In recent weeks, Destiny 2: Lightfall has caused frustration and disappointment among Guardians with a lackluster story and many bugs. Now, Bungie has directly responded to the criticism, admitted faults, and announced the improvements players can expect in the future.
What was the biggest criticism of Lightfall? The main criticism of the Lightfall experience was the lackluster story. Fans were disappointed with how the story was told and how little clarity and accuracy it offered.
Bungie had shown in many previous expansions that excellent storytelling is their forte. However, the Lightfall DLC lacked a clear direction and was not the anticipated, explosive “beginning of the end” for the greatest saga in Destiny 2.
This led to frustration and disappointment among Guardians, which they expressed in reviews and posts on Steam and Reddit.
- The Lightfall expansion of Destiny 2 has a rating of “Mostly Negative” on Steam.
- Some gamers state on Reddit that the balancing in Lightfall is also off and many players are overwhelmed by it.
- New systems, such as the appreciation system and commendation ranks, have also been harshly criticized and even boycotted in the DLC.
Now Bungie has in a detailed blog post admitted faults and announced that it wants to work hard to improve the Lightfall experience and the issues criticized by Guardians.
Bungie responds to the allegations with significant improvements
Here’s how Bungie addressed the criticism: For a long time, the developer remained silent. Guardians initially received only a few answers and reassurances, which, however, were not satisfactory for many.
Bungie quietly worked on fixing many bugs that had occurred since Lightfall in the loot shooter. Therefore, many didn’t expect how comprehensively and thoughtfully Bungie would now address each point of criticism.
[…] it is clear that the first experience we delivered on day one did not offer the full clarity we originally planned when we began developing Lightfall. The team has taken your feedback to heart, both regarding what is coming this year and how we will conclude the saga of Light and Darkness in “The Final Shape.” […] We are determined to ensure that the resolution of our first saga lives up to this legacy.
said Bungie’s Game Director to the disappointed Guardians
The story team under fire: Bungie seems to deliberately avoid throwing its story team to the angry mob. Because they did not go any further than this admission regarding the storytelling shortcomings of Lightfall.
- They did not mention reasons for the poor narrative flow or the abrupt story ending.
- They also did not address why some characters, like Nimbus, were created to be overwhelmingly annoying while other cool NPCs had to die immediately.
- They also avoid confirming the suspicion of some players that a large part of the larger story material, from a DLC being made into “The Final Shape,” might have been pushed back.
MeinMMO summarizes for you which problems the studio has recognized. There will be important changes that should improve the gaming experience.
Guardian Ranks and Commendations
Guardian ranks should be a useful guide season after season, meaning they should reflect the latest content in the game. However, Guardians are not pleased with the new number above their heads. To say that players dislike the system is a mild understatement. Some Guardians even wanted to remain permanently at rank 6 and boycotted the new ranks.
Bungie is now making further adjustments and introducing the following changes:
- Commendation requirements are now massively reduced at the players’ request.
- Additionally, the ranks will not be reset so dramatically between seasons. Instead of being downgraded to rank 5, you will only be downgraded to rank 8.
- In Season 21, a new display will be added to the journey screen showcasing the season progress and all corresponding Guardian ranks, commendation scores, commendation breakdowns, as well as seasonal challenges and triumph scores.
- Bungie emphasized that the social signal is important and that commendations should be honorable. They show that players can be grateful to each other.
Difficulty Levels of PvE Activities
Reapers and bosses were far too strong: Some players liked the new difficulty level of Destiny 2 in the Lightfall DLC. However, the majority did not. Often, players suspected the known framerate bug behind the harsh shots from enemies the known framerate bug. However, in this case, Bungie says that wasn’t the case.
The “Reapers” Kabal ships were originally designed for combat against Guardian tanks. […] As part of our goal to make the [Lightfall] invasion of Neomuna feel more threatening, we deployed the Reapers more than ever before and assigned them difficulty modifiers that previously only existed in Nightfalls. This significantly increased their brutality.
Bungie explains in the latest blog post
Bungie admitted that there are valid complaints about difficulty since most content has indeed been raised too high. Even non-boss units had a bit too much health and could feel like bullet sponges, which was not intended.
