We’re a week away from the launch of Destiny 2, and fans of the series have a choice to make now that the game is coming to PC as well as consoles.

Which version should you pick? I’ll explain the pros and cons of each, but, so as not to bury the lede, I’ll tell you right now that I’m going to be playing this game on PS4.

How important are visuals?

The argument for playing Destiny 2 on PC is the argument for playing every game on PC: It’s going to look better. And it’s a compelling enough argument that many gamers don’t bother with consoles at all, or only keep them around for top-tier exclusives like Breath of the Wild and The Last of Us. If you don’t mind the added cost, gaming PCs are much more powerful than the current generation of consoles.

The PS4 and Xbox One are budget hardware that are five years old at this point. The PlayStation 4 Pro won’t be able to run the game in 4K at 60 fps, and HDR support is coming at some point after launch. Bungie has nothing to announce when it comes to Xbox One X support yet.

Even a budget gaming PC from the last three years or so can run games at higher detail levels and with higher framerates than the currently available consoles. Destiny 2 will be locked at 30 fps on Xbox One and PS4, while the game can run at 60 fps or higher at 4K resolutions on the PC if you have the necessary hardware.

I’m not saying the console version of the game is bad, just that the PC version is going to look and run better if you’ve invested heavily in your gaming PC.

The solid-state storage included in many PCs can also dramatically reduce loading times in games relative to the conventional hard drives contained in consoles. The PC version of Destiny 2 is going to be the prettiest and smoothest version on most mid- to high-end gaming PCs.

Destiny 2 is also a shooter, and the mouse-and-keyboard controls used for playing shooters on PC are far more precise than console controllers. If you prefer using a controller, the game will recognize that and adjust its settings to make it feel like the console version. There’s already a bit of controversy over the PC version keeping aim assist when using a controller, in fact.

Destiny 2 plays great with a controller on PC. If you want it to feel just like the console, you can. https://t.co/ghkoZvwZUl — Mark Noseworthy (@knowsworthy) May 23, 2017

The beta version of Destiny 2 on PC looks and plays great so far, so it doesn’t seem like we need fear something like an Arkham Knight PC port fiasco.

These factors are likely to be decisive for many players, and have been decisive for me in many cases. I play Overwatch on PC for the higher framerate and mouse and keyboard control. I’d generally prefer to play a long single-player RPG on my large TV, but I bought games like The Witcher 3 and Skyrim on PC. I have an SSD, and I know these kinds of games have many loading screens when moving back and forth between different areas.

Many of you are going to stop reading here, but Destiny 2 might be a unique situation for players who usually prefer the PC. This is why.

Bungie is developing Destiny 2 for console

Bungie developed Halo games for Xbox from 1999 to 2013, when the studio started working on the console exclusive Destiny. The last time Bungie put out a PC game was in the mid-’90s. And they’re making Destiny 2 as a console game as well.

Bungie has handed off duties associated with porting the PC version of the game to Vicarious Visions, another studio under Destiny publisher Activision’s umbrella. In interviews, Bungie developers have clarified that the PC version is not “outsourced,” but is, rather, a “partnership” with Vicarious Visions. The studio intends for Destiny 2 on PC to feel like a PC game, not a port. And, based on the beta, the PC version looks polished, and even goes a bit beyond expectations, in terms of graphical tweaks.

But, while that sounds nice, it’s hard not to suspect that the console version Bungie is producing in-house is the true flagship product.

And if Bungie doesn’t treat the PC version of Destiny 2 as a flagship product — not just in development, but going forward — then the PC version is likely to fall short of the console experience in a number of ways.

Timing (and exclusivity) are big factors

Destiny 2 launches on consoles on Sept. 6, and comes to PC on Oct. 24. That’s a lengthy wait for an online game. Console players will have finished the campaign, conquered the new raid and geared themselves out before PC gamers even get to begin.

