Over the years, a lot has happened in Destiny 2. Not only have old content entered the Content Vault, but the shooter has also found a unique storytelling method. However, the challenges in the game are becoming easier. MyMMO has looked into how easy Destiny 2 is in 2022 and whether players will soon run out of prestige activities.
When the Legendary difficulty for the “Witch Queen” campaign was announced, many players were happy. Up until then, campaign content had never been a significant challenge. You played it because it tells the story. Nothing more. Now, they might offer both: story and challenge.
In the end, it was easier than expected: When the DLC was released, it quickly became clear that the Legendary campaign of the Witch Queen was indeed more difficult, but still not the challenge that long-time players expected.
Players had actually hoped for more resistance from Savathun’s warriors. It could have been a bit more difficult, more on par with the champions. This would have made the reward for the effort, the first Witch Queen Exotic and armor at 1,520 power level, much more valuable.
Is Destiny 2 losing its challenges? There used to be many more truly demanding challenges in Bungie’s space shooter. And I believe that has always been a great strength of the loot shooter.
- Top weapons wanted to be hunted and had long, tricky quest lines.
- You needed flawless runs for some raid titles to earn triumphs.
- Certain titles could only be obtained if you completed them successfully in a season.
In 2022, everything is made easy for players. There are hardly any more challenging and, above all, engaging activities that genuinely occupy players for a while.
- The Exo mission “Vox Obscura” was only challenging as long as the required power level was still lacking.
- The Grandmaster raid is difficult but offers nothing that players want to hunt.
- In the top-ranked, players pick the easy cherries from the strikes and forego the less rewarding gold of the Conqueror title.
It was different before: Who remembers the weapon quests that took weeks to complete? These weapons are still real treasures for many players today, despite sunsetting, because they remember how hard they fought for them. That’s what made them special. Players still talk about these particularly hard-to-earn weapons in Destiny 2 for a reason. These include weapons like “The Recluse,” “The Mountaintop,” or the Gambit machine gun “21% Delirium.”
Nowadays, there are no more such “carrots” in front of us: You simply play your rank in the Vanguard, Crucible, or Gambit and can then also hold the latest season weapon in your hands. A good but dull weapon whose name you soon won’t even remember.
Repeating this, you get a fitting ornament from the respective playlist. You don’t even have to actively do anything concrete to obtain the weapon.
Even the titles show this “casual trend”: Many players still consider Destiny 1 to be significantly harder than its successor. Although in Destiny 2, achieving older, no longer earnable title triumphs was considered mega-difficult.
The title triumph “Diamond Equal” for the Black Armory, for example, required playing the raid flawlessly, meaning no team member could die during any of the encounters. Only then could you earn this once prestigious title.
Many raid teams once needed a long time and many runs in the raid “The Last Wish” for six fireteam members to establish a flawless routine. In the open world, everyone knew what a player with the title “The Blacksmith” had accomplished. It meant something.
Now, triumphs like the 13th Wish “Petras Run” in the “Last Wish” raid for obtaining a raid title are hardly necessary anymore. This has more or less been replaced by the Grandmaster difficulty.
Additionally, obtaining a seasonal leaderboard weapon, like the current shotgun “Relentless Trajectory,” is something commonplace that players earn on the side and no longer the biggest reward in the game.
Also, the last great challenge is soon gone: Currently, only the prestigious PvP title “Unbroken” still presents a greater challenge for players.
A title triumph requires achieving Legendary in the competitive playlist over three seasons. So anyone who is “Unbroken” has therefore cracked the maximum limit of 5,450 glory points in PvP in Destiny 2 over at least three seasons and thus belongs to the upper echelon of the Crucible.
It was Bungie itself that wanted players to have long memories of especially good moments in Destiny 2 and talk about them.
I certainly do not want to imagine Destiny 2 becoming an evening game. Certainly, you don’t need sweaty hands every evening in a challenging activity. But sometimes it is precisely these special challenges that make Destiny 2 particularly interesting for me, especially when you cannot achieve them immediately and can end up being proud of what you and your team or clan have accomplished.
What do you think of this development in Destiny 2? Are you satisfied that many things have become easier or do you increasingly miss the real challenges? Please share in the comments how challenging a challenge must be for you to find it good, and especially what an appropriate reward you would want for it.
But now this title is also being adjusted. Bungie is removing the title “Unbroken” from the game because the time investment for the seal appears to be too high. They want to revise it, and the new title should remain challenging but can then be earned within just one season.
Trials are also set to become more accessible: The last simplification has now even been announced for the PvP endgame Trials. Bungie plans to allow all players who went flawless in a specific week to have the chance for Adept weapon drops for each Trials ticket that has achieved 7 or more wins, regardless of how many losses.
The same goes for PvE: Even the toughest PvE title “Conqueror” currently means only half as much.
