Bungie’s weekly update on Destiny called “This Week in Destiny” was just released and everything looks really good at first glance. Destiny 2: Renegades is active, there is a new dungeon race called Equilibrium coming up, the Cosplay Cosmodrome event has returned, Twitch Drops and a new Bungie Rewards as well. A regular week full of fun activities for Guardians. But if you happen to read a little further down the replies to their announcement tweet… oh no! The community just isn’t pleased with it at all. Not a little bit. The most significant problem that divides the players is this one modifier that keeps making rounds: ‘Not Swap.’ And the players are really very mad about it.
For those that haven’t been keeping up with the Destiny 2 endgame closely, ‘Not Swap’ is a modifier that prevents players from changing their weapons and armor during an activity. At the start of the game, the players are allowed to choose the gear that they want to use for the entire game. Bungie is of the opinion that this will not only add more challenge but also contain some power-creep strategies. Nevertheless, the players have a strong, unanimous ‘NO’ reaction. Indeed, a NO in capital letters with several exclamation points written next to it.
The announcement tweet gave some clues about the Equilibrium Dungeon Race—the first competitive racing to finish the new dungeon. And guess what! Not Swap is reportedly active for it. The replies were burning hot. User ‘tommykablommy’ summed it up in one word: “not swap on a brand new dungeon… dope.” Another user, ‘AshenOne7711,’ was even more forthright: “Not swap? Never! Please stop forcing this.” That uncut thread is everywhere. ‘Leopa1998’ elaborated it, stating that the application of this modifier “does not solve the problem of loadout swap; and it is still a requirement for best performance in encounters.” In addition, the whole modifier makes it even more aggravating.
Isn’t this a weird disconnect? Bungie provides a brand new shiny content—a new plot chapter with Renegades, a thrilling dungeon race, and a big part of the talk gets immediately taken over by dissatisfaction with the one mechanic. ‘TwoGhostPixels’ paraphrases the confusion that many feel: “We don’t care, we just throw in the stuff that no one likes, and it doesn’t even work, I’d really like to have a reason for why not swap still exists.” This is the classic developer vs player base tug-of-war; however, the rope seems to be quite frayed on the player side.
Moreover, the dungeon is not the sole problem. The complaints have already penetrated and are now turned into widespread views about the newly released expansion pack. ‘YaBoiNathan97’ commented that the launch was not “as smooth as velvety butter,” and added that players had to come up with “stupid tech” to either advance or just give up on Day 1 tries for the new ‘Lawless Frontier’ content. So when one stacks up some launch disturbance with a controversial modifier on the premier new endgame race, a scenario where some Guardians will be upset is created. To make it worse, even queries related to other matters, like the Red Crystal RNG drop rate from ‘TwinSeeds_’, are getting lost in the uproar.
The situation, however, is not all sweet and sour. A few replies, like the one from ‘KC_4191,’ urged Bungie to “Disregard the negativity 💯 keep up the good job.” Nevertheless, the positive comments are very few and far between. Players’ requests can be stated and reiterated in plain language: eliminate notswap, turn off notswap, stop forcing notswap. Gamers like ‘Jaffamuncher17’ claim that “only the ones that do not complain about swapping loadouts are the ones that are doing contest stuff,” implying that the modifier is tackling a non-existent problem or that the users do not mind swapping in the first place.
What then is the lesson we learnt from this? Destiny 2 is in for an exciting rollercoaster ride. Events, dungeons, rewards, and almost everything else, the game continues to provide the content. But this ongoing discursive battle about ‘Not Swap’ clearly shows how a single design decision can control the community’s mood. It has become a symbol of the players’ sentiment of being neglected. When ‘Vorgethi’ says “y’all don’t listen man… everybody said no to notswap but you keep tripling down on it,” it concerns a much bigger problem that is not just a gameplay modifier. It is about communication and being attuned to what the gamers who are using your product really say.
The attention will be on ‘Not Swap’ when the Equilibrium Dungeon Race begins. Will it be fun or not? The game is also available on PlayStation and Xbox.
