Bungie once again finds itself grappling with a wave of anger from the Destiny 2 community, this time in response to an attempted Faction Rally token farming fix. The latest controversy, if you really want to call it that, hasn’t generated the same outpouring of anger as the recent Eververse/XP issues. But community discontentment does seem to be nearing a tipping point. Some fans are even convinced they won’t like Destiny 3 after the latest dust-up.
The change players object to is related to the first Faction Rally of Destiny 2’s second season. Near the end of season one, Bungie noticed some players finishing Lost Sectors, one of several activities that yield Faction Rally tokens, in rapid succession. The developer claims some D2 players earned as many as 500 tokens per hour, vastly more than the average Destiny fan and far more than the studio ever intended. So Bungie introduced a new soft lock, two rewards every ten minutes, to reduce players’ hourly earnings. But Lost Sectors aren’t the only activity affected by the lock. It also covers Public Events. Some players hoped the inclusion of group activities was just a mistake, but Bungie updated the patch notes for Tuesday’s hotfix, confirming the loot throttle was currently working as intended. And players aren’t happy about it.
The language in Bungie’s update doesn’t suggest the team is married to the current limitation. It may not be addressed before the end of the current event, but we’ll be shocked if changes aren’t introduced with the next Faction Rally. It may not be enough, though. The complaints about Bungie’s token farming fix follow months of turmoil and grumbling about everything from Curse of Osiris’ brevity to recycled Destiny 1 content and Crucible changes.This week, hundreds of redditors decided putting down their controllers or switching games was their only remaining option. It doesn’t seem like the community is ready to move on to another game (yet). But a growing number of Destiny fans seem to be losing faith that Bungie’s shared-world shooter will ever scratch the itch they wanted it to.
Some fans are worried the studio’s ongoing missteps are an early warning sign they won’t enjoy Destiny 3; a fair assumption, considering Bungie’s next shooter is reportedly in development already. The studio’s stated reason for not including content from Destiny 1’s third year was that development of Destiny 2 was too far along. With D2 Year One half over, and mostly looking like a wash, it seems fair for longtime players to worry history will repeat itself whenever Destiny 3 heads to stores. Best-case scenario, Bungie corrects course by the end of 2018. But then we’re still left wondering how many of the positive changes will carry over to the sequel.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Destiny 2 news in 2018 and however long Bungie supports Destiny 2 in the years ahead.
