Destiny 2 announced a comprehensive overhaul of the ranking system in PvP for Season 19 last week. This was long overdue – but skepticism remains high regarding whether the new system will revitalize the Crucible. MeinMMO tells you everything you need to know about the new system and where there will still be problems.
What has Bungie planned for Season 19 in PvP? As Destiny 2 announced last week, there will be a new ranking system for PvP starting in Season 19. The old glory system will thus be replaced by the new “Competitive Division” ranking, which is intended to lead to fairer matches where you can measure and improve your skills.
The division will thus be the first real ranking system in Destiny 2, incorporating everything that has already proven successful in other shooters.
- There will be promotion and demotion matches, allowing you to position yourself within the new seven divisions, divided into Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Adept, and Ascendant.
How does the new ranking system work? To determine your exact rank, Destiny 2 will use a total of 4 different scoring criteria starting in Season 19:
- 1. The match outcome, whether players win or lose a match.
- 2. Inflation/Deflation, to assess how far players are above or below their division compared to their skills.
- 3. Player performance: How well Guardians have performed from game to game.
- 4. The skill delta between players and lobbies. Ultimately, this assesses how your skill compares to all other players in Destiny 2.
In the first season, the highest rank you can achieve is Gold III. In future seasons, players will then be placed closer to their previous competitive class. Those who do not play will lose their division ranking as well.
PvP in Destiny 2 will be quite tough for the best Guardians: If you have managed to reach the rank of Gold III, it is expected that you will play against Gold I, II, III, IV, and probably Silver I and Silver II players for further promotions. The Crucible will become increasingly difficult and demanding for you. Farming less qualified players will likely be a thing of the past.
This new ranking seems to be exactly what players have been wishing for a long time. Guardians who manage to climb the ranks of Platinum, Adept, or Ascendant can become the best Crucible players in Destiny 2 and bask in glory.
The new ranking is intended to show everyone where they stand in the hierarchy of PvP players in Destiny 2. Better than a KDA, which is your kills, deaths, and assists, the pure win percentage, or a third-party Elo ranking ever could.
2 problems the new ranking will not solve
However, the new ranking system lacks better rewards and new maps. Aside from the returning weapon “Rose”, you can generally only earn “bragging rights” and that only with little variety in locations.
Bungie has deliberately not implemented the two other major wishes of the Guardians: that there needs to be something to hunt in PvP again and more variety.
Regarding rewards, two compelling reasons were given to players:
- First, many players feel pressured by PvP when they are required to play tons of PvP matches. Therefore, Bungie will not add unique farmable rewards, except for those you can get anywhere in the Crucible.
- Second, they have become very cautious about awarding high-performance rewards for reaching higher divisions. Divisions are closely tied to skill. This means some division ranks will be completely unattainable for some players, no matter how hard they try or how much they play.
However, some players feel that these justifications do not target those players who primarily hang out in PvP in Destiny 2 and miss the actual target audience. This seems to cater more to casual players than to true PvP fans.
The “thrill of competition” is supposed to motivate you
Thus, the rewards for reaching a higher division will initially be limited to receiving so-called “efficiency bonuses”. This could be a higher multiplier for all Crucible ranks. But primarily, your reward is solely the positioning of where your Guardian stands in the hierarchy of PvP players in Destiny 2.
Additionally, only the “Rose”, an old player favorite and hand cannon hybrid, will keep you coming back to PvP each week. It will have a fire rate of 140 but will allow you to act like a 150.
- The perk list consists of popular consistency perks that are meant to highlight 3v3 gameplay.
- Additionally, there will be randomly rolled grips instead of an origin trait.
How do you get the hand cannon “Rose”?
- When you complete the “Competitive Division” intro quest (once per character), you will receive the weapon with the perk selection that Rose originally had.
- After that, just play Competitive Division and earn one throw per week and per character.
More rewards and maps not until 2023: Only after the Lightfall DLC does Bungie want to introduce cosmetics as rewards. However, there are no concrete plans yet. But even that will likely not do justice to the focus on good loot in Destiny 2.
Another significant reward, the drop of the “Mida Multi-Tool” catalyst, will also become a rare drop from the glory prestige playlist from Season 19, after every victory in any Crucible playlist.
New maps are still scarce
While two more maps from the past are supposed to return to Destiny 2 in the coming year, only one brand new map will be added beyond that. However, it remains unclear when exactly this will happen. Bungie mentioned the timeframe for release as “in the year of Lightfall”.
The chronic “map shortage” does not only affect PvP. Players in Gambit are also yearning for more variety. Paul Tassi from Forbes thus suspects that the link to the career page in the “This Week at Bungie” blog is a clear indication that this part of Bungie is currently severely understaffed.
Moreover, he believes that all meta adjustments and balance patches cannot replace new maps in the long run. And as it looks, this will remain the case for another year, which will not be good news for any PvP player.
When does the new PvP ranking system start? The new ranking system will come into play already in Season 19, on December 6 at 6 PM.
To activate your division for the first time, you must complete a quest from Lord Shaxx once for each character account. This is available to New Light players once they have unlocked the Crucible. However, experienced players can immediately pick up and complete the quest.
What do you think of the new ranking system? Does it have the potential to bring fresh wind to the PvP community and boost your motivation?
If you want to know more about the upcoming changes to PvP in Season 19, here’s a summary:
