Since the launch of the Festival of the Lost 2020, there have been issues with the drop rate of the Cipher Decoders, which are an important element of the Halloween event. Bungie has now addressed the issue with a new hotfix for Destiny 2. What else has changed?
What is the fix about? On the evening of October 8, Bungie announced via their Help account on Twitter. The developers stated that a fix had been released that should drastically increase the drop rate of Cipher Decoders – for activities across the entire game. It was also mentioned that they would continue to monitor the situation to make further adjustments if necessary.
And that was likely needed. Because even after the first fix, many players still complained about a poor drop rate, so Bungie made further adjustments two days later:
The two fixes were apparently made server-side, as players did not notice anything in the game itself – except that some Guardians had to restart Destiny 2 for the changes to take effect.
What was the problem with the Cipher Decoders? Recently, the annual extended Season 11 has been running in Destiny 2 alongside the Halloween event, Festival of the Lost. The Cipher Decoders are new compared to previous years, and they are an integral part of this year’s festivities. They are needed to open loot chests at the end of the event activity Haunted Forest.
However, many players have been complaining since the start of the event on Reddit and social media about the excessively low drop rates for Cipher Decoders. One fireteam reported that, even after 9 Strikes, 6 Crucible matches, more than 20 patrols, and 10 heroic missions, they only received 2 Decoders. Others had a bit more luck, but overall it was generally very difficult to get this event item. 6 hours of gameplay for 1 – 2 Cipher Decoders was apparently not uncommon. This should now be fixed after the second fix.
What the first hotfix changed: The initial adjustment of the decoder drop rate was not the only thing the first fix changed. As Bungie stated later, an exploit related to the Cipher Decoders was also fixed.
A bugged checkpoint allowed players to farm about 15 – 20 Cipher Decoders per hour in the Raid Wing The Vault of Glass. Bungie has now closed this “gap” – as numerous players humorously note, “lightning fast” compared to many other annoying bugs and even the decoder drop rate.
Have you played since October 10? What experiences have you had with the drop rate of the Cipher Decoders after the second fix? Many have had their fun completely ruined by the problem. Will you now check in (again)? Are you also waiting like our shooter expert Sven Galitzki for November 10? I’m really excited about Destiny 2, but I can’t force myself to play it
