So yeah, Bungie had just delivered an update to Destiny 2 for the community. And the gist is special weapon damage and ammo drops had been increased in activities in the Portal. A nice buff for everyone, really. And then… the community came with its reaction. What a mess.
Bungie’s Twitter account went on to ask, almost casually, “Feeling special, Guardian?” while announcing the availability of the special ammo boost to all. But here’s the catch. This new modifier overrides the Famine modifier in effect at the moment. And why should that even be an issue? Well, because Famine is what you need to complete some Guardian Rank objectives, which means that many players find themselves stuck while trying to progress in their rank until this special ammo event ends.
The replies to that tweet were absolutely unhinged. One Twitter user, @tsaintc, just flatly asked, “Does anyone at @Bungie @DestinyTheGame actually play D2??? The dumb decisions keep rolling.” And yeah…he’s kind of got a point! Like, how does the dev team fail so spectacularly to realize that their new global modifier was going to undermine those progression requirements?
Another guardian, @vikingben02, posted a screenshot showing how the special ammo boost hampers Famine in fulfilling rank-up requirements. “Good work…..” said @vikingben02, simply dripping with sarcasm. In the meantime, @xxgrimologyxx is moaning about not being able to hit guardian rank 8 this week because of this. Just imagine grinding all those hours and then being forced to put it on hold by an unintended game mechanic interaction.
But wait-the drama does not end with the reply! Some players are also mad about the Solstice event stuff. @LN_RuleYOURface wants a refund for the skimmer bundle because Bungie sold two of the items for bright dust AFTER delisting the bundle. That would seem like rather sketchy timing. Then @xachisonfire has just been burned out after hitting the 400 power grind cap like, “why the hell I even bothered?”
Not everyone’s mad, in fact. @wadevstheworld rejoices: “Double special users rise up!!” Same here: more special ammo equals more fun with those juicy special weapons. Then @JamesJ1492 claims he’s receiving LESS special ammo than before the “boost,” which only adds to the silliness.
This is totally a step forward but two steps back story right from the Bungie playbook. They create something great (more special ammo for everyone!) that ends up breaking three other systems in the process. Now the entire community is trapped together trying to get out of this mess.
The wild thing is how this plays out so differently depending on the player’s experience. Your casual player chucking down strikes or whatever will likely get a ton of mileage from the special ammo boost. But anyone grinding guard ranks trying to complete particular objectives is out of luck until this thing wraps up. It’s like Bungie never considered that their players might be in two distinct groups with two very different play styles with different goals.
That enormous communication gap is a whole different story. Bungie released this update with a nice and charming tweet but then failed to inform the players when will this special ammo boost last. Is it for a day? For a week? Till the next reset? No clue! Now everyone has to keep on guessing when they will be able to rank-up again.
The entire guardian rank system has been somewhat divisive ever since it was injected, with many players feeling it is all but an artificial grind without significant rewards. This mess? It does not help the case. When a modifier for a temporary event blocks your progression in a core system, should we perhaps think about that system?
Other tweets in response complained about PvP balance (@maVer1ck82 wants a Graviton Lance nerf), anti-cheat (@Revjerryo has seen more cheaters since the “updated” anti-cheat), and general loot dropping (@vipereon27 is sick of armor instead of hand cannons in competitive).
Just your typical Destiny community. Everyone is mad about something. But this special ammo fiasco is currently the biggest upset. Players demand transparency regarding how long this is going to last and maybe compensation for those who were blocked from ranking up.
Bungie’s track record….mixed with fixing those kind of issues. At times, they are good within hotfixes; others they let it drag on for weeks. Since it involves progression systems, one would hope for an expedited response. But we shall see.
And that is another day in Destinyland. Bungie tries to do something cool, breaks something else, and the community has a strong reaction. So the cycle repeats. Brb, if you’re trying to rank your Guardian Rank up, just wait until the special ammo event is over. Or keep spamming special weapons!
