Bungie has ultimately decided that the Trials of Osiris map in Destiny 2 will not be the same anymore due to a bug which prevented the appearance of Special Ammo Boxes on Anomaly. The developer has publicly announced the temporary replacement of Anomaly with Burnout and has also revealed that the Lobby Balancing problem will be fixed in the January 13 update. By making this announcement, the company has in a way acknowledged the players’ complaints regarding the competitive PvP mode’s instability.
To begin with, Bungie put some news into the Destiny 2 newsfeed and it’s been kind of a mixed blessing just like before. A problem was found—especially for the sweaties—a colossal one, that the Special Ammo Boxes on the Anomaly Trials map simply… weren’t there. Could you ever visualize getting into a high-stakes game and the green bricks you were depending on are on a vacation? Definitely not the best situation. So what’s their move? They take Anomaly out of rotation and put it to Burnout. One more thing, they also say that the “scenic views of a ‘dark future’ Mercury” while you fight are just… a mood, maybe? A very Bungie mood.
But the problem is not even the main dish. The biggest one is the fact that the developer has finally come out with a Lobby Balancing fix date. You know, the issue that has been making it feel like one team is always beating the other throughout the whole game? Yes, that. They tell us that they are planning for it on January 13 in Update 9.5.0.5. “Stay tuned for patch notes.” A classic. It’s nice to have a date, but the replies show that players feel just… fatigued.
Community response can be seen as a long playlist of grievances. One player, xTheLuckySe7en, pointed out the obvious: “this is like the third or fourth time lobby balancing has been ‘unintentionally’ enabled in the past few months. it stops being a mistake at some point.” And he is absolutely right. It becomes less a mistake and more a feature that no one asked for.
In addition, there are other grievances. People are cleaning up all the dirt and taking this as an opportunity to show it off. YahBoyGeorge is shouting for the flawless shader to drop issue to be fixed, calling it a “waste of time.” nonya1488 is making a scene about armor stats always coming with health mod saying ghost mods are useless. swannyken31 was so mad that he wrote a rant about revive limits and matchmaking, like five separate replies just to vent his frustration about not being able to consume the content and overall giving a big lecture. It’s really gigantic.
In the comments section, the perennial argument can be found. Some people are arguing the issue of whether Bungie should push forward the patch, with one accusing the other of being a “bot” for siding with the timeline. It’s the usual social media frenzy of Destiny—combined valid criticism, memes, and pure salt. One guardian, ThegreatTadpol, even mentioned a bizarre bug in which the Graviton Lance animation was taken over by his handgun. The game is at times a beautiful and broken mess.
On the one hand, Bungie keeps the lines of communication open and that is a good thing. They managed to diagnose the issue and responded promptly by switching the map. They also provided a date for the lobby fix, which is of course better than no communication at all. On the other hand, the deluge of other complaints from players—ranging from loot drops to ability bugs—thus pointing to a very wobbly PvP situation.
On the other hand, it’s just another week in Destiny 2. The fix is coming, but the waiting is still on. What players want the most is just a balanced, rewarding experience, especially in the top PvP mode. The January 13 update will be the test to see if Bungie can win back some of the trust. Until then, the guardians have to continue fighting on Mercury, hoping that their special ammo will eventually show up and that the matchmaking won’t determine their fate before the game has even started. The community’s endurance is being put to the test and the next patch better be more than just words. This PlayStation and Xbox title continues to evolve.