Bungie hasn’t announced release dates for future DLC expansions, and we didn’t get a response when we contacted the studio to ask if the PC’s expansions will also be delayed. (Update: We’ve since been told that DLC will come on the same date for the console and PC versions. That’s great news! We’ve updated the rest of the article to reflect this information.)

While you may not think waiting is a big deal, it could impact the way the community coalesces. Getting the game six weeks earlier is a big deal for people who play a lot of Destiny, and I imagine everyone who cares about being among the first to complete a raid is going to stick with the console versions.

They’re already used to playing Destiny on consoles, and even though many of them might have made the jump to PC if the launch had been simultaneous, the benefits of that platform likely won’t be worth the wait for them. If you want to experience everything as soon as possible, without being spoiled online, the console version is the way to go.

Also, if you play on PS4, you will get access to exclusive exotic weapons that won’t be in the other versions, as well as an exclusive strike. It’s likely that Sony will continue to negotiate or pay for exclusive content for PlayStation 4 players. If you want to be absolutely sure you’ll get all the possible Destiny 2 content, PlayStation 4 is your safest bet.

The PC version might have cheating problems

Destiny is essentially an MMO, and loot-based progression is an important part of the game. That means that players who want to get loot without putting the effort are going to be looking for shortcuts.

Bungie struggled to patch early exploits in Destiny, such as an AI defect that players used to trick the final boss of the Vault of Glass raid into walking off a cliff and falling to his death, or the infamous “loot cave,” where players could stand stationary, firing into a cave to rapidly accrue random loot. It became a race for players to find new loot caves before Bungie found them and patched them out.

On PC, Bungie will have to contend with players trying to dupe items, hack their save files and automate their characters to turn them into “bots” that can farm resources while the player is away from the keyboard.

If exploits of this kind are available, even briefly, they can have devastating long-term effects on the in-game economy and the progress of legit players relative to cheaters. To fight this, Bungie has to be prepared to patch the PC version outside the console patch cycle. That way, it can eliminate PC exploits and create specific mechanisms that detect and punish players who cheat. Keeping a game secure on the PC is a very different problem than keeping it secure on consoles.

One reason to have faith that Bungie will be able to do this is the fact that Destiny 2 is being launched on PC through Battle.net. Blizzard has been operating complex multiplayer PC games for decades, and it’s among the best in the business at maintaining the integrity of those games. If Blizzard’s behind-the-scenes cheat detection software will be protecting Destiny 2, PC gamers may be able to rest easy.

But cheating on PC remains something to worry about. That worry may not amount to anything, but game security on the PC is a valid concern, especially when compared to consoles.

Destiny’s superb console gunplay may not easily transition to PC

Destiny is an experience with a bland campaign and a generic story, and it has been plagued by numerous design decisions that have frustrated players. But those flaws have been redeemed — at least in the minds of people who continue to play it — by an addictive reward loop, exciting PvE content and rock-solid mechanical gunplay. Bungie made Halo, after all, and its designers are experts at creating satisfying sci-fi guns. Bungie makes games that feel great when you’re playing them.

But will that gunplay be as satisfying on the PC? While PC shooters and console shooters seem similar in many respects, the best console shooters, like Destiny, are developed from the ground up to be played on console controllers. That means that they’re designed and balanced around aim assistance.

Aim assistance is woven deep into Destiny’s the weapon design. There are actually three different components to it: The movement of your reticle slows down when it’s over a target. The reticle resists moving off the target, and the bullets are slightly “magnetic,” which means that the game treats near-misses as hits. Enemies pull bullets toward them if you aim close enough. With aim assistance, the game fools you into thinking you’re much more accurate than you are.

Each gun has a different statistical modifier to govern the extent to which it assists aim, and some of the perks that can be applied to different weapons also affect aim assist. When Bungie balances the guns for multiplayer, changing the aim-assist stat is often a significant facet of the rebalance.

This factor plays a big part in determining the relative strengths of primary weapons like scout rifles and auto rifles, or between secondaries like sniper rifles and shotguns.

