The factions and the group fights of Destiny 2 have been on enforced leave for almost a year for revision. Since then, there has been almost no news about this feature. Now Bungie has finally officially spoken about the faction rallies, but unfortunately, there isn’t much to be happy about.
What is the enforced leave about? From the very beginning, the group fights of the factions were never really well received by players. They were always regarded as monotonous and irrelevant.
Even after a revision for Season 3 the faction rallies could not convince most players. Therefore, this event was sent on enforced leave by Bungie for a major overhaul at the start of Season 4, meaning it was removed from the game.
Since then, nothing has been heard about further plans for the factions. Only in November 2018, the community manager Cozmo briefly noted that the group fights will not return in Season 5. Additionally, it was announced that the faction-specific masterwork catalysts will finally be available from other sources in Season 7. Other than that, there has been silence.
What has Bungie said about the factions now? Finally, there has been a small sign of life from the factions and the group fights themselves.
In a thread on the official Bungie forum, which demands the return of the faction rallies, community manager dmg04 addressed the fans.
First, he thanked them for their ongoing feedback regarding this issue. He then explained that Bungie has continuously gathered feedback regarding the absence of this feature – specifically since it was removed from the game.
While he could not provide details on whether or when the factions could return, he would like to ask the community some questions that should help the developers prioritize certain points from previous player feedback:
- What aspects of the factions and the group fights did you enjoy the most?
- What features did you not like at all?
- Were there any other activities in Destiny or Destiny 2 that were positively affected by the factions?
As an example, he mentioned the grind in the lost sectors, which some players liked but others hated.
That’s not a good sign: This question particularly shows one thing: Bungie seems to have made no progress with the work on the factions since their disappearance and is, if anything, still relatively at the beginning of the idea generation process.
While some fans appreciate that they are even revisiting this event, the return seems quite far off in the opinion of many Guardians, given the current state of affairs. Anyone still waiting for the return of the factions probably won’t have much reason to be pleased in the foreseeable future.
What are factions and the group fights? Factions have represented certain groups since the days of Destiny 1, to which Guardians can join and pledge their loyalty.
Then you can increase your reputation with the respective faction and rank up. As a reward, faction-specific loot awaits.
In the group fights, or faction rallies of Destiny 2, it was about limited-time events where the various factions along with their followers fought for victory. The victorious faction then offered their followers special rewards that could only be received in the event of a victory.
Many in the community simply want the faction model from Destiny 1 back. But what do you think? Will the group fights ever return? Would you be happy about a return of the factions? And if so – in what form?
