Bungie has just announced a Double Bonus Focus event in Destiny 2, wherein the first Bonus Focus in Portal activities will drop twice as many times as it would normally. Instead of being celebrated, it met with a harsh storm of resentment from the community. In this temporary event available to all players, this Extra Bonus Focus gets double rewards on the first daily drop, but many players feel that is completely unacceptable under the current conditions in which the game finds itself.
So, what’s actually happening here? The event is currently ongoing, and anyone diving into the Portal activities will get two drops from whichever Bonus Focus they receive first that day. As per Bungie‘s official tweet, a nice little bonus for everyone. But soon enough people started replying to the tweet with their disappointment, and, well… it was anything but positive.
Another quite deserving voice going by the moniker Chibirobo1 chimed in for a chorus of people: “This… This right here screams something needs to change. Only on the FIRST DROP, not all for just ONE WEEK! Y’all can’t even be generous during this bad time?” There were plenty more voices echoing this statement. Whereas Kaz, on the other hand, sarcastically said, “One extra drop per day really puts the loot back into the Looter Shooter,” he implied that sometimes it’s basically too little to mention for a game all about grinding for gear.
The rancor seems to be extending deep into policy. Notwithstanding, most comments are hinting at even bigger problems in Destiny 2’s current ecosystem. ___CraigR___ claims: “The portal just isn’t fun it’s shit, people like the freedom to play anything they want the portal is the opposite of that.” This feeds into the recurring complaint that the Portal activity itself does indeed feel restrictive and underwhelming, with a Double drop being meaningless little patch on a much bigger issue.
Now here come the serious technical difficulties affecting even the operation of the bonus. FedDonovan disclosed: “game is empty, can find no one beside reclaim …double all week like before..every single attempt,” confirming that matchmaking on their behalf is to blame. And terrancekatsuki has got a huge fix-please scream: “HOW ABOUT WE FIX THE NIGHTFALL MISSION PLEASE ITS LITERALLY BUGGED,” proving that for a great many a bug fix takes precedence over any limited-time bonuses.
This conversation proceeds ever further into the power level system and reward scheme. Some dialogue originated between TheBoiDaka, BrunoToAmad8, and GibbsInForSix on the topic of powerful drops’ worth as opposed to hitting the power cap, wherein GibbsInForSix claims, “i’d rather get my tier 5s over hitting 550,” somehow indicating that the current reward systems might not be in line with player goals or might not be even providing any meaningful progression.
The derangement seems to spill into communication issues. TheBocop went ahead and launched a long and scathing fan foul: “What really bizarre is that you guys post this thinking it is fine like on some kind of denial autopilot. You have possibly the most frustrated fanbase ever… whoever is the boss there is like ‘Give them an extra drop once a day’ Like… WHAT is this?” This somewhat echoes the sentiment that maybe Bungie is a bit out of touch with the state of the community right now, and what scale of changes players actually want.
Somewhat inverted for something intended to be a good thing. Usually, double drops are an event players rejoice over. But with a measly one a day double drop bonus with the game suffering from other, more serious issues? Musters up a lot of shrugs and wails of rage from the player base. Some players jokingly swear they’ll specifically be skipping the event, with HorseMissle bluntly declaring, “I’ll just go ahead and not play, thanks,” followed by BoneSplitter69 chiming in with, “Keep the crap i am done.”
Such a vehement reaction just underscores the widening gulf that exists between what players expect and what developers give them. Being a loot shooter, a core basis for the developer’s reward system exists. So, if the player community cannot see such bonuses as significant compared to the meta issues, activity criticisms, and technical bug reports, one can say the developer has been terribly tone deaf. The community doesn’t want just more loot-they want the much deeper, functional, and rewarding player experience.
With that in mind, going through Destiny 2, Bungie will have to think carefully about how these little events will appear in the bigger conversation about the game itself being healthy. Double drops are great, but discontents about the very core loop of the game, no amount of bonus focus will ever take the weight off for sure. Well, for now, the Double Bonus Focus event is nice and live, and it has been explicitly stated by the player base that this in no way amounts to what they want.
