Looter Shooters is a genre that is in a weird spot right now. While there are experiences like Borderlands 3 and Outriders that get you about 50-100 hours of playtime, it is the live-service games that tend to be the most successful in the current era. The big three in the genre are Destiny 2, The Division 2, and Warframe. Warframe and Destiny 2 in particular stand out in the genre thanks to the power fantasy that they offer, combined with unique gameplay mechanics that haven’t been successfully replicated in the genre.
Defining the looter shooter genre
Diablo is quite possibly the pioneer of the “looter” genre. It had fast-paced combat, tons of loot to collect, and a progression system that keeps you hooked for countless hours. Diablo II refined the mechanics even further and the loot system has been replicated by many throughout the years.
The original Borderlands was a pioneer in bringing the looter genre to an FPS format and it was an instant hit. Borderlands games have random rolls on gear and you could get the same weapon several times while having different perks on them. But Borderlands is a limited experience and once you complete everything there is to do in the game, your only option is to go over the same content all over again or reset your progress and start afresh.
This is where games like Destiny and Warframe come in and offer a live-service solution that excels at keeping players hooked. Year one of Destiny and Warframe were both subpar experiences but some quality updates strengthened the grip on the genre for both Digital Extremes and Bungie. The Division entered the mix and completed the trifecta of the looter shooter genre and almost no other game has managed to break into the genre.
All three games continue to be played to this day and you can expect support for the games for the foreseeable future. The loot you spent time earning can be used in new content and there is also a sentimental value among veterans for their favorite characters, weapons, and other items.
The war between power fantasy and game balance
One of the biggest problems with the games is balancing and keeping players motivated. Warframe’s power creep has reached a point where you can absolutely obliterate everything in sight if you have the right gear and there are players who can go dozens of hours on a survival run without breaking a sweat.
On the polar opposite side is Destiny, where Grandmaster Nightfalls felt like a slog to run through in the past and required enemy rebalancing. The Division also had “bullet sponge” enemies that players complained about but it is not much of an issue in the sequel even though it takes some time to get the right build going to feel powerful in endgame content.
Loot needs to be meaningful and upgrades need to be meaningful. If you get a brand-new weapon, the game has to incentivize you to use it. After all, why would you go after new gear if it doesn’t offer you any gameplay advantages? But power-creeping gear also means that you need to constantly farm the new gear drops to stay “relevant.” This is where the developers sometimes struggle to balance things out.
Destiny in particular has another problem of making players grind every single season to replay content. For example, if you are at the appropriate power level to complete an endgame activity like Grandmaster Nightfalls, you will need to grind power levels again next season to do the same activity else you take more damage and barely do any yourself. Bungie has addressed this problem by reducing the power grind but some of it is still there.
Balancing looter shooters is a monstrous task and many might argue that it is impossible to do so. There are no clear-cut solutions that will work for all players and satisfy both casuals and veterans. The grind becomes second nature to many players while others simply despise the idea of farming for gear.
Infinite content simply isn’t possible
The healthiest way to play live-service games or looter shooters is to take breaks. There are periods of drought and there’s nothing players can do about it. After sinking 4,400 hours in Destiny 2 and over 1,900 hours in Warframe I became fatigued. There would be points in time where my and my friends would be waiting for content to drop while replaying old content and the genre incentivizes you to keep playing it every single day.
Developers simply cannot pump out content at the same rate veterans like myself consume it. Destiny 2’s new expansion launches on 28th February in my country and I am certain that I will be done with all of the annual expansion content in a month or so with some time-gated challenges being the only things that hold me back.
But what does keep the players engaged is the fun aspect of the content itself. It is something that the games in the genre have struggled with. Sometimes, seasons or patches are just dull and there is nothing you can do about it. But sometimes, you get a breath of fresh air from content updates, and your love for the game is reignited. Warframe’s Fortuna update and Destiny 2’s Forsaken expansion are two of the most memorable content updates I have experienced and many smaller updates for the games have made me feel the same way.
The toxic yet fun relationship that looters offer
Looter shooters are addicting for some people and it is impossible to break free and play other games. As a Warframe player, it is very difficult to find games that offer the same level of power fantasy and movement. And as a Destiny player, the gunplay in other titles is just not the same. These games have something about them that keeps getting players to come back no matter how many bad patches there are.
The genre is flawed but the games that have succeeded have gameplay elements or communities that bind players together. Despite the advent of battle royales and other live-service titles, the looter shooter genre bubble is unlikely to burst anytime soon. They continue to see very stable player counts with dips and surges throughout the year and the playerbase of the games has become loyal because the genre just “hits different”.
