If you have wondered in Destiny 2 why you are getting one-hit kills from Cabal Threshers, Harpies, Scorpio turrets, or even elevators, then it’s very likely not due to your skill or power level. Because even in Season 20, the loot shooter is plagued by a pesky and ancient bug that you definitely should know about.
What serious issue is plaguing Destiny 2? In Bungie’s universe, Guardians no longer fear gigantic raid bosses, but elevators. The reason is that the so-called “FPS bug” has existed for several years.
It makes the game unnecessarily difficult, especially for Guardians with good hardware, and has never really been fixed over the years. For example, it is also the reason why some Guardians are thrown around in the elevator of Calus’s ship during the campaign like a wild bouncy ball, who gets slammed into the next corner instead of landing softly. And that’s not all.
- In Season 15, the bug in the Vanguard strike “Testing Ground” caused an extra portion of damage.
- In Season 19, the FPS bug caused mass deaths for Guardians through lasers in seasonal activities.
- Currently in Season 20, Guardians continue to be victims of their FPS. Players with high FPS die significantly more often in Neomuna because they are falling victim to one-hit kills from Cabal Threshers, Harpies, or Scorpio turrets. But elevators also cause deadly whiplash for some.
This means that the more modern your hardware is, the more often you will be killed in Destiny 2 if you don’t drastically limit your FPS. Just 1 rocket from a Cabal ship or a mini-graze from a Harpy is enough.
What does the term “FPS” mean?:
FPS stands for “frames per second.” The FPS value indicates how many frames appear on a screen per second, and therefore, how smoothly the image runs. Often, the term “framerate” is also used. So it depends on your hardware whether you can play a game smoothly or not. In gaming, achieving a high FPS count is often crucial.
More and more players are pointing out the drastic bug: This bug has been in the game for several years now and has never really been fixed. Bungie has had the issue on its to-do list several times – but it has never truly disappeared.
Meanwhile, a real FPS research group has formed in the Reddit around this elephant in the room, which is getting to the bottom of the matter with hard facts. Especially since Bungie is very sparse with information about this problem, which has certainly not gone unnoticed by players.
I understand, Destiny is a huge game with a chaotic engine that requires incredibly complicated work to fix bugs without crashing everything. I’m not going to pretend I have a clue how [the FPS bug] could be fixed. […] What bothers me more, however, is Bungie’s approach to patch it only for the most obvious sources, remove it from the list of known issues, and stick their heads in the sand hoping no one notices.
commented player Brilliant_Gift1917 in the Destiny subreddit
It almost seems as if this FPS problem is buried so deep in the Destiny engine that it has become impossible for the developers themselves to completely eliminate it.
The collected data from the Guardian Aercus, which he conducted on the PS4 and PS5 versions of Destiny 2, is accessible on Reddit and paints a devastating picture of the problem:
- The “Thresher” Cabal ships and the Cabal Scorpio turrets deal 30% more damage at 60 FPS than at 30 FPS.
- Those extrapolating to 120 FPS need to contend with damage increases of up to 90% compared to a 30 FPS limit.
- Damage output at 120 FPS is 145% compared to 60 FPS.
However, the player noted that further tests are needed, including on PC. However, MeinMMO has already contributed its own “laser test” results to the FPS bug from Season 19. We were also able to confirm that one dies significantly faster on PC when playing with more than 60 FPS.
Especially on PC, it’s an absolute no-go for many players to play with less than 60 FPS, simply because damage and high FPS are coupled in one game. Even if this may be a peculiarity of the core engine.
However, it remains to be seen whether Bungie will ever be able to solve this problem, and above all, permanently.
Lowering framerate is an active advantage: As long as that is not the case, players must be aware that the game physics and mechanics in Destiny 2 are obviously tied to the framerate, which you will noticeably feel in the game.
Have you wondered why you die so often from Cabal ships or Harpies in Neomuna? Or are you consciously playing with 30-60 FPS for this life advantage? How critical do you find the problem overall? Does it bother you, or are you indifferent to high FPS so that you are not affected by it? Please let us know in the comments.
If you are still looking for other alternatives to protect yourself from deadly shots, we have a few “string-tastic” suggestions here:
Destiny 2: Strong Strand builds for every class that will bind your enemies
