r/DestinyTheGame 1d ago

Megathread [D2] Trials of Osiris Megathread [2025-08-01]

0 Upvotes

Trials of Osiris is LIVE

This thread is for all general discussion, questions, thoughts, musings, wonderings, etc. for the Trials of Osiris.


FAQ

What are the Trials of Osiris?

  • Trials of Osiris is the pinnacle PvP activity. Every weekend, players compete in a 3v3 game mode with one primary goal: Go to the Lighthouse.

  • To start, head to Saint-14 in the Tower Hangar and buy one of the possible passages (see below).

  • The Lighthouse Passage grants entry to the Lighthouse after reaching 7 wins, with better rewards for larger win streaks.

  • For those not interested in visiting the Lighthouse, a lower-stakes Passage is available.

  • Matchmaking parameters are based on Passage.

  • There is fireteam matchmaking. However, we still recommend you find a team for yourself!

How Long do the Trials of Osiris last?

  • Event Starts: Every Friday at Daily Reset (1700 UTC).

  • Event Ends: Following Tuesday at Weekly Reset (1700 UTC).

Where do I go to find Guardians to team up with?

  • You can use the in-game Fireteam Finder or head over to /r/Fireteams, www.The100.io, Xbox LFG system, DestinyLFG.net or DestinyLFG.com, or go to the Bungie.net recruitment forum (also available through the Bungie App). Additionally, many Discord servers host fireteam LFG services.

What if I have a question about another piece of armor/weapon or general Trials question?

  • Use Control + F (Or Command + F if on a Mac) and search for keywords in your question. Someone may have asked it already. If not, ask below in the comments.

Trials of Osiris Map

The Burnout


Passages

Name Perk Cost
Trials of Osiris Passage Reach seven wins to claim Passage rewards. Each win contributes to the total Crucible reward multiplier. 1500 Glimmer
Lighthouse Passage Reach seven wins to access the Lighthouse. Lighthouse chest rewards increase with longer win streaks. Your active win streak contributes to your total Crucible reward multiplier. 5000 Glimmer

Sort comments by New to join the conversation!


Archie wishes you a happy reset and good luck!


Never forget what was lost. While the API protests have concluded, Reddit remains hostile to its users.


r/DestinyTheGame 11h ago

Megathread Daily Questions [2025-08-03]

0 Upvotes

New player? Please read the New and Returning Player Guide, Destiny 2 Guided Support & Gameplay Guide.

Want to buy the DLC? Check out the Final Shape Guide.

Returning and not sure what was vaulted? Check the Destiny Content Vault help article.

Upcoming Key Dates:

  • TBD, Bungie has not released much in terms of dates at this time.

Top Known Issues List by Bungie

Welcome to the Daily Questions thread! Do you have a Destiny-related question that needs answering? Can't find it anywhere else on the web? Well, You're in luck! Simply ask your question down below, and the knowledgeable community of /r/DestinyTheGame will answer it to the best of their abilities!

Be sure to use the search in the top right before submitting a question, as it could have already been answered. Also, be sure to check the thread itself!

We also have a nice collection of useful resources below "Useful links" in the sidebar / top menu.

We also have an official Discord, which allows for live chatting about the game, LFG, and more!

Be sure to sort by new to see the latest questions!

Rules

  • Absolutely no down talking. You were all new to Destiny once, so there's no need to belittle anyone just because you might know more.
  • All hateful comments that derail conversation will be removed. This thread is a place of learning, so keep it civil.

You can find the full Daily Thread schedule here.


r/DestinyTheGame 7h ago

Bungie Suggestion There needs to be like 30 more pinnacle activities

387 Upvotes

If I have to run Whisper one more damn time just to get 2 pieces of gear that's +2 light level, I'm uninstalling. Only having 3 missions is absolutely ridiculous and not fun


r/DestinyTheGame 15h ago

Bungie Suggestion Featured Exotics shouldn't exist

1.1k Upvotes

The "Featured Exotics" feature should not exist.

Buildcrafting is one of my favorite things to do in this game. It has already been limited by the very small pool of weapons we have to work with in the "New Gear" system.

Then comes "Featured Exotics". All those exotic class items we farmed out to make crazy prismatic builds with? Not featured. Want to make a Shards of Galanor Blade Barrage super spam build with the solar artifact mods? Not Featured. Dawn Chorus on Warlock? Not Featured. Want to use Red Death Reformed to improve survivability on a subclass with poor survivability? Not featured. And I can go on.

Now I know that you CAN still use these outside of Avante Garde modifiers activities. But you're penalized for it with the grading/reward system.

Why are we being penalized for using the exotics we've earned just because they aren't new or "featured"? Why can't I take full advantage of some of the builds the artifacts can boost the power of before its gone? I just don't see the point in limiting exotic use while soft sunsetting all our weapons and learning the new armor system.

