Bungie’s Game Director confirms that there will be no Locked Loadouts in the Raids of Destiny 2 .
Yesterday, on August 22nd, a report from pcgamesn caused a stir: The site quoted a supposed statement from Gameplay Lead Justin Truman, that the Raid in Hard Mode is said to have a Loadout Lock.
The term “Loadout Lock” refers to a mechanic that prevents players from changing weapons or armor pieces once the activity has started. Players must therefore consider how to equip their character beforehand.
Game Director Luke Smith clarified via Twitter that this is false information. Truman’s quote refers to the Nightfall strike. Smith explains: “Raids in Destiny 2 do not have Locked Loadouts.” They do not want players to have to quit and rejoin a raid if they want to change their gear.
Smith gives an example of a situation that players do not want in Destiny 2 – and possibly reveals the name of a Raid weapon: “I just got Midnight Coup, let me quit so I can equip it and then I’ll rejoin.”
This Item Lock is new in the Destiny Universe
There were and are no Locked Loadouts in Destiny 1. Here, players can change items at any time.
That there will be this new feature in some activities in Destiny 2, Luke Smith already announced in July via IGN. They want to make Destiny 2 “at its peak” a tougher game – meaning some endgame activities will be more difficult due to Locked Loadouts than in Destiny 1.
There will be activities where Guardians will have to think beforehand about which items to use. Players will have to look at their gear in advance – like a golfer with his golf clubs – and then select those items with which they want to tackle the activity.
Which activities may have Locked Loadouts is not fully known yet. Nightfall strikes can definitely have this lock according to the latest info, while raids cannot. It is possible that the Loadout Lock may also exist in some PvP modes. The future will tell.
By the way: A loadout feature that allows players to create, save, and quickly switch between builds does not exist in Destiny 2. If you want to rebuild your Guardians, you have to change each piece of equipment individually.
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