[quote]Despite its massive claims of originality, Destiny isn't doing much that hasn't been done before. The only real difference is that some of these qualities are relatively new to mainstream shooters.[/quote]That's what makes it original. It's blending together a bunch of different genres in a way that no other game has before.[quote]Furthermore I've seen very little besides aesthetics that differentiates the three classes. each one has a couple special moves, but they all seem to play about the same.[/quote]I don't think we've seen enough to really make this judgement. Bungie's been very careful to show us what we want to see, while at the same time showing us very little. As of right now, you're completely correct.[quote] I also don't like that there will be a beta. I prefer to enjoy my games fresh with other people.[/quote]Then don't play the beta. It's literally that simple.[quote]I don't like the idea that many people will already have a fair amount of experience with the game on launch day.[/quote]I understand this concern, but I don't really think it's necessary. I can't imagine the learning curve being all that steep, so I highly doubt playing the game for a few days, [i]months[/i] prior to launch is going to make a substantial difference.[quote]Surely any balancing issues can be taken care of in the studio?[/quote]Yes, but it's much faster to have millions of players pressure-test your games than have a small team of testers to do it. [quote]The beta seems like both cheap publicity and a cop-out.[/quote]How? Plenty of games have betas, why is Destiny's "cheap publicity and a cop-out?" All that being said, there are a few things that have me worried about Destiny. The main one being how will PvP be balanced in such a item-centric game.