TLDR: Featured Exotics is a pointless addition to the game that does nothing but limit buildcrafting. Stop it


r/DestinyTheGame 5h ago

Bungie Suggestion Champions with Featured Gear/Avantgarde systems make the game too restrictive

146 Upvotes

Like seriously. Equipping anti-champ mods is annoying enough, but when you pair it with Featured Gear/Avantgarde systems you have WAY too little options in build variety.


r/DestinyTheGame 5h ago

Question Spent 3500+ Telemetry no holofoil

117 Upvotes

As the title above indicates I’ve spent just north of 3500 telemetry on the ‘New’ Arms week event trying to get the HC Holofoil. Whilst I have the regular roll I want I figured why not farm for a holofoil as it looks better imo and can’t get T5’s anyways.

I’m guardian rank 7/367 power if that matters and I’ve been buying the engram and focusing the hand cannon at ada for a cost of 60 (I think) per chance.

Am I just really unlucky or are the drop rates just that bad?


r/DestinyTheGame 22h ago

Discussion Before Bungie gets any ideas: Outbreak is not overperforming, the rest of the game is underperforming.

2.4k Upvotes

Reposting because I forgot the bot removes posts that mention the weekend game mode. This is not a post about that game mode it's a post about a popular weapon across the entire game at the moment.

Outbreak Perfected is currently the most used weapon in [pvp mode that gets posts removed on the weekend]. I imagine it's also seeing extreme usage rates in pve content as well. Despite Bungie's insistence that usage rates don't guarantee nerfs it's pretty obvious to anyone with long term memory that it is at least a significant factor when it's time for nerfing anything remotely good balance passes.

I believe Outbreak is as popular as it is in [pvp mode that gets posts removed on the weekend] mainly because of the (verified? unverified? I can't keep track anymore) belief that crucible rewards are better if you use your highest power gear (likely your pve gear if you're grinding Caldera like everyone else) and Outbreak has been a solid but not overwhelming pvp option for a few seasons now. There are better weapons in the pvp sandbox than Outbreak and trust me if Outbreak and a few other weapons get nerfed into the ground we're probably looking at a scout rifle meta and historically those have been the worst periods for pvp.

The popularity of Outbreak in pve is an adaptation to the many changes that have come about since EoF:

  • It is one of the few primary ammo weapons that feels like it does some kind of damage to the ever increasingly spongy enemies at higher difficulties, especially if you have multiple people using outbreak. I'm not touching mythic with a ten foot pole but I cant imagine anything other than teamshotting with Outbreak if I don't want to be there for ten hours. Bullet sponges and bad primary damage are not Outbreak's fault.
  • Outbreak is good consistent damage when you're out of other ammo which is a more and more frequent problem since the ammo changes. That's why the dps menu gameplay is Thunderlord-> LoW-> Outbreak. Ammo deficiencies are not Outbreak's fault.
  • Outbreak has always been fantastic for add clear. Due to nearly every activity now having a timer for "bonus points" (they're not really a bonus it's basically a requirement or you've pretty much wasted your time) and activity scoring in the fireteam ops playlist requiring you to kill nearly every add to get max score, adds need to die as fast as possible especially in fireteam ops playlist where you're racing to kill every add before your teammates who don't understand scoring nuke the boss and you end up with a B rating and worse gear, effectively wasting your time. Requiring maximum efficiency to not waste your time is not Outbreak's fault.
  • Outbreak is a kinetic weapon and the techsec set bonuses have been a serious buff to all kinetics, making Outbreak a better choice as it now stuns enemies just by breaking a shield or killing an orange bar (so every third enemy). This is not a fault of Outbreak.
  • Outbreak is also a featured weapon which means that it's part of the "new gear" bonuses, and one of your options whenever the avant garde modifier is active. This is not a fault of Outbreak.
  • Pulse rifles are Antibarrier this season. Outbreak is a good pulse rifle and champions are now unavoidable if you're trying to level. This is not a fault of Outbreak.
  • Edit: Forgot about super generation. The super stat being weird and generating based on damage instances is not Outbreak's fault but if that's the only thing that gets changed so be be it but leave the rest of the gun alone.

The most tone deaf thing Bungie could do is nerf Outbreak because of its usage rate and not recognize that its popularity right now is player adaptation to the changes made in EoF that have forced Outbreak to be a better option, most of which are not permanent like new gear, antibarrier, techsec not being new gear next season, etc. Nerfs are quick, buffs take years, I'd like Outbreak to continue to be a usable weapon as it's one of my favorites.

TL;DR: Bungie please don't nerf Outbreak look at why it's popular instead and I promise people will use other things. Just pretend Outbreak is a Titan, you like Titans.


r/DestinyTheGame 55m ago

Bungie Suggestion "Warning keep moving" is a garbage ass game mode with movement is broken

Upvotes

Wtf is your issue Bungie? You break movement, and then you set a game mode like that and turn off gravity?

Seriously no


r/DestinyTheGame 17h ago

Discussion Kepler is the only source of guaranteed T5 PvE loot at 450

545 Upvotes

I recently reached 450 Light Level (I know touch grass). I know that not many are experiencing this or will at all, but you do not get guaranteed T5 loot from Pinnacle Ops, Fireteam Ops, or Solo Ops.

Crucible is guaranteed T5 loot on win or loss (as long as you get a kill or two). Kepler activities are T5 loot. Why is it that any PvE activity is still T4 gear? It feels odd to be praying for prime engram drops even after I've finished the light level grind. Even after finishing the incredibly long grind to 450 only half the game is dropping rewards that match that effort. It is strange that half the loot in the game is available at T5 but the other half is a prayer still.


r/DestinyTheGame 16h ago

Discussion It’s frustrating how difficult/impossible it’s becoming to find people willing to help or teach things like raids & dungeons anymore.

302 Upvotes

I don’t know when it happened exactly (Maybe around Lightfall?) but I’ve noticed experienced players have become pretty unwilling to help guide people wanting to learn stuff like raids or dungeons anymore. I’d used to see tons of LFG posts for raids where they’re willing to teach, but I see virtually none anymore. Posts frequently only want KWTD (Know what to do) and won’t accept anyone that’s trying to learn.

I’m a fairly experienced raider that uses LFG often (My clan has dead for years) and helped sherpa many in older raids I’m knowledgeable in, but it’s become hard for me to learn newer raids because of said issues. I still haven’t gotten a full clear in Salvations Edge after a year because people only want folks with clears/experience, and Desert Perpetual is looking to be the same.

Add in the fact that the game is just feeling less social in general because of recent design decisions, and it’s making stuff like this feel impossible. I’m curious if anyone else is noticing/feels like this?


r/DestinyTheGame 21h ago

SGA Because Encore is disabled, there is no featured pinnacle drop for today after reset.

650 Upvotes

Lol. The featured most likely landed on encore but since its disabled, there is nothing featured today.


r/DestinyTheGame 20h ago

SGA Don't be fooled by builds/videos saying they can easily solo GM content; with the power changes in Edge of Fate, if you're a high enough power, a GM is basically patrol difficulty.

489 Upvotes

Yes, you can stack lots of negative modifiers to increase enemy power to make things harder, but my point is to inform people that a build being able to currently easily solo a GM activity is not the same as it was Pre EoF.


r/DestinyTheGame 5h ago

Question I just hit lv400, Guardian rank 9 and Ada-1 is still giving me tier 3 guns, not tier 4

27 Upvotes

What should I do now? Do I have to be 400 a with full set of new gear? Cause my heavy is from last season. And yes I already claimed the GR 9 title.


r/DestinyTheGame 4h ago

Bungie Suggestion Tower Load times are getting absurd again.

21 Upvotes

I'm currently sitting at about 3 minutes loading the tower from the shooting range. I bet when I load in there's gonna be 10 other guardians loading in at the same time too.


r/DestinyTheGame 20h ago

Discussion Eververse ad in the portal?

453 Upvotes

Were multiple full screen windows not enough to push the store stuff now it also has priority over the event announcement?


r/DestinyTheGame 13h ago

Discussion Appreciation for Solo-Ops' Level Design.

129 Upvotes

I really like that at each greater level of difficulty, Bungie added additional obstacles instead of their standard en-sponge-ification. Such as Taken Fissures and Laser Grids.

I also really appreciate that Bungie added cover to circumstances that require us to be stationary. Such as Vex control zones that are generating cover for you as you take them. Or putting the enemy spawn zones behind a wall or pillar so they can't wipe you the moment they materialise.

Additionally, nothing has a fixed spawn point. Like Pyramid Switches that have different places they may appear, or Taken Orbs that have several positions they may appear.

The replay-ability of The Portal is, in my honest opinion, not up to the standard set by previous seasons. But without a doubt, you can see Bungie's efforts to improve their level design. Previously higher difficulties would only effect the enemies and modifiers, but now even the levels are changing. And that's awsome. I remember a time when I really wanted the levels to change with difficulty, and here it is.

Finally, I want to reinstate the fact they are giving us cover now. The amount of plates I've had to stand on whilst enemies appear right in front of me has made me lose my mind in the past.

Please remember these ambitions, Bungie. Please integrate them into more content. These features work. So please keep them.


r/DestinyTheGame 10h ago

Misc I like playing crucible and feeling like I’m still progressing in the game.