Since PC players have the benefit of much more precise mouse aiming, it’s not clear that they need aim assist at all. The gunplay has been changed a lot for the PC version: Recoil is gone, and that changes the feel of the weapons dramatically. It also affects barrel mods and other perks that modify aim assist and gun recoil.

These kinds of perks still exist in Destiny 2, and players haven’t yet had a chance to figure out all the ways they will work differently with a mouse and keyboard. It’s possible these gun modifiers won’t do anything at all when using mouse and keyboard, or will feel very different, and it will probably be some time after release before we can actually work out exactly what is going on. What we do know is that most people think the shooting feels good in the PC beta, but it also feels different. The two versions of the game will need to be balanced in different ways.

“This is a topic we have anticipated,” Bungie’s community manager stated on the official forums. “Thank you for sharing your points in a constructive manner. It’s a conversation we will continue to monitor. Please continue to share honest feedback about your experiences in the wild. This is why we test. Thanks for playing. We’ll talk more after the PC Beta.”

So yeah. They’re working on it.

You can use a controller with the PC version to get that familiar Bungie gunplay. But then you will be playing with a controller against opponents are using more precise mouse-aiming. Some players on the Destiny subreddit are complaining that the auto-aim assistance you get when playing with a controller is an advantage, but it’s likely that many of these players are inexperienced at PC shooters. A decent player with the benefit of mouse aiming should dominate a controller player, despite the benefits of auto-aim. We’re going to have to wait and see how this shakes out when both versions of the game are released and there’s more PvP data to look at.

A big concern is that the PC version will end up with a multiplayer metagame where hard-hitting, slow-firing weapons — like hand cannons and snipers — are more powerful than they would be in a console environment, where it’s much harder to score consistent headshots. It’s difficult to tell how this will play out just from the beta, since we don’t have access yet to the end-game epic and exotic gear. It’s an open question, and players may not like the answers.

If Bungie or Vicarious Visions is prepared to tweak and balance the guns independently for PC and console, as well as continue to provide separate post-launch balance updates, it’s possible for them to nail it on all platforms.

But the gunplay is an extremely crucial element of Destiny’s formula, and the fact that the task of translating that to PC controls has been delegated to an outside studio is, at the very least, a cause for concern. Even if everything is balanced to the community’s satisfaction in the end, it’s likely that this effort will be an ongoing give-and-take between developer and fans as the meta evolves.

How long are you willing to wait?

If your PC is a lot more powerful than a PS4 or Xbox One, then Destiny 2 will both look and run better there. And if Destiny 2 is something you expect to be playing in three years, then it will look and run a whole lot better on your next PC, with its inconceivable future tech, than it will on a console made from middle-of-the-road 2013 components.

But Bungie is a console developer, and despite the distinction it’s trying to draw between “outsourcing” and “partnership,” the task of translating the game for PC is in the hands of an outside studio. It’s possible that this all works out for the best, but it adds development complications to a game that already has many moving parts. The beta certainly helped put some of these fears to rest, but not all of them.

You have a pretty good idea of what you’re getting on consoles: more and probably at least incrementally better Destiny. If you’re down for that, you’re probably OK to plan for a day-one purchase.

There are ways Bungie and Activion could remove the platform “problem” completely, but we doubt that’s going to happen.

If you’re looking at the PC version, there are a lot more unknown quantities. Will the balance be off? Will the game be ravaged by cheaters? Will enough of the community adopt the game to support a vibrant raid and PvP scene?

These are serious questions, and some of the answers may not be clear until a good while after the launch of the PC version, which is already going to be almost two months after the launch of the console version.

And even then, we won’t know whether Bungie is prepared to support the PC with post-release balance patches that are independent of the balance work done for consoles. These are questions that will have answers, but many of those answers will come after launch.

We’ll revisit this argument once both versions are out, but for now, if you want to ensure that you get the most stable version of the game with the most content, the PS4 version is the way to go.