At the start of the pinnacle activity, the Conqueror title was the ultimate challenge in PvE, as it had to be earned in the current season, that is, within three months. Who wanted to conquer PvE at the end had a certain time pressure, as all progress towards the title would be lost if the season ended.
In Update 3.1.0, Bungie changed that and removed the time pressure. From then on, it was enough to complete 6 different pinnacle strikes over several seasons to obtain the title. From then on, it became a more relaxed task. You picked the easiest strikes and then completed the title after two or three seasons.
Now, only the title gilding for “Conqueror” offers the prestige of a truly challenging task. But most Guardians also forgo that because the reward is “only a number behind the title.” The loot doesn’t get better, even if you put in more effort and complete the gilding. This also applies to gilding the Dredgen or Unbroken titles. Thus, there is no real incentive to strive for and earn a title or to gild it. Just doing it repeatedly suffices for very few players.
Looking at the statistics, the PvE Conqueror title isn’t even in the top 3 of the currently hardest titles to earn. For a long time, it was considered “the ultimate challenge” and the “king’s discipline” before the drastic adjustments.
- In third place is the title “Eagle Eye,” which showcases a Guardian’s skills with weapons.
- Second place is (still) the PvP title “Unbroken” and is achieved only by capable Guardian killers.
- First place goes to the Trials title “Flawless,” which fundamentally requires not only skill but also nerves of steel. Unfortunately, this title has also gained a dubious reputation in the community due to some cheaters.
Destiny 2 is most fun when it is challenging
Is Destiny 2 soon to become an evening shooter? Currently, indeed, fewer and fewer activities in the game really offer a challenge with appropriate rewards.
After all the adjustments, one could get the impression that Bungie does a lot for its evening players and little for the long-time hardcore players who appreciate every tough challenge in the game and would love to hunt a good weapon right away.
The fundamental problem lies in the requirements for a difficulty level:
- Long-time players who have been playing the game forever need significant challenges.
- New players who have just started, on the other hand, need manageable activities and goals.
While casual gamers may have fewer problems with this, it feels absolutely desperate when hardcore players actively lower their own power level, just to make an encounter in the game and the open world feel challenging again.
Adjustable difficulty levels are an option: Does Destiny 2 maybe need a changeable difficulty level for all activities? Similar to the shooter hit “The Division 2,” a variable world level could also be an option for Destiny 2. This would allow fireteams to determine how hard or easy their personal open world is.
Moreover, selectable difficulty levels for all activities would also be conceivable. Pinnacle is now for many players the new Grandmaster.
In the past, Destiny 2 had freely selectable strike difficulty levels: In the very first dusk, players could determine the difficulty and modifiers for a dusk strike themselves through the “Five of Swords” challenge card in their inventory. It was left to everyone to decide how difficult the strike ultimately was. You could even specify by how much your power level was reduced and thus create your own competitive mode.
Even if some players have never completed a pinnacle, the game needs these especially tough and initially unattainable challenges.
- These include activities that are so difficult that you cannot just run through them.
- Challenges that demand from you and require trying out strategies and builds.
- Quests where you fail a few times in order to grow through the challenge.
Because nothing feels better in Destiny 2 than mastering a particularly difficult enemy or a particularly challenging accomplishment solo or as a team. And if not predetermined, then at least adjustable by a map, an item, or something similar.
Appropriate rewards should be mandatory
Finally, however, not only hard challenges are needed. Bungie must also create certain incentives for players that reward them appropriately for difficult activities. Even if I might see it differently, many players find the challenge alone is not enough.
The new Mementos are something that could possibly make such challenges particularly special again in the future.
- I can imagine, for example, a “Flawless Memento” for a dusk.
- Or that at least a special prestige title is introduced into the game that is truly challenging and, above all, remains so, hyped through an animated memento.
- Special armors or ornaments would also be something cool and would certainly be well received.
Currently, players play Trials, Gambit, or a dusk and randomly get one of the Mementos and a ton of exotics that are initially more important loot but personally mean nothing to them. In earlier times, as a player, you had a completely different connection to your hard-earned items.
Back then, there were also special badges that could only be earned by reaching a certain score and were then proudly equipped. Who earns the title “Conqueror” today gets a badge and soon forgets about this experience.
It was Bungie itself that wanted players to have long memories of especially good moments in Destiny 2 and talk about them.
I certainly do not want to imagine Destiny 2 becoming an evening game. Certainly, you don’t need sweaty hands every evening in a challenging activity. But sometimes it is precisely these special challenges that make Destiny 2 particularly interesting for me, especially when you cannot achieve them immediately and can end up being proud of what you and your team or clan have accomplished.
What do you think of this development in Destiny 2? Are you satisfied that many things have become easier or do you increasingly miss the real challenges? Please share in the comments how challenging a challenge must be for you to find it good, and especially what an appropriate reward you would want for it.
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