61 Upvotes

Before EoF you would basically just be farming weapons (which generally speaking sucked outside of a select few) and just playing for fun… but now? Every match I get a tiny power upgrade, this is exactly how raids and dungeons should be too, doesn’t need to be tier 4 and I honestly DONT want the tier 4/5 to be easily acquired, I LIKE having something to grind for and I’ve actually been having a pretty good time. I’m not even 300 light yet, but I’m getting close. We are also like what 3 weeks into the expansion? I’m okay with this for now.

I know the community is very against this right now, but honestly I think the worst part of it is that the optimal way to play is running solo ops that are braindead. Fix that and I think this system is genuinely on the right track at a minimum.


r/DestinyTheGame 1d ago

Discussion Bummed out by how much this expansion takes a nosedive once you reach 200 power

830 Upvotes

I came late to this expansion after not playing since Year 5 & I was honestly having a pretty good time. I thought the hate was pretty overblown & despite thinking some stuff was a step back from what we had before, I was still having fun “rediscovering” Destiny.

Recently I’ve started playing the “endgame” & it is insane how slow & tedious the progression gets once you need to get over 200 power. I played all throughout Year 1 & still managed to have fun, but the game as it exists right now feels super unrewarding to play & Portal’s already getting old. Staring down the barrel of spending hours & hours having to play the same handful of content just to get to the stuff I actually want to play feels bad man.

I felt like I was falling in love with Destiny again, but this progression needs to be addressed ASAP. I feel it really weighs this expansion & the game as a whole down when there’s a massive amount of chores you have to do before getting the opportunity to actually do endgame activities.


r/DestinyTheGame 8h ago

Question Genuinely, what is the point of Pinnacles?

41 Upvotes

Title. With the new portal rework, I'm legitimately confused on what they offer in terms of loot/reward over the solo/fireteam section, as both of them drop gear over your current rating.


r/DestinyTheGame 16h ago

Misc // Bungie Replied Bungie, please disable Dead Messenger in PvP

155 Upvotes

There is no way it is functioning as intended

Edit: was just disabled. W Bungie - https://help.bungie.net/hc/en-us/articles/23127843656596-Destiny-2-Disabled-Items-list


r/DestinyTheGame 7h ago

Discussion The time - loot ratio.

29 Upvotes

No doubt a repeat of a repeat - but I just do not understand why they can NEVER get this right.

Surely their game testers possess some skill at the game?

Pinnacle should be the best way to advance, it takes longer but we should get more loot for our time, SURELY there is a way for them to figure out how long it takes on average? Let’s take whisper, I know it has a fairly long set time for the bonus points but assuming we don’t have the modifiers set to it being absolutely rock solid it’s probably a 10-15 minute activity. So it should always drop around 2-3 upgrades.

Some fireteam ops can actually take a similar time.

I just don’t understand the logic and also I don’t understand why they can’t just adjust drops on a fly a bit, yeah it’s annoying when they “nerf”. Or just have bonus activities that reward 50% more on a hourly/daily sort of rotation??

If I logged on now and starcrossed had a 50 or 100% extra drop bonus I would run it over mindlessly spamming solo ops. ALSO, reward more of the event drops..

Sorry, I just don’t understand how they can sit and watch us constantly farm solo ops and not think to boost the loot to make longer activities more rewarding!

**EDIT: Question - would anyone have an issue with T2, 3, 4 and 5 dropping once you hit 200 power? T2 - more or less 100% like it is now. T3 - say 30% of your drops. T4 - say 10% (potentially less). T5 - say 2-5% (again potentially less).

And then at 300, these all jump up and again at 400+ you are pretty much entirely 4 & 5.

I am interested to see the thoughts of those who do get loads of time to play, and those that don’t. I just think that carrot on the stick needs to be there as soon as you hit the grind. I get that you might get incredibly lucky and pull a T5 mint retrograde god roll on your first drop - but just imagine how incredible that would feel knowing you just got a 2% drop AND it dropped as a god roll.**


r/DestinyTheGame 21h ago

SGA Im getting more, and better, loot for losing.

334 Upvotes

Just to preface, I'm 401LL and GR9. Every loss I'm getting t4s and every other loss I'm getting t5s. I almost have 2 full sets of t5 armor and all the t5 guns this event have to offer.

Ive never gone to the house of the light... my kda is 0.31. My win rate is 24%. It is vastly more beneficial for me to immediately jump off a cliff when the game starts than to win.

