The new mode “Breakthrough” in Destiny 2 is gone again. The mode was disabled to investigate some issues. The main problem was: The concept simply didn’t work.
This is why you haven’t heard anything about the mode: With Forsaken came the new “Super Mode” Gambit, which has overshadowed everything else so far. But the Crucible also received a new format with “Breakthrough”.
The mode got a bit lost: Breakthrough was introduced back in July, but it didn’t launch with Forsaken immediately; it came later. When all Destiny players were excited about Gambit, the Raid, and the Dreaming City.
Breakthrough has been live for about two weeks and was part of the “competitive playlist.” At least until a few days ago.
Like Control, but with a special twist
This is Breakthrough: This is a 4-player mode with two phases. It is basically like Control, but with a twist:
- Both teams race to capture the “Breaker”, the middle control point on a map – that’s phase 1
- The team that has the point is on the offensive – the other team defends
- The attackers must capture the opponent’s “Vault”, which is their home point. The defenders must protect this point. That’s phase 2. A timer runs here.
Who wins Breakthrough? The team that achieves its objective in phase 2 within the time limit wins. Winning phase 1 only determines which roles the teams take in phase 2. And that’s the problem.
That’s why Breakthrough simply didn’t work
This was the problem: The mode simply didn’t work conceptually, as Gamesradar reports. Players quickly found out that it was easier to defend a point than to attack the other.
This led to players having no desire to capture the “Breaker” in phase 1 and rather waited for the other team to claim the point.
This made Breakthrough matches boring, passive encounters.
Additionally, the spawn points were set up in a way that allowed for spawn camping. Players stopped focusing on the objectives and only shot enemies.
Mode gone for now: The mode has now disappeared from the competitive playlist while Bungie considers how to fix it.
The community manager dmg04 asks for suggestions from the community.
Top streamers and YouTubers have suggested things like:
- Bonus points for the breaker in the middle initially and revising the spawn mechanics (Holtzman, who used to work at Bungie)
- turning it into a King of the Hill (Gigz)
- or enforcing 2 rounds where teams must win both defense and attack (nKuch)
I really enjoyed the tension that built in the last seconds of an attack/defense. The scoring system should better represent early game, i.e. 1 point for initial cap, 1 point for hacking vault. Respawn times + distance to vault felt too punishing on some maps.
— Holtzmann_YT (@Holtzmann_YT) October 9, 2018
Whether and when “Breakthrough” will make its comeback is currently unknown.
More from the “new” Destiny 2:
