In Destiny 2, the Season of the Splicer celebrates successes with a lot of nostalgia. The Vault of Glass and iconic weapons from the first part attract numerous Guardians, while everyone complains about Bungie’s rehashing of old content.
The Season 14 is currently running in Destiny 2, and the action MMO is soon celebrating its 4th anniversary. Despite its age, Destiny 2 has recently set records, and player numbers on Steam are at their highest in 7 months. This is quite paradoxical, as the criticized recycling is now bringing success:
- The recent success is largely due to an old raid from 2014: The Vault of Glass attracted tens of thousands of Guardians right at its re-release.
- At its peak, there were 187,504 Guardians on Steam (PC). This is far above the average, which stabilized at 60,000 – 90,000 concurrent players last year.
- Keep in mind that we only have a precise look at the Steam numbers here. Active players on PlayStation 4 and 5 as well as Xbox Series X/S and One cannot be tracked as accurately – the population is higher on consoles (via Warmind.io).
- But Bungie is not only embarking on a fabulous nostalgia trip with the veteran raid; Season 14 largely relies on the oversized, old names.
- The success currently justifies the Destiny developers – but actually, the Guardians do not want anything old anymore and condemn Bungie’s recycling at every opportunity.
MeinMMO examines why nostalgia is so successful, why some memories would have been better left in the past, and what exactly the Guardians have been complaining about for years.
What the players are complaining about: The Destiny community argues about many things, but most Guardians agree on one thing: Bungie is the world champion of recycling.
At the developer in Bellevue, nothing is thrown away. Years-old concepts certainly re-emerge from some drawer later. But especially well-known content keeps coming back like the proverbial boomerang. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but for many, Bungie definitely stretches the bow too far.
Destiny 2 would likely receive the eco-label “very good”
That’s why Bungie is overdoing it:
- The content returns partly for the umpteenth time. First, well-known weapons like The Last Word were introduced in Destiny 1 Year 1 but then fell by the wayside.
- Even in Destiny 1, those weapons later returned as “new”.
- At the start of Destiny 2, there was a hard reset; all equipment was left behind. This was explained by the complete destruction of all vaults (where all items were stored).
- However, during the course of Destiny 2, more and more of these lost items have appeared. Many Guardians wonder: How can this be possible? Everything was gone.
- Things become particularly critical when old content returns as new paid content.
And as described, it’s not just the most famous Exotics that are affected. For some time now, there has been the Destiny Content Vault – a kind of resource pool where all content from Destiny 1 and 2 is now included and where developers can draw from anytime. So all content – even from Destiny 1 – can be reused and find its way into or out of the game.
The ecological recycling wonder Destiny 2 is bringing back legendary weapons, strikes, entire areas, and so on from the Vault. Even retired weapons appear on the battlefield again with slightly polished perks, returning to service without signs of age. Recently, the first raid from Destiny 1 also returned.
The Content Vault is now making this possible on a large scale. You can find more about the Content Vault here on MeinMMO.
When we spoke with Nexxoss Gaming, the largest German-speaking streamer for Destiny, he continued the community’s criticism: For veterans, there is currently a lot of repetition on the agenda.
Why is the nostalgia plan successful despite the criticism?
Well, the Guardians complain, demanding less old content in a new guise. But why is Bungie still successful with recycling? One could assume that the Vault of Glass is a one-off case. But that’s not true.
When it became known before the launch that in Season 14, weapons like the Divinity or the Succession were returning, the topic was on everyone’s (Guardians’) lips. When such cult Exotics as the Vex Mythoclast were confirmed, players basked in pleasant nostalgia.
Whether the weapons really live up to their hype remains to be seen. After all, the Vex Mythoclast and Divinity would likely have been better left in the past. Unlike the raid, which was updated in the right places, many returners struggle in practice.
That’s why the Vault of Glass is convincing: In the case of the raid, the success is simply measurable:
- Veterans want to know if they still have what it takes, whether the trip to Venus and the fight against Atheon is still as epic as in their memory.
- The Vault of Glass is a nostalgic trip into Destiny’s “gold rush era.” Back then, everything was new and had never been seen before in a shooter or on consoles.
- New Guardians want to understand what the old hands have been raving about for years. And fresh content is generally not turned down.