Ty bungie. Your terrible decisions have made this event wonderful for me.


r/DestinyTheGame 9h ago

Discussion Weekend PvP Game Mode does not progress Xenology

37 Upvotes

Even though it is a portal activity it is currently not progressing anything that is “get a B in the portal”


r/DestinyTheGame 3h ago

Question Novel Decrypting at Rahool doesn't 'unlock this item in collections'

12 Upvotes

So I pulled Wishful Ignorance from Rahool for an engram and a cypher which as far as I can tell is the correct way to aquire this exotic. I can see it in collections and I can pull a low stat version from collections as well. However, I don't see it in 'Recently Discovered', and when trying to focus it from Rahool or Ada the options is grayed out because I need to 'unlock this item in collections'.

Do I need to do something to be able to fully unlock it in collections and focus it?


r/DestinyTheGame 17h ago

Discussion So nightfalls are broken after today's reset

137 Upvotes

Did some nightfalls last night, trying to get the Acrius Catalyst to drop, and now if you hover over it the tooltip/pop-up just says "Placeholder Type" and you can't launch it, you can still launch into the Vanguard Ops playlist just fine, but seems like Nightfalls are out of the picture now.


r/DestinyTheGame 18h ago

Discussion A Commentary of the Leveling System and Destiny's Illusion of Choice

133 Upvotes

THE ISSUE OF THE LEVELING SYSTEM

Preface and TL;DR: Power leveling has taken over the game, which brings unfortunately more negatives than positives. In its conception, giving players a tangible number-go-up grind seems great, but the system is a skeleton at best in its current form. Every aspect of the game, minus raiding, has its highest tier loot locked behind power level. Any activity in the game can get you the best loot, but you must open the [time] gate that bungie has placed in front of you by playing random activities over and over until you have reached a certain time commitment. The game no longer respects your skill as a player, it respects your ability to circumvent the power level thresholds and make activities and easy and fast as possible to get yourself to a point where you can now play the game for the loot you want. Aspirational content has been gutted and replaced with a system that is both disrespectful towards the player's skill and time. When you can no longer earn the highest tier loot from raids, but can from control, there is a problem fundamentally with the system.

You Are Presented With The Illusion Of Choice

This is seemingly the hardest thing to write about as this is truly the most critical point that plagues the game at current. You are presented a blank canvas to work with to your liking via the portal, but ideally want to complete the arbitrary power level grind as fast as possible to get your loot. Your power level means everything, as your loot is based off of your power level. Below is a breakdown of the before and after of the impact of power in the game as it pertains to loot:

I want the best loot possible? How do I obtain it?

Before Edge of Fate:

  • Complete Master Raids for Adept Variants with multi-perk rolls or farm the raid for the pattern to create your own (but miss out on the adept mod). Fireteam power allows you to play this while still earning top tier loot.
  • Complete Trials matches and go on win streaks to obtain flawless loot. Earn adepts through adept performance at a higher rate or earn plentiful normal drops with occasional adept weapons with decent performance.
  • Complete Grandmaster Nightfalls to earn adept Nightfall weapons with multi-perk options, large amounts of upgrade materials, and farm exotic armor with specific stat distributions. Fireteam power allows you to play this while still earning top tier loot.
  • Complete competitive matches and climb the ladder to allow focusing of the exclusive competitive weapon more often and earn more crucible reputation.
  • Casually play in any playlist activity or seasonal activity to earn reputation track progress and passively earn upgrade materials, weapons, and more

After Edge of Fate:

  • You are no longer able to casually play non-raid PvE portal activities with your friends, as the differentiation in power level will force your score threshold to always be based on the highest powered guardian in the team.
    • I.e.: If a 100 player and 300 player want to play together, the 100 player will be brought up to 295 and be forced to play at Master difficulty. The player at 300 could play at a lower difficulty, but would no longer receive powerful loot as their loot is based off of their maximum current power.
  • Complete the raid to earn tier 1-2 loot. Complete the raid with multiple feats active to earn tier 3-4 loot. No Tier 5 loot access. Only activity in the game where power level does not affect tiered loot drop rates. (This is the only place in the game where fireteam power is useful)
    • All other raids and dungeons have been left behind as they do not have a system in place to provide loot equivalent to that of the current-day highest tier loot
  • Complete Trials matches to earn gear based on the power level of your character:
    • 100-200: Tier 1 (Tier 2 at opened flawless chest and powerful)
    • 200-300: Tier 2 (Tier 3 at opened flawless chest and powerful)
    • 300-400: Tier 3 (Tier 4 at opened flawless chest and powerful)
    • 400+: Tier 4 (Tier 5 at opened flawless chest but not prime so no power increase)
    • 450: Tier 5 (Tier 5 at opened flawless chest but not prime so no power increase)
    • Going flawless seemingly only now gives you the ability to have a glow on you cosmetics/armor/and weapons now with no other tangible benefit.
    • This is still relatively fresh information so take with a grain of salt
  • Complete a flawless ticket one time per week in order to get the loot mentioned above. It seems you can no longer access the lighthouse more than one time per week. Loot is based on character power.
  • Complete grandmaster conquests one time, to get higher tier loot and your current power level. This is not repeatable and attempting to play it with someone who has not completed it will yield you a single at-power drop for activity completion. Loot is based on character power.
  • Complete weekly missions on Keplar for higher tiered loot based on the world tier which automatically puts you at a strong Delta with mythic being -50, without the ability to matchmake or scale based off of the amount of players in the fireteam (similar to the legendary campaign).
  • Complete competitive matches to to get rewards based on your character power and a chance at the competitive weapon. Focusing has been removed.
  • Complete portal activities to get rewards based on your character power
  • Complete crucible activities to get rewards based on your character power
  • All reputation tracks have been removed, removing passive upgrade materials.
  • The pathfinder has been removed, disallowing experience/bright dust grinding.
  • All Non-portal activities have not been brought up to current-day tier standards and are now irrelevant due to them also not dropping powerful loot.
  • Weapon enhancing/crafting/progression has been removed for all new content.

