The scenery won’t be the only thing changing in Destiny 2. A new Mashable interview with game director Luke Smith confirms substantial changes to the loot system in the upcoming Destiny sequel. Changes that might not be popular with those who spent 1000s of hours with Bungie’s first shared-world shooter.
The loot system in Destiny, and subsequent expansions, relied on random-number generation (RNG). Some weapons would always have one or two specific perks. But most of the stats and bonuses conveyed by a weapon were left entirely to chance. For a few months after Destiny’s launch, RNG even determined whether or not the game’s rarest engrams (unidentified loot) would reveal equally rare loot when ID’d by the Cryptarch. That meant sometimes your purple engram revealed a devastating powerful exotic firearm and other times you’d get a mid-tier legendary with bonuses that didn’t fit your current build. You might even pull the same item out of subsequent engrams, only to discover massive discrepancies in their stats and perks.
That’s going to change in Destiny 2. Smith told Mashable the primary reason for the change is to make balancing easier. Randomizing stats on the weapons in Destiny might’ve given the shooter a Diablo-like appeal; however, it also meant the dev team had to bolster or nerf entire classes of firearms. So if Invective gets a bit too popular in the Crucible, every shotgun would have to be knocked down a rung or two to rein in the single weapon actually causing problems in PvP.
That won’t be the case in Destiny 2. Firearms will each have very specific stats and perks. It’s a change that won’t be popular with everyone -- particularly those who enjoy the randomized nature of the first game’s loot system -- but is likely to be embraced by PvP fans. Bungie will be able to rebalance the Destiny 2 armory much faster, since individual items can be adjusted now, and Smith says the studio has ideas to keep the loot grind interesting. Even without RNG.
For an early look at Destiny 2, take a few minutes to revisit the gameplay footage published last month and/or the game’s E3 2017 trailer. Then head down to the comments section and let us know what you’re hoping to see when the upcoming Destiny sequel hits consoles in September.
Destiny 2 is in development for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The game debuts Sept. 6.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Destiny 2 news in 2017 and however long Bungie supports Destiny 2 in the years ahead.
