In Destiny 2, many players no longer want to actively play PvE and profit in their sleep, which leads to major problems. Now Bungie speaks out about this.
This is what the players are doing: A week ago, the new Season 11 in Destiny 2 began. But instead of diving into new events, many Guardians are spending countless hours in an activity from 2018 – and just to lose.
Specifically, they are playing the Black Armory Forges. “Playing” may not be the right word, as it is an AFK farm, about which MeinMMO reported in the past. As Warmind.io reported on June 13th on Twitter, an incredible 63% of all played activities were failed runs in the forges.
The explanation is simple: players are currently leveling up there almost in their sleep and raking in massive amounts of the new, coveted Umbral Engrams.
This is now the major problem: The exploit of hanging around in the forges doing nothing for hours is not new, but it has never really been rewarding. However, in the Season of Arrival, this significantly endangers the game balance more than one would initially assume:
- AFK farmers receive heaps of Umbral Engrams for doing nothing.
- As a result, they level up rapidly – a night of “playing forges” can sometimes allow a Guardian to level up faster than an “honest” player who completes all milestones.
- Meanwhile, the new seasonal resources are passively grinded.
- Due to the quickly leveled Prism Synthesizer, the new weapons and armor can be prepped for God Rolls before anyone else.
- Even costly special features, such as better chances for gear stats, become available faster and give AFK farmers advantages.
This behavior disrupts game balance and gives players who are not actively playing huge advantages. But there are two more problems:
- Players are cheating themselves – in no time the maximum level is reached, the Prism Synthesizer, which is supposed to be leveled throughout the season and lures with ever better bonuses, is literally leveled in sleep, and rolls for new weapons pile up in the vault. It is already predictable that complaints will arise that the season is “cleared” too quickly.
- Players who actually want to actively engage in the forges must deal with inactive teammates. Although AFK farmers with the “right” settings only match like-minded players, not all Guardians are likely to make the prudent preparations.
Exploit brings Bungie into action
This is Bungie’s response: As the exploit spreads like wildfire, Destiny developer Bungie is stepping in. Community Manager dmg04 has made a statement on Twitter:
According to dmg04, Bungie is monitoring the situation regarding trivialized power leveling and is working on a solution to the problem. Until then, Guardians are asked to be kind to each other and not to take their frustration out on other players, but to direct the feedback to Bungie.
Will there be penalties for AFK farmers? We assume that no Guardian will be punished for exploiting the bug or exploit. In the past, Bungie made it clear that they do not want to hold players accountable for errors in the game. Some time ago, Bungie even allegedly took a jab at The Division 2, where a similar situation led to rollbacks and bans.
Have you already profited from Umbral Engrams in your sleep or do you strictly reject such methods? What do you think are the reasons why so many Guardians resort to this – should Bungie possibly adjust the hunt for a new max level per season?
If you don’t want to get stuck in the old content but want to try the latest PvE activity, you can find all the info here: Destiny 2: Everything about the new Contact event of Season 11 – How to master it heroically.
