destiny pretty religiously since launch, and I’m always happy to have the opportunity to play with new folks. With the recent addition of the Refer-A-Friend program, you two kindly agreed to hop in and play some of The Taken King for the first time. What’s been your background with the game prior to now?

Kato: All I knew about the game before now is overhearing you, Andy, and others talk about the game – which was unfathomable. And now that I’ve played the game, I still can’t parse some of the terminology you guys throw around!

Joe: Yeah, this was basically my first attempt at spending any real time with Destiny, and I generally agree with Kato. I know what “glimmer” and “engrams” mean now, but it feels like there are still multiple layers of the game that I haven’t experienced. I’d still be lost in any conversation about Destiny that lasted more than a few minutes.

Kato: I think “engrams” are used in Scientology, right?

Miller: So, did that confusion translate to you not enjoying your time with the game?

Kato: Actually, I did like some portions of the game. The loot loop is seriously addictive, and I can recognize the gunplay as being pretty tight. Par for the course for Bungie, however, the vehicles feel like crap, but that’s a very minor point.

Joe: I think the problem is that, after spending several hours playing, I still don’t feel like I know enough about the game and its systems to make any real judgments. That’s actually a problem with the Refer-A-Friend program; I feel like I was just thrown into the deep end. It presents itself as an easy way to bring new players into the experience, and pushes you to rapidly catch up to your friend, but then it still requires dozens of hours of dedicated play to appreciate what the game has to offer. Even though I was having fun, without you there to hold my hand through missions, I had a hard time making sense of everything.

Kato: At one point it was like Miller was running a training session in a call center. He was standing between my desk and Joe’s explaining different things to us both simultaneously.

Next Page: We discuss the merits of new players starting from scratch, or taking the offer to jump straight to level 25