Destiny Kart – The Sparrow Racing League
Okay, maybe Destiny Kart isn’t as accurate as Wipeout without guns. In either case, I’ve been checking out Destiny‘s latest limited time event, the Sparrow Racing League. It’s certainly an entertaining distraction from the normal grind of raids or pvp that comprise the core of the Destiny experience. However, in its current state SRL is best left as a limited event rather than an ongoing feature. Racing for a chance at winning an exotic item is a cool idea (I have not yet seen one), but if it’s reliant on the RNG system instead of race performance, I foresee some players being unhappy with outcome.
How long can two tracks remain interesting?
Speeding up the shortcut on the Mars track.
As much as I’m down for a little racing fun, only having two tracks gets real old, real fast. Not only are we stuck with two tracks, but whoever designed the tracks for the Sparrow Racing League is as sadistic as they come. I’m used to playing racing games from the standard like Gran Tourismo or the Forza series to more fantasy styles like the Wipeout series, Mario Kart, or F-Zero where at least the tracks are pretty straight forward. With SRL, I need to remember that on the Mars track, right after a boost gate, there’s a FUCKING POLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GODDAMN TRACK. Not to mention the triple fans of death near the end that mean an instant explosion if I accidentally boost into one. Of course, the Venus track just has a lot of cliffs, so falling to my doom is pretty common. It’s no rainbow road, but it can still die in a fire. (Though experience would seem to indicate that’s my job.) However, a savvy player will be able to recognize the shortcuts in both of these tracks and soon leave others cursing their names as they create unstoppable leads for themselves.
Microtransactions: Is there a compelling reason to buy these items?
I’ll be clear: I am not the target audience for aesthetic item microtransactions. I’m not likely to ever buy a vanity item like an exclusive dance emote or whatever the item du jour happens to be at Eververse Trading Company. I’ve just come to ignore the kiosk for the most part, but I do check in to see what’s available for these events. I couldn’t believe that the SRL Record Book Vol. 1 (which implies a new version for next time) was 1000 silver. Essentially, it’s $10 to buy an item that would make me work to acquire special armor, a shader, and a vehicle during a limited time event. Again, maybe I’m just not the market for it, but damn does that seem a bit pricey for my tastes. However, if microtransactions really will be funding the future content updates, more power to anyone that has the disposable income to throw at that or the Sparrow Racing Kits for a chance at a random sparrow available during the event.
You can get exotics in the Sparrow Racing League!
With the latest patch, the Three of Coins item now has a chance of awarding an exotic engram at the end of a Crucible match regardless of actual ranking from the match. Likewise, because SRL is considered a PvP event, Three of Coins now has a chance of awarding an exotic engram at the conclusion of a sparrow race. This is not, of course, for the SRL specific exotic helm or class item, but why not get more exotics if you’re going to be grinding through races anyway? While I haven’t personally been able to obtain an exotic engram in this fashion, the use of Three of Coins in the Sparrow Racing League was confirmed by Bungie designer, Lars Bakken on his twitter:
— Lars Bakken (@lars_bakken) December 8, 2015
It is important to remember that the diminishing returns on the Three of Coins still impacts the ability to get engrams during the races. So I wouldn’t recommend using one (or more) any more frequently than once every other race.
For as much as the tracks drive me insane with their obstacles and the microtransactions aren’t really my thing, I still plan on finishing out the class S license quest if I can. As of this writing, I still need two more wins and I tried for a good couple hours straight to make that happen. Either I’m not doing things right or I’m getting matched up against racing savants. (I’m guessing it’s more of the former.) It’s a fun little event that would be far more compelling if it had a few more tracks and didn’t play out like bumper cars so much. On the other hand, it is getting me some Crucible rep with each race. Really, I just like the fact that the people over at Bungie thought outside of the box to add an event that has virtually nothing to do with my concept of a first person shooter. For now, it’s time that I get back to working on that quest and screaming loudly at my screen everytime I lose.