- Bungie has introduced the raid completely free of charge, anyone can discover it with the free-to-play version of Destiny 2. Moreover, the required power level is so low that even casual Guardians or returnees can easily participate in the first encounters.
On MeinMMO, you can see such comments:
“Our clan really enjoyed it. There was a bit of the D1 feeling. We also made it to the Templar on the first day. But then we had to wait for the reset to take down Atheon. We did the same silly stuff as back then and had a lot of laughs. Now please bring back King’s Fall and Wrath of the Machine.”
Bert via MeinMMO
As nice as nostalgia is: Why, despite rejection and the demand “Bungie, bring in new and creative content!” do we still keep falling back into nostalgia and welcome the classics again? This could be explained as follows: We remember the past selectively. Bad memories are mostly pushed aside, leaving only the good.
When we are then presented with a weapon like The Last Word as a proverbial carrot again, we want to bite – after all, the taste was so delicious before. Despite the intention not to want the old stuff, we deep down still want those old feelings to resurface. It’s rather absurd when one says that the PvP of Destiny 1 was better, but then doesn’t give a thought to the really poor servers and the completely non-diverse meta.
Does Destiny 2 really only offer old stuff?
Fresh ideas are also appealing: Was everything better back in the day? Yes, no, not really. While the highlights of Season 14 are indeed the classics, simultaneously, fresh content is waiting in the shadows of the nostalgic giants.
The absurd “story” of Destiny was a mosaic of lore texts and snippets that were mostly stored outside the game in the first installment. In Destiny 2, the story takes on a more tangible narrative from season to season. Recently, we can see that our enemies, the Fallen are not just black-and-white evil. That they fear us as we fear them. The storytelling is definitely better today than it was before.
The creepy excursion on the ghost ship in the Presage mission was the highlight of the last Season 13. This content is considered among the best there has ever been in both installments. And just before that, the Omen mission also convinced the Guardians – even if the classic Taken King was a strong selling point.
Will the nostalgia end soon?
Probably not. Destiny 2 will also bring new content; the studio is expanding and is committed to the game for years to come. But especially the success of nostalgic Season 14 will show Bungie one thing: Nostalgia is a strong driving force.
In the future, we can almost certainly look forward to a visit to the King’s Fall raid and are curious to see how Oryx will be adapted to today’s circumstances. While each season will bring new exotic toys, many exotics that we have not seen in Destiny 2 (so far) are still slumbering in the “lost” vaults of Destiny 1.
Which exotics are “missing”? Here’s the complete list of missing exotic weapons – excluding the later “Adept Exotics”:
- Necrochasm
- Khvostov (exists as a legendary gun)
- Zhalo Supercell (Risky exists as “MP Brother”)
- Fabian Strategy
- Tlaloc
- First Curse
- Red Death (Scharlach exists as “Handcannon Brother”)
- Boolian Twin
- Malicious Touch
- Pocket Infinity (Bungie said: “will never return”)
- Defiance
- Universal Device
- Zen Meteor
- Patience and Time
- Beyond
- Icebreaker
- No Land Beyond (Devrim in ETZ carries the weapon model)
- Dreg’s Promise
- Unapproved
- Nova Mortis
- Abaddon
- Nemesis Star
- Extremely Good Advice
- The 4 Exo Swords (are now quasi legendary weapons)
- Dragon’s Breath
- Gjallarhorn
The list shows that among the 81 Exotic weapons from Destiny 2 (as of June 1, 2021), there is still plenty of room for returnees. Not as many weapons from the original game as suspected made it over to Destiny 2. Everyone surely has a favorite they would give a critical eye to recycling for. And don’t get me started on the armors.
It is important for the future that Destiny finds a healthy balance between nostalgia and new content. With the Content Vault, they have a tool that, if used correctly, can create a vast Destiny universe that many Guardians have long wished for: Destiny 1 should have continued running and ideally been gradually expanded with new content. Now we have it the other way around; Destiny 2 continues and gradually brings back nostalgia in the form of content from the first part.
Do you also condemn the old stuff but somehow still get excited about the nostalgic classics? Let us know in the comments how you stand on the topic of recycling in Destiny.
MeinMMO would especially like to know from you in a survey: Vault of Glass in Destiny 2 – How do you like the return of the cult raid?
