Bungie has confirmed that the Arms Week is returning to Destiny 2. This time, however, the shotguns and their freshly new Volatile Weapon mods are at the center of the action. The short-time event is free for everyone who visits Ada-1 in the Shooting Range, but the community’s reactions have been…let’s just say a mix of anticipation and sincere discontent.
In a nutshell, what does Arms Week mean? It’s basically one of those events that Bungie rotates through where they test out new weapon mods and let players use the best gear. Shotguns are the ones in the spotlight this time with these Volatile mods some players claim may very well turn the guns into insane monsters. One player, Defiant493, without a second thought, called the shotguns “amazing” and even requested Bungie to let the chaos be witnessed.
But the situation gets complicated – I mean it gets terribly tangled. The event’s schedule has a number of players merely scratching their heads in disbelief. Bungiehatefun was very direct in saying that launching Arms Week at the same time as the new exotic mission was “so stupid” because it splits the player population. Speaking of player population… Sohsuhh jokingly said that “all 17 players left will be thrilled” which is a bit harsh but also a bit true when considering the queue times that some players are reporting.
The event’s Player versus Player side seems to be the main source of complaints. Many players including eblebelebe are expressing their bitterness about waiting up to five minutes just to be able to enter a match. Lucifer_Doggo tried to clear things up saying that it’s because “there’s like 10 players” who want to do both the new exotic content and Arms Week at the same time. It ends up creating an odd situation where nobody can get matches quickly which, to be honest, is the opposite of what a limited-time event should be like.
Next, there is the controversy regarding the entire rewards system. XenoNihilism made a rant about getting “pathetic tier 2 power 200 drops” when he’s over 400 power, which leads him to the conclusion that the event is “not worth my time.” AdamBStewart50 voiced his opinion too saying that being able to pull only tier 4 engrams after hitting level 500 doesn’t feel good either, especially when the holofoil is so rare.
But wait! There are even more glitches! JU5TNT1M3 talked about a bug that didn’t even let him pick up the quest from Ada-1 at the shooting range while Destiny_Warlox was experiencing vault storage issues which were also acknowledged by other players. FriendIsaiah suggested switching to “vault mode on your character” as a possible workaround, but again, what is “vault mode”? The game doesn’t explain that anywhere.
There are players that have had it with the limited-time event approach. catofthings called it the “Destiny equivalent of a Gacha banner event” and stated that the game would be “10x better” with permanent content instead of these temporary modes. icxobama said, “we had shotguns like 3 times already” which indeed prompts one to reflect on the lack of variety.
Yet, in spite of all the complaints, there are still some positives. PWBread was a fan of the mod experimentation saying that Ada-1 is “actually doing something related to guns.” Koalatycontrol was just happy that the sword is back as “that’s all I cared about.” So it’s not a total disaster – there are, indeed, a few players who are quite pleased with the shotgun craziness.
In particular, the Hardware mode was met with approval by badbad_lb who declared “I actually love it” but others like lexanderOT complained about heavyweight crates popping up “every 5 seconds” and ruining it all. This is the typical Destiny community – everyone expects something different from the same content.
Among the few things that the event has opened up, one of the most interesting is the dilemma that Bungie has been facing regarding player engagement. If you put several things out at once, the population will be scattered. Too hard rewards frustrate the players. The PvP requirements would turn away the PvE-only players. It appears that the developers are in a no-win situation regardless of what they choose to do.
Nevertheless, no matter how one looks at it, the shotgun mods are definitely wicked. Normally, the Volatile Weapon types fire such void explosions that they affect the nearby foes, and applying that to shotguns… the whole thing might become quite absurd in both PvE and PvP. It is the kind of temporary power fantasy that only Destiny can deliver, even if its surrounding situation is chaotic.
As the Arms Week progresses, it will surely be interesting to see whether Bungie will be dealing with any of these issues or just letting the event run as planned. Based on their history, they may just collect the data from this shotgun testing and… do it all over again in three months when shotguns come back around. Because that’s how rotating events work – for better or worse. At least the shooting range allows us to safely try out the new mods without affecting anyone’s Crucible matches. Maybe that’s the real win-win in this scenario. The event is also available on PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
