Who Destiny 2 players eventually find themselves in the Strike rotation of the Vanguard Ops. But while most Strikes there are entertaining and quite easy, there is one that drives many players to despair. To retire it to the Content Vault, they would even sacrifice Raid Exotics to Bungie. MeinMMO has looked into how and why the Strike is currently splitting the Destiny community.
This is the Strike in question: There are several Strikes in Destiny 2 that can be played via the Vanguard Ops playlist in a random rotation with matchmaking. However, while most are quick and easy, with no mechanics to think too much about, one Strike stands out. “The Corrupted” has been making players in Destiny 2 despair for years.
- The Strike takes place in the Dreaming City, and the Guardians must locate one of Queen Mara’s closest advisors, Sedia, and free her from the control of the Taken.
When his location appears on the screen, the Guardians hurry to leave the activity and leave their teammates behind. So reports Phiau, a father, who now plays Destiny 2 with his son:
I was playing Strikes with my son today and we encountered “The Corrupted.”
My son: “Oh, I hate this Strike.”
I: “Why?”
My son: “Because as soon as it loads, everyone leaves.”
Sadly, these experiences are happening more frequently in Destiny 2, and there is a reason for it. “The Corrupted” was last week in the Nightfall rotation, and during that time, it literally cost many players all their nerves.
The Strike is unsuitable for a playlist with matchmaking: In the eyes of these players, “The Corrupted” is already considered “inappropriately long, annoying, and an absolute slog.” As a Nightfall, with additional modifiers, it is even more challenging. Then when matchmaking is added for the Strike playlist, which is available at lower difficulty levels, it becomes “hell on earth”.
- When players are randomly assigned together, it often happens that the special orb mechanic of the Strike, which runs throughout the entire activity, is overlooked.
- Moreover, the Strike is very long and includes some “bump-and-shove mechanics,” which makes it significantly harder to eliminate enemies and take down the boss “Sedia” quickly.
- If the random and unsuspecting teammates do not respond to “orb tosses,” are constantly shoved off the map, or do not know what they should be doing to play safely, patience runs thin.
Because of this, some players repeatedly say: For a quick playlist activity, this combination of a lengthy Strike, orb mechanics, and ignorant teammates is simply unsuitable and also far too exhausting to want to play willingly.
For this reason, player Imagine_TryingYT in the relevant Reddit discussion is even willing to sacrifice everything if the Strike “The Corrupted” would finally disappear forever into the Content Vault.
[…] I know we have been against [the Content Vault] in the past. But just this once, I would find it perfectly fine if [Bungie] were to remove “The Corrupted.” I give [Bungie] what [they want]. Delete my Titan, take all my God rolls, take my Vex Mythoclast to hell. Please, I will literally delete my account and restart this game completely as long as I know that I never have to touch this Strike again. […]
The reason there is no Raid matchmaking
While the community on Reddit demands a relocation of the Strike to the Content Vault, Datto, the Destiny streamer and elite player, expresses his dismay at this discussion and defends the Strike “The Corrupted”.
I will not tolerate this slander against The Corrupted.
writes Datto, a well-known Destiny content creator via Twitter
This Strike is fantastic!
For him, the activity is a grand challenge, with good mechanics, and when there is whining, it is only because “a Strike takes longer than 8 minutes to receive a top reward,” as he says.
Such demands are, according to Datto, the reason why in Destiny 2 the difficulty levels of Master, Grandmaster, as well as Dungeon and Raid activities have not yet received matchmaking.
The Strike has been in the game since 2018, and a large portion of the players still do not know how to play it correctly. Among them are apparently also players who wish for appropriate matchmaking for the endgame but do not want to learn anything about it.
On Reddit, Destiny players like 1AMA-CAT-AMA criticize this “mechanic resistance” of their fellow Guardians and the demand that The Corrupted should head to “Bungie’s mothball cabinet.”
All they want is a horde mode with trash-tier mobs that they can farm without difficulty with the Trinity Ghoul, that goes on forever and guarantees them loot. Then they wonder why they are bored with the game 2 days later.
In-game explanations are not a solution: Some players point out that there are no hints in the game on how to play the mechanics in The Corrupted, which is why they are clueless. Bungie could therefore integrate a hint tab in the game, as was recently done with the Gambit rules, which explains the game mechanics in detail.
What is the Content Vault in Destiny 2 again?
Bungie launched the so-called Content Vault in 2020 with the Beyond Light expansion. It is a place where “less actively played” targets and activities are regularly removed from the game and stored there. According to the developer, the Content Vault is necessary to allow fresh content to be added without cluttering the game.
Here, however, Destiny 2 has been pursuing the “concept of discovery” for years. Players are supposed to figure out for themselves how something works in the game and learn from it. This is more exciting than knowing immediately how something works. This is exactly why the day-one dungeons and raids have been so popular for years.
Once discovered, the new mechanics of the game spread very quickly in the community. You can watch them on Twitch or YouTube, read about them in guides, or play them in a fireteam and figure them out together. However, this requires that one wants to do so.
In the case of the Strike “The Corrupted,” this has not worked well because the orbs also deal damage when they are not charged, as player RC_0001RC_0001 points out. Perhaps the solution is much simpler, by having Bungie change the mechanics so that players are forced to understand and utilize the mechanics correctly.
[…] Guardians who do not keep an eye on [the mechanics] or do not have Datto’s phone number simply throw the ball at the enemy shields. […] It will deal enough damage that it’s not clear they are doing something wrong, so they will keep doing it. And there is nothing we can do to prevent them from getting the orb first.
This is how the orb mechanic works in the Strike “The Corrupted”
How does the orb mechanic work in the Strike? For all those who want to do better from now on, we would like to explain the exact orb mechanic of the Strike “The Corrupted,” which will make the activity overall easier and more relaxed:
- In different places in the Strike, such as in the elevator, players can pick up special orbs. They are necessary because only with them can the shields of the enemies be broken in this Strike.
- These orbs can not only be picked up and thrown but can also be tossed to other teammates.
- Each toss maximizes the damage output. With each orb, this is possible up to 3x.
- Charged orbs hum and glow. When the humming is loudest, you can throw them to deal maximum damage.
What do you personally think about the Strike “The Corrupted”? Would it also be your request to move the content directly to the Content Vault? Please feel free to confess in the comments whether you knew about the secret orb mechanic with Sedia or not. And whether you are willing to learn mechanics and processes in Destiny 2 or would rather just push through.
