There are a number of ways in which Destiny takes cues from massively multiplayer online role-playing games, but its class system is not one of them. While MMORPGs are often designed to all but require parties to have a balanced assortment of classes in order to succeed–healers, tanks, damage dealers–Destiny is not aiming for the differences between classes to be quite so important. As Destiny’s investment lead, Tyson Green, explained when I went to see the game at Bungie
When you reach level 15, you unlock the titan’s other subclass, the defender. This is the subclass to go with if you want to be able to take as much punishment as possible. The defender’s super is called ward of dawn, which lets you temporarily create a shield that can protect you and your teammates. It can be upgraded so that passing through the shield grants you a temporary shield of your own, or an increase to weapon damage. The defender’s melee attack creates a damage-absorbing barrier around you. It can be upgraded so that, while the barrier lasts, you can reload and ready your weapons a lot more quickly.
Hunter
Like the rogues of so many RPGs, hunters specialize in sneakiness and accurate, extremely damaging attacks. The first subclass available to the hunter, called gunslinger, brings with it the golden gun super ability, a brief but very significant increase to your weapon’s damage. This ability can be upgraded to make enemies explode. Rather than a standard melee attack, gunslingers have throwing knives, which can be upgraded to make enemies they strike catch fire.
At level 15, hunters unlock their other subclass, called bladedancer. The bladedancer’s super is arc blade, a lethal lightning attack. It can be upgraded with an area-of-effect damage radius, or to unleash a wave of energy, or to make you invisible. The melee attack of bladedancers is called blink strike, which has greater range than other melee attacks, and can be upgraded to carry a significant increase to damage when striking from behind, or to make you briefly vanish from sight.
Warlock
Rounding out Destiny’s trio of classes is the warlock. As the name implies, this is the closest thing to a mage Destiny has to offer. The warlock’s initial subclass is the voidwalker, which has a super ability called nova bomb, an explosive bolt of energy that damages all enemies within its area of effect. The voidwalker’s melee attack is called energy drain, which reduces the cooldown of your grenades, and can be upgraded so that killing enemies with energy drain increases your movement speed for a sort time, or restores some of your health.
The warlock’s second subclass, the sunsinger (available at level 15), has a super ability called radiance, which provides a temporary boost to all of your abilities. The melee attack of sunsingers is called scorch; it ignites enemies, causing fire damage over time.
Races
In addition to choosing a class, you must also select from one of Destiny’s three races. Unlike the choice of race in many MMOs, there are no stat bonuses or penalties associated with the game’s races. This is just a cosmetic choice designed to give players an additional way to express themselves and to make the world of Destiny feel more diverse. You can play as a human:
as one of the mechanical exo:
or as one of the etheral awoken.
And don’t worry. No matter which combination of race and class you select, your character will be extremely skilled at one of the most popular activities in Bungie’s new sci-fi universe: dancing. I mean, how else are you going to celebrate your triumphs than with impromptu dance parties?