Lost Sectors with tough difficulty but poor loot
Another major criticism from players were solo-focused endgame activities in Lost Sectors. Earning new or old Exotics was for some Guardians a painful struggle that often ended with frustration from the loot chest.
- The HP scalar of enemies in Legend and Grandmaster activities will be reduced by 10%. Legendary activities, such as the campaign, will not be affected.
- The drop rates for Exotics in Lost Sectors will be adjusted.
- Additionally, the rare Vex Incursion event will now also drop the new Exotics.
If you don’t know which event is being referred to, here’s an explanation:
Additionally, in Season 21, there will be a targeted focusing at Master Rahool for exotic armor pieces, which however are incredibly expensive and despite the stack size for exotic engrams increasing from 1 to 5.
- Extended focusing on a random armor Exotic from DLCs or seasons:
- 1 exotic engram, 1 ascendant shard, and 30,000 Glimmer
- Precise focusing on a specific armor Exotic:
- 1 exotic engram, 3 ascendant shards, 60,000 Glimmer, and 1 exotic cipher
- In both cases, only previously acquired armor Exotics can be focused.
Season 21 brings more QoL changes
Bungie also allows Guardians a glimpse into the near future, specifically Season 21. However, we’ll start with information about a schedule change. The endgame will start significantly earlier in Season 21 because there will be no power level increase.
- Trials of Osiris will take place in the “Season of Depth” from May 26 to May 30.
- Top-tier Nightfalls will become available from June 20. The catch-up node accordingly on July 11, 2023.
Additionally, Guardians can expect the following quality-of-life improvements in Season 21:
- Balance changes are coming for 15 exotic armor pieces, likely including a nerf for the Warlock’s “Starfire Protocol” exotic.
- Season 21 will introduce new mods to the game. “Powerful Attraction” and “Elemental Charges.” This will primarily strengthen the armor charge builds of Guardians that rely on Orbs of Power.
- The new “Elemental Charges” mod will generate armor charges when players pick up subclass-specific objects like Stasis Shards or Ionic Traces.
- The perk “Loot Shot” will soon not only be good for ammunition starting in Season 21. Players will be able to soon shoot and collect Orbs of Power as well. This will also be triggered by AoE damage, allowing for quick and large-scale collection.
- Season 21 will also see three additional Strand aspects. “Flechette Storm” for Titans, “Threaded Spectre” for Hunters, and “The Wanderer” for Warlocks, which will further strengthen Strand.
The announcements are a significant step in the right direction for us, especially since they specifically address player criticism.
And who knows, maybe Bungie can still advocate for the suffering Guardians in the raid “Root of Nightmares” who continue to be thrown to their deaths by launch pads.
However, it is important to note that improvements will not happen overnight. It will take some time to fix the issues and provide the new content and stories. Guardians will need to be patient once again and wait for Bungie to fulfill its announcements.
Nevertheless, aside from all the criticism, it can be noted that Destiny 2, amidst the systemic improvements such as the new loadout system and the promise of a future LFG system, which is also set to arrive in 2023, has never been stronger in its underlying structure.
This is how profitable Lightfall is compared to Witch Queen: Many players have thought that the Lightfall DLC is an economic failure and certainly did not surpass the sales figures of “The Witch Queen.” This was largely based on the observation that Bungie has avoided mentioning a new and higher Lightfall sales record on Twitter in 2023.
However, Bungie has now caught up and announced:
- With the launch of Lightfall, Destiny 2 recorded 316,000 simultaneous players the highest player count in years.
- Bungie also stated that with Lightfall, it has exceeded sales expectations.
- Additionally, the original soundtrack of Lightfall was for a long time number 1 on iTunes, against very strong competition.
What do you think of the adjustments? Were they able to satisfy you and do you now have hope that the game will improve in the future and become more enjoyable again? Or do you find nothing good about it? Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.
Other things in Destiny 2 are currently extremely powerful, like this beast of a submachine gun that is currently killing everyone in seconds in the Iron Banner:
Weapon from Destiny 2 kills in a flash, takes the community by storm, and is now easier to obtain