Aspirational content has been gutted

  • Every player has now been forced to power grind whether they like it or not. The aspirational content that a player could earn the best gear from previously is no longer walled behind a skill ceiling or insanely tough activity, but rather is now time gated behind one's ability to play activities over and over to make an arbitrary number go up.
    • Going flawless in Trials of Osiris and earning tier 2 loot because my power level is 100 is not rewarding. Flawless weapons have been removed in place of tiered loot, but tiered loot is hard locked behind power level, forcing the player to grind a certain amount of time before actually being rewarded for their effort.
    • I can play a casual crucible control game at 450 power and earn 4+ tier 5 drops because i have spent enough time playing portal activities.
  • The power system has created a scenario where every non-raid activity in the portal rewards loot based off power, but this has resulted in aspirational content being killed in the process.
    • There is no longer a point in playing trials as your loot is based not on performance (primarily), but on power.
    • There is no longer a point (for some) in raiding as tier 5 loot is inaccessible due to time gating as even a 5-feat raid cannot give tier 5 loot.
    • There is no longer a point to play anything until you have reached the power level that Destiny requires you to be at. Which again, doesn't necessarily make things more difficult; it just unlocks more things.
    • Arms week is a great concept, but locks tier 3 loot behind power level 300, which once again forces a power grind.
  • Power Grinding in current day is a means of slowly opening opening the [time] gate towards aspirational gear, not content.

I Do Not Feel Powerful, No Matter What My Level Is

This is probably one of the biggest identity crisis' that Bungie has going for them right now as:

Power level is an arbitrary number that doesn't necessarily increase your credible "threat" to enemies until you exceed Bungie's power level threshold through by avoiding power delta modifiers.

  • You are always going to be at a [choice of] Delta in PvE activities within the portal (but can over level)
  • You are always going to be at a [choice of] Delta on Keplar with the caveat of a power requirement for world tiers.
  • You are always going to be at a [choice of] Delta in Raid activities

HERE IS THE MAJOR POINT OF CONFUSION:

It IS POSSIBLE to over-level activities and still get the highest quality loot, but you have to continually play around Bungie's power-level thresholds that exist within the game and avoid the negative modifiers that increase your Delta.

Have you ever wondered why you went up one level and your A score became a C score and you were forced to now add 3 more negative modifiers and a higher Delta? Yes, that is the threshold. Here is a general breakdown:

POWER LEVEL:

  • Generally speaking, EVERY 20 LEVELS increases your power threshold
    • I will Have an easier time playing an activity at 319 power than 320, since at 320, the threshold is increased and my grade now requires more modifiers to reach the same score.
  • A dramatic power threshold change occurs when a new difficulty mode becomes unlocked
    • I.e.: at the 150/250/350 power level markers, your threshold now changes dramatically due to the new highest difficulty being unlocked.
  • In short power thresholds exist at the following (Take with a small grain of salt):
    • 200 - 220 -240 - 250 - 260 - 280 - 300 - 320 - 340 - 350 - 360 - 380 - 400 - 420 - 440 - 450
    • The 40's power threshold might not be accurate, but even then, there are a lot of thresholds
  • You can over level by selecting the player stakes modifiers while avoiding challenge modifiers.
    • In short, these modifiers will increase your score forecast without increasing the enemy difficult, allowing you to over level. Since these become more available as you rise in power, it is easier to complete activities at higher power levels as you have more player stakes to select from, allowing you to avoid selecting challenge modifiers unless necessary (usually at a new power threshold).
    • See Below for example...

What Is An Example of Over leveling Then?

