Back in February, Bungie explained that weapons and armour in Destiny 2 are getting a big shakeup. Namely, they'll only be viable for a certain period, with a power "cap" applied to older gear. The intent is obvious, with the developer hoping to push players out of their comfort zones. After all, there's a whole smorgasbord of weaponry and gear, as well as combos of each - why not try something new?
That means for a player like me, that's been playing Destiny 2 since it launched (and Destiny 1 before it), my trusty Tigerspite auto rifle and Distant Relation Scout Rifle combo has what is essentially an expiry date. That's hard to take, as they're the weapons I feel most comfortable with, but hey - I'll get something better, right?
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Destiny Sunsetting Weapons Is A Bad Thing
Therein lies the problem. With this week's Iron Banner, Bungie is returning weapons tied to that event and giving them an extra perk to entice players to pick them up. The real kicker is that these ostensibly recycled weapons will have a higher power cap, meaning if you've been grinding for a perfect roll, you'll have to do it all over again if you want the same gun to remain viable for upcoming content.
What makes this so disappointing is that Destiny 2 (and the first game) have traditionally allowed players to progress in power any way they choose. Being able to level our Guardians whether we want to play Strikes with friends or jump into Crucible matches, or even the PvPvE Gambit mode, has been one of the franchise's greatest strengths. To take that away from players, particularly those who have so much to lose because they've invested so heavily in curating their weapons and armour feels tone-deaf on Bungie's part - especially when the loot pool has been cut down to only "viable" weapons.
With Beyond Light launching in September, there's always the possibility that this system will be refined before the next chapter of Destiny begins, but we've already lost our gear going from the first game to the sequel. If we end up essentially having everything we've collected being useless for much of the content to come, that'll feel punitive to those that have stuck by Bungie's scattershot content schedule and quality. Some of the weapons that'll no longer be effective took dozens of hours to earn, lest we forget.
Of course, if Beyond Light introduces an incredible array of weapons to chase, then you can count us back in. I also appreciate that balancing all of these weapons for PvE, PvP, or Gambit is an impossible task. There just has to be a better way, even if it's a way to re-roll weapons to get a new set of perks, or a way to infuse a current weapon above its power ceiling with another weapon of the same kind.
There has to be a way to make the system feel more rewarding than restrictive, and we've seen Bungie make sweeping changes in the past. The patch that launched alongside the Warmind expansion buffed exotic gear to new heights, while weapon loadouts became much more free-form once Bungie allowed players to pick weapons based on ammo types.
Here's hoping we get another big change before Beyond Light.