Officially addicted. Level 27 Titan. Cleared some of the raid with a group on Twitch (EdEMonster, Bewbydewby, HandicapHOBO), and it was really awesome. The bosses have interesting mechanics, you have to work well together, it's everything I wanted the base game to be. If they could just make the strikes more engaging like the raid is, I'd easily give the game an 8.
I still think that the story needs to be better integrated into the game. Yes, item descriptions and Grimoire cards add significant depth to the lore, but you can't even access the cards from the game, you have to use the app or go to the website. Sure, item description lore worked in Dark Souls, but to me, Bungie had a strength in storytelling in the Halo series, and I'm just not getting that here. I get that they have to tell a story where everyone is playing a different character, but there are like 8 cutscenes in the game, and you never really feel anything for any of the characters. Dinklage's Ghost isn't doing the game any favors, either. Sure in Halo Cortana did much of the same, providing exposition as you mow down enemies, but she was engaging as a character.
The other complaint I have is that the story missions aren't varied enough. In Halo, missions would have you doing different things even though it all boiled down to "run here, push button, fight enemies". Sometimes you'd be in a vehicle mowing down waves, sometimes you're dealing with snipers, sometimes you grab a turret. In Destiny, it's 95% using your three weapons. There are vehicles, but you only use them maybe once. There's a level where you get a power sword and go third person and whoop a bunch of dudes, and then you never do that ever again. Integrate that into future levels. Put more vehicle gauntlets in there. I get that you don't want the game to be Halo, but you need to realize that there are some very strong points from Halo that could be brought over and benefit the new game.
Overall, I get that this is the game that Bungie always wanted to make, or something. The feeling I get is that they wanted to tell more stories in the Halo universe, and that they were tied down with Master Chief.
The game is a solid 7 to me. That's not a bad thing. I remember when I was a kid, you'd play anything 6 or higher. Sure 6 or 7 may mean "rent this" instead of "buy this" but there's nothing wrong with that. I think Destiny is worth a rental to find out if it's the game for you. The base story can be beaten in probably 10 hours. You can play some fun multiplayer. It's a game that I'll play far more and far longer than other games I'd rate higher. I wish more people would understand that you can have fun in a game with a poorer rating and it doesn't mean it's rated wrongly or that your opinion is wrong. One of the issues I have with reviews is that if a game doesn't get an 8 or higher, it's absolute garbage in the minds of many. To me, 6-10 are games to play, and 1-5 are games with various issues holding them back. You could have a 4 or 5 worth playing, but there are some gamebreaking bugs, for example. 5 is supposedly an "average" game, but we've conditioned ourselves that 8 is the new baseline, and it sucks. It hogties reviewers.
And yes, I get that even my outlook on a 1-10 rating scale is skewed.