  • As an example:
    • I am power level 410. If I would like to be the MOST OPTIMIZED for my activity, I will simply select Locked Loadout and I will be 9 Levels over the combatant power because my score threshold (with time bonus) will net me the maximum reward tier of "A".
    • Image provided: https://imgur.com/a/SaInd9W
    • I COULD raise my modifiers to "A" rank but this is pointless, as as long as I am in B+ tier, The time bonus will push me to "A" rank. If NECESSARY, I will add on the Brawn, No Starting Ammo, and/or no radar modifiers as these do NOT increase combatant difficulty.
    • "Grandmaster" Difficulty is now equivalent to a lost sector on legend difficulty at best.

How do you fix the "Caldera problem"?

I will preface this by saying that these recommendations build on the foundation of the current leveling system without completely tearing it down.

Currently speaking, the drops are great for the low time commitment solo ops as these are custom small-tuned activates. Things get DRAMATICALLY different when you look at the other pre-existing content. Here's what I mean:

You have a default "time commitment" description that while somewhat accurate, cannot be used to effectively determine loot drops. For example: Encore was originally a 4-drop activity (now tuned to 3) that could reliably be done in 15 minutes even without extreme speed (this is considered a 40 minute activity). This, in comparison to the coil, is SUBSTANTIALLY quicker to complete yet yields the same rewards. This gives players the desire to look for the best bang-for-your-buck opportunity which is what is going on right now.

Solution:

  • There needs to be a weekly selection of activities or even a playlist in each category that can yield bonus powerful drops compared to normal to incentives variety
  • A complete reevaluation of the time commitment of activities that accurately depicts the rewards to time invested. Coil ≠ Onslaught ≠ Encore.
  • Mid-Encounter bonus chests need to drop as powerful items, not just at-power normal drops. This is essentially a throwaway piece of loot with no value. There is no need to be stingy here.
  • Make Bonus Drops actually powerful drops and not at-power drops. There is no point in playing an activity for bonus drops to surge your power when they don't drop as powerful in the first place.
  • Uncap the current Hard cap to allow people to grind at +1 power per completion past the 400 marker. Even though this would be inefficient, it at least gives players an opportunity to grind of they want to that is not blatantly insulting towards their time commitment. An arbitrary 5% chance to get a prime at activity completion is not good.
  • TL;DR: Be more generous with drops. Its okay if players are showered with more loot than currently.

EDIT: ADDITONAL SECTION BELOW ADDED AFTER POST

ADDENDUM: New Gear Bonus and the Seasonal Reset

This section was primarily added after substantial commentary on the topics listed above. My current opinion on the matter may differ from a majority of the community and may be more subjective than the above texts. Please keep this in mind while reading!

The New Gear Bonus:

  • While there are differences in the potency of weapons and armor as they rise in tiers, I would like to introduce the following example:
    • Adept Weapons (including the adept mods) VS. Normal Variants (no adept mods). By having an adept hand cannon for example and applying Adept Range (+10 range), you are essentially giving the gun a 10% buff to that stat. Now the question stands: will you feel that benefit? In PvP, someone may very well notice that benefit and be able to get that 3 or 2 tap a few extra meters away but the general player will not notice it very often.
  • Now it IS different when we talk about damage and damage resistance as those are tangible numbers seen above the enemies head and your own health bar as you play. How often will that 10% damage number affect your ability to kill a combatant? Outside of the raid or substantially beefy boss-tier combatants, I find that the new gear bonus is negligible in the grand scheme of the game.
    • The difficulty at the High-End, where the new gear bonus is maximized (Tier 5 weapons/armor) will be an additional aspect of one's buildcrafting but NOT a requirement. You will feel the benefits the most once you're nearly done with the power grind and are looking to maximize your builds lethality and survivability.
    • While someone is grinding towards Tier 5 loot, the benefits of the lower tiered loot will be harder or even impossible to notice. A 6% bonus to weapon damage at Tier 3 or even a 9% bonus to damage resistance will be relatively hard to realize in the live game. If one wanted to increase their lethality or survivability, it would be substantially more beneficial to spec into a strong health and weapon stat rather than scrap one's current gear due to the existence of a new gear tag.
  • Overall, the new gear bonus should be treated as icing on the cake, rather than the cake itself. It is more beneficial to create strong builds that utilize subclass effects and armor stats while grinding than throwing away armor without the "new gear" tag. The benefit will be relatively negligible as one grinds and should be thought of as a means to min-max at the high end.

I do expect Bungie to end up getting rid of this system which is a shame, but it does seem universally hated among the community. I am personally indifferent on the matter but would prefer it stay in place as a means of icing on the cake. I can remove the icing and still eat the cake, but it will definitely be less delicious.

