The Destiny 2 community is increasingly frustrated with the random drop rates of raid exotics. Even after months of raid grinding, many players continue to be consistently plagued by “eternal bad luck.” The raid exotics just don’t seem to drop for many. A solution could be a guaranteed drop through a raid quest.
With the often lengthy grind for weapons and items, players should generally have no problem in a loot shooter. The desired drop is simply not always guaranteed. But when does it become too frustrating? This question occupies the Destiny 2 community greatly. There are players who, despite luck protection, are truly haunted by “eternal bad luck” and do not possess any of the coveted raid exotics, even though they play the raids repeatedly. Chasing an exotic for several months and then never getting it has even led players to start hating raids.
Is guaranteed eternal bad luck still fair? Sometimes it seems as if the only thing guaranteed after many hundreds of runs is to continue having bad luck. Understandably, it feels unfair to the players plagued by bad luck after every pointless run. Especially when you see that almost everyone else has already received their exotic drop and is eagerly using the weapon.
In the Destiny 2 subreddit, a constructive discussion has emerged. How fair is it still, and how raid quests might solve the problem. Labcoat_samurai also explains on reddit why players are starting to discuss the topic again. Part of the blame is the associated bad feeling:
Week after week, it doesn’t feel much better for me. If it really takes a long time, I feel like a burden for my raid group. For example, I was the last person in my group to get Anarchy. So we played the Scourge of the Past exclusively for me for a few weeks. Every time I didn’t get it, I thought, ‘….. yeah…. Sorry guys.’ Just a bad feeling all around. They all feel bad for me and I feel bad for wasting their time.
When mean LFG team actions also come into play that take you out of the game just before the finally dropped exotic engram, the fun is pretty much over.
“This is not ‘replay value,’ but misery“
Masson011 discusses in the reddit thread. He believes that if players have to make so many runs, ‘it’s a shitty way to keep players “playing.”‘
Others agree with him. TehColonelMoreland comments in the same reddit thread: ‘Making more than 40 complete runs that end in disappointment is not replay value, but misery.’
This divides the community into three groups: This topic has been dividing the community for a long time. In the meantime, three opinion groups have formed regarding this matter.
- Those who have their raid exotics find the “whining” inappropriate. A raid exotic is simply not a guaranteed drop. ‘Get over it and keep playing!’
- Others have already had their own experiences. They are therefore willing to help affected players in their clans or as sherpas through LFG, even on the 100th run.
- The third group does not play raids for the exotics and therefore believes that exotics should not be the reason to want to play a raid.
The opinion that the raid should not be played solely for the exotics, is also held by ReconZ3X. He sees the problem with the developer: ‘If the [exotic] is the only incentive to play a raid, then the raid must have a shitty design.’
Raids are often played only because of the exotics: When looking at the fundamental motivations for playing a raid, the raid exotic is indeed the main reason for many players to engage in the activity. It’s exciting to receive a raid-exclusive exotic weapon, like the 1,000 Voices in Last Wish, and it’s a unique moment. Many players often remember exactly when their raid exotics dropped. After that, the interest is significantly lower. Often, even the regular legendary raid weapons or title triumphs provide no additional incentive anymore.
GhostTypeFlygon critically observes exactly that and accuses players in reddit:
“[…] If you stop playing a raid after you have received the exotic, it’s because you don’t like the raid. A raid should not just exist to be the source of an exotic. If the only reason to play this raid is the specific weapon, it’s a shitty raid or, as I said, you just don’t like raids.
These creative solutions are proposed by the community
The first solution would be a fixed raid quest with guaranteed raid exotic drops. The fact that this can work has already been proven by the Divinity from the Garden of Salvation raid. Even though finding a raid group can sometimes be frustrating with this raid quest, the system works. Those who complete the quest and successfully finish the raid with the additional tasks will receive their raid-exclusive exotic for sure.
To prevent many from completing such a raid quest immediately, the player TeamAquaGrunt in the reddit thread suggests a smart, timed triumph for it:
Add a triumph point that says: ‘Complete all related triumphs’ (except of course collections), guaranteeing the exotic. Boom, done. Players will have been doing the raid at this point for a few weeks already, no one can claim they don’t deserve it, […], everyone is happy.
Xzwingnutzx agrees with him: ‘I like the idea […] Let it be based on your title progress. Every time you complete a [triumph in the raid], you have a higher chance of getting the raid exotic, until it’s the last one you need to complete the title, and then it’s guaranteed.’
Ken-as-fuck then suggests in the reddit a solution for both a RNG and performance-based raid quest:
If you want to play the luck game, then do it, but if you really want to put in the effort, I would do the drop with a group where the exotic drops guaranteed on a flawless run. This gives players with no PvE experience the chance to receive it through luck and gives players who have the ability to play it flawlessly a guaranteed way to get something they rightfully deserve.
Xiphactnis, on the other hand, has a completely different approach for a raid quest, which he suggests to the community and Bungie in reddit:
I know this might not make me friends, but how about a quest like the one for Necrochasm? I really liked that quest where you find a white version of a weapon and have to upgrade it step by step until you finally transform it into exotic form by completing Crota’s End.
The community’s ideas are indeed interesting and really good. After so much bad luck, it is understandable that players’ desires for a raid quest with a guaranteed drop in “The Witch Queen”, the new expansion in February 2022, are becoming increasingly louder.
Raid quests have a significant downside: The essential downside of a raid quest is that over time, fewer and fewer players can be found who still want to run the raid. The example of the Divinity quests illustrates this well. It has become exponentially more difficult to complete the exotic quest as soon as people have completed their own raid quests. With RNG drops and a good luck protection, eventually everyone would get their weapon.
What do you think about this? Does the raid in “The Witch Queen” need a raid quest to end the “eternal bad luck”? What do you think of the community’s solution proposals? Should Bungie consider this?