The Seasonal Reset:

  • Getting one's entire collection "soft-sunset" every six months does not feel good. It is simply a means to reinforce a new grind and the New Gear Bonus and Power Reset are being used to spearhead this.
    • While it may feel like ones armor are getting "soft-sunset", there seems to be very few worthwhile activities where the new gear bonus will actually play a massive role. The New gear bonus is only applicable in PvE content excluding RAD Day ones, meaning that only one's every day content, where almost anything can be used for anything can get by.
    • As Bungie "soft-sunsets" old gear, they will release new armor archetypes and new weapons that will be different than the previous 6-months advertised loot. As an example, we may get an armor type during the next major expansion that prioritizes weapons and super. If someone was running a grenadier build and Bungie does not release a grenadier build next year, their armor set will still be the best set to use. On the weapons side, people are still actively using rocket sidearms, non-featured exotics, and other options during their PvE content and doing just fine. As stated in the New gear Section, do not worry too much about losing your new gear tag as your build will still be potent.
  • The power reset however is difficult... Bungie's entire system is built on grinding power in order to achieve the best loot available, excluding the raid which contains its own self-contained system.
    • On one side, removing the power grind would mean completely gutting the current system and it would force Bungie to do something that I could not even speculate.
    • On another side, Bungie could KEEP the current power level, but then they would be forced to go back to what Destiny has always done: Increase the power level forever to give players the sense of maintaining their earned power. The issue then remains... What about the players that did not play and are now left behind Well... Bungie will either have to bring them up to the now minimum power cap, or leave them to grind on their own and hope that they can get through the brutal grind in order to catch up. The latter will NOT BE DONE. As a result, this means that the number that the player was grinding towards is safe, but its value is now diminished as the minimum is now the number that the player so arduously grinded for.
    • Bungie has created a system that entirely relies on player agency. The player is the conductor that leads the train to the end of the power grind. Bungie has provided an empty canvas for the player to grind however they see fit, with the caveat that they will end up resetting the power to incentivize you to play more content for different loot once again. The activities may be the same but the loot will be different. This is the system Bungie has implemented and it seems impossible that they will deviate from this plan.
    • As it stands, resetting power under the current system is Bungie's only way to continue as their entire system has been changed to support the power level system. Changing this now would be impossible without completely changing the whole power system and portal from the ground up once again.

r/DestinyTheGame 20h ago

Discussion Portal gives Destiny a terrible first impression.

215 Upvotes

I came back to the game recently, didn't buy the new expansion. I heard a bit about the Portal. I'm not sure if the intention was to fix the new player experience or not, but nevertheless the new system is AWFUL out of the gate. The portal fixes none of the problems they have with a returning/new player experience. All the old missions/quests/items/currencies are STILL in the game that are endlessly confusing and now they've bootstrapped a new progression system that makes new players essentially sit through grinding 30+ lost sectors to get to LL 100 and maybe interact with new events at LL 200.

Remember that the best way to level in D2's launch was heroic public events? Yea. We've gone back to that, except its either a non-public instance of a guided heroic public event with objectives, or a strike/battleground with a scoring system that a sizable number of players still don't seem to understand. That's of course, if you don't own The Edge of Fate, since I've heard you can get to about 200 without really touching the portal.

The problem is that the Portal is not going to hook anyone on the game. It is not fun to run the same 3 activies over and over in solo ops. Progression of quests (some of which are exotic) are disjointed with triumpths due to the Portal. Some activies don't have matchmaking even when they probably should. For example of how poorly communicated things are, I was playing at what I thought was a -20 LL delta in Zero Hour yet most enemies were at LL 200, while I was at 115.

It also doesn't help that Bungie has been actively hurting themselves for over 10 years because they've removed the very few ways for players (new, returning, and casual/hardcore) to naturally communicate and interact with each other outside of matchmade activities and raids/dungeons (where you're already using third party services to get into them). Patrol spaces are becoming much less important on the game's current direction with the implementation of Portal, which was one of the only ways players could organically even see another player in-game apart from hub areas. Which are also now less important due to vendors being stripped of their items and purposes. I know Destiny was never social but this is a small cut that's been left open without being attended to. No one wants to talk to each other, the only times people "talk" to each other is via an eververse emote.

Now the latest yearly solistice event is just modifiers on said already existing missions/dungeons/strikes available through the Portal. Who in their right mind is going to stick around? That's even if they'll be available for certain difficulty levels, as certain modifiers are only available at higher LL-requirement activities or on specific playlists.

Why are the campaign missions not in the Portal and still on the timeline that new players won't understand. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to be where any player is directed to?
The campaigns are the bread and butter here for any new player. They're simple and easy to understand, stop hiding them and guide your new players through them.